11 French Toast Recipes You'll Want Over And Over Again

While a savory breakfast is great — eggs and bacon are quintessential breakfast items for a reason — sometimes, we're simply craving something sweet in the morning. And one of the best sweet breakfasts out there is undeniably French toast.

French toast is a bit crisp on the outside, soft and moist on the inside, and all around delicious. The cinnamon and vanilla are perfectly paired with a nice drizzle of maple syrup, making each bite sweet and flavorful. Plus, you can top it off with plenty of tasty ingredients beyond maple syrup. From whipped cream to fresh fruit to even, if you want a really sweet morning, hot fudge sauce, the topping possibilities are nearly endless.

Not only are the toppings endless, but there are a multitude of ways to switch up the flavor of the French toast itself. You can make the dish a bit more chocolatey with a Nutella French toast or you can combine two beloved morning sweets with the banana bread French toast. Here are 11 creative French toast recipes to choose from.

Fruit is the perfect accompaniment to French toast, so why not incorporate fruit directly into the dish? That's what we do with this strawberries and cream French toast bake, which is a super easy and nearly hands-off thanks to the fact that recipe developer Michelle McGlinn turned it into a casserole dish.

The bread (we recommend either brioche or challah) is arranged upright in a square dish, then chunks of mascarpone and sliced strawberries are interspersed throughout the bread slices. Finally, there's a special custard mix created to ensure that this French toast is just as creamy as the name implies — it consists of heavy cream, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. The result is a decadent yet bright and fruity French toast dish that is ready to be dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with syrup.

Recipe: Strawberries And Cream French Toast Bake

For most French toast recipes, you can use any bread you'd like, but not this one. Recipe developer Eric Ngo prefers Japanese milk bread (also known as shokupan) for French toast because of its incomparable soft texture. Ngo explains, "Japanese milk bread is really soft, almost cloud-like ... the fluffiest, softest, most delicious bread."

Additionally, sugar is added directly into the egg custard mixture, ensuring that this French toast is not only soft as a cloud but also deliciously sweet. In fact, after the bread has been soaked in the custard and fried on the pan, you may be tempted to eat it as is sans toppings. Of course, if you can manage to wait to add toppings, Ngo suggests maple syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. Or if you're someone who loves a good mix of sweet and savory, Ngo recommends turning it into a sandwich — you could swap out the English muffin for two milk bread French toast pieces and make the ultimate egg sandwich.

Recipe: Milk Bread French Toast

Sometimes you want your French toast to be a little chocolatey, and recipe developer Catherine Brookes of Blue Sky Eating makes that happen by adding Nutella. Brookes says, "The French toast is crisp and golden on the outside, with a soft oozy Nutella center. What's not to love?"

Besides Nutella and bread (Brookes suggests plain white bread or brioche), all you need are eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. You'll make the custard egg mixture as normal, but then the recipe takes a turn — you'll add Nutella to each piece of bread, then make Nutella sandwiches by pressing two pieces of bread together. Each sandwich is then soaked in the egg mixture before being fried in the pan. Thanks to this diversion from the norm, the resulting French toast has that gooey, rich Nutella center. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the finished Nutella French toast and dig in immediately.

Recipe: Nutella French Toast

Panettone is the sweet Italian bread (often containing ingredients such as almonds, dried fruits, and raisins) that is traditionally enjoyed at Christmastime. If you find yourself with some extra panettone lying around after the holidays, then you may as well use it to make specialty French toast. After you try this, you may be tempted to buy extra panettone next year specifically for this recipe. There's just one detail you have to keep in mind when making panettone French toast: Because the bread is so soft, wait until the last minute to quickly dip it in the custard — otherwise, it may come apart because it's so fragile.

The panettone French toast recipe also contains a special orange cream to top it off, which accentuates the citrusy elements already present in the bread (many versions contain candied orange peel, making for a bright and fruity meal. Finally, the dish is made a bit nuttier with the addition of chopped pecans as a garnish, but feel free to choose your favorite type of nut or leave that component out entirely if that's your preference.

Recipe: Panettone French Toast

Besides French toast, one of the other best sweet breakfast dishes out there is waffles, so why not combine the two? All you have to do is prepare French toast as you normally would, but instead of cooking it on the stove, you pop it into a waffle maker. Recipe developer Jessica Morone says, "It gives the French toast a more crispy exterior than regular French toast which is really nice."

The star of the show with this recipe is its cooking method, the waffle iron, so the recipe itself is quite simple. All you need is bread — Morone suggests brioche or challah, the two breads most associated with French toast — along with eggs, heavy cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and maple extract. However, if you end up loving the texture that the waffle iron gives to the French toast, then you can try this method with just about any other French toast recipe.

Recipe: French Toast Waffles

If you can't or choose not to eat dairy, then you can still enjoy the delights of French toast with our easy, dairy-free French toast developed by Jennine Rye. To get that creaminess without dairy, this recipe utilizes either almond or coconut milk as well as coconut oil. Then, with the additions of cinnamon, vanilla extract, and eggs, this recipe will taste just as delicious as any other French toast. Just keep in mind that the flavor may change slightly depending on what type of dairy-free milk you use, so choose the dairy-free milk that you enjoy the most.

Even for those who consume milk, this recipe may just become your favorite way to enjoy French toast. Rye has nothing but compliments for this dish, stating, "It really is the height of lazy decadence because it's just so simple to throw together, yet it is always so delicious — especially when it's served with maple syrup and berries."

Recipe: Easy Dairy-Free French Toast

Panettone French toast isn't the only holiday-themed French toast for you to enjoy during Christmastime — you also need to try this delightfully seasonal eggnog French toast casserole. Developed by Hayley MacLean, this dish is one sweet treat sure to brighten up your morning (maybe even Christmas morning). Plus, eggnog lovers will be happy to learn that the eggnog flavor is not subtle. MacLean says, "My favorite part about this recipe is how full of eggnog flavor it is," MacLean raves. "All of those wonderful warming spices come through brightly and are complemented so well by the pecans and brown sugar — without being overly sweet!"

To top it off, this recipe is another French toast casserole, meaning there's no need to stand over the stovetop watching the French toast cook because the oven will do all of the work. The bread is diced into cubes, then added to the baking dish. Once the custard mixture complete with eggnog is ready, it's poured over the bread. The dish is finalized with a tasty, crisp topping made from brown sugar, pecans, flour, butter, and cinnamon.

Recipe: Eggnog French Toast Casserole

If you're looking for a flavorful, unique spin on the classic French toast, then look no further than this coconut macadamia French toast, which was developed by Jessica Case. Additionally, if you're someone who likes French toast to be crispy on the outside, then this recipe is definitely for you; crushed macadamia nuts and shredded coconut are used as a coating for the bread before it's cooked on the stove.

Most of the process is the same as a typical French toast recipe — the only difference is that after coating the bread in the custard mixture, you'll then dip it in the coconut-macadamia coating. From there, cook on the stove and, before long, the crispy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside flavorful French toast pieces will be ready to enjoy. Top it off with your toppings of choice — perhaps pineapple and extra coconut.

Recipe: Coconut Macadamia French Toast

If you like to try out different culture's versions of familiar dishes, then you'll want to give Thai French toast a try. Thai French toast consists of white bread — no brioche or challah this time — that has been dipped in a custard (similar to the custard of American French toast), then fried in a wok. Once finished, it's topped off with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk.

The result is French toast that has an ultra crispy exterior thanks to the deep frying method as well as the signature soft center. Finally, the sweetened condensed milk gives the dish sweetness in a unique way and is perfect for anyone who's tired of the typical maple syrup drizzle. Of course, nothing is stopping you from adding extra toppings, such as fresh fruit, honey whipped cream, or for even more sweetness and decadence, hot fudge sauce.

Recipe: Thai French Toast

Do you ever wish you could drizzle maple syrup over a slice of freshly made banana bread? Of course, nothing is stopping you from doing that, but if you turn it into French toast first, the maple syrup drizzle will taste even better. Banana bread is already packed full of flavor on its own, so once turned into French toast, it's guaranteed that each bite will be utterly delicious. Recipe developer Jessica Morone says, "This French toast is crispy on the outside, yet perfectly soft on the inside, with the exact right amount of banana flavor."

You'll make the banana bread from scratch — but you can do this the day before to make the morning less hectic. You can even use store bought banana bread, especially if you're trying out this recipe for the first time — just keep in mind that it won't be as tasty as homemade. Once the banana bread is cooled and sliced, you'll treat it like any other bread and move through the French toast process. Top with sliced banana and maple syrup.

Recipe: From-Scratch Banana Bread French Toast

We've spent an entire list talking about the sweetness of French toast, but the dish doesn't actually have to be sweet; this is where the savory cacio e pepe French toast comes in. Developed by Michelle Bottalico, this recipe takes the classic Italian dish, cacio e pepe (pasta with cheese and black pepper) and combines it with the concept of French toast to create a savory take on the classically sweet dish.

This time, the egg mixture contains some ingredients that don't usually show up in French toast recipes: pecorino cheese, garlic powder, black pepper, and parsley. This time, sturdier breads such as ciabatta or an Italian loaf are preferred. The slices are dipped in the egg mixture and fried on the stovetop, just like we're used to. After the bread is cooked, it's topped with roasted tomatoes, more cheese, and basil. Sure, it looks and tastes a lot different from a traditional French toast, but this just means that you can indulge in French toast more than once in a day — a sweet version in the morning and this savory version for lunch.

Recipe: Savory Cacio E Pepe French Toast With Jammy Tomatoes