Vegan French Toast

Ok, your brunch dreams are about to come true with THE best Vegan French Toast ever. It's soft, sweet, vanilla-scented, golden perfection and it has a texture just like French Toast made with eggs! 

 Raise your hands if you love French Toast? *me! me! me!* So why have I not created a Vegan French Toast recipe until now? I think I've been failing as a vegan food blogger and today I am putting it right and bringing you THE most amazing Vegan French Toast EVER!

We are talking thick, crusty bread, dunked in thick, sweet custard then pan-fried or griddled until it reaches fluffy, golden perfection.

Jump to:

• Some Vegan French Toast truths
• Can vegans eat French Toast?
• How to make Vegan French Toast
• Success Tips
• The best bread to use for French Toast
• Can I make it in advance?
• How to serve 
• Storage and reheating tips
• Hungry for more?
• 📖 Recipe

A couple of slices stacked up with a knob of Vegan Butter and some maple syrup, or some vegan yogurt and berries of choice is quite literally brunch perfection.

This is why I am loving this Vegan French Toast recipe:

• The texture is perfection. It's like proper eggy French toast only without the eggs!...<Thank you tofu>
• It's so tender and rich
• That colour! It's so golden brown. I did not touch up the goldenness in my photos at all (note that I did brush a little vegan butter on the griddle plates and if you don't use butter then yours might not turn out quite as golden).
• It is not soggy like many other Vegan French Toast recipes I have tried
• It tastes amazing! (promise you can't taste the tofu!)
• It's really high in protein at 10g per slice!
• It's really filling and keeps you feeling that way for hours!

Some Vegan French Toast truths

Do you want to know why I haven't tried to work on a Vegan French Toast recipe before?

I have tried many recipes, from some excellent vegan bloggers but at the end of the day their recipes are always bread dipped in sweet plant-based milk, or a mixture of plant-based milk and chia seeds. Sometime even chickpea flour makes an appearance. All of these are ok, but the results are nowhere near as good as proper eggy French Toast. Sweet milk or sweet milk with some chia seeds stirred in is not custard and just doesn't do it for me. If I can't make it as good as the original then I'm not making it at all.

Years of French Toast disappointment and longing have passed. Seriously, it was my favourite brunch prior to becoming vegan. Then, a couple of weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea.

Yes, I'm weird. I keep a notebook beside my bed because I often wake up with ideas and if I don't write them down, by the morning they have disappeared into recipe oblivion.

So anyway, my idea worked and here we are.

Can vegans eat French Toast?

Regular French toast is made with eggs so it is not vegan friendly. However, it is very easy to make a vegan version that is just as good, and some have said better, then the traditional egg version. To do that we replace the usual eggs with tofu. Sounds strange but it really works!

How to make Vegan French Toast

For detailed measurements and instructions, see the printable recipe card.

When you make French Toast with eggs, the eggs cook in the custard and start to set. That's what gives you the soft, melting, custardy centre.

My Vegan French Toast uses tofu instead of eggs and as the French Toast cooks in the pan, the custard starts to set a little and you end up with the same texture as you would if using eggs.

Here's how it's done:

Step 1 - Make the custard by adding the tofu, plant-based milk, vanilla, sugar, salt and cinnamon to a blender and blend until smooth.

It does need to become silky smooth so make sure your blender is up to the job. The last thing you want are lumps of tofu in your custard. I use this Blendtec blender (<<affiliate link).

Step 2 - Cut some big thick slices of slightly stale, crusty white bread. Using a good quality loaf makes all the difference to the finished result and using bread that is a little dry or even really stale gives the best results. Fresh bread ends up too soggy.

Step 3 - Get those bread slices and drench them in the custard.

Step 4 - Pan-fry or griddle the custard dipped bread slices until they are absolutely golden brown and crispy around the edges.

Serve up immediately or keep warm in a very low oven until you have finished cooking the entire batch. 

Success Tips

• Use stale bread. Fresh bread doesn't soak up the custard so well. It should be at least 2 days old. If you only have fresh bread, slice it up and leave it out on the counter for a few hours to dry out. 
• Use crusty bread and not cheap white sliced bread. Heartier bread holds it's shape better, it looks better, it tastes better and the crust part is lovely once cooked up in the custard. 
• Don't change any of the custard ingredients. 
• Use extra firm tofu for this vegan French Toast and not silken tofu.
• Blend the custard until absolutely smooth.
• Don't leave the bread to soak for too long in the custard. 20 seconds each side is plenty. Any longer and it will get too soggy and you will risk breakage as you transfer it to the pan. 
• Use a really good non-stick pan to avoid sticking. 
• Cook until really golden. 

The best bread to use for French Toast

Slightly stale, rustic white bread cut into thick slices makes the best French Toast. That's because it's sturdy with good texture and won't fall apart easily. Because it's stale and not fresh it is able to absorb the tofu custard better. And rustic, crusty bread tastes better too. French Toast is a simple recipe. It's important to use quality ingredients for it to be at its best.

If the bread is thin and too soft, like cheap white sliced grocery store bread, it won't absorb the custard well and will fall apart. It also won't have a nice chewy crust and good flavour.

Most important is that whatever bread you use should be a few days old. Fresh bread does not make the best French Toast. This makes it a great recipe for using up any stale bread you might have.

If you do end up wanting to make Vegan French Toast and you only have fresh bread you can leave some slices out on the counter overnight. This will dry them out a bit. Or you can put the fresh slices on a baking tray and bake in a really low oven until they are a bit dry.

Can I make it in advance?

You can make the custard in advance and keep it in the fridge ready to dunk bread into at a moments notice. It's not possible to make this recipe totally in advance though, but if that is something you would like to do, then I recommend you check out my Vegan French Toast Casserole. That can be made the night before, then left to soak up all of the yummy custard in the fridge overnight. Then when you get up the next day you can pop it in the oven. It's ultra-convenient for lazy weekend  or holiday brunches.

How to serve 

Of all of my vegan tofu recipes, this Vegan French Toast is my favourite. It is absolutely incredible just as it is with a generous glug of real maple syrup. Take it up a notch with a big knob of vegan butter to melt over it too.

It is also amazing with a dollop of vegan yogurt or whipped vegan ricotta, and berries of choice and a glug of maple syrup too if you are feeling generous!

Or try serving it with my Vanilla Roasted Strawberries, Date Caramel, Vegan Lemon Curd or Blueberry Lavender Sauce .

Storage and reheating tips

French Toast is best when eaten fresh. If you have any leftovers though, keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat on a griddle or in a frying pan over a low heat.

Leftover custard can be kept in a sealed container or jar in the fridge for up to 4 days. It might thicken a bit but before you use it just add a drop or two of plant milk and give it a quick whisk before dipping your bread and cooking it.

Hungry for more?

If you really like vegan brunch type situations, check out my Giant Blueberry Vegan Pancake, The Best Vegan Banana Pancakes, Vegan Scrambled Eggs and my Banana Waffles. 

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📖 Recipe