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This really is the Best Ever French Toast! This easy French toast recipe is made up of your favorite gluten-free bread soaked in a subtly sweet cinnamon batter. It is perfectly fluffy in the middle with a golden and crispy exterior.
Old-Fashioned Easy French Toast Recipe
I love a good fried egg on toast or with home fries and bacon, a good frittata, or breakfast burritos. But sometimes my sweet tooth is in full force first thing in the morning! That’s where this Gluten-Free French Toast comes in.
Growing up in New York, old fashioned French Toast from local diners was my all-time favorite. I’ve eaten a lot of french toast in my day, as well as tried a lot of gluten-free bread! That’s how I know this recipe is real good.
This easy French toast recipe is insanely easy to make and the perfect way to satisfy that sweet tooth.Just use your favorite gluten-free bread, douse it in a sweet and cinnamon-y egg batter, and fry it until it’s deliciously golden and crispy.
You can keep it simple with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or a drizzle of maple syrup OR have fun with your toppings. Try butter, fresh berries or sliced banana, chocolate chips, whipped cream, chopped nuts, you name it!
What You Need to Make the Best French Toast
You just need a few ingredients to make the best French toast recipe!
- Eggs: coats the bread and gives it that crispy, golden crust. P.S. the egg to milk ratio matters, if you’ve ever had too eggy of french toast! See below.
- Milk: mixed with the eggs to add moisture to the bread and form that creamy coating. P.S. the egg to milk ratio matters, if you’ve ever had too eggy of french toast! See below.
- Cinnamon: gives the toast that sweet spice and comforting flavor.
- Vanilla: adds sweetness, warmth, and flavor depth to take the French toast to the next level.
The Ratio of Eggs to Milk for French Toast Matters!
The rule of thumb for making the best ever French toast is to use ¼ cup of milk + 1 egg for every two slices of bread you’re frying. This ensures it won’t be too egg-y!
This ratio creates a creamy custard-like batter, fluffy and tender yet crispy slices of toast, and the perfect rich flavor.
How to Make this Easy French Toast Recipe
This French toast recipe is so incredibly easy! Just a few quick minutes to throw it together, and breakfast is served!
- Make the batter: In a bowl, mix together eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Soak the bread: Dip the bread into the egg mixture and allow the excess to run off.
- Fry: Melt butter in a skillet, then fry the bread on both sides until crispy and golden.
- Garnish: Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy right away!
What is the Best Bread for French Toast?
As you all know, we are a gluten-free website here at LCK. But if you don’t need to be gluten-free, you can use whatever bread you want! We’ve tested this with both store-bought gluten-free bread, as well as our homemade gluten-free bread recipe (just make sure you bake the triple batch in a loaf pan). We’ve also tested this with store-bought traditional bread. A challah bread makes for a really nice french toast!
In general, you can really use any type of bread to make French toast! Whether that’s sandwich bread, brioche bread, challah bread, or French bread.
For exceptional gluten-free French toast, especially this old-fashioned style, use really good gluten-free bread, since as we know, they aren’t all great. I love using Canyon Bakehouse White Sandwich Bread. Whole Foods has a very good 365 brand gluten-free classic sandwich bread now, too.
A Note About Soft Bread
If you are using bread for this that is very soft and delicate, like brioche bread or traditional white bread, you might want to toast or let the bread dry out first! If the bread is very soft and stays too long in the egg batter, it can start to break apart.
The bottom line is, use the bread that works best for you! In an ideal world, the bread wouldn’t be pre-sliced, so that you can make the bread sticks a little bit thicker than traditionally sliced bread is, but that is tricky to find with store-bought gluten-free bread.
The key is to use bread that is slightly stale. The drier the bread is, the better it will soak up all that goodness. The chewier texture stands up better next to the French toast batter for a crispier finish!
Bread Thickness
For the diner-style old fashioned French toast, you’ll find they actually use classic sandwich bread. With a challah French toast, thick is great. The rule of thumb though, is to go no thinner than half-an-inch thick.
How Do You Make French Toast that isn’t Soggy?
Some actually like soggier french toast. Fun fact: I fall into that camp! But since I know many do not, there are a couple of things you can do to avoid soggy French toast:
- Use older bread. The staler bread holds up better next to the batter to give the French toast a little more structure.
- Let the excess batter drip off. Once you dredge the bread in the batter, hold it over the bowl to allow the excess to drip off. Too much batter can result in soggy French toast.
Different Milks
Full-fat classic milk is always a great first choice, but I often make this with alternative milks!
- How to Make Cashew Milk
- How to Make Pecan Milk
- How to Make Almond Milk
- How to Make Oat Milk
- How to Make Coconut Milk
French Toast in the Oven
While I personally love how quick this easy french toast comes together in a skillet (and love the buttery goodness) you can actually use a baking sheet and make french toast in the oven!
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and liberally grease a large rimmed baking sheet with ghee (about 3 tablespoons).
- In a shallow bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
- Submerge bread pieces into the egg mixture, and then knock off an excess coating. Place the bread onto the sheet pan. Repeat, placing more bread into the pan, but leaving about 1” in-between pieces.
- Bake for 8 minutes on the lower rack, then flip the bread and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- Either serve immediately with powdered sugar and maple syrup, or cool completely and store in the freezer.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this gluten-free French toast on its own or load it up with your favorite toppings!
My go to: fresh berries, maple syrup, and powdered sugar.
Other ideas:
- Butter
- Mini chocolate chips
- Chopped nuts
- Sliced bananas
- Honey
- Homemade jam
- Coconut whipped cream
- Bananas Foster Topping
Making Ahead of Time
To make this cinnamon French toast recipe ahead of time, you can prep the batter a day in advance and store it in the fridge.
You can also cook the French toast completely and freeze it! To freeze for later: Cook as directed let them cool to room temperature. Then, line them on a baking sheet and flash freeze for 30 minutes. Once hardened, transfer the toast to an airtight container or Ziplock bag with parchment paper between the layers and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. They can be heated up in the toaster until warmed through! Or, you can heat them up in the microwave in short bursts, until warmed through. They’ll keep for up to 3 months!
To reheat, simply pop it in the toaster oven or microwave or warm it in the oven until heated through.
How to Store
Once cooked, French toast is best right away. However, if you do have leftovers, they will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours. To reheat, microwave, or warm on the stove to re-crisp.
More Gluten-Free Sweet Breakfast Favorites
Other French Toast Variations
Watch The Video:
Diner-Style Gluten Free French Toast
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon more as desired
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 slices bread as desired
Instructions
- Whisk together cinnamon mixture, eggs, milk, and vanilla and pour into a shallow container such as a pie plate.
- Dip bread in egg mixture.
- In a 10-inch or 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
- Fry slices until golden brown, then flip to cook the other side.
- Continue, adding more butter as needed, until all are cooked.
- Serve immediately with butter and syrup.
- Once cooked, French toast is best right away. However, if you do have leftovers, they will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours. To reheat, microwave, or warm on the stove to re-crisp.
Notes
- Best bread for French toast: In general, you can really use any type of bread to make French toast! Whether that’s sandwich bread, brioche bread, challah bread, or French bread.
- For exceptional gluten-free French toast, especially this old-fashioned style, use really good gluten-free bread, since as we know, they aren’t all great. I love using Canyon Bakehouse White Sandwich Bread. Whole Foods has a very good 365 brand gluten-free classic sandwich bread now, too. If you are using bread for this that is very soft and delicate, like brioche bread or traditional white bread, you might want to toast or let the bread dry out first! If the bread is very soft and stays too long in the egg batter, it can start to break apart.
- The bottom line is, use the bread that works best for you! In an ideal world, the bread wouldn’t be pre-sliced, so that you can make the bread sticks a little bit thicker than traditionally sliced bread is, but that is tricky to find with store-bought gluten-free bread.
- The key is to use bread that is slightly stale. The drier the bread is, the better it will soak up all that goodness. The chewier texture stands up better next to the French toast batter for a crispier finish!
- Bread Thickness: For the diner-style old fashioned French toast, you'll find they actually use classic sandwich bread. With a challah French toast, thick is great. The rule of thumb though, is to go no thinner than half-an-inch thick.
I made this using French bread. My 6 year old cleaned his plate then said mommy’s French toast is better than our favorite breakfast cafe — which is probably the greatest compliment ever! Lol. Then my husband begged me to make another batch! Success!
Best compliment ever!