Get ready for the best French toast you’ll ever make! This recipe has it all—a rich, creamy custard and the perfect texture. It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, and my family absolutely loves it!
Watch the Video
This classic French toast recipe has been a weekend tradition in our family for years. While we’ve tried many French toast recipes, we’ve always come back to this one – it’s that delicious!
My go-to French toast toppings are the classics – maple syrup, butter, and fresh fruit. But for something extra special, I add whipped cream or whipped coconut cream – it’s SO good if you haven’t tried it!
What Ingredients are in French Toast?
This French toast recipe is a weekend breakfast staple in our house – it’s simply the best!
Thick slices of bread soak up a creamy custard made with eggs, milk, cream, and a touch of vanilla, then get cooked in butter until golden brown and irresistible.
Here’s a tip about milk and cream: While you can make French toast with just one or the other, I’ve found the best results come from using a mix of both. It creates a perfect balance—rich and flavorful without being overly heavy. Of course, if you only have one on hand, your French toast will still be delicious! Also, dairy-free alternatives are shared in the recipe below.
The Best Bread for French Toast
The secret to really good French toast is using thick and stale bread! Day-old bread soaks up the custard beautifully and gets the perfect texture, while fresh bread breaks down in the custard and becomes soggy.
My Favorite Breads to Use:
- Brioche (rich, buttery flavor)
- French Bread (classic and sturdy)
- Rustic Italian-style loaf (hearty and flavorful)
- Challah (slightly sweet and eggy)
How to Make the Best French Toast
Prepare the custard: Whisk your eggs with the milk, cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Now grab a wide baking dish, line up your thick-sliced bread, and pour over the custard.
Soak up the custard: Move the bread around a few times to soak up all the custard. I soak my bread in the custard for a few minutes. Older bread usually soaks the custard up quicker than fresh bread (another reason to use older bread).
Cook it: When the bread soaks up all the custard, place the thoroughly soaked bread into a pan with bubbling melted butter and cook until golden brown on both sides.
I’ve included tips for making French toast for a crowd below. Check out our Make Ahead Baked French Toast for a more hands-off recipe!
Making French Toast for a Crowd
If you’re making French toast for a crowd, use this little trick we picked up from making waffles. Heat your oven to 200°F. Then, slide the cooked French toast into the oven to keep warm.
They should be fine for quite some time without drying out. This method is a great way to reheat leftovers, as well.
Make Ahead and Freezing Tips
Prepare the Day Before: Prepare the custard and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Slice the bread and store it on the counter in an airtight container.
Freezing French Toast: Cook the French toast according to our recipe below, let it cool completely on a wire rack, and then arrange it in single slices on a baking sheet. Freeze until hard, then transfer to a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to make French toast without vanilla. I love how vanilla extract adds that classic flavor to French toast – it blends so well with the eggs, cream, and bread. You can make French toast without vanilla, but you’ll lose that familiar taste. If you skip the vanilla, a tablespoon of maple syrup or honey in the custard will add a delicious sweetness.
Can I make French toast without milk? Absolutely. Swap out regular milk (and the cream in our recipe) for a 1:1 ratio of your favorite plant-based milk, such as almond, cashew, oat, soy, or coconut milk.
How do you make French toast without eggs? For eggless French toast, try these vegan alternatives: aquafaba (liquid from chickpeas), flax eggs, or store-bought egg replacers. These ingredients help bind the batter, add richness, and create a delicious, custard-like texture for your French toast.
More Weekend Breakfast Recipes
- Our Favorite Blueberry Pancakes
- Easy Whole Wheat Pancakes
- Baked Pumpkin French Toast Casserole
- Easy Fluffy Pancakes from Scratch
- How to Bake Bacon – my favorite for a crowd!
- Perfect Poached Eggs
Best French Toast
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This is our family’s all-time favorite French toast recipe! It’s easy to make, and the vanilla cream custard is absolutely delicious.
Here’s a tip: Use day-old bread (or slightly stale) for the best results. It’s sturdier and won’t crumble or fall apart in the custard or while cooking. French, Italian, brioche, or challah bread are all fantastic choices!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
4 large eggs
1/2 cup (120ml) milk
1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
8 slices day-old bread, 3/4-inch-thick
3 tablespoons butter, plus more for serving
Optional toppings: Powdered sugar, maple syrup, berries, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar (recipe below)
Directions
1Heat oven to 200°F (93°C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Slide the baking sheet into the oven. It is best to make French toast in batches. The warm oven helps keep cooked batches warm while the rest finish cooking.
2Whisk eggs, milk, cream, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt together until well blended.
3Line bread slices up in a large baking dish (it is okay if they overlap). Pour egg mixture over bread slices, then flip and move them around the egg mixture. Move the bread around the egg mixture until the bread has soaked it all up.
4Melt a tablespoon of butter in a heavy, large pan or griddle over medium-low heat. Working in batches, transfer a few slices of the soaked bread to the pan and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
5Transfer cooked French toast to a warm oven while you cook the remaining bread slices. Add additional butter as needed for each batch.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Dairy-free French Toast: Use creamy non-dairy milk like cashew, soy, coconut, oat, or almond milk.
- Eggless French Toast: Use aquafaba (liquid from chickpeas), flax eggs, or store-bought egg replacers.
- Cinnamon Sugar: Whisk 1/4 cup granulated sugar with one teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Sprinkle over French toast.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
This French toast recipe is the best and I’ve tried many. It’s so simple and not fussy and I even used cheap sandwich bread and it came out perfect.
This makes us so happy, Gene. Thanks for coming back and sharing.
By Day-old bread, do you mean get the bread fresh, slice it and leave it out, or so you mean get fresh bread, slide it, and leave it in the bag? Or don’t slice it until you’re ready for the recipe?
Hi Kathy, any of these options work. We just mean that the bread absorbs the custard best when it is not really fresh.
For a mindblowing alteration to this recipe, try it using slices of day old chocolate babka. Pure heaven, although probably a slight boost to the calorie count. ?
Brian, We love your idea (although, I’m not sure I would be able to save enough chocolate babka for the next day).
Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe for French toast, similar to the much-beloved French toast my husband’s mom used to make. This one is better because it’s made with thicker Italian bread. Hubby put blueberry preserves and a bit of pure Canadian maple syrup on his; I put cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar on mine.
Such great ideas for toppings! We are thrilled you enjoyed the recipe.
Thank you so much for this quick and delicious recipe! This was perfect for a family brunch, and the trick with the oven helped everyone’s french toast remain warm! The only change I made was to add cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg to the custard mixture. Thanks again!!!
Love your idea to add cinnamon and nutmeg. Such lovely warming flavors. I’m so happy our oven trick helped keep everyone’s French toast warm!
What is the serving size?
Hi there, We assumed 2 slices of French toast.
add 1/8 tsp of cinnamon to the custard
Cinnamon would be delicious in this custard.
I would love to try this recipe but for some reason I can’t get it to print.
That is strange that you can’t print. If you contact us with the email address on our about us page we can help you figure out what is going on. We can also email you a PDF of the print friendly page.
As always, terrific recipe!
Well thank you, Judy! So happy you enjoyed it.