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French toast sticks make a family favorite breakfast. Ready in minutes, this simple recipe for homemade French toast sticks also make a wonderful make-ahead treat!
One of my son’s favorite breakfast items has always been French toast. We turn to my Perfect French Toast recipe more times than I can count!
But one thing that he especially loved when he was a wee little boy was food that he could pick up with his fingers and eat. Even foods that he didn’t like I could coax him to try if fingers and dipping were involved. I’m not sure if that is just a kid thing, a boy thing, or what, but I used it to my advantage more times that not!
So, I naturally combined his love of French toast and using his hands to eat and would make these fun French toast sticks all the time when he was little. I’d make a few batches at a time and freeze bags of them and store in the freezer for even quicker mornings and some afternoon treats as well. For some reason, I hadn’t thought of them in the longest time until the other day he reminded me about them and actually requested them for breakfast.
You can bet they were on the table lickety split and there is now a bag of them in the freezer ready to go in a moments notice.
French Toast Sticks
French Toast Sticks Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk half and half, coconut milk, or almond milk
- pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 8 slices sandwich bread or thick-sliced Texas toast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- butter
- Maple syrup
Instructions
- Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon in a flat-bottomed pie plate or baking dish. Cut bread into thirds and place a few at a time into the egg mixture and flip to make sure both sides of bread are well-coated.
- Add granulated sugar to a shallow plate. Remove dipped French toast sticks from the wet batter and place in the plate of granulated sugar and lightly coat both sides of the sticks.
- Melt butter in a large skillet or on a griddle.
- Place bread sticks in skillet or on griddle and cook until golden browned on each side and crisp, about 3-5 minutes.
- Serve immediately or keep warm in oven until ready to serve, but no longer than about 30 minutes.
- To freeze for later use, place cooked French toast sticks on a baking sheet pan and freeze until firm, about 30 – 45 minutes. Transfer to a freezer-safe airtight container or freezer-safe zip top bag and store in the freezer. When ready to reheat, preheat oven to 425º F, remove the number of French toast sticks desired from the freezer and place onto a rimmed baking sheet pan in the oven and bake for about 12-15 minutes, until heated throughout.
- Serve with Maple Syrup.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
These toast sticks look so yummy!! I wish I could have some right now… Maybe I’ll try it over the weekend. Thanks for sharing!
My son is the same!!! I’m always cutting waffles into sticks over here. Totally going to try your French Toast recipe…dipping them in sugar before cooking? YUM!
So fun!! Love the idea of putting these in the freezer and being able to take a few out at a time. Delicious!!
I always take a pizza cutter to our pancakes and french toast for the kids automatically. My 10 year old thinks it is a little weird now, but usually I am too much in “auto” to stop myself. Maybe by the time the baby is old enough to cut her own pancakes I’ll stop. He’ll only be driving by then. 😉
Dipping the sticks in sugar before cooking them is genius! I’m definitely trying that!
My 10 and 7 yr old both still ask for the “pancake cutter” LOL
One trick I use when making any kind of French Toast is to first lightly toast the bread before dipping it in the liquid ingredients and don’t let it linger there for very long. This gives it a head start so it isn’t as mushy as when you just dip the regular bread in the liquids. My daughter, Bridget, of America’s Test Kitchen, also uses this method. And she learned from me. Needless to say, I’m a very proud mother.
What a great idea for toasting them! I’ll be sure to try that next time! You should be a VERY proud mother. Bridget is amazing and we absolutely love her!!! Thanks so much for sharing your tips and tricks!
Robyn xo
Oh yes. You surely are a proud mama! Bridget is so smart ! Love watching her
Pearse
What a fantastic idea to have these in the freezer. French Toast has always been my favorite.
– Jamie
Fantastic, i just made french toast this morning (forgot to put in the milk, duh! – to my defense, it was 630am, and i am not an early riser!). Some quesitons:
– the ground cinnamon i use doesn’t seem to mix well in the bowl/pan and clumps together – any tips?
– how long is the french toast able to keep when frozen?
What I do is add a sprinkle of the cinnamon after they are in the pan on one side instead of in the mix.
You have to mix it very well, using a whisk. that usually mixes it in. it will clump. that’s unavoidable.
what if you just toss them into the waffle maker ? I bet that would work very well.
I make this all the time… “french toast waffles”.
I think I must have done something wrong, because the toast carmelized and stuck in the pan. It tasted great, but I didn’t have the patience to continue with the sugar coating. I made the rest of the toast just with the egg dipping mixture. Still yummy!
You didn’t do anything wrong… sugar burns very quickly. I just made my first batch knowing full well sugar burns but maybe this recipe would change the properties of sugar. LOL. Nope… I started off w/ 8 burned french toast sticks. two slices of bread wasted and I’m in no position to be wasting ANY food……..
There could be one of two reasons for the burning or a combination of both. Since sugar does go from caramelized to burnt really fast at times, the heat shouldn’t be too high and the butter helps with preventing the sugar from burning as quickly. So it’s possible that you had the pan too hot from the start or not enough butter to mix with the sugar or both. I guess if you weren’t using a non stick pan, that could play a role too.
How would these be using wheat bread? That’s what I have to use up! Thanks!
Easy and delicious. My daughter loved it! I like how you mentioned almond milk as an alternative. I didn’t think about using that, so good to know it works as well as milk. The directions were very clear and helpful. I’m making a whole loaf of this to store in the freezer. Thank you!:)
Thanks so much for the kind comment Barbara! I’m so happy you and your daughter loved it! We are fans of this too – and it’s great to make ahead for the freezer! xo
I knew these wouldn’t work. I said to myself, “but the sugar will burn?” sure enough…. BURNED. the only way to do this effectively is to dip them in the cinnamon sugar right after you take them off the griddle. the heat will melt some of the sugar and keep it all on there.
I’m so sorry yours burned Kristina! I’ve not had that issue and have made this so many, many times. Thanks!
Can I use brioche for this recipe?
You can use brioche if you prefer, Max. I hope you enjoy!
Ha, just getting ready to try the brioche, will leave a comment after they’re done..