Keto Red Velvet Waffle Recipe
Published February 9, 2020 • Updated July 20, 2026
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These red velvet chaffles are fluffy and spongy with real buttermilk tang and a hint of cocoa. I make them for breakfast, Valentine's Day, or any morning I want something that tastes like dessert.
I started making these after I nailed my keto chaffle recipe and wanted to push it somewhere more interesting. Red velvet was the obvious direction because the flavors (buttermilk, cocoa, cream cheese) already work in a low carb batter without weird substitutions.
The key here is the cream cheese. I use it instead of shredded mozzarella because it gives the batter a mild, creamy base that lets the buttermilk and cocoa actually come through. Shredded cheese works in a basic chaffle, but here it fights the flavor you’re going for.
I’ve pushed the cocoa to a full teaspoon and that’s about my ceiling on this one. The batter is so small that anything past half a teaspoon starts tipping bitter. Half a teaspoon gives you color and warmth. A full teaspoon is deeper, almost fudgy. Past that, it overpowers everything else.
These come out spongy, not crispy. That’s by design. The soft, cake-like texture is what makes them work as a dessert or a base for the layered cake version I talk about below. If you want crunch, I cover a workaround further down the page.
If you like this style of waffle, I have a whole lineup worth trying: keto chocolate chip waffles, gingerbread chaffles, and eggnog chaffles. This one sits in the dessert category for me, but I eat it for breakfast more often than not.
How to make these chaffles
- Preheat your waffle maker. I plug mine in while I mix the batter so it’s ready to go.
- Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. The batter should be thick but pourable. Add food coloring a few drops at a time until you hit the shade you want.
- Pour about a third of the batter into a mini waffle maker. Close the lid and cook 3-5 minutes until steam stops coming out the sides. That’s your doneness cue.
- Remove and set on a wire rack. Letting them cool on a rack instead of a plate keeps the bottoms from getting soggy.
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Ingredients
1 egg -
1 oz cream cheese
-
2 tablespoons coconut flour
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1 tablespoon buttermilk
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2 teaspoons sugar free sweetener
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1/2 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder
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red food coloring
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat waffle maker
Plug in waffle maker to preheat.
Whisk all ingredients
Whisk together all of the ingredients. Add a few drops of red food coloring to achieve desired shade of pink or red.
Pour batter
Pour about 1/3 of the red velvet batter into the waffle maker if using a mini waffle maker. If using a large waffle maker, pour all of the batter. Close the waffle maker and let cook for 3-5 minutes or until waffle is golden brown and set. Waffle is meant to be spongy and will not crisp up, so cook until set and browned.
Remove it
Remove chaffle from the waffle maker and serve.
Nutrition disclaimer
The nutrition information provided is an estimate and is for informational purposes only. I am a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); however, this content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before making any lifestyle changes or beginning a new nutrition program.
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Get My Macros + Recipes →Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use almond flour instead of coconut flour?
I've tested both. You can swap in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of almond flour for the 2 tablespoons of coconut flour. The texture comes out slightly denser and less spongy, but it still holds together in the waffle maker. Coconut flour absorbs more liquid, which is why you need so much less of it. If you prefer almond flour across the board, my almond flour pancakes use a similar batter approach.
Can I skip the food coloring?
You can. Without it, you get a light brown chaffle that tastes exactly the same. I use food coloring because the color is half the fun, especially for Valentine's Day. If you want a natural option, beet powder works, though I haven't tested it in this specific recipe. Start with a small amount and work up, because beet powder can shift the flavor if you add too much.
What can I substitute for buttermilk?
I've tested this: regular milk with a splash of apple cider vinegar works. Use the same amount (1 tablespoon of milk) and add about half a teaspoon of vinegar. Let it sit for a minute before mixing it in. The tang is a little less pronounced than real buttermilk, but the cocoa carries most of the flavor so you won't miss much. Sour cream is another option. A reader of mine used it and reported the chaffles came out fine.
Can I make these in a regular waffle maker?
Yes. I pour all the batter in at once (instead of splitting it into thirds) and cook for 5-7 minutes. The chaffle comes out larger and thinner. I prefer the mini waffle maker because the smaller, thicker chaffles hold up better when I stack them into the cake version. But a full-size maker works if that's what you have.
How do I know when the chaffle is done?
I watch for steam. When you first close the lid, steam pours out the sides. Once the steam slows to almost nothing, the chaffle is set. That usually takes 3-5 minutes in my mini waffle maker. The outside will be browned but the inside stays spongy. Don't expect it to crisp up like a shredded cheese chaffle.
Can I add protein powder?
I haven't tested whey protein in this specific recipe, but collagen peptides work well. I've added a scoop (about 10g) without changing the texture noticeably. Whey protein can make baked goods rubbery if you use too much, so if you try it, start with half a scoop and see how the batter handles it.
What sweetener works best?
I use a granular erythritol blend for this recipe. Powdered erythritol dissolves faster and gives a smoother batter, so that's my preference when I have it on hand. Stevia drops work too, but I start with 3-4 drops and taste the batter before adding more. I'd avoid monk fruit sweetener here because it can have a cooling aftertaste that doesn't pair well with the cocoa.
Scaling to a dozen, does coconut flour triple straight or does the ratio need tweaking?
Batch making these Sunday, do they hold up in the fridge or should I freeze them? Coconut flour stuff gets dense on me after a day or two. Can you reheat in the waffle maker to crisp them back up?
Amber, freeze them. Coconut flour pulls in moisture fast and they go dense within a day or two in the fridge. I do flat in a freezer bag with parchment between, then 2-3 minutes in the waffle maker from frozen and they come back crispy.
Bumping the baking powder to 3/4 tsp for fluffier waffles.
Opening the waffle maker that first batch and getting hit with this warm cocoa smell, I don't know what I expected but it didn't smell like any other chaffle I've made, it smelled like an actual thing you'd want for breakfast. I do six at a time now on Sunday mornings, stack them with parchment between, and the toaster on medium brings them back crispier than fresh, the outside gets this little shell that I kind of love. Three weeks of weekday mornings and I'm still looking forward to them. That's the test for a prep recipe.
What actually makes this better than the red velvet chaffle versions I'd tried? The buttermilk is doing more than I expected. That tang rounds out the cocoa in a way the others just don't. I'd been going almond flour in my versions and the coconut flour here is just lighter, closer to sponge. This is the one.
The buttermilk call is right. I made a lot of versions before I realized the coconut flour was doing as much work as the tang, if not more. Almond flour just flattens that out.
Same thing happened to me, tried tweaking the ratios forever before I finally just gave up on almond flour entirely.
Planning to batch these for the week. Do they hold up in the fridge for a few days, or do they need the freezer to keep that spongy texture?
The day-after version is better. Made these ahead, let them cool fully, retoasted at 350 for 5 minutes, and the edges crisped into something the iron doesn't quite give you fresh. That's the move for batch-making. I've also been adding a drop of vanilla to the batter and the cocoa reads cleaner because of it, less of a flat background note against the food coloring. Holds up across batches. One thing though: the 1/3 cup fill the recipe suggests runs slightly generous for a mini iron, a scant 1/4 gets you cleaner circles.
red velvet for breakfast sounded ridiculous until it wasn't.
That's the pattern. The ridiculous ones always win.
Pulled the cream cheese out an hour before mixing and it made a bigger difference than I expected. Cold cream cheese fights coconut flour, leaves pockets you can't whisk out. I kept getting this slightly grainy edge on the first chaffle off the iron. Room temperature fixed that entirely. Batter comes together smooth and the texture holds all the way through now.
Cold cream cheese and coconut flour just don't mix. I do 15-20 seconds in the microwave when I forget to pull it early. An hour out is better but the microwave works in a pinch.
Used beet powder instead of red food coloring because I didn't have any on hand (also not thrilled about putting straight dye in my food), and it still came out this deep reddish-pink color. Added maybe half a teaspoon and couldn't taste it at all. Good to know the color isn't just decorative.
Half a tsp is the sweet spot. More than that and you'll taste it.
On my fifth or sixth batch of these and I started bumping the cocoa powder up to about 3/4 teaspoon instead of the 1/2 the recipe calls for. The flavor goes from a faint chocolate hint to something that actually tastes like red velvet cake batter. Still get that fluffy, spongy texture and the buttermilk tang either way. The one thing holding me to 4 stars is my waffle maker runs hot and the first one always sticks a bit, but a quick oil spritz before each pour fixed it.
3/4 tsp is probably right. I went conservative because some people want just a faint hint, but red velvet tastes like chocolate cake, and yours sounds more on point. First waffle always gets sacrificed.
Swapped in allulose and the edges got this crispy caramelized shell I did not see coming. Saturday mornings sorted.
Allulose does that. It caramelizes where erythritol just won't, so you get an actual shell instead of just crispy edges. Switching mine this weekend.
Red velvet cake was the thing I ordered at every birthday dinner, and going keto two years ago I quietly crossed it off the list. Made these on a Sunday with no real expectations, and the buttermilk tang in that first bite caught me off guard. I'm not much of a cook, and the whole thing came together faster than I expected, just whisking everything into a bowl and watching the batter go that deep red before it hit the waffle maker. Something about that color at breakfast felt weirdly good. Made a second batch the same morning. Four stars because I'm still figuring out the timing on my waffle maker, but the flavor is exactly what I was hoping for.
The birthday dinner thing makes sense. That tang and the deep red color together hit differently. For timing, watch the steam. Once it slows way down, it's done. Usually 3-4 minutes in a mini maker, more like 5-6 in a full size.
I didn't have buttermilk the first time I made these so I used a tablespoon of sour cream instead, fully expecting to mess it up. The batter came out a little thicker but they puffed up beautifully and had this tangy creaminess I really liked. I think I actually prefer them this way. My mini waffle maker needed about 30 extra seconds, which was easy enough to figure out. I'm pretty new to baking so I was nervous about the food coloring part, but a few drops gave me that deep red color and it felt so festive for just a random Thursday morning. Going back to try with actual buttermilk at some point just to compare, but the sour cream version is what I keep making.
Higher fat, similar tang - sour cream makes sense for this batter. The extra thickness is probably what gave you that puff. I wouldn't bother comparing.
My 9-year-old has been asking for "the red waffles" every weekend since I made these for Valentine's Day breakfast (that was over a month ago, kid). What got me was that he thought they came from a box mix. When I told him I made them with cream cheese and coconut flour he just stared at me like I'd admitted to something suspicious. The cocoa is subtle enough that it doesn't taste like health food, which I think is why he can't place it. Four stars only because I want to figure out if the buttermilk can go up a little without wrecking the batter.
Try 1.5 tablespoons. The batter can handle a little more liquid and you'll get a stronger tang without losing structure. Past 2 tablespoons it gets too thin to set properly in the waffle maker.