Classic French Toast

Classic French Toast is an easy recipe ready in just 20 minutes. It features vanilla custard spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Try it today!

I love great Breakfast Recipes that can serve a crowd as we head into the holidays like the filling Loaded Breakfast Potato Pancakes.

Sabrina’s Classic French Toast Recipe

This classic French Toast recipe served with real maple syrup is the perfect breakfast for a family weekend. Many families love to get their kids involved in baking breakfast and this is the perfect recipe to bring them in to help out. When cooking the recipe with the basic ingredients, you’ll have to decide how much butter you feel comfortable using. I use a moderate amount to make a golden brown exterior and crispy edges, and with 8 slices of toast in the directions.

Frequent Questions

Key Ingredients

• Milk: The milk adds moisture to the dish and helps to effectively flavor the insides of the bread. In place of whole milk, you can also use half and half or heavy cream. If you use fat-free milk or 1% milk the custard will not be as flavorful and the egg will be a much more pronounced flavor. We are using one cup milk.
• Butter: Butter not only adds a fat component to cooking the recipe, but it also adds flavor. If you want to make a swap to the fat you’re using be aware that the mixture of vanilla and sugar and butter is meant to create a delicious, rich, flavor in the bread. If you prefer to use less, or none in favor of a spray, just know it will change the texture of your recipe.
• Eggs: Some people use up to an egg per slice of bread. The egg is meant to be a part of the mixture that just aids the setting of the custard, it isn’t meant to take the place of most of the mixture as the custard becomes too thick. Using more eggs also creates a tougher exterior that isn’t necessary, the eggs solidify making a more rubbery exterior.
• Bread: Use bread that’s thicker than most sliced bread. Use slightly sweeter bread like challah, brioche, cinnamon raisin bread, or Texas toast instead of more savory bread like wheat bread.
• Vanilla Extract: The secret ingredient to making this taste amazing is found in the vanilla extract. Make sure you are using actual vanilla extract, not the imitation kind for the best flavor. 
• Spices: The nutmeg and cinnamon are critical to making it amazing! Bonus points if you’re able to grind the spices fresh – but it’s not required. 

More French Toast Recipes

Read More French Toast Recipes

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Baked French Toast

• Step One: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) and lightly grease a large baking sheet.
• Step Two: Prepare the egg mixture in a shallow bowl per the instructions and coat the bread.
• Step Three: Arrange the slices of coated bread in the shallow baking dish in a single layer, slightly overlapping if necessary.
• Step Four: Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
• Step Five: Allow the bread to cool slightly, then dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with maple syrup.

French Toast Sticks

To make French Toast sticks slice the bread into 1 1/2-inch thick batons. With the extra surface area of the bread make about 1 ½ times the milk mixture. Dip and cook the pieces of bread as you would the slices but use extra butter as you’ll want the batons to be a bit sturdier for dunking.

Crispy French Toast

• Step One: Use much more butter in the pan and soak the bread for about half as long as normal so the milk doesn’t soak all the way through the bread.
• Step Two: Cook the bread on medium heat allowing the butter to fry the exterior of the bread making it extra crispy.
• Step Three: The butter will soak into the bread edges more creating a firmer piece that will have a crispy texture instead of a softer texture.

Can I Prepare This In Advance?

Yes, you can whisk together the batter the night before and store it in the refrigerator. This makes morning prep much quicker. However, do not soak the bread until you’re ready to cook. 

You can also make this and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze it for up to 3 months. Simply reheat on the skillet with a touch of butter and enjoy! 

Milk Substitutions

You can use any kind of milk you’d like, but we tested the recipe with whole milk. When testing with half and half or heavy cream, there was a slight increase in richness, but nothing substantial enough to warrant the extra fat content.

• Low-Fat Milk: When testing with low-fat milk options the flavor of the egg was more prominent and the custard was thinner and less flavorful.
• Evaporated Milk: Evaporated milk could also be a shelf-stable option to consider, we have tested the recipe well with evaporated milk.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: Sweetened Condensed milk should not be used as a milk substitute in this recipe, but you could use it for creating a syrup to serve with it.

Troubleshooting Recipe Problems

• Soggy: If you’ve let the bread soak in milk for too long and there is too much custard in the bread it will have a hard time setting up. The bread will be too soft even when cooked through.
• Egg Showing on Bread: Whisk the custard fully until it is one mixture without streaks of egg throughout. If you don’t the streaks will cook as any regular eggs would.
• Center is still liquid-y/Outside Overcooked: The heat is on too high so the bread isn’t able to cook all the way through before the exterior is browned and crispy. If your pan is cooking them too fast remove it from the heat, wipe out the butter, and let it cool. Reheat the pan on medium heat instead of medium-high heat and add more butter to the pan before cooking the next piece of bread.
• Dry: The egg and milk mixture just wasn’t enough. You need more, and you need the milk to soak almost all the way through the bread (don’t soak it all the way through). A good rule of thumb is to dip on one side and soak for 2-3 seconds then flip and soak for 1-2 more seconds. Let the milk drip off before adding it to the pan.

How To Store

• Serve: Don’t leave at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
• Store: Store in an airtight container to keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.
• Freeze: You can also freeze for up to 3 months. Re-heat in a toaster oven or in a skillet with a bit of butter.

Photos used in a previous version of this post.