Best French Toast Recipe
Posted Sep 06, 2023, Updated Feb 12, 2024
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This is the best french toast recipe. It is easy to make in 20 minutes with 7 ingredients and is a delicious, special occasion breakfast!
Have you ever wondered why French toast is so delicious? Really, it’s just bread dipped in eggs and milk, and it magically transforms into one of the best breakfast foods ever. It’s a true testament to the fact that there is beauty in simplicity.
This easy French toast recipe is one of our favorite special breakfasts! I make it on Christmas morning, for birthday breakfasts for my kids, etc. because it’s delicious & easy!
It’s best served with a dollop of homemade whipped cream and a drizzle of pure maple syrup!
French Toast: Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are a few possible substitutions that could be made in this recipe!
- Bread. we use cinnamon bread from a local bakery to make this easy french toast. Use your favorite bread, here are some suggestions: a buttery brioche loaf, sourdough, french bread, or cinnamon swirl bread are all great choices.
- Light Brown sugar. Dark brown sugar or coconut sugar both work great in this recipe.
- Whole milk. Any milk would work well, including non-dairy milk. Just remember that the higher the fat content, the richer and tastier the recipe will turn out. Half and half is also a great choice.
- Salted butter. Cooking french toast in salted butter takes it from good to great. I don’t recommend skipping this!
How to make French Toast
I’m going to walk you through all my tips and tricks to making the best french toast recipe ever!
Make the egg/milk mixture
Begin by whisking the eggs together.
Then whisk the sugar, vanilla and cinnamon into the eggs before adding the milk.
Then, whisk in the milk.
Once the mixture in finished, pour it into a shallow baking dish.
Using a rectangular baking dish (pictured below) to dip the bread into the egg mixture allows you to evenly soak two pieces of bread at the same time, which is a huge time saver when making this recipe.
Cook the French Toast
Now it’s time to soak the bread and cook the french toast! I recommend soaking the bread for 10-15 seconds on each side. This varies tremendously with the texture of the bread you choose. A light and airy brioche needs to soak for less time than a hearty sourdough.
The thickness of your bread also effects the soaking time. Thicker bread will require more soaking, while thinner bread will only need to be soaked for a short time.
Butter the Griddle or Pan
I prefer cooking breakfast foods on a griddle for two reasons.
- I can cook large batches at a time when using a large griddle.
- You can set the temperature and it is maintained evenly throughout cooking.
Either way, make sure to melt ½ Tablespoon salted butter on the griddle or pan between every batch of French toast. Spread it around so that it covers the entire surface area of the griddle/pan. Because that crispy, buttery, golden-brown toasting makes this recipe extra special.
If you don’t have a griddle, use a large, non-stick fry pan instead. Just note, every cooktop is different, so you will need to determine the amount of heat you use until you get it just right.
Turn the heat on to medium and place the fry pan over the flame/heating element to let it warm up.
Add the french toast pieces and cook until golden-brown on one side!
Flip and cook until golden-brown on the second side.
Serve immediately or place on a baking sheet in a warm oven to keep until all the pieces are cooked!
Keep French Toast Warm
If you would like to serve all of your French toast at the same time, I recommend keeping it warm in the oven.
Heat the oven to it’s “warm” setting. Then, as you finish each batch of french toast, put the pieces on a large baking sheet in the warm oven until you are finished and ready to serve.
Serve
Serve warm with maple syrup, homemade whipped cream or a slather of this cinnamon honey butter.
Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave, on the stovetop or in the oven.
How to freeze French toast
- Flash-freeze the leftover pieces on a baking sheet, then put the frozen French toast in a freezer-friendly container or ziplock bag and save them for another day!
- To reheat simply warm in the microwave for 60-90 seconds per piece (depending on how thick the slices are).
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use two loaves of bread and double this recipe easily.
Our family usually doesn’t finish an entire recipe in one sitting. If that’s the case for you as well, you can freeze the leftovers.
Flash-freeze the leftover pieces on a baking sheet, then put the frozen French toast in a freezer-friendly container or ziplock bag and save them for another day.
To reheat simply warm in the microwave for 60-90 seconds per piece (depending on how thick the slices are) or in the oven set to warm until heated through.
Adding cinnamon and vanilla to the mixture is one of my secrets for making the best french toast. Also, cooking the french toast in melted butter takes it from great to amazing!
-Over or under soaking the bread.
-Choosing a bread that isn’t great for french toast (like white bread).
-Not whisking the wet mixture together thoroughly.
-Over-cooking – no one likes burnt french toast. Cook until it’s golden brown.
-Not preheating the griddle or nonstick pan (it needs to be warm/hot before putting the french toast on it).
Always and only butter forever!
It should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
If you make and love our recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so we can see your creations!
Easy French Toast Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 loaf bread (cinnamon bread, brioche bread, french bread, sourdough, etc).
- 4 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- butter for skillet
Instructions
- Preheat griddle to 350 degrees F. (see notes for stovetop instructions)
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs.
- Add brown sugar, sea salt, vanilla and cinnamon and whisk until combined.
- Add milk and whisk until combined.
- Pour into a shallow baking dish (9×9)
- Place bread in the egg mixture and let it soak in the mixture for 10-15 seconds.
- Flip bread over and repeat on the other side.
- Melt ½ Tablespoon butter on the preheated electric griddle (or fry pan).
- Remove bread from egg/milk mixture and place on the heated, buttered cooking surface.
- Cook for 3-5 minutes on the first side or until golden brown.
- Flip the bread over and repeat on the second side.
- Continue dipping/cooking until all the bread has been used.
- Serve immediately with a glug of pure maple syrup!
Video
Notes
- Turn the heat on to medium and place the fry pan over the flame/heating element to let it warm up.
- Add the french toast pieces and cook until golden-brown on one side!
- Flip and cook until golden-brown on the second side!
- Bread. Use your favorite bread – a buttery brioche loaf, sourdough, french bread, cinnamon swirl bread, etc.
- Light Brown sugar. dark brown sugar is great too,
- Whole milk. 2% or half and half are both good substitutes.
- Flash-freeze the leftover pieces on a baking sheet, then put the frozen French toast in a freezer-friendly container or ziplock bag and save them for another day!
- To reheat simply warm in the microwave for 60-90 seconds per piece (depending on how thick the slices are).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
made this for my family they loved it added an extra topping of jelly and mixed berries with a side of eggs bacon and oatmeal.
This was a hit I used egg bread from Publix bakery and it was delicious 😋. The brown sugar made a difference normally I would only use vanilla and cinnamon!! Can’t wait to make more!!!
I’m so glad you loved it! 🙂 This is one of our favorite recipes!
I love French Toast and my Husband makes the best I have ever had! Safeway-the grocery chain-used to carry their own version of Cinnamon Raisin Bread with walnuts. When used to make French Toast it tasted like Bread Pudding and was so delicious! Can’t find it anymore-and have tried all sorts of bread-cheap to fancy and have found that “crappy white bread” as my Mother calls it-works the BEST! It just soaks up the luscious eggy-ness and is amazingly delish! Thanks for the great recipe and al the good ideas! P.S. You have a lovely Family! So cute!!
Made these this morning, they were very delicious! Never thought of making french toast using cinnamon bread or brown sugar, good combination. 10 out of 10, best french toast recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Mary! I think the cinnamon bread gives it an extra special (and delicious) touch!
Really good! I never knew to soak it in a rectangular dish and I feel silly about that!
It makes it easier to get two pieces soaking at one time! 😉
So delicious! The brown sugar really makes a difference!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Tatum!
This was delicious, I love using brown sugar and the cinnamon bread was a game changer! 10 out of 10!
Thank you so much Dakota! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Doesn’t that bread just make it out-of-this-world delicious?! 😉
What if you dont have a griddle
Simply use a non-stick fry pan!
Have not tried this yet, but I’m dying to make my own French Toast😍 I’m gonna try this recipe and substitute the eggs with flax eggs to make it vegan☺️ I hope it works out just as great!
This looks really good. Now, I am thinking of having this for breakfast tomorrow + bacon. OMG! I am not even sure if I can sleep thinking about it. (haha!)
Bacon is a GREAT choice as an addition to make this breakfast even better! 🙂
A GOOD sturdy bread is so essential. I should go to Kneader’s now and get that bread; we do have a Kneader’s here!