This French toast recipe makes some of the best I’ve ever had. The rich, creamy custard has just the right amount of vanilla, making every bite so delicious.
This classic French toast has been a family tradition on weekends for years. We’ve tried so many versions, but we always come back to this one. It’s simple, reliable, and always turns out perfect. For a version that’s great for a crowd, see our baked French toast.
When it comes to toppings, I stick with the classics, like warm maple syrup, a pat of butter, and plenty of fresh fruit. But I’ve shared some more ideas below!
Key Ingredients
- Bread: The secret to the best French toast is thick and stale bread! Day-old bread soaks up the custard beautifully and gets the perfect texture, while fresh bread breaks down and becomes soggy. I love Brioche, French bread, rustic Italian bread, and Challah. If you only have fresh bread, see my tip for drying it out in the recipe below.
- Eggs: Help firm up the custard soaked into the bread, add flavor, and eggs add some richness from the fat in the yolks.
- Milk and cream: While you can make this recipe with just one or the other, I love a mix of both. The French toast turns out creamy and flavorful without being too rich.
- Vanilla: I love the vanilla in this French toast recipe. It makes it taste and smell amazing.
- Butter: I cook my French toast in butter, and I think you should, too!
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best French Toast
Tip 1: Make the custard. Start by whisking eggs with the milk, cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. This mixture is the creamy custard that makes our French toast so delicious.
Tip 2: Dip the bread. Cover all the bread slices with the custard, then set them aside on a baking sheet, ready to be cooked in the skillet. If you have hearty bread or really stale bread, keep the bread slice in the custard a little longer so it soaks in more of the custard. Softer bread (like brioche) does not need as long.
Tip 3: Cook in butter. Use a skillet over medium heat (any hotter, and your French toast will overbrown before it cooks inside). Place the dunked bread into hot, sizzling butter and cook until golden brown on both sides. (Just looking at that photo makes me want French toast again!)
Tip 4: Wipe the pan. Between batches, wipe out any browned egg bits or dark brown butter so each slice cooks cleanly. If you notice the bread is browning more quickly, turn the heat down a little.
Tip 5: Keep them warm. Place a baking sheet into a 200°F preheated oven. As the bread slices come out of the skillet, place them onto the baking sheet to keep warm, while you cook the rest. I use the same trick when I am making homemade waffles and my favorite pancakes.
Make Ahead Tips
- Mix the custard the night before. Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cream, and salt, then cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, give it a quick whisk, dip your bread, and cook as usual.
- Cook the French toast and refrigerate. If you’re hosting brunch or want a quick breakfast for the week, cook all the bread slices ahead of time. Let them cool on a wire rack, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in a 350°F oven or toaster oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or in a skillet until warmed through and crisp again.
- Freeze them for up to 2 months. Lay cooked slices in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze until firm. Transfer to a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat directly from frozen in the toaster or the oven (no need to thaw!)
- Make baked French toast. You can assemble in a casserole and leave overnight in the fridge before baking in the morning. Here’s our baked French toast recipe for how to do it!
Serving Suggestions
We love a drizzle of maple syrup and a bit more salted butter with our French toast. A dusting of powdered sugar is lovely, as is a handful of fresh fruit. To make it really special, try a spoonful of homemade whipped cream or whipped coconut cream (it’s so good!). I’ve also done a spoonful of this berry salad with whipped cream, and it was outrageously good!
To round out your breakfast, consider something on the side like poached eggs, scrambled eggs, crispy baked bacon, or our homemade breakfast sausage! And, don’t forget the coffee for the adults (try cold brew if it’s warm outside)!
More of My Favorite Brunch Recipes
Perfect French Toast
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This is our family’s all-time favorite French toast recipe! It’s easy to make, and the vanilla cream custard is absolutely delicious. Use day-old bread (or slightly stale) for the best results. It’s sturdier and won’t crumble or fall apart in the custard or while cooking. French, Italian, brioche, or challah bread are all fantastic choices!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
6 large eggs
¾ cup whole milk (177ml)
⅓ cup heavy cream (78ml)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
8 slices day-old bread, ¾- to 1-inch-thick
3 tablespoons butter, plus more for serving
Optional toppings: Powdered sugar, maple syrup, berries, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar
Directions
1Prep: Heat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place one baking sheet in the oven to keep cooked batches warm, and keep the other on the counter for holding the soaked bread. You’ll also need a large baking dish for soaking the bread.
2Make the custard: In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt until well blended.
3Soak the bread: Arrange the bread slices in a large baking dish (it’s okay if they overlap). Pour the egg mixture over the top, then flip and move them around to coat evenly. When the bread is soaked but not yet mushy, transfer it to the baking sheet on the counter. Softer breads like brioche will soak more quickly than sturdier breads like French bread.
4Cook: Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Working in batches, cook a few slices of soaked bread at a time until golden and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
5Keep warm: Transfer the cooked French toast to the baking sheet in the warm oven while you finish the remaining slices. Add more butter to the pan as needed between batches. If the butter is browned in the pan, wipe it down before cooking the next batch.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Cook bread slices lasts in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days or can be frozen for up to 2 months. To freeze, cool it on a wire rack and place it onto a baking sheet. Freeze until hard, then transfer to a freezer bag or container and freeze. Reheat in a toaster oven or cook in a pan with melted butter.
- Dairy-free substitute: Use creamy non-dairy milk like cashew, soy, coconut, oat, or almond milk.
- Egg substitute: Use aquafaba (liquid from chickpeas), flax eggs, or store-bought egg replacers.
- Cinnamon sugar: Whisk 1/4 cup granulated sugar with one teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Thank you for easy and fun baking! I love you recipes. It seems am always so ready to bake after reading your recipes. Thank you❤️
Thank you for the delicious recipe! I didn’t have any fruits, so I added honey and home made whipped cream and it was the bomb! I was told that it was so good that I should’ve made more haha
Wait this recipe cooks the French toast in the oven?????
No, we cook it on the stove, but offer a tip for keeping the cooked French toast warm in the oven.
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.
This makes us so happy, Gene. Thanks for coming back and sharing.
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. ?
Brian, We love your idea (although, I’m not sure I would be able to save enough chocolate babka for the next day).
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.
Such great ideas for toppings! We are thrilled you enjoyed the recipe.
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!!!
Love your idea to add cinnamon and nutmeg. Such lovely warming flavors. I’m so happy our oven trick helped keep everyone’s French toast warm!
What is the serving size?
Hi there, We assumed 2 slices of French toast.
add 1/8 tsp of cinnamon to the custard
Cinnamon would be delicious in this 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!
Well thank you, Judy! So happy you enjoyed it.
My family loves this recipe! We make it all the time. We also add a little bit of coconut oil to the butter in the frying pan before frying it. So yummy!
Absolutely Delicious!!
This french toast recipe is excellent! My wife loves Cracker Barrel’s french toast and likes your recipe better! Thanks for the awesome instructional video!
Amazing! I’ve never made French Toast before. My family loved this! Thank you for your delicious and easy to follow recipes.
I love all ur receipes, it never went wrong. Thank u so much
Thank you so much!
Excellent videos! Well edited, narrated, and filmed with a non-intrusive instrumental in the background. Perfect! Keep up the good work!
I found a recipe that can use fresh bread. You put in a 200 degree oven about 10 min. to dry it and it not get soggy. Works for me.
Yummy! I skipped putting the frencht oast in the oven as they went straight from the griddle to the kids plates. I didnt have cream, used a squirt or canned whip cream. Didnt seem to hurt.
If you don’t have old bread, try toasting the bread just to dry it out a little, but not to brown it. Works really well. I do it even if my toast is old.
A good topping is cream cheese and runny marmalade. Serve with egg and bacon. Scrummy!
Sounds great!
Any chance this would work if you toasted the bread first rather than letting it sit out for a day or two?
We’ve never tried it — as long as you use hearty bread, you should be okay. Older bread is best, but if you’re craving French Toast we say go for it!
I read the part about which breads to use, but what bread is shown in the picture? Excited to try this!
It’s an Italian round loaf from Trader Joes.
Have you ever tried making French Toast with fruit bread?? Ohhhh so good! 🙂 Love you recipes, all good stuff! Started out looking for Peanut Butter and after that I got lost in your pages….. sigh, only so much 2 people can eat! Thank you for sharing!
Great idea — we’ve tried with cinnamon raisin bread and that was a hit 🙂
I add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix and they taste and smell delicious!!
Yum, cinnamon is a great idea! A little nutmeg or allspice would also be lovely.
I always soak mine overnight and then brown in the pan with butter and finish off in the oven to make sure the custard is cooked but this looks really easy. 🙂