Challah Bread French Toast is made with thick slices of Challah Bread soaked in milk, honey, and eggs, and pan-fried until golden. Serve with maple syrup, berries, and a dusting of powdered sugar for an easy and beautiful weekend breakfast.
The nice thing about challah bread is that you can slice the pieces as thick as you’d like and since the bread is so soft but sturdy, it's ideal for soaking up all of the eggs and milk. It also holds up really well when made into an Overnight French Toast Casserole.
When pan-fried in a mixture of olive oil and butter, it gets that beautiful golden color on the outside but is soft and luscious on the inside.
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- 💡 Recipe Inspiration:
- 🌟 What Makes This So Good:
- 🍓Challah Bread French Toast Toppings:
- 🛒 Ingredients
- 📝 How to Make Challah Bread French Toast
- 🪄 Challah Bread Tips and Tricks
- ✏️ Challah Bread French Toast FAQs
- If you're looking for other breakfast ideas, here are a few that I love:
- Challah Bread French Toast
💡 Recipe Inspiration:
When I was younger my mom would make us all French Toast quite often for breakfast on the weekends. She would take whatever bread she had on hand and soak it in eggs and milk and fry it up in a pan. It was one of my favorite breakfasts.
Later on, in college, a friend of mine would make Challah Bread French Toast for a couple of friends after an early morning finance class, which felt pretty fancy and comforting as college kids.
As an adult, I wanted to make French Toast with thick slices that were slightly soft and rich in the middle. One that our kids would eat and remember eating on the weekends as they grew up. So I spent some time experimenting with this recipe, and now this is one that we love.
We even go through phases of keeping some challah bread in the freezer. If we are craving French Toast we'll pull a loaf out of the freezer and the whole thing comes together pretty quickly, faster than pancakes.
🌟 What Makes This So Good:
Quick and Easy: It is quick to make, and if you double the recipe it can serve a larger crowd. It takes very little time, especially if you use two burners at once or a griddle.
Challah Bread: Challah bread is the perfect bread for French Toast. It is soft (but won't fall apart) and a little sweet. You can cut nice thick slices that can soak up the milk, vanilla, and honey.
🍓Challah Bread French Toast Toppings:
Because the slices are cooked in a little butter and olive oil and so flavorful from soaking in the milk mixture, you don't really need to serve this with anything else, just like with a Dutch Baby. You don't need butter or maple syrup or powdered sugar for serving, though of course it's great with it. Feel free to add on any of the following when serving.
- extra butter
- maple syrup
- berries
- powdered sugar
- whipped cream or maple mascarpone whipped cream
🛒 Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Challah Bread French Toast.
- Eggs: Use large eggs, pasture-raised if possible.
- Whole Milk: Use whole milk if you have it, but it can easily be substituted for 1 or 2% milk.
- Vanilla Extract: Use real vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla). If you do not have it, you can omit it.
- Honey: Adds a touch of sweetness, you can substitute maple syrup if desired.
- Salt: Balances and brings out flavor.
- Challah Bread: Sliced into ¾-1 inch thick slices.
- Olive Oil: I like to use a mild-tasting extra virgin olive oil.
- Butter: For pan-frying. I use salted butter.
📝 How to Make Challah Bread French Toast
Below are the step-by-step instructions for how to make Challah Bread French Toast.
*Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Slice the Bread: Cut the challah bread into ¾-1 inch thick slices.
Step 2. Make the Egg-Milk Mixture: In a large flat bottom dish combine the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, honey, and salt.
Prep: Bring a large saute pan to medium heat (think a setting of "4" out of "10" or just below medium heat).
Step 3. Soak the Bread: Place two slices of the challah bread in the egg-milk mixture and let soak for one minute. Flip over and let soak for 1 more minute.
Step 4. Pan Fry: Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter to the pan at medium heat. Add the slices of Challah bread to the pan.
Let the bread sit undisturbed until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Then flip over and allow the bottom to get golden brown as well, about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside while repeating with the remaining slices of bread. Add more butter and olive oil to the pan as needed.
🪄 Challah Bread Tips and Tricks
- Where to Buy: Challah bread can be expensive, so when you're out shopping keep an eye out for which grocery store has a less expensive option. I've seen Challah bread at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Stew Leonards (a local New England grocery store), and at local bakeries (sometimes upon request). At Stew Leonard's I can buy a loaf of Challah bread that is two times as big as Whole Foods and half the price.
- Loaf Size: The amount of bread that you’ll use will really just depend on the size of the loaf. Some loaves are longer or wider than others. I usually end up with six larger slices about ¾-1 inch thick which is about ⅔ of one loaf, but if you have a narrower loaf you’ll end up with more slices that are smaller.
- Soaking Time: Don’t oversoak the bread. If you do, the bread will be difficult to cook through and it will end up soggy. I find that soaking for 1 minute on each side works best.
✏️ Challah Bread French Toast FAQs
Brioche is a much softer bread than Challah bread. If you were to let it soak for a full minute in the egg-milk mixture it would start to fall apart. To substitute brioche, reduce the egg-milk mixture by a third and only dip the bread in the mixture before pan-frying. Do not let it soak.
Yes, this is a very customizable recipe. Feel free to add cinnamon or a pinch of nutmeg. Or you could add some lemon or orange zest.
If you're looking for other breakfast ideas, here are a few that I love:
If you've tried this Challah Bread French Toast or any other recipe on my site, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Challah Bread French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 loaf challah bread, about 6 slices
- 6 large eggs
- 1½ cups whole milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ tablespoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter, plus more for serving
- maple syrup, powdered sugar, berries optional for serving
Instructions
- Slice the challah bread into pieces about ¾-1 inch thick.
- Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, honey, and salt in a large shallow rectangle baking dish.
- Bring a large sauté pan or griddle to medium heat. Add about a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan.
- Meanwhile, place two slices of bread in the baking dish so that the slices soak up the egg mixture. Flip over after 1 minute. Let the second side sit in the mixture for 1 more minute and remove. Work in batches as necessary.
- Place the slices of bread on the pan and flip once so that each side is golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Repeat as needed for all slices of bread.When working in batches, do not start soaking the bread for the second batch until the bread from the first batch has been cooked and removed from the pan, otherwise, it will get soggy.
- Serve warm with butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and berries.
Notes
- Where to Buy Challah Bread: Challah bread can be expensive, so when you're out shopping keep an eye out for which grocery store has a less expensive option. I've seen Challah bread at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Stew Leonards (a New England grocery store), and at local bakeries (sometimes upon request). At Stew Leonard's I can buy a loaf of Challah bread that is 2x as big as Whole Foods and half the price.
- Loaf Size: The amount of bread that you’ll use will really just depend on the size of the loaf. Some loaves are longer or wider than others. I usually end up with six larger slices about ¾-1 inch thick which is about ⅔ of one loaf, but if you have a narrower loaf you’ll end up with more slices that are smaller.
- Soaking Time: Don’t oversoak the bread. If you do, the bread will be difficult to cook through and it will end up soggy. I find that soaking for 1 minute on each side works best.
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