Challah French Toast is a decadent breakfast recipe of thick cut challah bread dipped in cinnamon vanilla custard and pan-fried golden brown.
Thick-cut, rich challah bread is an easy, delicious way to turn a classic Breakfast into a restaurant-worthy dish! For more rich, decadent French toast recipes, check out my Nutella Stuffed French Toast and Easy Baked French Toast Casserole!
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Challah French Toast Recipe
Imagine a warm, cinnamon-vanilla scented soft bread, a crispy buttery crust, and a rich eggy custard all wrapped into one delicious bite. With this easy recipe for Challah French Toast, you won’t have to imagine what that tastes like ever again. All you need is about 15 minutes, a loaf of Challah bread from the bakery, and a handful of ingredients you already have on hand for the most amazing, decadent french toast you’ll ever eat.
Challah is a soft, eggy bread that looks gorgeous and is perfect for soaking up the thick egg custard. The custard is made with just milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar for a slightly sweet, rich batter. Finally it’s fried in lots of butter for a melt-in-your-mouth crispy coating. Serve this buttery, cinnamon vanilla french toast with powdered sugar, Whipped Cream and fresh berries, or add even more butter and a drizzle of warm maple syrup.
Key Ingredients
- Challah Bread: Challah bread is buttery, eggy and slightly sweet, basically doubling all the amazing french toast flavors. Cut the loaf of challah into thick 1 inch slices that will hold up to the thick custard but still cook nice and soft.
- Milk: Whole milk is the first part of making the perfect eggy custard for french toast. Lowfat milk will make the egg mixture too thin to form a nice layer around the bread slices.
- Eggs: The other main part of the egg custard mixture is of course eggs. I like to use the whole egg because the yolk adds richness and the egg whites keep the mixture light. The egg adds flavor and is what makes the custard stick to the bread without making it soggy.
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg: Cinnamon is the classic spice used for french toast because of its warm, earthy flavor that’s slightly sweet. I like to add a bit of ground nutmeg to my french toast for extra woodsy spiced flavor.
- Vanilla: I added 2 teaspoons vanilla extract to make sure you can taste the warm, sweet vanilla flavor among all the other rich flavors happening in this delicious dish. Make sure to use real vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for the best taste.
- Butter: I use a generous amount of butter to give the challah slices a golden brown color and slightly crispy edges. It combines with vanilla and sugar to create a sweet rich flavor that makes French toast so amazing.
How to Make
Time needed: 20 minutes.
- Make Custard
Whisk the eggs, milk, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract in a bowl until completely combined. There shouldn’t be any streaks of egg in the custard mixture.
- Soak Bread
Dip slices of challah bread in egg mixture on both sides, letting it soak for 15 seconds then let the excess milk drip off for 5 seconds.
- Slice Bread
Cut a loaf of bread into 1-inch slices. You should get about 8-10 pieces of bread.
- Cook
Melt the butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat. Add 2-3 slices of bread to the buttered skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and slightly crispy.
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 8 slices Challah bread , sliced 1" thick
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Whisk together the egg, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl.
- Dip the challah bread in the custard, both sides and let milk soak for 15 seconds then remove and let drip for 5 seconds before adding to pan.
- Add the butter to a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat before adding the bread in and cooking until browned on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- Serve with maple syrup and berries.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Note: Challah Bread
Challah Bread is a braided egg bread made with fine white flour, sugar, oil, water yeast, and lots of eggs. It tastes similar to brioche bread, with a soft, rich center that is slightly sweet. Challah orginated in the Jewish community and is eaten as a part of Jewish rituals like Shabbat and major High Holidays like Rosh Hashanah. It is more wide spread now and can be found in most bakeries and grocery stores.
How to Store
- Serve: French toast is always best served hot and fresh from the pan, but it can be kept out for up to 2 hours. You can keep it warm in the oven on a baking sheet for about an hour.
- Store: Once it’s cooled, store leftover slices in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Cool all the way to keep bread from getting soggy. Reheat slices in the toaster or in a skillet to make it crispy again.
- Freeze: Freeze cooked slices on a baking sheet for 1 hour then transfer frozen slices to an airtight storage bag. French toast will stay good in the freezer for about 4 months.
Alternative Cooking Methods
Baked Challah French Toast
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare the egg custard and pour in a large dish. Add the bread slices and soak in mixture for 15-30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Brush a sheet pan with melted butter or vegetable oil. Heat the baking pan in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Place slices of soaked challah slices on the hot baking pan in a single layer.
- Bake for 5-6 minutes until golden, then flip and cook 5 minutes on the other side.
Air Fryer Challah French Toast
- Spray sir fryer basket really well with non-stick spray.
- Prepare custard mixture and dip french toast slices as usual. Make sure all the excess drips off.
- Heat your air fryer to 400 degrees and add 2 slices of coated bread to the basket.
- Cook on one side for 5 minutes, flip bread and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, until golden brown and edges are crispy.
- Repeat with remaining bread, keeping slices warm in the oven as needed.
Frequent Questions
One loaf of Challah Bread will make 8 slices of thick cut french toast. You can slice the bread slightly thinner to stretch it to 10 slices of french toast, but I don’t recommend cutting them too much thinner. This french toast recipe is meant to be extra thick so grab another loaf and double the recipe if you need to make more than 8-10 slices.
If you are making a big batch of toast for a crowd, you may need to keep it warm before serving it. Keep your Challah Bread French Toast warm in an oven at 250-275 degrees. Arrange slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and cover the pan loosely with foil. You can keep it warm like this for about an hour.
While Challah French Toast is supposed to have a custardy center, you do want to make sure it’s cooked and not mushy. When the skillet gets too hot, the outside of your bread will cook too fast but the inside will be soggy and uncooked. If your french toast isn’t cooking properly, remove the pan from the burner, wipe out any butter, and let it cool. Start again with a cool pan and melt a couple tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
Although they are both egg breads, there are a couple differences between challah bread and brioche bread. Brioche bread is made with butter and sometimes cream, so it is quite a bit richer. Challah bread is made without dairy, using oil so it is kosher. Also, brioche is usually arranged in a bread tin to bake where challah is braided into a long loaf and baked on a tray.
Variations
- Milk: While you don’t want to use low-fat milk in this french toast recipe, you can use a fattier milk like heavy cream, buttermilk, or half and half. For a rich, tangy flavor you can add some sour cream into your milk mixture.
- Brown Sugar: Give the custard a slightly caramel flavor by swapping the white sugar with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. I use a little more brown sugar to make sure that caramelized flavor comes out.
- Pumpkin: For a fall twist, try Pumpkin Challah French Toast by adding ½ cup pumpkin puree to the custard and swap the spices with Pumpkin Pie Spice.
- Chai Tea: Chai spices are delicious with french toast flavors. Start with 2 ½ cups milk and heat in a saucepan until simmering. Add 1-2 chai tea bags to the milk and remove from heat. Let steep until milk is cooled, then use milk in recipe like usual.
- Sweet Toppings: Add some super sweet toppings to this buttery french toast like Candied Pecans, Salted Caramel Sauce, Ice Cream, chocolate chips, toffee bits, caramelized bananas, or canned peaches.
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