14 Of The Unhealthiest Frozen Waffles You Can Buy At The Grocery Store

Frozen waffles are the height of convenience. While the waffle dates back to the Middle Ages, it didn't become a freezer staple until 1953 – and it's remained one ever since. Unfortunately, in the seven decades or so since the frozen waffle debuted, it hasn't gotten much healthier. 

On paper, these breakfast treats really shouldn't be that unhealthy. After all, in their most basic version, they're just a mixture of flour and eggs. However, food manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to make their frozen waffles ever more delicious, resulting in products that are positively bulging with sodium, sugar, and in some cases saturated fat.

These additives really won't do much for you, folks. Sodium and sugar are of course added to improve flavor. However, some frozen waffles' quantities cover a significant portion of the 2,300-milligram recommended daily limit for sodium recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans or the upper limit of 50 grams of added sugar advised by the United States Food & Drug Administration. Plus, a lot of these frozen waffles also contain minimal amounts of fiber and protein, both valuable nutrients that can help satisfy appetites throughout the day. For this article, we focused on high levels of sodium and sugar to determine unhealthiness, and we also looked at saturated fat levels. Plus, we sought out waffles that had especially low levels of fiber and protein.

We doubt that many people think chocolate chip waffles are a healthy way to start the day, but even you might be surprised by how unhealthy the offer from Kellogg's is. Kellogg's Eggo Chocolatey Chip Waffles may be one of the most popular frozen waffle products out there, but it's also one of the saltiest. At 350 milligrams of sodium, one serving of these frozen waffles covers 15% of your daily value.

"Wait," we hear you cry. "Isn't this product meant to be sweet, not salty?" Well, yes, it is — it's incredibly sweet, in fact. Every serving provides 9 grams of added sugar, covering almost a fifth of your daily recommended limit. The combination of sodium and sugars may boost the taste of these waffles, but they can also boost your risk of certain chronic diseases, with both additives contributing to the risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, these waffles likely aren't going to fill you up much either. With less than a gram of fiber and just 4 grams of protein per serving, you'll be reaching for a midmorning snack in no time, thanks to a distinct lack of satiating nutrients.

Belgian-style waffles may be delicious (and they're even more delicious if you totally elevate them), but if you're thinking about eating Safeway's version every morning, you may want to reconsider. Safeway's Signature Select Belgian-Style Waffles are far from nutritious, and they're conspicuously salty for something that's meant to be a sweet food. In every portion of these waffles, there are 400 milligrams of sodium, covering almost 20% of your daily value. If you're adding other salty foods to your breakfast plate, like bacon or salty scrambled eggs, you may end up covering a massive proportion of your sodium intake before you've even woken up.

Sadly, these waffles don't look much better elsewhere. Safeway Signature Select Belgian-Style Waffles have 6 grams of added sugar per serving, covering 11% of your FDA-recommended daily value, but a higher proportion of the limit that health organizations like the American Heart Association recommend. The American Heart Association recommends that you keep your added sugar intake to 36 grams or less if you're a man, or 25 grams or less if you're a woman. As with so many other frozen waffles, Safeway's offering is incredibly low on fiber, providing less than a gram per serving. 

When did frozen waffles get so salty? That's the question we'd like to ask Kroger, with its Homestyle Waffles coming in as one of the highest in sodium out of all the options we looked at. Kroger Homestyle Waffles contain 500 milligrams of sodium per serving, an amount which covers 22% of your daily value. It doesn't exactly look good elsewhere either: Each portion of two waffles has just a single gram of fiber, and the ingredient list indicates a heavily-processed product.

Having said all this, Kroger Homestyle Waffles do have a few benefits. They're refreshingly low in sugar, with a single gram of added sugars per serving, and they do have a fairly good mineral and vitamin content thanks to the use of enriched flour. However, the sodium content really lets things down, folks. Aside from all the obvious reasons why you should limit your sodium consumption, it's also useful to remember that consuming high levels of sodium can cause you to get hungrier quicker, according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. By eating a bunch of salty waffles first thing in the morning, you could prompt a higher intake throughout the day.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Nature's Path Homestyle Gluten-Free Waffles are a healthy option. The front of the box displays a grocery list of nutritious-sounding phrases, with the product promising that it's not just vegan, but organic, full of whole grains — and, of course, gluten free. However, look a little closer at the nutritional information, and you'll see that things don't look so rosy. Although these frozen waffles are far from the saltiest product out there, they still have 260 milligrams of sodium per serving, enough to cover 11% of your daily value for the nutrient.

It's also worth mentioning that Nature's Path Homestyle Gluten Free Waffles are pretty sugary, containing 5 grams of added sugar per serving. While Nature's Path claims that its waffles are naturally sweetened by pear juice, the company fails to mention that it also has cane sugar in it. Plus, while these waffles proudly advertise their whole grain content, that doesn't translate to a higher level of fiber. There's only one gram of fiber in each serving of the waffles, and one gram of protein too.

Walmart's Great Value range is usually reliable price-wise, but you generally can't depend on it for ingredient lists full of nutrition. Walmart Great Value Blueberry Waffles are the proof in the pudding (or the frozen breakfast item, we guess). Once you get over the astonishingly long ingredient list, full of processed items, additives, corn syrup, and food coloring, you won't be much more impressed by its nutritional information.

Every portion of Great Value Blueberry Waffles has 290 milligrams of sodium, an unlucky 13% of your daily value, and 5 grams of added sugars. While its protein content is marginally better than some other options out there, at 3 grams it really isn't a lot. Plus, these waffles have under a gram of fiber per serving. What this essentially means is that your body has no buffer for the carbohydrates and sugars in the waffles, and the carbs that you might be adding to them through spoonfuls of syrup. As such, your body will be way more subject to blood sugar spikes, which may leave you both hungry and tired shortly after your day has started. When these blood sugar spikes occur repeatedly over a long period, they can lead to organ and eyesight issues.

When a product is described as fully loaded, it's usually a sign that it's not going to be the most nutritious thing out there. That's definitely true of Kellogg's Eggo Fully Loaded Strawberry Delight. The Eggo line isn't super healthy anyway, but the Fully Loaded Strawberry Delight version is one of the less wholesome varieties — and, lo and behold, each portion has 300 milligrams of sodium and 7 grams of added sugar, covering 13% and 14% of your daily value respectively.

To add to all this, these waffles have less than a gram of fiber, and 2 grams of saturated fat per serving. While this covers just 10% of your daily value, it's worth remembering that a lot of other waffle brands out there have way less, and consuming them could contribute to your overall saturated fat intake pretty considerably. This can end up having an effect on your health, raising the LDL cholesterol in your system and increasing the risk of cardiovascular issues. The saving grace when it comes to these waffles is their 10 grams of protein per serving, which is way more than a lot of other competitors.

Frozen waffles are a little bit of a catch-22. We want them to be tasty so we can transform them into decadent dishes, but we kinda don't want them to be too unhealthy — and so food manufacturers are left deciding which way they go with their products. Well, it's pretty clear which direction Belgian Boys took, with its Original Belgian Waffles being one of the unhealthiest varieties out there. Each serving of its frozen waffles has a massive 9 grams of added sugars, making it one of the most sugary varieties out there. It's also one of the fattiest, with 7 grams of saturated fat per serving. That's 35% of your daily value, people.

It's also vital to look at the serving size here. Most frozen waffle products designate their serving size as two waffles, usually weighing in at around 70 grams. On the other hand, Belgian Boys Original Belgian Waffles specify that a serving size is just one waffle of 55 grams. As such, not only are these waffles both pretty sugary and fatty, but they cover more with a small serving size. If you opt for two, you might end up covering the majority of your sugar and saturated fat daily values in one meal.

Blueberry waffles are a funny thing. The presence of blueberries makes us feel as though they're healthy, and yet so often frozen blueberry waffles are loaded with sugar to amp up their sweetness. Brazi Bites Blueberry Waffles definitely prove this trend, with 6 grams of added sugar per serving. On top of this, they also have 340 milligrams of sodium in every portion, covering 15% of your daily value.

When it comes to the fiber in Brazi Bites Blueberry Waffles, it's the same old story: There's not that much. Every serving of the blueberry waffles has a single gram of fiber, providing a meager 4% of your recommended daily intake. While these waffles do have 5 grams of protein, which is slightly better than a lot of brands out there, that amount is unlikely to fill you up very much. We do love that these frozen waffles are gluten free, but that gluten free nature comes at the expense of other nutrients. Whereas other frozen waffles are made with enriched flour that provides vitamins and minerals, these waffles have barely any nutrients to speak of.

Ah, Pillsbury. Its products may be delicious, but they're usually not that healthy. Pillsbury Frozen Cinnamon Toast Crunch Waffles certainly don't buck the trend. These waffles come sprinkled with "cinnadust," which is a pretty novel way of saying that they're covered in sugar. Each portion of these waffles has 5 grams of added sugar, 10% of your daily value. Interestingly, they're not as salty as you might expect, but they do still provide 210 milligrams of sodium per serving, 9% of your daily value.

However, here's the kicker, folks: The serving size for these waffles is tiny. Each suggested serving is a single waffle weighing in at just 45 grams, almost half of the serving size that other waffle brands have. We've gotta be honest, we really doubt that most people are just gonna have one waffle for their breakfast. So, you can logically double these nutritional values for a more accurate representation of what you'd be eating. Food manufacturers can often be a little sneaky about reducing their serving sizes to make their products look healthier, so it's important to keep an eye on how much they suggest you consume, and whether or not it feels like a sensible amount.

Do you like waffles in the morning? Well, what about power waffles instead? We have to admit that the souped-up version sounds pretty cool, and Kodiak, a brand that stands out ranks high when it comes to the ultimate ranking of frozen waffles, goes all in with its Protein-Packed Blueberry Power Waffles. A serving provides 12 grams of protein, a way more impressive amount than other alternatives.

However, certain aspects of these waffles are slightly less appealing. The first is their sodium content. With 270 milligrams of sodium per serving, Kodiak Protein-Packed Blueberry Power Waffles provide 12% of your daily value in a portion that weighs in at just 76 grams. As well as this, these power waffles have 5 grams of added sugar in each serving, 10% of your daily value, or a higher proportion of the amount of added sugars you should be eating if you're listening to health organizations like the AHA.

Admittedly, the whole grain wheat flour that these power waffles use does give it a marginally higher amount of fiber per serving, but at just 3 grams per serving it's not a huge amount. The use of this standard flour instead of an enriched version also means that it's basically devoid of any vitamins or minerals, apart from a little calcium, iron, and potassium.

WinCo operates in a pretty unique way. The supermarket chain is employee-owned, setting an exciting precedent for grocery stores, and as a result, it manages to keep its image pretty wholesome. What's less wholesome is the nutritional content of some of its food, especially its Homestyle Waffles. We wonder whether any of the employees had a say in the fact that it contains 500 milligrams of sodium per serving, making it tied with Kroger's Homestyle Waffles as the saltiest option we could find.

It's crucial to remember that the impact that sodium has on your blood vessels, causing them to constrict and stiffen, can affect virtually every part of your body – even your eyes. Higher sodium intake has been linked with poorer outcomes for eyesight, including higher pressure in your eye's blood vessels and a greater risk of cataract formation. That's not the only unhealthy thing about these waffles, either. WinCo Foods Homestyle Waffles are also super-low in fiber, with approximately a gram per serving. While we do like the low sugar content of 2 grams per portion and the 6 grams of protein in every two waffles, everything else is fairly unappealing.

Food brand Annie's Organic does a good job at making its products attractive to adults and kids alike, and at looking wholesome too. Its Organic Homestyle Frozen Waffles do the same thing. Each box promises that the waffles are "made with goodness," that they contain 9 grams of whole grains per serving, and that they're of course organic. However, this is a classic example of a product that's a little less healthy than you might think, and one which may use organic ingredients, but still has relatively poor nutritional values.

The first issue is with its sodium content. Each two waffles provides 330 milligrams of sodium, covering 14% of your daily value. It also has very little protein with just 3 grams per serving, and only 1 gram of fiber. It's also important to remember that these nutritional aspects and the values that they designate apply to adults, not kids. If your little ones are eating these kid-friendly waffles, you may want to think even more carefully. For example, the adult daily recommended limit for sodium is 2,300 milligrams, but for kids aged between 9 and 13, it's around 1,800 milligrams or less.

Everyone likes their waffles big, and most people like their waffles Belgian. You know what you probably won't like, though? The nutritional values of H-E-B's Big 'n Belgian Waffles. These waffles are definitely a supersized affair, and they have the nutrition to show for it: Each single waffle (which is one serving) provides 460 milligrams of sodium, a full fifth of your daily value.

One waffle also comes in with 46 grams of carbohydrates — that's about the same amount as two medium sweet potatoes – and has just three grams of fiber to show for them all. It's also worth noting there are 1.5 grams of saturated fat in each portion, 8% of your daily value, and 19 grams of fat in total. For all that, there's barely any sign of vitamins and minerals. Each portion has just 3% of your daily recommended limit for potassium, 2% of your calcium daily limit, and no iron at all.

So here's the thing about Whole Foods: A lot of the time, the food it sells really isn't that wholesome. If you need any proof of this, look no further than its 365 Sweet Belgian Waffles. These things are sweet by name and sweet by nature, and they have the sugar content to show for it. Every serving size of just one waffle, which weighs 55 grams apiece, has a massive 14 grams of added sugar. That means that over a quarter of these waffles are pure sugar, folks. We'd expect that from candy, but not from breakfast.

As well as this, these waffles have 8 grams of saturated fat per serving, 40% of your daily value. While the 220 milligrams of sodium is on the lower side as far as waffles are concerned, it's still a little more than we'd like to see. What's most concerning, though, is how all of these nutrients are packed into such a small serving size. Eat two by mistake, and you've just had an incredibly unhealthy breakfast.