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This simple French Toast Recipe is ready in minutes, fast enough for breakfast before school, but tasty enough for lazy weekends. It’s the only recipe you’ll ever need, and you can use it for whatever bread you have on hand.
Perfectly Easy French Toast Recipe
At its core, French toast needs to be nothing more than bread dipped in beaten egg. But as a classically-trained chef, I figured out that just a few more ingredients lead to a better French toast, and a better breakfast overall.
Milk adds a richness to the batter that tastes great – and stretches your recipe at the same time. A splash of vanilla adds sweetness without sugar and a deeper flavor that really shines through once the toast is out of the skillet.
When it comes to bread choices, you can make French toast out of almost anything: croissants, challah, sandwich bread, or even sourdough. But my go-to staple is Texas toast. It’s thick and hearty but still soft, and it absorbs the batter like a sponge.
For extra flavor, grease your skillet with butter. Then, top off your epic French toast with pure maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar and ground cinnamon, or try whipped cream and fresh berries or even candied pecans.
Table of Contents
Simple French Toast Recipe Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Texas Toast: French toast is an ideal way to use up day-old or stale bread, so there’s no need to sacrifice your freshest bread. I used Texas Toast here for its thick slices of bread, but nearly any style of slice will do. Try sourdough, French bread, challah, brioche, sturdy sandwich bread, or even cinnamon raisin bread.
- Milk: Any dairy, non-dairy milk, or dairy-free milk alternatives, such as almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, oat milk, or soy milk will do, as long as it is unflavored and unsweetened.
Best Bread For French Toast
The best bread for French toast is anything sturdy that can stand up to the wet batter. I love Texas toast, brioche, challah, leftover croissants, or a sturdy country loaf. Regular-slice store-bought sandwich bread can work in a pinch, but it isn’t ideal and may sag under the weight of the liquid batter.
Day-old bread softens in the batter, so feel free to put your dry, stale bread to use in French toast! It’s an economical, tasty way to reduce food waste while creating a delicious meal.
French Toast Egg to Milk Ratio
I like to use a ratio of 3:2 eggs-to-milk ratio when making French toast. In this case, 4 eggs is about ¾ cup eggs when whisked together combined with ½ cup milk.
Eggs function as the binder in the batter so it sticks to the bread. Milk adds richness and extra moisture. I also love to add a dash of vanilla for warmth and sweetness without added sugar.
How to Make Homemade French Toast
- Preheat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat to about 350 degrees. Melt butter and swirl to coat the surface. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Working with one slice at a time, dredge the bread in the batter mixture. Tap gently on the side of the bowl to remove excess, then lay on the preheated skillet. Add more slices in a single layer without touching until the skillet is full.
- Cook without moving until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Flip carefully and continue cooking on the second side until browned, about 2 minutes longer.
- Repeat with all remaining bread slices, adding more butter as needed between batches. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup or fresh fruit and whipped cream.
Basic French Toast Recipe Variations
- Yield: This recipe will make 14 thick slices of Texas toast. It’s enough to use an entire 1-pound loaf.
- Challah French toast: I love Challah for French toast because its dense texture really soaks up all that batter.
- Croissant French toast: If you have leftover croissants instead of Challah, you can turn those into French toast, too.
- Cornflake French toast: Cornflake French Toast allows you to enjoy two breakfast menu favorites, cereal and French toast, in one easy, family-friendly breakfast recipe.
- French toast sticks: Like a mash-up of a cinnamon-sugar donut and French toast, these French Toast Sticks are one of my best family breakfast recipe ideas.
- Baked French toast: This custardy make-ahead Baked French Toast recipe only gets better as it chills overnight. Come morning, add a cinnamon streusel topping, and bake.
- More toppings: Try whipped cream and fresh berries, orange marmalade, strawberry jam, or sweetened condensed milk on your French toast.
How to Store Texas Toast French Toast
Store leftovers covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To Freeze:
Freeze French Toast slices on a baking sheet and transfer slices to an air-tight freezer bag. Freeze up to 2 months. Reheat in the toaster, oven, or stove in a hot skillet or cast iron.
How to Serve Homemade French Toast
Top your French toast with butter and maple syrup, whipped cream and fresh fruit, jam, honey, marmalade, mascarpone, candied nuts, or fresh zest. I also love powdered sugar and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Serve with juice or coffee and maybe a side of cooked bacon.
Frequently Asked Questions
At a basic level, French toast needs only to be made with egg. Scramble some raw eggs in a bowl, dip your bread, and fry it. That qualifies as French toast. Many recipes include other ingredients in the batter such as milk or cream and spices or flavors such as cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla. But in reality, you only need egg.
If you can slice it, you can make it into French toast! Texas toast, challah, croissants, sourdough, cheap sandwich bread, and more are all delicious when coated with an egg mixture and fried.
It’s really important that the fat you’re frying in (butter or oil, most likely) be HOT when you add your French toast. If it’s not hot, it will simply soak into the bread and lead to soggy French toast. When it’s HOT, it will fry the bread instead of soaking it in.
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French Toast Recipe
Ingredients
- Butter for the skillet and for serving
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 loaf Texas Toast (14 slices, see note 1)
- Maple syrup for serving
Instructions
- Preheat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat to about 350 degrees. Melt butter and swirl to coat the surface. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Working with one slice at a time, dredge the bread in the batter mixture. Tap gently on the side of the bowl to remove excess, then lay on the preheated skillet. Add more slices in a single layer without touching until the skillet is full.
- Cook without moving until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Flip carefully and continue cooking on the second side until browned, about 2 minutes longer.
- Repeat with all remaining bread slices, adding more butter as needed between batches. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup or fresh fruit and whipped cream.
Notes
- Texas Toast: French toast is an ideal way to use up day-old bread, so there’s need to sacrifice your freshest bread. I used Texas Toast here, but nearly any style of slice will do. Try sourdough, French bread, challah, brioche, sturdy sandwich bread, or even cinnamon raisin bread.
- Yield: This recipe will make 14 thick slices of Texas toast. It’s enough to use an entire 1-pound loaf.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This is one of the easiest recipes to make, Iโve been cooking French toast since I was about 12.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it and found it easy, Cailin! Thank you for writing! – Meggan