This is the best recipe for traditional French Toast! By selecting the best bread, to following a few tricks, you will make french toast that is restaurant-worthy!
This is a classic recipe for french toast made with thick slices of bread that have been soaked in a perfectly sweet egg custard and then pan-fried to perfection. While I love this classic recipe, if you are looking for a spin on French Toast, check out French Toast Casserole, Bananas Foster French Toast, or Banana Bread French Toast.
There is something magical about French Toast.
The buttery, crisp edges and soft fluffy interior of sweetened bread, all enveloped in a maple syrup is the perfect contrast in textures and is just sweet enough without being cloyingly sweet.
French Toast was my FAVORITE breakfast as a child. My sisters loved traditional pancakes, my brother loved oven pancakes, my mom loved frittatas, my dad loved Sausage breakfast casserole and I LOVED french toast.
French toast is easy to make, but it is also easy to mess up. My recipe for French Toast is THE BEST French Toast–and it is still incredibly easy to make.
It is everything you want in a good French Toast Recipe. The french toast is creamy and eggy, a bit crispy on the edges, and buttery and sweet.
Secrets for the Best French Toast
Choose the right bread: It is best to purchase or make a bread that can be sliced into 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick slices. You also want your bread to be slightly dried out, as this allows more egg custard can be absorbed, giving the French toast more flavor. If you don’t have day-old bread, arrange fresh bread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet overnight to allow the bread to dry out. You can also place the baking sheet in a 200-degree oven for 10-20 minutes, flipping the bread half-way to dry out the bread quickly. As for the type of bread, you want a thick, hearty bread. See options below.
Finish Cooking in the Oven. Often times French toast is soggy or over-cooked. Sometimes it is too eggy. Sometimes it is raw in the center. The TRICK to the BEST French Toast is all in how you COOK it! To achieve a crispy exterior and a fluffy center, start the French Toast on the stove to brown, but then finish cooking in the oven.
What is the Best Bread for French Toast?
The great thing about French Toast is that you can use any bread you like to make it, but there are some breads that are better than others for french toast.
Select from the following options:
- Brioche Bread–This eggy, sweet bread is an obvious choice for french toast and makes a decadent breakfast.
- Italian Bread–I often opt for using store-bought or homemade Italian Bread for French Toast. Italian bread absorbs the egg custard perfectly and has a larger surface area than French bread.
- French Bread–The plain flavor of French Bread is perfect for French Toast, but because of the narrow loaf size, it is not my favorite choice for French Toast.
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread–It is a great idea to switch up the flavors of French Toast and use Cinnamon Raisin Bread.
- Dutch Oven Bread–While Dutch Oven bread has a thick crust that you may want to remove before using for french toast, the
- Sliced Sandwich Bread–When using a loaf of sandwich bread, the slices are often fairly thin. Prepare as recipe states, but the baking time of the French Toast will not be necessary, because the egg custard will have time to fully cook in the skillet.
Use your favorite gluten-free variety of the bread selections listed above for a gluten-free french toast.
How To Make French Toast
Step One: Prepare the Egg Custard
- Whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and a dash of salt together until well combined.
- Pour egg custard into a shallow dish like a pie pan.
Step Two: Prepare your French Toast Stations
To make French Toast EASY to prepare, have a work station ready to go.
- Place sliced bread and egg custard close to the stove.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Place baking sheet next to stove.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Have butter next to skillet.
Step Three: Prepare French Toast
- Add 1-2 teaspoon butter to the skillet and let melt to coat bottom of skillet evenly.
- Dip the bread into the egg custard on each side, about 5-10 seconds per side.
- Remove bread from custard and shake off excess.
- Place French Toast in skillet and pan fry until browned, about 3 minutes.
- Flip and cook for 2-3 minutes on the opposite side.
- Remove from skillet and place browned French Toast on the baking sheet.
- Repeat the process, adding butter in between each batch of french toast.
Step Four: Finish in Oven
- Place prepared French Toast in oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking.
- You can choose to pan-fry french toast 1 minute longer per side and skip the step of finishing in the oven. However, I find that for thick French Toast that is creamy, not soggy on the inside and crisp on the outside, this extra step is worth the effort and truly helps to give you the BEST french toast recipe.
Step Five: Serve
- French toast is delicious with fresh fruit, maple syrup, or powdered sugar.
French Toast Recipes
- Easy Overnight French Toast Casserole
- Eggnog French Toast Casserole with Bourbon Glaze
- Bananas Foster French Toast
- Baklava French Toast with Cinnamon Honey Syrup
- Chia and Granola Crusted Banana Bread French Toast
- Easy Monte Cristo Sandwich
French Toast
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 2/3 cup half and half or other dairy
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup maple syrup plus more for serving
- dash salt
- 8 thick slices bread
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and a dash of salt together until well combined.
- Slice bread into 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick slices.
- Dip the bread into the egg custard on each side, about 5-10 seconds per side.
- Remove bread from custard and shake off excess.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Add 1-2 teaspoon butter to the skillet and let melt to coat bottom of skillet evenly.
- Place French Toast in skillet and pan fry until browned, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook for 2-3 minutes on the opposite side.
- Remove from skillet and place browned French Toast on baking sheet.
- Repeat the process, adding butter in between each batch of french toast.
- Place prepared French Toast in oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking.
- French toast is delicious with fresh fruit, maple syrup, or powdered sugar.
Notes
- Feel free to use any milk or cream that you desire. Half and half gives the egg custard a more rich luxurious taste, while skim milk does not provide as much flavor to the custard.
- Use pure vanilla extract for the richest, purest vanilla flavor in this French Toast. Be sure to not allow the bread to soak too long in the custard. This will result in soggy bread that will fall apart and not be able to be pan fried.
- Use Gluten-Free Bread for Gluten Free French Toast.
- Granulated sugar can be substituted for the maple syrup in the egg custard, but the maple flavor adds terrific flavor to this French Toast recipe.
- It is NOT necessary to finish the French Toast in the oven, but I find this step ensures that the egg custard is fully cooked and the french toast is fluffy, not at all soggy. If not finishing in the oven, cook for 1-2 minutes longer per side, being careful to not burn french toast.
The whole family loved it! Finishing it in the oven is a great tip!!
It really helps make the french toast turn out perfectly!! I am so glad you enjoy!!
Made this french toast for Valentine’s Day breakfast. So delish 🙂
Lucky family!!! So glad you enjoyed.