French Toast is a go to breakfast in our house, and with this amazing recipe you can’t go wrong. The simplest ingredients combine with a fool proof method to make the best French toast.
French Toast is a favorite in our house. My kids could eat it every single morning and not tire of it. The batter for this recipe is a thing of perfection. It is the best combination of sweet, vanilla, and cinnamon in an egg batter form that makes the the pieces of toast moist and delicious. It results in a something like a custard that you will swoon over.
In addition to the batter, the other thing that puts this recipe at the top of your breakfast bucket list, is how we handle the bread. Traditionally, this recipe was a way of using up stale bread instead of wasting it. Here, we are drying the bread first to replicate that. By first drying it out, we make it primed to absorb as much of the egg batter as it can. This leaves us with French Toast that if full of great flavor all the way through.
Hands down the best recipe I’ve used for French Toast. I followed the directions about whisking the egg whites properly and that totally changed my results. It turned out like good restaurant French Toast. Loved it.
How to Make French Toast
This is a brief overview of this delicious brunch recipe. For the full recipe with all of the ingredients, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Dry out the bread. For the best French Toast, you need to start with bread that has been dried out. Either leave it out overnight or pop it into a 200 degree oven for 15 minutes.
- Make the batter. Whisk together eggs, half and half, sugar, vanilla, and ground cinnamon. Pull a fork through the egg mixture several times to ensure that there are no large pieces of egg white not broken down. Nothing should hang on to the fork as it pulls through the batter.
- Soak the bread and cook the French toast. Each bread slice should be dunked in the batter and flipped a few times to ensure that it soaks up a lot of batter. (Though it doesn’t not need to sit in the batter.) In a hot skillet or frying pan, cook the French Toast for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
Best Bread for French Toast
The most popular bread used for French Toast in the United States is Brioche bread. This is because of it’s rich flavor which pairs perfectly with a great egg batter.
In this recipe we used Texas Toast for convenience. It is already cut, and it is the perfect thickness for great big pieces of French Toast. Other great choices for making this recipe are challah, French bread, or sourdough. Whatever you use, make sure to cut thick slices of bread, about one inch thick.
Keeping French Toast Warm
French Toast is a recipe that is made in batches. Because of that, you need a good system to keep the pieces that have already been cooked warm, while you finish cooking the rest.
We like to set our oven to “warm” (or just keep it at the 200 degrees you had it at for drying out the bread). Then we set a casserole dish with a cover in the oven. As we finish pieces of toast, we pop open the oven and toss them in the covered casserole dish.
When we go to sit down for breakfast or brunch, all the pieces of French Toast are perfectly warm.
Serving
We love our French toast with some butter and a little maple syrup. Consider setting out your butter well before serving so that it is easy to spread. We love serving fresh fruit and bacon when we put out a big breakfast inspired spread. My fruit salad recipe would also make a great addition to this table.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
Left over French toast can be stored in an airtight container, after cooling, for up to four days. To reheat it, warm up a skillet on the stove top, spray it lightly with cooking spray, and heat the toast over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
FAQ
Yes! I recommend replacing the half and half in this recipe with 1/2 a cup soy heavy cream and 1/2 cup soy milk.
Yes! Replace the bread in this recipe with thick cut gluten free bread and make the rest of the recipe as written.
Half and half is an American product that is half whole milk and half heavy cream. In the UK it is known as half cream. But if you cannot find it, you can replace it with 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup whole milk.
Two slices of French Toast is 375 calories.
Other Great Brunch Recipes
If you make this easy French toast recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
French Toast
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup half and half (236.6 ml)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (49.5 grams)
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 10 pieces of thick bread (Brioche is perfect, or if you are in the United States, Texast Toast works really well)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Toast the bread on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes, flipping them over in the middle of toasting. Alternatively, you can leave them out overnight.
- In a shallow dish whisk together the eggs, half and half, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar. Ensure that the egg whites are fully broken down by dragging a fork through the batter. Nothing should hang on to the fork as it goes through.6 large eggs, 1 cup half and half, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 3 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Dip the toasted bread slices one at a time, turning them several times to ensure they soak up a lot of the batter. I like to push them down in the batter once on each side to fully submerge them. The pieces of bread do not need to sit in the batter to soak.10 pieces of thick bread
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Cook the toast in batches for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. When you are done, tranfer them to a covered baking dish in the warm oven.
- Serve with powdered sugar, whipped cream, and fruit.
Denise says
Can canned milk be used in place of 1/2&1/2?
If that is the only way you can make this, I say go for it. But you are going to be missing the creaminess that you get from half and half (which is half heavy cream and half whole milk – canned milk has just had some of the water removed from the milk, it’s not higher in fat content).
Jan Peterson says
Hands down the best recipe I’ve used for FT. I followed the directions about whisking the egg whites properly and that totally changed my results. I did add a little nutmeg and dusted with powdered sugar. I used Texas Toast Bread and did the prebake in the oven. It turned out like good restaurant FT. Loved it.
Follow the page on FB – that’s how I found simplejoy – I like that the ingredients to most recipes are things you’d actually have in your cupboard.
I’m so glad you liked it, Jan! Thank you for taking the time to leave the review!