How To Take On French Toast When Eggs Are Too Expensive

One of the first things you probably do when making breakfast at home is to check the refrigerator to see if you have enough eggs. Whether it be an omelet, a quiche, or a simple scramble, eggs make up the majority of breakfast dishes. Try to make an eggs benedict without eggs, for example, and the entire essence of the breakfast would be missing. Your best bet in most cases would be to use a vegan egg substitute.

But what if it's not a dietary restriction that's preventing you from using eggs, but rather the fact that you just don't have any on hand? With egg prices on the rise, making an egg-based breakfast isn't as affordable as it used to be. If you find yourself resorting to cereal and oatmeal time and time again, consider adding French toast to the rotation. 

Contrary to what you might believe, you can make French toast without eggs. All you have to do is substitute them for another ingredient you may already have in your kitchen: coconut milk.

When making French toast the traditional way, you start by combining milk, eggs, butter and vanilla, before soaking up the mixture with slices of bread. To make French toast without eggs, the process is exactly the same, except you substitute the eggs and milk with full-fat coconut milk. Even without these two ingredients, it still yields delicious French toast.

If you prefer French toast with a firmer texture and usually use a higher egg-to-milk ratio, add cornstarch to the coconut milk. For best results, stick with three tablespoons of cornstarch for every half cup of coconut milk. The addition of cornstarch lends itself to French toast with an even eggier consistency and makes the bread crustier on the outside. 

If you'd rather your French toast be soft and custardy, stick with just the coconut milk or combine it with mashed banana.

You'd probably assume swapping eggs for a liquid would cause the bread to go soggy. But this it isn't the case at all because it's a pretty even substitution in terms of fat. 

While eggs have more protein and fewer carbs than coconut milk, both have similar concentrations of fat, with eggs being made up of 62% fat and coconut milk 60%. Considering one of the main functions of eggs in French toast is to give it a custard-like richness through its fat, it makes sense to use coconut milk in its place.

The main difference is that the eggs cook when you fry up the French toast, whereas coconut milk doesn't. It does thicken when heated, much unlike many other plant-based milk. However, it won't firm up all the way. With the help of a little cornstarch, though, you won't miss the eggs at all. The next time you want to make French toast but don't want to pay top dollar for a carton of eggs, reach for a can of coconut milk instead.