11 French Toast Hacks You Might Not Know About
If you truly want to go all-out on a luxurious breakfast that is not only delicious but super easy to make at home, look no further than French toast. All you need are items you likely already have in your pantry: a few slices of bread, eggs, milk, and cinnamon. While only requiring a few ingredients, the end result is breakfast magic. And while one may argue that French toast by itself is not broken, so why fix it, there is also an argument to be made for elevating French toast to an entirely new level.
The best part is that elevating your French toast does not require any advanced culinary skills. If anything, it just requires having a few extra ingredients on-hand and seamlessly integrating them into the recipe you already know and love. If you know how to make a basic French toast, then you can apply these hacks the next time you make breakfast for instant results. After you try some of these tactics, you may never go back to your basic French toast recipe.
Thicker breads will bring your French toast to a new level
The good news is that any slice of bread will work when making French toast, so there is no need to rush to the grocery store and spend more on ingredients if you already have bread and want to make breakfast on a budget. If you want to take your French toast to the next level, however, you will want to examine what kind of bread you are using, because making some slight adjustments can make a big difference in the final results.
In general, the thicker the bread, the better. It is no wonder that so many French toast recipes call for thick bread like Texas toast. Brioche also makes for an excellent base in any French toast recipe. The acidity from sourdough can also yield a delicious French toast since it balances so well with the sweetness from the other ingredients. But ultimately, the best bread for making French toast will come down to personal preference, and even thin sandwich bread can be the best choice depending on how you like your breakfast to come out. But thicker bread will give you that ultimate fluffy texture without running the risk of getting too soggy.
Add flour to your custard
When you make French toast, you will typically need to whip up a batter, or custard, that is comprised of eggs, milk, and cinnamon. You will then dunk your bread in this mixture before heating it up on the griddle or frying pan. There are plenty of delicious recipes that follow that same formula for the batter, but if you want to take your French toast to the next level, there is another ingredient you should consider adding to your custard.
It may seem odd, but home cooks have great things to say about French toast recipes that include flour in the custard mixture. A writer at Insider gave it a go, doing a side-by-side comparison to French toast dunked in custard with and without the addition of flour. They found the results to be very noticeable, with the flour-soaked French toast having a great texture. However, they did note that the egg was tempered down from the flour, so if you love that flavor, you may want to experiment with adding less flour or sticking to the original French toast recipe. Flour is also often used when making French toast sticks, so chefs are clearly onto something by including it in their custard.
Dry your bread in the toaster for quicker prep
If you are familiar with the process of making French toast, then you are probably aware of the importance of making sure your bread is super dry. It is the main reason why many recipes will suggest opting for slightly stale bread as opposed to fresh bread — the moisture from the fresh bread will not give you that quintessential French toast texture, and you run the risk of your breakfast coming out ultra-soggy.
But don't worry if you don't have any stale bread on hand. There are ways to dry out your bread, like popping slices in the oven for a few minutes. One TikTok user recommends using a wire rack to make sure the bread is dried out on all sides. But there is another method that can save you a ton of time in the prep stage of making French toast. Another TikTok user described how they had learned about simply butting your bread in the toaster to dry it out in a matter of minutes. Of course, this method will work best if you use thinner slices of bread that actually fit into the toaster.
Swap out butter for oil for your frying pan or griddle
French toast is the ultimate comfort food breakfast, with its rich egg and milk batter coating every slice of bread and drizzled with syrup and any other toppings you see fit. With all of that in mind, you may feel naturally inclined to use butter as your base when preparing to cook the bread in your frying pan or griddle. After all, not only does butter act as a great non-stick ingredient, but it will amplify that rich flavor even more. But to take your French toast to the next level, you may want to consider swapping your butter for oil instead.
The butter melts rather quickly on high heat and runs the risk of browning too quickly. Instead, try cooking with an oil that can better tolerate high heat, like vegetable oil. Don't worry though; you can still use plenty of butter as a topping for your French toast once it is finished cooking, but try incorporating vegetable oil into your griddle to see if you notice any difference. Depending on your preferences, you may appreciate the omission of the butter as it may temper the richness just enough so you can truly enjoy an entire plate of French toast.
Soak your bread in melted ice cream
The magic of French toast happens when you soak the bread in the egg custard. The combination of eggs, milk, and cinnamon gives the bread its decadent flavor, which is why so many people would likely agree that French toast tastes more like a dessert than a breakfast. While you can experiment with different kinds of custards, there is one hack that celebrity chef Jacques Pépin uses in his French toast to take the sweetness to a whole new level.
Pépin's French toast recipe actually involves dunking the slices of bread into melted ice cream. Specifically, he uses French vanilla ice cream, which is already made with a lot of eggs added in. So in some ways, it is very similar to the classic egg and milk custard but with an added touch of sweetness. Pépin even finishes his French toast with one final dunk in the ice cream before serving. The next time you make French toast, skip the hassle of making a custard from scratch and simply melt a scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Or, you can experiment with all kinds of ice cream flavors to see how it turns out.
Add rum or Grand Marnier to the custard
While the basic building blocks of French toast custard are milk, eggs, and cinnamon, it does not need to end there. You can, and should, experiment with adding other ingredients that will take your breakfast to the next level and give your French toast an even bolder and more unforgettable flavor. But making fancier French toast does not need to feel any more complicated; in fact, simply adding one ingredient to your custard can make all the difference. And what could be a better way to elevate your next brunch than by adding a little booze?
The next time you make French toast, add Grand Marnier or rum to the custard, much like in a Rum-Soaked Challah French Toast. All you need to do is incorporate a couple of tablespoons of the spirit of your choice into your batter and you are off to the races. A mimosa would pair perfectly, don't you think? If you want to make these sorts of French toast recipes friendly for all ages, simmer the mixture so the alcohol burns off before you dunk the bread into it.
Add a crunchy coating of Frosted Flakes
One of the best things about French toast is its soft, fluffy texture. But every once in a while, adding some variety and adding a slight crunch could truly elevate your breakfast. Rather than going down the route of something akin to a walnut crumble on top, why not fully envelope your French toast in a crunchy coating? For this next hack, look to superstar Kylie Jenner for inspiration.
It was revealed in an article on Yahoo! Life that Jenner adds crushed Frosted Flakes to her French toast recipe. To recreate this at home, go about your usual egg, milk, and cinnamon custard before then dunking your soaked bread into the Frosted Flakes, almost like you are making a breaded chicken recipe. Not only will your French toast come out tasting amazing, but the added crunch will bring something new to the table and could potentially be the only way you choose to make French toast moving forward.
Hack your way to Hong Kong French toast by stuffing your bread
Over the years, French toast has been adapted and modified in many different ways to fit different chefs' preferences and styles of cooking. Some unique takes on French toast are so different from the original that they merit an entirely different name to tell them apart from the others. Specifically, if you want to elevate your French toast, try something completely different, like the Hong Kong French toast.
Hong Kong-style French Toast, or "Western toast" in Cantonese, was developed in the 1950s and is essentially a version of Stuffed French Toast that is then deep-fried. If you do not have the capacity to deep-fry your French toast, which essentially starts by making a French toast sandwich before placing the two slices on a griddle, making a Stuffed French Toast is a great way to elevate your breakfast from the standard French toast everyone knows and loves. Because if just one slice is that tasty, why not double it?
Make French toast in your air fryer
As with any recipe, patience can be an important factor in how the final result turns out. Depending on how many tools you use in the cooking process, there may be some additional cleanup required as well. French toast can test both of these factors, especially if you are making a large batch for a crowd. But if you are pressed for time or want to avoid all of that cleanup afterward, you can skip the griddle or frying pan altogether with this next French toast hack.
A writer for Insider tested whether or not French toast would work if prepared in an air fryer. The French toast was cut into strips, more closely resembling French toast sticks, but the results were solid across the board. And the best part: they were ready in under 10 minutes. Air fryer French toast has caught on with social media, with TikTok users pointing out that this method works great if you are cooking with kids and want a quick and easy breakfast idea.
Try a one-sheet French toast in the oven for easy cleanup
Any elaborate meal will likely come with some added mess. Even the most careful and tidy of home cooks may find themselves with multiple pans, bowls, and utensils to wash when the cooking is over. Depending on how labor-intensive the cooking was, the last thing on your mind would be to spend time cleaning everything up. So when a hack comes along that reduces the number of dishes or utensils used, it is worth shouting from the rooftops.
Give your next French toast recipe a try by skipping the frying pan or griddle altogether and instead cook everything in the oven. A one-sheet French toast recipe follows many of the same preparation steps in terms of mixing your custard and soaking your bread. But instead of a griddle, you would instead heat up a sheet pan in the oven, melt butter on top, and place your batter-soaked slices on top. After a few minutes in the oven, the French toast slices are ready for your favorite toppings. Not only is this a simple recipe in terms of cleanup, but it gives you extra time to do other things while the French toast is baking, rather than having to tend to a frying pan.
Make sure to add expected (and unexpected) toppings
French toast is a marvelously delicious breakfast on its own, even if you just add the basic toppings of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. But the sky is truly the limit with what you can add on top of your French toast to take it to the next level. The best part about this method of leveling up your breakfast is that the preparation and cooking stay exactly the same — all you need are some special ingredients to sprinkle on top when you are done.
Toppings for your French toast can truly run the gamut, from a scoop of French vanilla ice cream to slices of fruit like strawberries and blueberries. You can add cereals to your French toast, like Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Froot Loops, for added sweetness as well as a variety in your breakfast's texture. Celebrity chef Rachael Ray adds shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to her French toast for the perfect balance of sweet and savory. Let your imagination run wild and see what you have in your pantry that could serve as the perfect accompaniment to your French toast.