You can’t beat a classic! This vegan French toast tastes like the stuff you grew up eating, but is made with absolutely no eggs or dairy. Grab some maple syrup and dig in!
Believe it or not, there are tons of ways to make vegan French toast. It’s not as complicated as you may think! Just make some type of batter, dip your bread in it, and grill. That’s it! It’s really not that important what the batter is made of. Bananas work, tofu works, even mangoes work! I’ve tried them all, and shared recipes for a bunch of variations.
But I’ve yet to post a recipe for super simple vegan French toast that tastes like the non-vegan stuff you grew up eating. Until today, anyhow!
Like I said, there’s batter involved, and you can make it out of just about anything. For this traditional spin on vegan French toast I went with simple old non-dairy milk: a mix of coconut milk and almond (or soy or whatever non-dairy milk you normally drink). The coconut milk supplies a bit of richness, liked you’d find in French toast recipes that call for heavy creamy.
The other key ingredient to my French toast batter is cornstarch. This keeps the batter super light (it’ll seem very thin when you mix it up), but allows it to thicken up and partially solidify when you cook it — just like eggs do in traditional French toast.
And then there’s the flavorings! Maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla supply the sweet, a bit of nutritional yeast supplies the savory, and kala namak gives the French toast an eggy flavor.
Dip your bread and grill away, just like you would with regular old french toast.
I topped mine with some powdered sugar, vegan butter and maple syrup.
Tips for Making Killer Vegan French Toast
- Use a good, sturdy bread for this. The batter is more liquidy than conventional French toast batter, so delicate bread could easily fall apart.
- One of the challenges to making great vegan French toast is its tendency to stick to the pan. Use a really good nonstick surface, like cast iron. I also find it helps to take a spatula and loosen the bread from the cooking surface after the first minute or so of cooking.
- Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your liking. Prefer sweeter French toast? Up the maple syrup! Like a little extra eggy flavor? Use more kala namak! Got some fun spices on hand? Throw them in! Nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom would all be delicious.
- You can also play with the consistency of the batter by using less cornstarch for a lighter batter, more cornstarch (or even a bit of flour) for thinner batter.
- I like to take a spoon and dribble some batter around the edges of my French toast while it’s cooking. It kind of mimics those eggy clusters that sometimes cling to the edges of non-vegan French toast.
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Classic Vegan French Toast
You can't beat a classic! This vegan French toast tastes like the stuff you grew up eating, but is made with absolutely no eggs or dairy. Grab some maple syrup and dig in!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kala namak
- About 2 tablespoons vegan butter or oil, for grilling
- 4 to 6 thick crusty bread slices (slightly stale bread works great)
Instructions
Whisk the coconut milk, soy or almond milk, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and kala namak together in a medium bowl.
Generously coat the bottom of a medium skillet with oil and place it over medium heat.
Dip one side of a bread slice into the batter, then flip and dip to coat the other side. Be careful not to oversaturate it, or it could fall apart.
Transfer the bread slice to the pan. You can dip a few more slices and cook them at the same time, as long as you don't crowd the pan.
Cook the French toast for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom, then flip and cook about 5 minutes more.
Repeat until all of the bread and batter have been used, adding butter or oil to the skillet between batches.
Serve with maple syrup, vegan butter, and any of your favorite toppings.
JoAnne says
September 16, 2018 at 2:59 PMJust made it this morning, turned out great. Thanks for another great recipe. I have consistently good luck when trying your recipes.
Alissa Saenz says
September 16, 2018 at 3:05 PMAwesome!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and are having luck with the recipes! Thanks so much JoAnne!
Kim says
September 30, 2018 at 9:02 AMThese are delicious! I had thought the nutritional yeast was an odd addition at first. But I get it know.
Like JoAnne mentioned above, every recipe I get from you is amazing.
I am soo happy to have this recipe.
Alissa Saenz says
September 30, 2018 at 4:15 PMI’m so glad you enjoyed it! Also glad to hear my other recipes have been hits! Thanks so much Kim!
Ellen says
October 9, 2018 at 3:04 PMThanks for the recipe! I’m pre-diabetic so I tweaked your recipe to add more protein. I used chickpea flour instead of cornstarch and added 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder to make the French toast puff up. I didn’t have any coconut milk so I added a little oil. I topped it with sugar-free syrup. It was delicious and tasted and had the texture of “real” French Toast.
Alissa Saenz says
October 14, 2018 at 9:01 PMYay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Joanne says
October 15, 2018 at 12:19 PMDelicious. And I didn’t even have vanilla. I used cashew milk as well. I had everything else. Thank you
Alissa Saenz says
October 21, 2018 at 11:55 AMYay!! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Denise says
October 30, 2018 at 2:05 PMThanks for the great recipe! I served it for a special occasion and yes it was very classic French toast! Perfect!
Alissa Saenz says
November 4, 2018 at 2:40 PMAwesome!! I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks Denise!
Vegan says
November 5, 2018 at 12:02 PMAdd tbs of ground flax or ground chia seeds to get it to thicken more, if need be.
Serena Miller says
December 8, 2018 at 10:28 AMAbsolutely amazing!!! I didn’t have coconut milk, so as a commenter had substituted and it worked, I used some vanilla soy creamer and olive oil, leaving out the vanilla extract. I was hesitant about the Indian black salt and nooch, but it was perfect! I added a bit of baking powder as another commenter suggested for a bit of lift, but otherwise everything was your recipe. I have to say, this is hands down the best French toast I’ve ever had vegan or otherwise. I’ve even had vegan French toast at very highly acclaimed vegan restaurants and this blows it away. Bravo! I’m looking forward to trying your other recipes.
Alissa Saenz says
December 9, 2018 at 3:40 PMThat is awesome!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much Serena!
Amy says
December 14, 2018 at 9:14 PMCan’t we just have the recipe? I don’t want to read your life story. Just the recipe please.
Alissa Saenz says
December 16, 2018 at 10:50 AMJust click the button that says “jump to recipe” at the top of the page.
Zack says
May 12, 2019 at 10:24 AMCan’t we just not have miserable commenters for no reason? Ridiculous…
Coleen says
December 30, 2018 at 4:39 PMWould like to know the type of bread everyone used. Haven’t tried the recipe yet but going to. My family liked the traditional but that was a long time ago. Now trying to find a good vegan one.
Alissa Saenz says
December 30, 2018 at 6:48 PMHi Colleen! I’ve made this with a bunch of different types of bread, but the most successful batches were with some store-bought French bread and a loaf of homemade white bread – both a few days old and starting to dry out a bit. I hope that helps! Enjoy!
Elle says
January 6, 2019 at 2:39 PMThis is the vegan French toast recipe I’ve been looking for. Thank you! Followed it exactly. 👍🏼👍🏼
Alissa Saenz says
January 6, 2019 at 6:00 PMYay! Glad you enjoyed it!
kj says
March 31, 2019 at 6:07 PMthis was amazingly delicious as is all your recipes. I tried your cauliflower, walnut pasta sauce, following your recipe to a tee. First served it over a toasted ciabatta roll as in a sloppy Joe. Then mixing some into ziti. Both were awesome. Definitely 2 keepers. Thank you Alissa for being my “go to” recipe expert.
Alissa Saenz says
April 2, 2019 at 8:50 PMI’m so glad you’re enjoying them! And I love the idea of using the cauliflower walnut mixture in sloppy Joes! I’ll have to give it a try. :)
Jesse Walker says
April 5, 2019 at 7:44 PMWhat can you use instead of kala namak?
Alissa Saenz says
April 7, 2019 at 5:23 PMYou could use regular salt, but it won’t taste as eggy. :)