French toast recipe that isn't so eggy?

June 4, 2016 5:00 PM

The kids want French Toast. My wife hates eggs. I get to cook. Yay?

My kids want French Toast for breakfast tomorrow and as cooking-slave-in-chief of the house, I have dutifully procured the ingredients. However, my wife hates eggs and anything eggy. Is there a good recipe that you can recommend that still maintains the classic french toast format without such an eggy flavour and texure?

posted by WinnipegDragon to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

dip the bread in heavy cream, grill, add cinnamon?
posted by jeffamaphone at 5:00 PM on June 4, 2016

Best answer: Make this classic Indian dessert: double ka meetha? Consists of fried bread slices and milk but no eggs.
posted by peacheater at 5:03 PM on June 4, 2016 [6 favorites]

We used to do the fried-bread-dipped in milk only with cinnamon and syrup before my daughter outgrew her egg allergy. However, I have to say, it wasn't that great. I'd suggest asking your wife if she'd prefer have that, or just bread and jam (I'd definitely pick the latter)
posted by chocotaco at 5:11 PM on June 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Alternately you could whip up a small batch of pancakes to cook in parallel, they cook well at the same temperature and go together quickly and only use one bowl, so it's not *that* much extra work or mess. Or if it's French toast for everybody, maybe dip your wife's pieces super quick so they don't have time to get as saturated with the egg mixture.
posted by usonian at 5:12 PM on June 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 2 very ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Blend everything and use the result to soak your bread. Pan fry like any other French toast. This will get you French toast with a fried banana sort of crust, which I personally love. You can powder with cocoa powder and cinnamon after you cook it, if you want, but it's great even without. Serve with more bananas and strawberries.

(condensed/adapted from a recipe on pp. 102-103 of Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz)
posted by Gymnopedist at 5:19 PM on June 4, 2016 [24 favorites]

Response by poster: Yeah I guess the easiest thing is to do too batches. I just feel bad if my wife misses out on the glory that is a proper French Toast.

I might as well ask for your favourite FT recipes regardless of egg content then :)
posted by WinnipegDragon at 5:19 PM on June 4, 2016

Online recipes seem to call for custard powder (Bird's) or cornstarch in place of the eggs for thickening. I think Bird's would actually work really well if you can get it, or even a packet of pudding mix. Using half and half would also add richness. And also use bread that has a richness to it, like raisin bread.
posted by BibiRose at 5:20 PM on June 4, 2016

I hate eggs, love french toast; the best kind for me is the kind that isn't soggy with the milk/egg mixture. So like usonian said, dip it really fast, and use nice, thick bread like texas toast, and consider seasoning the milk and egg with nutmeg and cinnamon. Maple syrup should cover any egginess.
posted by jenjenc at 5:21 PM on June 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

I was thinking UK,-style fried slice, but maybe French toast made with EggBeaters or other egg substitute would pass muster with your wife. No yolks, less eggy.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:22 PM on June 4, 2016

Best answer: Here is a recipe featuring custard powder, which I would totally use.
posted by BibiRose at 5:23 PM on June 4, 2016

But, really, just add more milk, cook well.
posted by sammyo at 5:32 PM on June 4, 2016

As a kid I didn't like eggy-tasting things, but I did like French toast. The trick was really just dipping the bread quite quickly in the egg and milk mixture rather than letting it soak through (really fast if the bread is dry or particularly absorbent). That way the center of the slice doesn't get too egg-custardy, and the egg on the outside cooks out of tasting eggy.

FWIW my go-to recipe was equal parts milk and egg (I'd just measure the milk out in half a broken eggshell, two half-shells full of milk for each egg), plus a half- to whole- teaspoon of vanilla (depending on how many people were eating), and cinnamon to taste.
posted by unsub at 5:48 PM on June 4, 2016

Best answer: I make French Toast Casserole (there are many recipes out there) for groups because french toast is such a pain to make individually, which is basically a bread pudding, which is basically a custard and therefore not nearly as obviously eggy as a good eggy french toast.

This is probably the ne plus ultra recipe, but I'll bet you could halve the eggs and use an extra 1/2C half and half or even whipping cream if you wanted to make sure it didn't have too eggy a flavor. Since it soaks overnight you're not going to have any problems getting it to thicken up.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:54 PM on June 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

You can also fry bread in butter with some sugar (and cinnamon, if you like) mixed into it, and it'll get a bit of a caramelized crust on it, but otherwise be a bit like the outside of a grilled cheese. It's not french toast, but it's good and it has no eggs in it at all.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:01 PM on June 4, 2016

I've successfully made french toast with just the milk, no eggs.
posted by Peregrine Pickle at 6:17 PM on June 4, 2016

Best answer: Two Cooks Illustrated recipes for your consideration... First, for your follow-up question about favorite recipes regardless of egginess, there's this one. I've made it several times and I think it's a really superior french toast -- the kind that makes me hesitant to order it out because it so rarely will be as good.

Then, another that I've never tried, but that I just came across as I was searching for the first one, and noted because it says that "eliminating egg whites (which contain sulfur compounds that make eggs taste eggy) gave it richness without a scrambled egg flavor..." Also, the almond crust variation sounds delicious.
posted by daisyace at 6:27 PM on June 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

My dad made french toast that wasn't sweet- lots of salt and pepper. You could mix it with sour cream instead of milk We used to put tomato sauce (ketchup to any Americans) on it. Wasn't eggy tasting when covered in sauce. Glorious with bacon.
posted by taff at 7:04 PM on June 4, 2016

You may well not have the ingredients at home so this could be for future reference, but my husband made fabulous French toast using a variation of this recipe. (Chickpea flour also known as besan or gram flour; Asian supermarkets probably a good place to search.)
posted by cardinalandcrow at 2:01 AM on June 5, 2016

Spanish French toast is amazing!

Briefly soak toast in milk lightly sweetened with sugar

Then dip in a separate bowl of beaten egg

Fry in an inch of hot oil

Sounds gross but is amazing, and the egg crust does not taste eggy at all.
posted by Ausamor at 8:39 AM on June 5, 2016

Have you ever heard of aquafaba? It's the fancy name folks have given to the liquid that's left after one cooks chickpeas (or, more conveniently, the liquid that you drain out of a can of cooked chickpeas). It whips up like egg whites, and tastes neither eggy nor beany when cooked. I know it sounds weird, but give it a try--aquafaba french toast is delicious.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:59 AM on June 6, 2016