Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Lifestream Wildberry Gluten Free Toaster Waffles

Toaster waffles are really popular and we've reviewed them before on the Dr. Gourmet web site. But those folks with gluten sensitivity have been left out until recently. There's a lot of gluten free foods in the freezer case now and we tested some gluten free waffles this week.

Van’s All Natural Wheat Free Gourmet Waffles. Not only are these gluten free but they’re also vegan, dairy free and eggless. Amazing! What is in them? Brown rice and rice flower, potato starch and canola oil are the main ingredients.

The plain flavor is not “doughy and mushy” as one taster put it. This is certainly how I have come to think of a lot of gluten free foods because rice flour doesn’t have the elastic proteins (glutens) that are in wheat flour. Not so with this waffle as they are nicely firm and crispy. They are, however, a little bit dry and have a crumbly texture. With syrup they are not bad at all. The Apple Cinnamon are not very apple tasting and only lightly scented with cinnamon but otherwise they have the same sweet flavor as the plain.

These are 189 calories for two waffles and there’s 5 grams of fiber in the two with only 5 grams of fat (1 gram saturated fat).

The Lifestream Wildberry Gluten Free toaster waffles are much better. There’s a creamy waffle flavor similar to a good Belgian waffle and the texture is crispier than the Van’s. There’s less of the dry and crumbly feel to these. The berry taste is good and there’s a toasted aftertaste that is almost like they just came out of the waffle iron.

They are higher in calories at 220 per two waffle serving and most of that comes from the extra 2 grams of fat. Sadly they only have 1 gram of fiber.

Overall another good experience with the expanding offerings in the gluten free world.