Name: The Best French Toast Recipe You'll Ever Make
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 8 slices bread; 2 large eggs; 1 1/2 cups milk; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; 4 tablespoon butter; Syrup; Fresh fruit; Powdered sugar

Jump to Recipe

A classic French toast recipe is a must in every home cooks repertoire. Growing up, my mama made French toast on occasion, but I didn't try making it myself until I was in my 30's. There was just something daunting about this recipe, but I soon discovered it's much easier than I realized. This is the best French toast recipe you'll ever make, and truly one of the easiest you'll find!

French Toast Recipe

What's so special about bread, milk, eggs, and a bit of cinnamon? Well, this is the combination of flavors and textures you never knew you needed in your life.

Combining milk, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon gives you an almost custard-based mixture. As long as you follow these tips, it will give you the perfect coating to create the slightly sweet and crisp outer coating. During the cooking process, you'll heat the toast throughout so every bite is rich, soft on the inside, crisp on the outside, and perfectly cooked.

What is the Best Bread for French Toast?

This is a long-debated topic in my home. The best thing about French toast recipes is that there are so many versions. For this, I used a very basic regular everyday white bread from the grocery store. I did this to show you just how easy it is to make, and that you don't need fancy ingredients.

That said, my personal favorite bread is a nice thick Texas toast. I love how it stays so soft and fluffy on the inside, and find it is perfect for turning into French toast sticks for dipping. That doesn't mean it's the best for everyone or even the best in general.

What's the best bread for making French Toast? Whatever bread you want to use! Below are some good ideas for bread that have what I feel are better results than some.

Texas toast
Cinnamon raisin bread
Challah bread
Whole grain bread
Oat bread
Whole wheat bread
Raisin bread
Thick cut French bread
Stale cinnamon rolls

Variations of French Toast

Of course, there are tons of options for making this recipe your own. Below are just a few of the variations we use, aside from the different bread options listed above.

Add apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon in the mixture
Top with fruit syrup or jam
Dust with unsweetened cocoa powder instead of powdered sugar
Top with macerated berries and whipped cream
Make with leftover pancakes instead of bread

Can I Make French Toast Without Milk?

While the base of my recipe is a mixture of milk and heavy cream, I know that many who struggle with lactose so need an alternative. If you do not drink dairy milk, you can use many alternatives for this recipe.

Substitute equal amounts of your favorite non-dairy milk. I find that unsweetened almond milk or vanilla almond milk are my favorites. A close second is coconut milk when I am looking for a slightly different flavor. Get creative and use the alternate milk source you prefer.

You can even make your own homemade oat milk for this purpose if needed!

Do I Have to Use Eggs in My Dipping Mixture?

Eggs are part of the binding process that helps keep the flavors and gets the toast crisp. That doesn't, however, mean you have to use eggs. If you are vegan, don't have eggs on hand, or have an egg allergy, there are other great options you can use in place of the egg.

1-2 teaspoons cornstarch whisked into the milk mixture can thicken it nicely
A flax egg is a popular vegan egg replacement that works great for this purpose
Any vegan egg powder can be mixed and used in place of a regular egg
Aquafaba (canned chickpea liquid) is a fair substitute if nothing else is available

I would not recommend using applesauce or banana in this. They are often referred to as an egg replacer when baking, but for this purpose don't give the same result you are looking for when cooking.

How Can I Keep the Eggs from Scrambling?

Confession time. I am not a fan of eggs. Sure, I use them all the time, and I'm a sucker for a delicious fully loaded breakfast burrito (especially El Azteca breakfast burritos in San Diego). By themselves though? Nope. Not my thing.

So, as I started making French toast, I struggled with the sometimes "eggy" flavor that was left when dipping bread into the egg mixture for this recipe.

What was my solution, you ask?

Just simply mix those eggs better! This is where using a hand mixer to beat together your egg, sugar, milk mixture is vital. I've tried with a whisk and by hand with a fork, but neither method gets that nice incorporation I want. When your dipping mixture is really mixed well, you'll not have that "egg scramble" issue. Try it. You'll be happy that you did.

Can I Make French Toast Ahead of Time to Freeze?

Yes! French toast in itself is a pretty fast and easy breakfast to make, but sometimes, even on a good day, I am just swamped and don't have that extra 5 minutes. So, having it already made in the freezer to pop into my toaster is super handy. Thus my tips below for freezing it ahead of time for future meals.

How to Freeze French Toast

Prepare this recipe as directed, then lay the toast out in a single layer on a baking sheet to cool. Pop this baking sheet into the freezer for 30-minutes to an hour until it begins to harden.

Remove it from the freezer, and stack together with a sheet of wax paper between each piece. Slide these into an airtight freezer storage container or freezer storage bag. Label it with the name and date, then pop into your freezer until ready.

Why this process? By freezing individually, it makes it much easier to grab just 1-2 slices when needed instead of having to thaw the whole package when only you want French toast for breakfast.

How to Make Stuffed French Toast

I see a lot of people asking about how to make stuffed French Toast. While many of the same principles and processes apply, it is a slightly different recipe. You can still use the combination of ingredients in this recipe for your coating and cooking process, but you'll need to stuff the toast ahead of time.

To stuff French toast, you'll need to use one of two methods. Use a thick slice of bread that you have created a hole in the center for adding your stuffing. Or, you'll need to use two slices and crimp the edges together after filling.

If you want a full tutorial, check out this video for making strawberry cheesecake stuffed French toast.

Ingredients

Bread
Eggs
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Vanilla
Milk
Heavy Cream
Butter

Toppings:

Syrup
Powdered sugar
Fresh fruit

How to Make Homemade French Toast

In a large bowl, add eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, and heavy cream then mix until combined. I like to use a hand mixer to get it nice and fluffy and well combined.

In a large skillet, melt butter.

Dip a slice of bread into the egg and milk mixture making sure it is coated on both sides, then place into the hot pan.

Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until both sides are browned. Continue this process until all bread is cooked.

Stack on a plate and cover with your favorite syrup. Sprinkle on some extra powdered sugar and top with fruit.

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Chef's Tip

To reheat French toast for a second serving, pop it in the toaster on a lower setting and crips for a short time. This gives you the crisp outside without making your toast soggy from heating in the microwave.

📖 Recipe

Yield: 4