This easy French toast recipe is seriously good – you only need 30 minutes and a few simple ingredients to make it. Jump to the Easy French Toast Recipe
How to Make Vanilla French Toast
Few breakfasts are better than thick-cut bread slices soaked in vanilla-scented egg and milk custard and toasted until golden brown. This recipe is so simple to make and is one to keep in your back pocket. We don’t add too many extras to our French toast — a sprinkle of powdered sugar or drizzle of maple syrup is all we need. Well, that and some coffee — if we’re talking summertime, it would be cold brew coffee.
That doesn’t mean you couldn’t go big with the toppings, though. A good friend swears by cinnamon sugar (we included a recipe below). Or top with fresh berries, a simple fruit salad, whipped cream or honey.
I know I said it already, but this recipe is simple.
Start with thick slices of day-old bread then soak them in a mixture of eggs, milk, cream and vanilla extract. We like using bread from the bakery — brioche, French bread or rustic Italian-style bread will all work.
The key is that they aren’t too fresh — the older the bread is, the more custard the bread will soak up. Day old bread also soaks it up quicker, making it possible to make this in under half an hour.
You’ll also want to use thick-cut bread. Thinly sliced bread falls apart more easily. Slice the bread 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick.
After the bread has a chance to soak up all the eggs and cream, throw the thoroughly soaked bread into a pan with some hot melted butter and cook until golden brown on both sides.
By the way, if you are on the lookout for a more crowd-friendly French toast recipe, try our Easy Baked Cinnamon French Toast. It can be made straight away or overnight!
A+J Tip: Work in Batches Using a Warm Oven
If you’re making French toast for many, use this little trick we picked up from making waffles. Heat your oven to somewhere between 170 degrees F and 200 degrees 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.
More Easy Breakfast Recipes
- Our Favorite Blueberry Pancakes — This easy recipe makes pancakes that are light, fluffy, and bursting with blueberries.
- Easy, Delicious Whole Wheat Pancakes — How to make whole wheat pancakes that are light, fluffy and delicious!
- Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins — How to make healthy banana blueberry muffins that actually taste good! We add whole grains, ripe bananas and reduce the sugar.
- Perfect Baked French Toast — This easy baked French toast casserole is lightly spiced, slightly sweet, perfectly soft in the middle, and has a buttery crisp top.
- Easy Fluffy Pancakes Recipe from Scratch — This easy recipe makes pancakes that are light and fluffy and only calls for a few simple ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now.
Recipe updated, originally posted May 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne
Seriously Good French Toast
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Few breakfasts are better than thick-cut bread slices soaked in vanilla-scented egg and milk custard and toasted until golden brown. French toast is perfect for weekends – it only takes 30 minutes and a few ingredients to make. One or two-day-old bread is best for making French toast. If it’s fresh, it will crumble or fall apart when added to the egg mixture or during cooking. French, Italian, brioche or Challah bread are all great for this.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
4 large eggs
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1/4 cup (60 ml) 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 degrees F. 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. Continue to move the slices 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. Transfer cooked French toast to warm oven while you cook the remaining bread slices. Add additional butter as needed for each batch.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- To make 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 Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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.
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. ?
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.
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!!!
Thank you for sharing this? Delicious dish ever ✌️
What is the serving size?
Hi there, We assumed 2 slices of French toast.
add 1/8 tsp of cinnamon to the 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!