Fluffy, golden, crisp, and packed with flavor, this recipe puts a new spin on vegan French toast! Cooks up in minutes and perfect with your favorite savory toppings.
A few months ago I posted a recipe for vegan French toast and I got a bunch of requests for a savory version. This was the first time anyone asked for that, even though I've posted multiple versions of vegan French toast in the past.
Anyhow, I've never had savory French toast. But I did my research and from what I can gather, it's pretty similar to its sweeter counterpart. Just, you know, without the extra sugar and accompanying seasonings like vanilla or cinnamon.
My savory vegan French toast starts out with a batter that's similar to the one I used for my classic vegan French toast, but instead of cornstarch, I thickened this one with chickpea flour, because chickpea flour makes an excellent egg substitute that also happens to have a nice savory flavor.
Whisk the batter together and dip your bread slices in it.
Pan-fry the slices in some oil, just until golden and crisp on each side.
The other thing about savory French toast: savory toppings are crucial! I went with avocado, chives and hot sauce, but vegan cheese, salsa, your favorite herbs, or some vegan gravy are some other delicious options.
FAQ & Tips for Making Awesome Savory Vegan French Toast
- Don't submerge your bread completely. Just dip each side! Vegan French toast batter penetrates better than egg-based batter, so you can easily end up with soggy French toast.
- On that note, use thick slices of good, crusty bread.
- The trickiest part about making vegan French toast is its tendency to stick to the pan. Use a good quality nonstick skillet (I like cast iron!), and ensure it's adequately coated with oil.
- Another trick to prevent sticking: After a minute or so of cooking, slide a spatula under your French toast to unstick it from the pan. This will keep it from getting more stuck as it cooks.
- The recipe calls for kala namak, also known as black salt. This type of salt is used in Indian cooking and has a high sulfur content, which gives the batter an eggy taste. Look for it at Indian markets or on Amazon.
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Savory Vegan French Toast
Fluffy, golden, crisp, and packed with flavor, this recipe puts a new spin on vegan French toast! Cooks up in minutes and perfect with your favorite savory toppings.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- ⅓ cup chickpea flour
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon kala namak
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- Hot sauce, to taste (optional)
- About 2 tablespoons canola oil, or high heat oil of choice
- 6 slices crusty bread
For Topping (Pick Your Favorites)
- Super simple vegan gravy
- Mushroom gravy
- Vegan butter
- Hot sauce
- Avocado slices
- Fresh herbs
Instructions
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Whisk the milk, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, soy sauce, kala namak, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot sauce together in a medium bowl, until fully blended.
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Generously coat the bottom of a medium skillet with oil nand place it over medium heat.
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When the oil is hot, grab a bread slice and dip each side in the batter, then transfer the slice to the skillet. You can add a few more slices to the skillet if there's room, but don't crowd them.
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Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
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Repeat until all of the slices are cooked, adding oil to the skillet as needed between batches.
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Serve with toppings of choice.
Kala namack is black salt.....will pink salt work?
Yes, but it won't give it the same flavor. Black salt has a high sulfur content, so it makes things taste eggy. :)
It sounds like a perfect breakfast for this weekend. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Very welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
In french the name of the recipe is "pain perdu"
;)
I didn't know that! Thanks for the info!
Can I please have the measurements for the cornstarch, how much corn flour and how much water?
Scroll up just a bit - the full recipe is just above the comments section. :)
Hi there, Alissa! I'm a visitor of your site from Germany. An FB friend of mine in the US recently shared one of your recipes, I liked it, then I "liked" your FB page and since then I'm regularly supplied with your culinary ideas... I'm commenting on this one as I'm having my very own vegan - I call it like this with a wink of my eyes - "French Toast". No eggs, of course, and no substitute for eggs. This is my "recipe": Two slices of toast, regularly toasted and put on an even plate. About one tabelespoon of olive oil spread on each slice with a knife. Add a little bit of salt and pepper (optionally some garlic granulate) and then add some Herbes de Provence, just the amount that you can grate between two fingers. Then cut them into triangles. Done. It was the Herbes de Provence component (as typically French as can be) that made me call my version (egg-free) "French Toast". "Curious about French toast without eggs?", I'm asking my guests, and usually they are curious and they like it. It's perfect to accompany soups, salads and anything else that non-vegans serve with "regular" French toast (with eggs). And there's a funny thing about the term "savory". You use it in the meaning of "tasty", "not sweet", but it's also the botanical name for one of the herbs in "Herbes de Provence". Makes the whole thing even more "French"... ;-)(Just want to let you know this; your recipe is clearly something different - and I'm looking forward to try it out.)
Hi Frank! Wow, thank you for sharing! I love all kinds of creative toast ideas and yours sounds delicious. I will have to give it a try!
This is a perfect vegan breakfast recipe. Thanks for sharing this vegan version of french toast and other delicious vegan recipes..
Hey Alissa. Thanks for posting this! I’ve been searching for a nice, vegan savoury French toast recipe for ages and this looks divine! I think I’ve smelled the black salt before and it really stank (for me personally) - is the taste as potent as the smell? I do want an ‘eggy’ taste, as I really miss that. But I’m wondering if the black salt is extremely overpowering and if so, is there enough flavour and taste in it to just add Himalayan salt as someone asked above, or do you think that the black salt really makes the dish taste like French toast?
Many thanks in advance,
Lisa.
Hi Lisa! So sorry for the late response on this! I think you'd be fine to leave it out. I actually leave it out when I make this and any of my other eggy vegan recipes for myself because I never liked the taste of eggs anyway - I rely on my husband to taste test the versions with black salt. If you're on the fence, try leaving it out and seasoning just a bite of it with black salt when you serve it. Then if you like it you can go ahead and sprinkle it on the rest. I hope that helps, and I hope you enjoy this!
Hi Alissa! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
I grew up eating French Toast with just salt and pepper. That's how my Dad ate it, and he cooked on the weekends, so that's all I knew. We never went out for breakfast. It wasn't until I was an adult, and had kids that I found out French Toast was served with syrup and icing sugar! But I never changed my recipe to include vanilla in the egg/milk mixture when I made it for my kids, just provided the syrup and icing sugar to top it.
I started eating plant based in 2017, and have been looking on the internet for a recipe ever since.
I recently found yours, and was so excited, especially since I had all the ingredients in my pantry.
I left out a few ingredients, (soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder and hot sauce) because I wanted to have my "nostalgia food" feeling. But the texture and the taste were perfect! Exactly how I remember it from my pre-vegan days. This recipe is perfect, and will definitely go into my weekend breakfast rotation!