You haven't had a waffle until you've tasted a Vietnamese coconut pandan waffle. A combination of rice flour, tapioca flour and all purpose flour makes these waffles the perfect combination of chewy, crispy and fluffy. You'll want to keep a batch of these bánh kẹp lá dứa on hand at all times.
Pin Vietnamese Coconut Pandan Waffles (Bánh Kẹp Lá Dứa) to try later!
Pandan is a quintessential flavoring in Southeast Asian cuisine. I've often heard it referred to as the Asian vanilla. It's a tropical plant that grows in Southeast Asia, and it's unique sweet, herbaceous aroma is unlike anything you've ever experienced. Its leaves can be used to flavor sweet and savory dishes alike. The flavoring also comes in liquid and paste essences, which will usually make your foods a bright green color.
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🧇 Ingredients
I use three different flours for this recipe. Each provides a different texture to the waffle. Rice flour makes it crisp, tapioca gives it a mochi-like chewy texture, and all-purpose bulks out the batter and makes it fluffy. Coconut gives the batter richness, and the flavor of coconut is often paired with pandan in Southeast Asian cooking.
You will need:
- rice flour
- tapioca starch
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- eggs
- sugar
- coconut milk
- pandan paste
- butter
See recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
In a medium bowl, mix together the rice flour, tapioca starch, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt
In another, larger bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until combined. Add the coconut milk, pandan paste and melted butter.
Add the dry ingredients — one third at a time — to the wet ingredients, stirring gently to combine each time. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes to an hour.
Heat up your waffle maker to its highest setting. Spray the waffle maker with oil or brush with butter and spoon the batter onto the surface (the amount of batter you use will depend on the size of your waffle maker.)
Cook until you no longer see steam coming out of the waffle maker — about 5-7 minutes.
Remove the waffle with chopsticks or tongs and place on a wire rack to cool.
Tips: The amount of time you keep the waffles in will depend on the size of your waffle maker and heat settings, so cook times will vary depending on the make and model. The amount of batter you use for each waffle will also depend on the make and model of your waffle machine. It's ok if your first waffle comes out a little funny! The longer you keep your waffle in, the crispier the outside will be.
💭 Substitutions
- You can use regular dairy milk or a nondairy alternative instead of coconut milk, but the flavor will be a little different. Regular milks are thinner than coconut milk, so reduce the amount you use by one fourth of a cup.
- Do not substitute or omit any of these flours, as they each play an important role in the waffle's final texture. You can experiment with the ratios if you want it to be chewier, crispier or fluffier. I haven't tried to recreate this recipe with gluten free all purpose flour.
- The pandan extract I like to use comes in a thick, pastelike form. You can use the liquid extract but you'll need less of it. You can use a little green food coloring to enhance the batter.
- Do NOT use glutinous rice flour or Mochiko instead of rice flour. You'll get very chewy, gummy waffles.
- Don't over mix the batter! It will result in tough waffles. Gently fold the flour into the wet ingredients only until it's just incorporated. It's ok if there are still some lumps. They will disperse after the batter rests.
📚 Variations
- Ube - Use ube extract instead of pandan for a beautiful purple waffle.
🍳 Equipment
I got my adorable frog waffle maker from Shopzoki! This isn't an affiliate link and I will not receive any revenue if you buy one. It's a fun little mini waffle maker perfect for small households. It doesn't have any bells and whistles like different heat settings or a timer, but I love how cute it is.
🍚 Serving suggestions
Add a pat of butter and a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk and eat these just like breakfast waffles. For a decadent dessert, serve these warm with a scoop of ice cream (I recommend vanilla, coconut or coffee flavors) and some shredded coconut.
🥡 How to store or make in advance
These coconut pandan waffles can be stored in the fridge for up to a week in an air tight container or ziplock bag. They're very freezer friendly and will last up to three months in an airtight container or bag. Reheat them in your toaster or toaster oven. I love my tiny frog waffle iron because it makes waffles that are the perfect size for my toaster!
If you're resting the batter at room temperature, leave it at room temperature. The batter can be rested in the fridge overnight. Bring the cold batter back to room temperature before cooking.
👪 Serving size
This recipe made 13 waffles, or a little over six servings if everyone gets two waffles. The number of waffles you'll get from the recipe will depend on the make and model of your waffle machine.
📋 Recipe
Vietnamese Coconut Pandan Waffles (Bánh Kẹp Lá Dứa)
Equipment
- waffle maker
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups tapioca starch
- ½ cup rice flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon butter, melted
- ½ cup sugar
- 13.5 oz coconut milk (one can)
- 1 teaspoon pandan paste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the rice flour, tapioca starch, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt
- In another, larger bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until combined. Add the coconut milk, pandan paste and melted butter.
- Add one third of the dry ingredients at a time to the wet ingredients, mixing gently in between additions until just combined and you don't see any more white flour. It's ok if there are lumps.
- Let the batter sit for at least 15 minutes or overnight
- Heat up your waffle maker to its highest setting. Spray the waffle maker with oil or brush with butter and spoon the batter onto the surface.
- Cook until you no longer see steam coming out of the waffle maker — about 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of your waffle maker.
- Remove the waffle with chopsticks or tongs and place on a wire rack to cool.
Notes
- The amount of batter you use for each waffle and cook time for each waffle will depend on the make and model of your machine. Depending on your machine, you might get more or fewer waffles than I did out of this recipe.
- Do not use glutinous rice flour.
- Tapioca flour will make the waffles chewy. Rice flour will make the waffles crispy. All-purpose flour will make the waffles fluffy. You can experiment with the proportions of these flours to get the texture you like, as long as it equals at least 2 cups of flour total.
- If you use regular dairy milk, reduce the amount of liquid by ¼ cup
- Metric conversions are automatically calculated and are an estimate.
- Calorie counts are calculated automatically and are an estimate.
Nutrition
Note: calorie counts are an estimate only.
🦺 Food safety
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
Did you make this recipe? Please tag @BunBoBaeBlog on Instagram or leave a rating or comment on the blog!
Did you make this recipe? Please tag @BunBoBaeBlog on Instagram or leave a rating or comment on the blog!
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Anonymous says
These turned out excellent and very easy to make.
Suzanne Nuyen says
So glad you liked them!
Betty says
SO GOOD! Perfect combination of chewy crispy and fluffy!! Thank you for this excellent recipe!
Suzanne Nuyen says
Thanks so much Betty!
kk says
These turned out perfect! I have also tried other recipes and they were a flop but this one hit the spot. I love that they freeze and reheat well, I warm them in the air fryer. I made an ube batch too and then made pandan ice cream. I put them together for ice cream sandwiches, yummmm!
Erin says
This is the recipe! I have tried a few different pandan waffle recipes from the internet, but this has been the best! Perfect chewy middle, crunchy outside. I used a little over a cup of batter per waffle on my Cuisinart belgian waffle maker. They were perfection!
Suzanne Nuyen says
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe.