Your brunch dreams are about to come true with THE best Vegan French Toast ever. It's soft, sweet and golden with a texture just like French Toast made with eggs! Made quickly and easily with regular pantry ingredients, in under 15 minutes!
Raise your hands if you love French Toast? *me! me! me!* It's got to be one of the best vegan breakfast recipes and today I am 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. The texture is perfection. It's like proper eggy French toast only without the eggs!...<Thank you tofu>
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, than the traditional egg version. To do that we make our vegan French Toast with tofu as a replacement for the usual eggs. It sounds strange but it really works and it's way better than all the vegan versions out there that use ground flaxseeds. And it gets bonus points for being packed with protein!
Ingredients
Here's a quick rundown on what you need to make to make this amazing vegan French toast and why:
- extra-firm tofu - 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 eggless French toast recipe 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. I use tofu in the same way with my vegan quiche.
- non-dairy milk - Any type you like such as almond milk, soy milk, or cashew milk. Preferably unsweetened. If it happens to be sweetened omit the sugar from the recipe.
- vanilla, cinnamon, salt - All for flavour!
- vegan butter - I recommend adding some to the custard for richness and to use vegan butter to cook the French toast in the pan. This will give it the very best flavour.
- bread - Crusty, sturdy, good quality bread. More on that below.
Best bread to use for Vegan French Toast
Slightly stale, rustic, crusty, white bread like French bread or sourdough, 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.
How to make French Toast without eggs
Here's how to make vegan French toast:
- Make the custardy batter by adding the tofu, plant-based milk, vanilla, sugar, salt and cinnamon to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Cut some big thick slices of
slightly stale, crusty white bread. Get those bread slices and in a shallow dish, drench them in the custard mixture. - Place the slices in a hot, greased pan.
- Cook until golden brown and crispy then gently turn over and do the same on the other side.
slightly stale, crusty white bread. Get those bread slices and in a shallow dish, drench them in the custard mixture.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.
Making in advance
You can make the custard in advance and keep it in the fridge ready to dunk bread into at a moment's 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 or vegan brown butter to melt over it too.
It is also amazing served with anyting you'd eat with pancakes, like a dollop of vegan yogurt or whipped vegan ricotta, and fresh berries of choice and a glug of maple syrup too if you are feeling generous!
Or try it with my frozen berry compote, Vanilla Roasted Strawberries, Date Caramel, Vegan Lemon Curd or Blueberry Lavender Sauce.
Storing Leftovers
This eggless French toast recipe 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 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.
Vegan French Toast Recipe FAQs
To make vegan French toast, simply cut the slices of bread into chunky sticks and follow the rest of the recipe as it is. It won't really affect the cooking time at all.
Extra-firm tofu works best in this recipe and if you want the very best results then that's what you should use. Any other type will produce a less texturally realistic result. So just bear that in mind. The taste will stay the same but the texture will be much softer because the toast won't set the same in the pan.
Use gluten-free bread. The custard is naturally gluten-free.
If 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.
If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it by leaving a comment and rating below! And be sure to join my mailing list for more deliciousness!
Recipe
Vegan French Toast
Author:Ingredients
- 1 cup (240 mls) plant-based milk
- 4½ oz (130 grams) extra firm tofu (equates to about ½ a very packed cup)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons sugar , cane, turbinado or white (not brown or coconut sugar)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon OPTIONAL vegan butter , plus a little extra for brushing on the griddle/pan
- 6 thick slices crusty, sturdy, white bread , it should be a couple of days old (use gluten-free bread if necessary)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add everything except the bread to a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Preheat a griddle or a pan over a medium/low heat.
- Brush the griddle/pan with a little vegan butter (oil can be used instead but butter tastes better).
- Pour the blended 'custard' into a wide bowl and dip the bread in it. Leave it to sit for around 20 seconds then turn over and leave for another 20 seconds. Make sure all areas are covered, then lift it out and quickly dip the crust around the edges.
- Carefully place the custardy bread slices onto the preheated griddle or pan. Cook for around 4-5 minutes or until deeply golden, then flip carefully and cook for another 4-5 minutes on the other side, or until deeply golden. Try to leave it alone and not peek while it's cooking. If you move it too early the golden surface can get damaged and not look quite so pretty.
- Remove from the pan and serve immediately.
NOTES
NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on February 2nd, 2018. The post has been updated with new information and now I am republishing it for you. The recipe itself remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Caroline says
This was delish! I’m traveling to a cabin without a blender- could the custard be frozen in advance? Thanks!
Melanie McDonald says
I wouldn't freeze it. Tofu's texture changes when frozen and becomes grainy. I think it would ruin it. You could put it in a jar/container in a cool-bag or with an ice pack to keep it chilled while you travel though. It will keep for a good 5 days, maybe up to a week if kept refrigerated.
Jaimie says
Yummy! I mistakenly only had defrosted tofu (I freeze all my tofu usually) and though it wasn't super "custardy" because of my lack of planning ahead, it still turned out great even with a thinner batter! Can't wait to try with regular tofu. My hubby approved. My sister and her family of four all love this recipe too.
Jenifer says
Love the vegan French Toast. My son loves it he has an egg allergy, he was happy to get some French Toast that doesn't make him feel bad. Thank you!
Violeta says
Hi, this looks like a great recipe! I want to try it but wanted to double check first whether the tofu needs to be pressed?
Melanie McDonald says
No because it's being blended up with liquid. A recipe will always say if the tofu needs to be pressed.
Hope you enjoy it!
Suzanne says
Excellent, served these for a family brunch, loved by EVERYONE ❤️Thank you!
Julie says
How wonderful the french toast was! We had enough mix for two days. Lovely!
Jennifer says
All I can say is “WOW”, just wow! This was so delicious!!
Sheryl says
This recipe is the very BEST French toast I’ve ever made. I’ve made a lot of vegan French toast, too. It is absolutely perfect and if you make a lot and freeze then they come out nice in a toaster oven.
Melanie McDonald says
Thank you so much Sheryl. I'm really pleased you're enjoying the recipe!
Pris says
Can I use this recipe for scalloped potatoes. Of course I would leave the cinnamon and vanilla out of some of the egg mixture.
Melanie McDonald says
I've only ever used it for French toast so don't know how it would turn out. Scalloped potatoes don't generally have egg in them anyway though. Why not just follow a good scalloped potato recipe and use vegan milk, vegan stock, vegan butter and vegan cheese etc.
Adding vegan scalloped potatoes to my recipe to-do list 😉