Vegan French Toast

Vegan French toast is our take on a classic breakfast dish loved worldwide for its simplicity, texture, and taste.

For more easy breakfast recipes, try our egg-free pancakes, homemade granola, and bircher muesli.

Louise and I developed this eggless french toast recipe to recreate flavors and textures of the original so that people who are not vegan will love it.

As you might notice in our other vegan desserts – think of our vegan apple cake, banana bread, and vegan custard – you won’t need vegan egg replacements, ground flax seeds, or aqufaba.

We made this choice because we want you to be able to make this with the simplest ingredients that are easy to find in most supermarkets.

By the way! Did you know that French toast, despite its name, is not originally from France?

Believe it or not, French toast has been around since the Roman Empire and appears in recipe manuscripts from the 5th century AD.

Like in the modern recipe, the Romans used to soak the bread in a batter of egg and milk, then fry it in butter.

They called this celebratory sweet treat “Pan Dulcis,” or sweet bread. We find that stuff fascinating, but we are food geeks, after all! 😅

Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

• Rustic white bread: Thick slices (1 inch / 2.5 cm), soft but dense crumb. Substitute: vegan brioche, Italian rustic bread, thick ciabatta, sourdough (soft crust), or sandwich bread.

• Almond milk. Substitute: soy milk, cashew milk, hazelnut milk, rice milk, oat milk

• Brown sugar. Substitute: coconut sugar, palm sugar, vegan white sugar, maple syrup, agave syrup.

• All-purpose flour. Substitute: white whole wheat flour, spelt flour. Gluten-free alternatives: chickpea flour (adds eggy flavor), cornstarch.

• Flavoring: vanilla extract, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, allspice (optional).

• Vegan butter. Substitute: coconut oil (melted in pan before cooking).

Toppings

You can top your vegan French toast with anything you like. We recommend:

• fresh berries and fruit
• hazelnut spread
• a quick strawberry jam
• peanut butter, crushed nuts.
• vegan whipped cream

Note: we tried adding nutritional yeast or black salt (Kala Namak) to add that eggy flavor, but in the end, we much prefer French toast without them. Also, there’s no need for ground flaxseeds or flax eggs unless you want to add a teaspoon for nutritional reasons.

US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Prepare the bread

You’ll need 6 slices of sturdy bread. We cut a one-day-old rustic white bread loaf into slices of 1 inch or 2.5 cm thick. 

If you don’t have one-day-old bread, you can use fresh bread. Keep in mind that it’ll soak faster.

Make the batter

In a shallow dish that is large enough to fit two slices of bread, add 1½ cups of almond milk, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.

Tip: We use an oven dish, but you can always use a large bowl.

Whisk to combine. This is the custard-like mix to dip the bread in. 

Cook the bread

In a nonstick frying pan or skillet, melt a tablespoon of vegan butter.

While the pan warms up, soak two slices of bread in the liquid. Soaking time depends on how old the bread is and on the type of bread.

In our case, we soak it for a good minute on both sides until the batter gets deep into the bread. Give the bread a good squeeze so that it absorbs even more liquid.

You’ll only need a few seconds of soaking if you have softer bread, like sandwich bread.

Make sure the bread absorbs the liquid without getting mushy and falling apart.

Transfer the bread to the hot pan and cook on medium to low heat until golden brown and crisp, then turn around and do the same on the other side.

It should take 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the type of bread.

You can add as much bread as you can fit on the pan. If the pan gets too dry, then add more vegan butter.

Ultimately, you want the bread to be brown and crisp outside and soft and silky inside.

Transfer the toasted bread to a plate and repeat till you run out of bread, wiping the pan clean with kitchen paper and adding more vegan butter between batches.

Tip: Keep the vegan French toast warm in a slightly warm oven while you finish cooking the other slices.

Arrange a slice of bread on a plate, add a piece of vegan butter on top, and dust with powdered sugar. 

Then, arrange the second slice of French toast on top of the other slice sideways. Add another knob of butter and the powdered sugar. 

Finally, add a generous drizzle of 100% pure maple syrup, a few blueberries, and raspberries on top, and enjoy.

It’s crunchy on the outside, warm and silky on the inside, and with a cozy cinnamon-nutmeg aroma.

Make it yours

You can make this recipe yours by using your favorite toppings. Don’t have maple syrup? Top this recipe with jam or hazelnut spread.

Don’t have berries? You can use a sliced banana.

To make gluten-free French toast, substitute cornstarch for the flour and gluten-free bread for white bread.

Love this vegan French toast recipe? Then try our other favorite brunch recipes:

• Vegan crepes
• Vegan banana bread
• Vegan pancakes
• Bircher muesli with apples, raisins, and almonds.
• Vegan brioche bread
• Vegan frittata with chickpea flour and zucchini.
• Tofu scramble served on toast and sliced avocado.
• Chickpea frittata muffins

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Vegan Pancakes

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Bircher Muesli

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Vegan frittata

For many more breakfast ideas, check out our breakfast category page.