Challah French Toast
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Soaked in a rich cinnamon-laced custard, this challah french toast is fit for a special occasion.
This challah French toast isn’t your everyday French toast—the kind you might throw together with stale sandwich bread, eggs, and whatever milk you have in the fridge. It’s something much more special. Made with challah and a rich custard flavored with honey, vanilla, and plenty of cinnamon, it cooks up slightly crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside, tasting almost like bread pudding. Looking for a family-style twist? Try my baked apple French toast or my boozy French toast casserole for an equally delicious variation.
“What an amazing upgrade to plain ole’ french toast but yet so simple! Keeper. Thanks!”
What You’ll Need To Make Challah French Toast
- Eggs: The base of the custard, giving the french toast its rich, creamy texture.
- Low-Fat Milk: Lightens the egg mixture while still contributing moisture and flavor.
- Heavy Cream: Adds extra richness to the custard, ensuring the toast is indulgent and creamy.
- Honey: Provides a hint of natural sweetness that balances the savory notes.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Enhances the flavor with warm, sweet undertones.
- Cinnamon: Adds a cozy warmth and spice to the custard mixture.
- Salt: Intensifies the flavors of the custard and bread.
- Challah or Brioche: Challah and brioche are both rich, egg-based breads and perfect for french toast. Day-old bread is ideal because it absorbs the custard without becoming too soggy.
- Unsalted Butter: For frying the bread, giving it a golden, flavorful crust.
- Vegetable Oil: Ensures even cooking and prevents the butter from burning.
- Maple Syrup: The classic topping, providing a sweet finishing touch.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by combining the eggs, milk, cream, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a large baking dish. Whisk well.
Place a few slices of bread in the custard.
Heat 1-1/2 tablespoons butter and 1-1/2 tablespoons oil over medium heat in a large skillet; add the soaked challah.
Cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Transfer the challah french toast to a wire rack and place in the oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining bread.
Serve hot with maple syrup and enjoy!
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Challah French Toast
Soaked in a rich cinnamon-laced custard, this challah french toast is fit for a special occasion.
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- ¾ cup low-fat milk
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 loaf day old challah, brioche or other good bread sliced ¾-inch thick
- Unsalted butter
- Vegetable oil
- Maple syrup, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Set wire rack on baking sheet and set aside.
- In a large baking dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
- Place a few slices of the challah in the custard and let soak, flipping occasionally, until saturated but not falling apart, 1 to 2 minutes depending on how moist you like your french toast.
- Heat 1½ tablespoons butter and 1½ tablespoons oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook the first batch of soaked bread until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to the wire rack and place in the oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining bread. Wipe the skillet clean with paper towels. Soak and fry the remaining bread, using butter and oil as necessary, until it's all cooked. Serve hot with maple syrup.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 6
- Calories: 543
- Fat: 33 g
- Saturated fat: 14 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Sugar: 10 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 15 g
- Sodium: 481 mg
- Cholesterol: 282 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Absolutely the best french toast ever! I follow recipe exactly as written with perfect results. Inside soft but not squishy and outside browned to perfection. All the family raves about it and never any leftovers!
I made this french toast using leftover bread from your challah recipe. It was delicious – not too eggy, and just moist enough. Next time, I might cut my bread a bit thinner – I think I’d like the surface to volume ratio better. Thanks!
Hello! Where has this recipe been all my life? Whoever said dessert is not for breakfast…well, obviously they’ve never had the blessed experience of this French Toast give them a good morning greeting. If we could coordinate everyone in the world to have this on the same morning, I think wishes of world peace and tranquility would likely go from vision to reality! Waistlines be cursed.
I made this French Toast recipe for the first time this week for me and my husband. I had 1/2 a loaf of Challah bread that I had made the week before using Jenn’s recipe for Challah and that I had frozen, just so I could try out this recipe (by the way, the Challah recipe is amazing and I had to force myself to freeze 1/2 of it instead of devouring). Since I didn’t have a full loaf, I halved the recipe. It turned out perfectly. I like to cook my French Toast on a griddle so it all gets done together. I cooked for about 2-3 minutes per side at 350. So yummy with some bacon on the side.
Excellent recipe. I’ve done it three weekends in a row and think I am nearing perfection (according to my kids).
My biggest issue has been the bread not getting soaked through. If you look online, you’ll see recommendations from 30-seconds to hours. I discovered that if you slice the bread just a little thinner — about 3/4 to 1 inch slices, they soak through in about 3-minutes per side.
My only actual change to recipe was to add 50% more honey — though even this doesn’t taste super sweet. I also added about a 1/2 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg.
However you decide to go, this is a delicious French Toast recipe.
The taste of this French toast was delicious. I just had one issue with the center being very squishy. I used thick white bread because that’s what I had on hand. Do you thick that was the issue? I cooked it for three minutes on each side until it was golden brown. We loved the outside edges and it was the best tasting French toast that we have made. Thank you for assisting. I’m a regular follower and have such success with your recipes. Five stars for the taste….I’ll be making again soon with the recommended type of bread.
Hi Jennie, you mentioned that your bread was thick-sliced? Do you think it was thicker than 3/4 inch? If so, that could’ve accounted for the squishy middle. You may want to just turn down the heat a little so that the slices can get fully cooked through without getting too browned on the outside. Hope that helps!
Hi Jen, Can I sub anything for the cream due to lactose intolerance? More milk or leave the cream out? Thank you!
Hi Lisa, it won’t be quite as rich, but you can use more milk in place of the cream. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Jenn, would coconut milk work as a replacement for dairy milk?
Sure, Christie, that should work. Please LMK how it turns out!
I spontaneously decided to make this french toast and only had regular toast at hand. The results were still amazing!
I cut the recipe by half since I wanted only half the amount of french toast.
Will definitely try with brioche bread next time.
Thank you!
Oh and I should add, we are living in Belgium for a few years so I am using brioche for anyone wondering – and it is delicious!
This is the best french toast recipe by far! My husband usually makes waffles on Sundays and my kids never wanted french toast instead (which I prefer) – but this recipe has earned me a place in the regular Sunday morning rotation – they love it! Can’t wait to make it for my nieces/nephews next time they visit. Thank you!