Vegan French Toast

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In the mood for a sweet and delicious Vegan French Toast? With ground chia seeds as an egg replacer, this is the best French toast ever! It is super fluffy and made with warm spices that are perfectly balanced with sweet flavors. This healthy and easy recipe is perfect for kids of all ages and adults too! Serve this egg-free French toast with fresh fruit for a perfect breakfast or brunch.

This super easy vegan French toast recipe is family friendly, plant-based, and made with ingredients you can feel great about!

Regular French toast is not vegan because it’s typically made with an egg based custard, and if it’s not cooked perfectly, can end up with a slightly eggy flavor.

Our vegan version is free from animal products and tastes just like sweet French toast, but without any trace of an eggy flavor, thanks to our secret ingredient to replace the eggs and make it vegan friendly! If you’ve ever wondered how to make French toast vegan, keep reading.

We enjoy this recipe for Saturday and Sunday mornings because we like to make this classic breakfast a whole family activity! The kids love helping with this simple recipe. Need some serving ideas? Serve this simple vegan French toast as a fun “breakfast for dinner” on Friday nights!

This is also the perfect recipe to serve during the holidays—it’s great for Christmas morning, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day (here’s a good idea: serve this plant based French toast as breakfast in bed for your mom!), etc… The list goes on!

Did we mention you can easily turn this French toast into vegan French toast sticks? Life-changing. Of all the vegan French toast recipes out there, this one is the best and after you try it, I think you’ll agree. Make this great recipe and see for yourself!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Family Friendly: Kids will love to help make this, and everyone loves to eat it! This simple recipe is very approachable for any kitchen skill level.
• Wholesome Ingredients: This healthy vegan French toast is loaded with nutrients and less sugar than traditional French toast. You’ll feel good about serving this to your whole family.
• Quick To Make: The best part about this dairy free French toast is that it is ready in just 20 minutes, making it a fast vegan breakfast even for busy weekday mornings. Who says only the weekends are for indulgence?
• Tastes Like “Real” French Toast: I like to think that any French toast is “real,” since it’s all about making recipes the way you like them! Anyway, this is the best vegan French toast because it tastes just like traditional French toast even with our healthier tweaks!

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🥘 Ingredients

This recipe calls for simple ingredients that are easily found at grocery stores or in your pantry. Get ready to make the best French toast recipe! See the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post for nutritional information.

• Crusty Bread: We used thick slices of sourdough bread because we love its hearty texture, you can use any kind of bread slices you like. You just want to make sure to not use super fresh bread—day old stale bread is best. I personally think the best bread is sturdy bread with thick slices! The only bread I wouldn’t use is bread with a strong flavor that doesn’t go well with French toast, like pumpernickel.
• Ground Chia Seeds: Ground chia seeds allow the milk to be absorbed well and replace the egg in this recipe. If your chia seeds come whole, you can grind them in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
• Spices: We used a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg and a half teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• Milk: We made this French toast with soy milk, but you can use any milk of choice (see potential substitutions below!)
• Vanilla Extract: Rich and pure vanilla extract is used to give this yummy french toast all the flavor it deserves.
• Pure Maple Syrup: For a little bit of sweetness! 

🍲 Ingredient Substitutions

• Crusty Bread: Whole wheat or whole grain bread, white bread, challah (usually not vegan), brioche bread (usually not vegan), or your favorite sandwich bread! Ezekiel bread would be a great healthy option too. 
• Chia Seeds: Substitute flax seeds if you’d like. Use 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 2 tablespoons of water to make a flax egg. Chia seeds and flax seeds are my two favorite egg substitutes for French toast.
• Spices: Use any warm spices you like. Pumpkin pie spice or even a pinch of ground cloves would taste great.
• Vanilla: If you don’t have vanilla extract, try any of these substitutes for vanilla extract instead!
• Milk: Unsweetened almond milk, cashew milk, or any non-dairy milk will work fine for this recipe. For some extra decadence, use canned coconut milk!
• Maple Syrup: You can also use brown sugar or coconut sugar.

🔪 How To Make Vegan French Toast

If this is your first time making French toast, don’t worry! This recipe comes together with simple steps and minimal effort! See the complete list of ingredients and detailed instructions in the recipe card below! Here is how to make French toast without eggs or dairy:

Mix Ingredients, Chill Mixture: In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients except for the bread and oil. Place the mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Dip And Soak Bread: After the batter has thickened, pour it into a shallow dish or casserole dish (a rimmed baking sheet is too shallow). Dip each piece of bread into the wet mix and soak for a couple minutes. Flip the bread slices and soak the other side. Remove.

Cook: Next, add some coconut oil (or spray oil or even vegan butter) to a large nonstick skillet or frying pan (a nonstick pan is best) over medium heat (I don’t recommend medium-high heat; the bread may burn). Once the oil has melted, add a slice of bread at a time, cook for two to three minutes until golden brown, flip, and cook for another couple of minutes. Remove this vegan chia seed French toast from the heat. Repeat until all the slices have been cooked.

Serve: Serve immediately with your favorite toppings and maple syrup.

💭 Expert Tips

• Stale Bread Is Best: For best results, use two-day-old bread as this prevents the French toast from being soggy. Fresh bread doesn’t hold up well for French toast.
• Use Finely Ground Chia Seeds: Ensure the chia seeds are ground with a high speed blender or spice grinder until they are a fine powder for good results. The chia powder easily absorbs the milk and is unnoticeable when cooked.
• Do Not Soak The Bread Too Long: Too long and the bread can get too soggy and fall apart. A few minutes is plenty.
• Eat Right Away For The Best Taste: Serve this dairy free French toast immediately – it’s best when it’s freshly made!

📖 Variations 

• Vegan Banana French Toast: For a sweet twist, mash a ripe (spotty banana) in your bowl (until it becomes a smooth paste) before adding the other ingredients (and I would skip the maple syrup in this case). It will be a mild banana flavor but the ripe banana will help sweeten the batter.
• Vegan Pumpkin French Toast: For a fall-flavored recipe, simply add some pumpkin pie spice with the dry ingredients. You can even whisk a small amount (a tablespoon or two) of pumpkin puree into the milk mixture, if you’d like.
• Different Egg Substitute: Instead of ground chia seeds, you can use ground flax seeds, or chickpea flour (AKA besan flour or gram flour) (combine 3 tablespoons of chickpea flour with 3 tablespoons of water to replace 1 egg).
• Even Healthier French Toast: For a healthy french toast, Use Ezekiel bread in place of sourdough for more dietary fiber, and serve with peanut butter or almond butter or liquid monk fruit sweetener in place of the maple syrup for a sugar-free option.
• Eggy Flavor: If you like the eggy flavor of traditional French toast but you don’t eat eggs, try adding a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a tiny pinch of black salt to the batter.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

This is the perfect recipe for a wide variety of toppings! Sometimes we serve this with a toppings bar, and let everyone choose how to make this vegan French toast their own. Some of our favorite toppings include:

• Fresh Fruit: Any fresh berries like fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are always a hit. You could also make a simple fruit compote with apples and/or pears (try this pear compote) or a fresh breakfast fruit salad in the summer. Sliced bananas are also a delicious option!
• Nut Butter: Sometimes a drizzle of nut butter tastes even better than lots of maple syrup! We love almond butter or peanut butter for this recipe.
• A Dusting Of Spices Or Sugar: A little cinnamon, nutmeg or powdered sugar on top goes a long way.
• Syrups And Spreads: Try agave syrup, fruit syrup, jam, or even honey if you’re making this a vegetarian French toast (since honey isn’t vegan). You can also try coconut yogurt or whipped coconut cream!
• Chocolate: Chocolate sauce or chocolate chips turns this recipe into dessert for breakfast!

For a bigger spread, you can serve this alongside any type of breakfast recipe like this sweet potato breakfast hash or this silken tofu scramble. It also tastes great alongside smoothies, tea, coffee, or even this healthy hot chocolate!

🙌 Dietary Adaptations

Gluten-Free Option: Use a certified gluten-free bread and you’re good to go! Note that you’ll still want to let the bread get stale before using it to make this eggless French toast.

🫙 Storage Directions

Here is how to store and keep this vegan French toast with no egg:

• Refrigerating: Let the plant based French toast cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and place it in the refrigerator for up to five days.
• Freezing: To store in the freezer, wrap each slice of French toast in plastic wrap, then transfer to an airtight freezer safe container or gallon size freezer bag. It will keep for 2 months in the freezer.
• Reheating: To reheat, warm in the toaster oven or regular oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 5 minutes or until warmed through.

❓Recipe FAQs

🥣 More Vegan Breakfast Recipes!

• Fried Potatoes And Onions
• Mixed Berry Smoothie
• Broccoli Smoothie
• Quinoa Oatmeal
• Mini Pancakes
• Healthy Pumpkin Scones

📋 Recipe Card