No eggs? No problem. This vegan French toast recipe is easy to make with simple ingredients. Fluffy, light, and crisp, it's a delicious breakfast.
This vegan French toast recipe is just as good as the classic kind! It’s fluffy on the inside, crisp around the edges, and has a lightly sweet cinnamon flavor. You might think that it takes fussy ingredients to make French toast without eggs, but this recipe is secretly simple. Made with 9 pantry basics and ready in 20 minutes, it’s an easy, comforting, and delicious breakfast.
I first tried vegan French toast years ago (like…25) at the Pick Me Up Café in Chicago. Jack and I went there regularly when we had just started dating long distance and he would come into town to visit. Their vegan French toast was so yummy that it inspired me to make my own version at home.
I originally shared this vegan French toast recipe in 2013. Through years of making it on lazy weekends, I’ve gradually tweaked it to use even simpler ingredients and have a lighter, fluffier texture. I’m sharing an updated version today along with new recipe photos (my 2013 pictures were due for a refresh!). Whether you’re vegan or just out of eggs, I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.
Vegan French Toast Ingredients
You need 9 simple ingredients to make this easy vegan French toast recipe:
- Bread – I like to make this recipe with soft, thick-sliced bread. I try to use a sturdy bread like sourdough, French bread, ciabatta, or vegan brioche rather than flimsy sandwich bread. If you have to use sandwich bread, handle it carefully so that it doesn’t tear after dipping. Stale bread is ideal, as it will soak up the batter like a sponge. In a pinch, fresh bread works too.
- Unsweetened almond milk – It makes up the base of the batter. If you don’t keep almond milk on hand, feel free to substitute another non-dairy milk, like soy milk, coconut milk, or oat milk.
- Cornstarch – The secret ingredient in this vegan French toast recipe! It thickens the batter and helps it coat the outsides of the bread, giving the French toast delicious crispy edges.
- Baking powder – It helps the vegan French toast become light and fluffy as it cooks.
- Nutritional yeast – It adds a savory, “eggy” taste to the French toast batter.
- Maple syrup – For sweetness. You’ll mix a little into the batter and serve the French toast with more on top.
- Cinnamon – For warm depth of flavor.
- Coconut oil – For cooking.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Vegan French Toast
This recipe has three simple steps:
- Making the batter
- Dipping the bread
- Cooking the French toast
Start by making the batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Add the almond milk and maple syrup and whisk until smooth.
Then, dip the bread. Transfer the batter to a shallow dish and dip in the bread slices one at a time, turning to coat both sides.
Pan fry the slices until golden brown on both sides, for about 2 minutes per side over medium heat. If the outsides of the bread start to brown too quickly, reduce the heat to medium-low.
Recipe Tip
Depending on the size of your skillet or griddle, you might need to cook this French toast in batches. If that’s the case, spread cooked slices in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Tent them with foil and hold in a 200°F oven to keep them warm until you’re ready to serve.
Topping Ideas
This vegan French toast is delicious with just a drizzle of maple syrup, but it’s great with other toppings too! Here are a few more options we love:
- Fresh berries, like blueberries, raspberries, or sliced strawberries
- Other fresh fruit, like sliced bananas or these soft cinnamon apples
- Nut butter, like peanut butter or almond butter
- Strawberry compote, blueberry compote, or apple butter
- A dusting of powdered sugar
- Coconut whipped cream
What are your favorite toppings for this recipe? Let me know in the comments!
More Vegan Breakfast Recipes
If you love this recipe, try one of these vegan breakfast ideas next:
- Vegan Pancakes
- Tofu Scramble
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Or any of these 30 Vegan Breakfast Recipes!
Vegan French Toast
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- Sea salt
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup, plus more for serving
- Coconut oil, for the pan
- 4 to 6 thick slices bread, slightly stale
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, baking powder, and a tiny pinch of salt. Add the almond milk and maple syrup and whisk until smooth. Pour into a shallow baking dish.
- Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet over medium heat and brush with coconut oil.
- Dip each slice of bread into the almond milk mixture, turning to coat both sides. Place into the skillet and cook for 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Reduce the heat to low as needed to cook thoroughly without burning. Work in batches if necessary, brushing the skillet with more coconut oil between batches.
- Serve with maple syrup.
This is gorgeous! Love this recipe!!
Yum, looks so good! Thanks for sharing.
FYI…The Onion was founded in Madison, Wisconsin. Headquarters are now in Chicago, and the paper is distributed for free to many cities including Denver, Austin and Santa Fe!
thanks, we have it on every corner now. This story took place 11 years ago, so back then the print version was exciting to him 🙂
These photos are beautiful! If I could eat this I totally would. Not exactly gluten-free, but my mouth is watering!
This looks heavenly!! Oh man I want some!!! Beautiful!
This looks amazing Jeanine. Yum. We were planning to do flap-jacks this weekend but you just made us shift gears. Loving Love and Lemons. Thanks for sharing a bit about your courtship too. Very cute. We are headed to Chi town over Memorial Weekend. We love playing there…might have to check out your cafe.;)
xo dina
I’m going to dork out for a minute and just gush about how much I love this here blog! Your photos are phenomenal, and seriously… this french toast!? I’m in love!
Yum!!! I love the fact that you managed to make vegan French toast without the need for a flax or chia egg (I am not a huge fan, though I do appreciate the ‘binding’ qualities and the nutritional benefits). I already buy Almond Breeze and it’s a pretty yummy almond milk when I don’t have time to make my own. Thanks for sharing this gorgeous recipe… your photos of the gorgeously chewy, pillowy bread with its crispy crust and the soft dusting of powdered sugar are drool-worthy!
I am not vegan but I would definitely try this recipe out for French Toast. Its currently raining and cold in Sydney so this would be perfect this morning.
Love the almond milk in this french toast recipe! Nutritional yeast is something so new to me 🙂
This looks to.die.for. I am the biggest french toast fan ever! I’ve made a vegan french toast before using well-mashed banana [+milk/cinnamon] instead of egg. It’s pretty “eggy” when all mashed up. It worked really well and even formed a nice crust! Love your rendition with the millet flour and the light in these photos is so bright + cheery. Perfect for breakfast! 🙂 Continue to love all that you do here!
Another stunning photo…and delectable sounding recipe! I pinned it onto Delicious Karma’s Pinterest Breakfast Board so I can come back to it this weekend to make it! I’m not vegan, but this recipe really sounds terrific.
I normally don’t go out of my way to eat anything vegan, but this recipe looks really delicious. I might just have to try my hand at some vegan french toast!
xo Quinn
Quinn Cooper Style
wow! this sounds so good. i always wondered how one could make eggless french toast.
I’m so excited to try this recipe!! I’ve attended a lot of brunches lately and wondered how to create a vegan version of this classic dish. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t really get on with eggs so I’m excited to try this version!
This looks amazing!! I miss delicious perfect bread like that, every one in a while. This is one of those times. No gluten-free bread has every looked like that 😉 Love that first photo with the syrup being poured! So beautiful.
If you can ever try the baguettes from New Cascadia Bakery in Portland, Oregon, you would see that gluten-free bread can indeed look like that! I just made french toast with it this morning. 🙂 It was scrumptious.
Yesss! New Cascadia bread is one of my favorite things about this town. I want to learn how to bake it myself. <3
That seriously looks so incredible! I definitely need to try this since my dairy allergies have gotten worse.
You’ll be happier when you try different vegan recipes, especially the ones that re-do the old classics like mac n cheese, shepherd’s pie etc.! After a while you can veganize anything. I have, but some recipes are definitely better if you look up the ones done in a test kitchen or so as I tried veganizing lasagna and it definitely tastes better if ya follow one of those fancy recipes done by famous vegan chefs, then if you just use gimme lean vegan sausage for the meat and daiya cheese for the cheese. Those things by them selves are awesome, on pizza or for breakfast, but didn’t work for lasagna somehow. My vegan friends like it though.
I’m a big vegan french toast fan! I’ve made it with pumpkin puree, using bananas and even using Sunwarrior in the mix! Ripe banana made a great sweet batter!
I used to have this image that popped into my head every time I heard the word “vegan”, something like the restaurant Tina Fey goes to in Baby Mama, where the food is just dough that’s alive and weird. I quickly learned this is not the case at all, and this french toast is further proof! I don’t follow a vegan diet, but I can’t wait to try this recipe!
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