Achieve Breakfast Nirvana With One Simple Waffle Upgrade

If you're a breakfast lover, then you're probably always looking for ways to take that meal to the next level — which means you need to know about the greatest waffle upgrade around. Make yourself a breakfast that's the perfect balance of savory and sweet by adding bacon to your homemade waffles.

Making bacon waffles is a simple process that will take you less than 30 minutes, including making the batter from scratch. All you have to do is cook the bacon (torn into half pieces) in the waffle maker first, then add in the waffle batter. The result is a fluffy waffle with a full piece of tasty bacon inside. It's perfect for anyone who likes the sweetness of waffles, but needs something savory to balance the flavor. You can also choose to make this dish vegetarian and use plant-based bacon. However, the cooking instructions are likely different; you may need to cook it fully before adding it to the waffle maker. Still, that's not a hard adjustment to make.

When it comes to toppings, you can decide if you want to lean more into the savory or the sweet route. Of course, maple syrup is the classic choice. It pairs well with both the waffle and the bacon inside — just be sure to choose one of the best maple syrup brands around. If you want to go the more savory route, consider topping it with a fried egg.

Combining full pieces of bacon and waffle batter makes for a delicious and memorable dish, but it's not the only way to add bacon to waffles. Another option? Chop up the bacon and add bacon bits to waffles.

This method is perfect for anyone who wants a more subtle infusion of savory flavor in their sweet waffles. To make this happen, you cook the bacon in the waffle maker, then chop it up into pieces and mix it into the batter. Or, you can simply cook the bacon as you normally would — either on the stove or in the oven – before chopping it up and adding it to the batter. From there, make the waffles as normal. Again, feel free to swap out that regular bacon for the plant-based version or even turkey bacon, if that's your preference.

All that's left to do is choose your toppings. Consider some fresh fruit, or even a dollop of whipped cream to play into the sweet side of things. Or, to make breakfast a full bacon affair, top the bacon-infused waffles with more pieces of bacon.