Dairy Free French Toast
This easy, dairy free french toast recipe is made with your choice of dairy free milk and eggs. Top with maple syrup and vegan butter for a perfect weekend breakfast.
Can you make French toast with almond milk?
Since my extra fluffy dairy free pancakes have been such a hit, I figured it was time to show you how to make my other favorite sweet breakfast recipe: dairy free French toast.
It’s been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, and I had never actually made it myself until recently. Partially because I would get it at restaurants and partially because we never seemed to have the right kind of bread in the pantry.
When my in-laws were visiting recently, we decided to try out a dairy free version of French toast and it turned out just right, so I obviously had to do a little more testing to make sure it was perfect before sharing the recipe.
If you like this recipe, you have to try these lemon blueberry pancakes, and this million dollar bacon and these scrambled eggs without milk.
Searching for more breakfast recipes? dairy free quiche lorraine / apple cinnamon oatmeal / oatmeal banana bread / breakfast pizza
Ingredients:
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
- Dairy free milk – You can use whatever you have at home, but I prefer to use cashew or almond milk. You could also use soy, light coconut milk or any plant based milk you prefer. The thing that really makes this dairy free French toast recipe work is the eggs.
- Egg – Eggs are so important for french toast. You can’t get a good custard base without the eggs (although you could potentially sub a flax or chia egg if you want to make this vegan).
- Texas toast – Using texas toast really makes your french toast better, you can of course use regular bread if you prefer – but the thickness of Texas toast helps prevent your French toast from getting soggy. A good sourdough bread also works great for French toast. If you want to make this gluten free, try some gluten free Texas toast.
- Sugar – Avoiding refined sugar? Try substituting honey or maple syrup instead of sugar.
The following is a detailed overview of the recipe steps with added tips and tricks for recipe success. For a simplified and printable version, including ingredient amounts and more formal instructions, see the recipe card below.
How to make French toast without milk
Pick the right bread. You want a nice thick slice of bread that won’t soak up too much liquid. I prefer a nice thick Texas toast, but you can use whatever bread you like. Just make sure that your bread isn’t too thin or you’ll end up with soggy, sad French toast.
Mix your egg-milk soak. In a large mixing bowl, whisk your milk, eggs, vanilla extract and salt until smooth. You will be dipping your bread in this until it’s evenly coated, but do each slice right before cooking. Don’t let any of the bread sit around soaking in it. You could also add a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg here, too.
Toast your soaked bread. Heat a large skillet or griddle (bonus points for a double griddle) to medium. Cook your French toast until each side is golden brown.
Bake it in the oven (optional). Transfer your French toast slices to a cookie sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes in a 400˚F oven. If you want to know more about why you would want to take the time to do this optional step, read the paragraph below.
Other dairy free breakfast recipes: asparagus bacon quiche / healthy morning glory muffins / tater tot breakfast casserole / easy dairy free cinnamon rolls
Why is my French toast soggy in the middle?
This has always been my number one complaint about no milk French toast. You can easily avoid this by doing a few simple things:
- Don’t over soak your bread. Make sure you only leave your bread in the egg-milk soak long enough to coat it. Don’t let it sit in there while you wait for the pan to be ready. This should be a quick 1 – 2 second soak and that’s it.
- Use thicker bread. I prefer to use a Texas style toast because it’s the thickest I can find that’s also dairy free, but you could easily choose a loaf that you could slice yourself and give yourself the extra thickness.
- Bake your French toast after cooking it on the griddle. Place the cooked dairy free French toast on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 400˚F. This is totally optional, but it will ensure that your dairy free French toast isn’t soggy and everything will be the same temperature when serving. I don’t normally bother wit this step, but you’re serving guests or make to ensure you don’t have soggy centers, this step is a must.
Ingredients
- 12 slices Texas toast
- 3/4 cup dairy free milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon sugar (or sweetener of choice)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of coarse salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dairy free milk, eggs, vanilla extract, sugar and coarse salt.
- Heat a large griddle or non-stick skillet to medium.
- Dip each slice of toast into the egg mixture until both sides are evenly coated (about 1 – 2 seconds per side).
- Cook each side of the bread until golden-brown. Repeat until all slices have been cooked.
What do you do with leftovers?
But is Texas Toast bread dairy free? Most breads aren’t.
I think I used Sarah Lee bread, and it was dairy free! There’s always a chance that they might change their recipes. There are definitely options out there, though. It’s just a matter of finding then, which I know can be frustrating, but that’s dairy free life. You can use whatever bread you can find that’s dairy free. Thicker slices are preferred, and you can also use a freshly baked loaf (like from a bakery, from store bought dough or homemade) that you slice!
Walmart brand Texas toast bread is dairy free! That’s what I used and this turned out amazing.
What happen if you can’t have no milk at all and like you don’t have milk in your house
You could try water! I wouldn’t recommend it because it just won’t be the same, but it would probably work!
But eggs are also dairy! I can’t have milk of any kind, cheese, eggs, etc! Was looking for alternative ways to make the foods I love.
Eggs are not Dairy. Not sure why this a common misconception. Dairy refers to all products that are milk-based. Eggs come from chickens, not cows. They are not dairy.
Eggs are poultry, not dairy.
Even if you can’t have regular milk from animals, I recommend using Coconut Almond milk! It doesn’t have any actual milk in it and it tastes soooo good with this recipe!
Eggs are dairy?? Haha. Is your brain functioning properly?
Delicious! I used wheat bread and added a teaspoon of brown sugar. Great recipe!
Just made these this morning! So good! Just recommend adding some cinnamon for extra flavor. I used a fresh loaf of country French bread. It was worth baking in the oven at the end. It hit the spot!
I made this using unsweetened original almond milk and Walmart brand Texas toast bread which is dairy free. Came out so delicious!! Thank you!!
I used Grandma Sycamore’s white bread with coconut almond milk and it was amazing!!! Definitely making again.❤️
Why does the picture show butter on a dairy free recipe?
It’s just a slice of vegan butter. I promise it’s dairy free!
Sugar is listed in ingredients, but not listed in instructions; it gets whisked with the rest of the ingredients? Or as a topping after?
Thanks in advance! <3
Made this with some brioche bread .. sooo good!! I added a sprinkle of cinnamon because it’s feeling Fall!
We really liked the French toast. We added cinnamon.
This is a nice recipe! It was easy to to put together and simple instructions to follow. I added cinnamon & nutmeg to the recipe and margarin to the griddle. I used a loaf of Sara Lee Texas Toast. It all cooked up nicely an was enjoyed by all.
Writing this down for a friend of mine. Her baby (my niece) is allergic to cow milk and she is in need of good recipes for her.💜