From-Scratch Banana Bread French Toast Recipe

French toast is already a delicious breakfast or brunch dish, but what if you could transform the base of the dish (typically brioche or plain white bread) into something even tastier? Recipe developer Jessica Morone does just that with this banana bread French toast recipe, which combines the comforting flavors of homemade banana bread with the classic flavors of French toast. 

With its rich, moist texture and hint of sweetness, the from-scratch banana bread serves as the star ingredient in this decadent dish. "This French toast is crispy on the outside, yet perfectly soft on the inside, with the exact right amount of banana flavor," Morone says. While you wouldn't normally think to use banana bread for a French toast recipe, it ends up being a great combination of flavors and textures. This banana bread French toast is the perfect breakfast for a Saturday morning with the kids, a special brunch, or for an upcoming holiday meal. 

For this recipe, you will first be making banana bread from all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, ripe bananas, and eggs. Then you will be making a French toast batter with more eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Grease a metal 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, bananas, and eggs until smooth and combined.

Beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.

Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. If the top of the bread starts browning too quickly, loosely cover it with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.

Once bread is cooled, slice it into 12 equal slices. Set aside.

To make the French toast, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Dip slices of banana bread into the egg mixture until coated on both sides.

Cook the banana bread slices on lightly greased nonstick griddle or skillet over medium heat until cooked through and browned on both sides (about 2 minutes per side).

Serve with maple syrup, extra banana slices, or toppings of your choice.

While you could try to use any kind of banana bread and turn it into French toast, regular banana bread is actually one of the worst breads to make French toast out of — it's typically just too dense and falls apart too easily to get the job done. However, the bread in this recipe was specifically designed to become French toast. "With most banana bread recipes the goal is to have an incredibly moist bread, which is great if you are eating it alone, but once you try to turn it into French toast the moistness in the bread can make it fall apart," Morone explains. In addition to the moisture causing the bread to potentially fall apart, it also makes the bread denser to the point where it's harder for it to absorb the eggy custard. 

So, this banana bread is designed to stand up to the test. "With the bread in this recipe, you still get the banana flavor, but it is made to be sturdier. It will absorb the custard and will hold up to being dipped in batter and then cooked," Morone says. While you can turn this bread into French toast right after it is baked, the bread will become even better for French toast if you let it sit for a day or two and get slightly stale.

There are many ways to make this French toast all your own. You can make it dairy-free by replacing the butter in the bread with vegetable oil and the regular milk with either almond or coconut milk. You can also make it completely vegan by replacing the eggs. "Bananas are actually an egg substitute so you can remove the eggs from the recipe without altering the taste at all and just add an extra mashed banana," Morone says. Cornstarch is also a great replacement for the eggs in the French toast batter. You can change up the spices in the French toast by swapping the cinnamon with things like pumpkin spice, allspice, or nutmeg. 

The toppings are also all up to you and can be a fun way to change things up. Syrup is always a classic, but you could also add some powdered sugar or whipped cream. Since chocolate and bananas go so well together, you could drizzle the French toast with chocolate syrup, add chocolate chips or top it with some chocolate hazelnut spread. You could go in a more savory direction and add some crumbled bacon on top. And for a truly decadent breakfast, you could top the French toast with some vanilla ice cream.