• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Keeping It Simple Blog

  • Recipes By Category
  • About
  • Cooking Classes
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes By Category
  • About
  • Cooking Classes
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes By Category
  • About
  • Cooking Classes
×
Home » Recipes » Food

Published: Jan 28, 2021, By: Melissa, Updated: Oct 11, 2023

Honey Vanilla Brioche French Toast

Jump to Recipe

Classic French toast gets an upgrade with vanilla, honey, and brioche bread. The perfect special breakfast.

Brioche French toast on a plate with honey and blackberries on top.

This French toast is such an easy way to make a special breakfast and there are very few ingredients needed to make it. Making French toast with brioche bread is my favorite way to make a special breakfast for my family.

My favorite custard for French toast is a custard made with honey and vanilla and that is what I have used here and what I always make at home when I make any French toast.

The sweetness from the honey and flavor from the vanilla in the egg mixture really elevate this French toast recipe. The honey also really adds such great flavor to the recipe and clings to the bread before it hits the pan.

I love making this recipe for a special Sunday breakfast, Christmas brunch or when we are celebrating a special occasion.

cooked brioche French toast at table

Ingredients Needed

You really want to make sure you are using all high-quality ingredients for the Best French toast. There are not many ingredients in the recipe so you will taste all of them.

  • Brioche Bread
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Honey
  • Butter (for cooking the French toast)
  • Whole Milk. Making French toast is not the time for low-fat milk. Try to use only whole milk for this recipe.
  • Kosher salt
uncooked-french-toast

Tip:

The addition of honey adds sweetness and an occasional pocket of honey on the cooked French toast. Getting a piece of French toast with that pocket of honey crusted on is my favorite part.

Do make sure all of your honey is used up from the custard mixture. It will want to stay behind so you need to help it along!

How To Make Honey Vanilla Brioche French Toast

mixing wet ingredients
brioche French toast ingredients
dipping brioche French toast
cooking brioche French toast
  1. Make the custard for the French toast: Whisk egg, milk, vanilla, and honey together in a bowl. The vanilla and honey are what make this French toast THE VERY BEST!
  2. Slice up your brioche bread: The brioche should be cut into 1-inch slices.
  3. Dip Brioche bread into egg mixture: I like to dip both sides.
  4. Lift brioche out of egg mixture: You want to let the excess egg mixture drain off.
  5. Fry up the brioche French toast: in butter on a griddle or hot pan for about 3-4 minutes on the first side and 3-4 minutes on the other side or until it is nice and golden brown.

How to make French Toast that is not mushy

Remember that when cooking French toast, you want to do it on a lower heat than you would cooking pancakes. If your French toast doesn't seem quite golden brown enough after 3-4 minutes of cooking over medium to medium-low heat then just keep cooking it until it does.

The reason you want to cook the French toast low and slow is you want to allow time for the heat to cook the inside of the French toast. If you cook the French toast on too high of a heat then the outside quicks too quickly and the inside stays soft and undercooked.

All stoves vary as do pans. For the perfect brioche French toast, you are looking for a lightly golden brown outside that does not look wet anymore and is crisp.

By being patient when cooking your French toast, the texture of the outside will be nice and golden brown and the inside will be soft but cooked all the way through.

When both sides of the Brioche French toast look like this, it is done cooking.

Toppings

Brioche French toast with berries and powdered sugar on top.
This was a strawberry French toast made with brioche.
  • Any type of fresh berries
  • Powdered sugar
  • More honey
  • My easy blueberry sauce makes a great addition if you are a blueberry lover. It is really easy and delicious.
  • Fresh berry sauce or blackberry puree
  • Or your favorite topping!

Recipe Tips

How to keep French toast warm

  • Warm your oven to 170 degrees.
  • Place an oven-safe cooling rack on top of a large baking sheet and place in your warmed oven. This will warm the cooling rack itself.
  • With each batch of French toast that you make, once they are done cooking on the stovetop, transfer them to the oven to sit on the cooling rack to keep the brioche French toast warm. That cooling rack prevents condensation from forming under the French toast (when the heat has nowhere to go).

Where to Find Brioche Bread

You can usually find brioche in the bakery section of your grocery store. I have good luck at my local grocery store, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods.

If you can't find it in your local store then Challah bread is a good substitute for Brioche bread (challah bread looks like it was braided together).

You can also make your own brioche which is a really fun project! There is a really easy brioche recipe from Elle Jay at home that makes it really simple and walks you through all of the steps!

More Breakfast Recipes

If you love this French toast, you may also like these:

  • A plate of apple cider french toast with butter and cinnamon.
    Holiday Apple Cider French Toast
  • A plate of french toast with bananas on it.
    French Toast With Caramelized Bananas
  • blueberry scones recipe
    Blueberry Yogurt Scones
  • French toast casserole in glass baking dish with powdered sugar and berries on top.
    Baked French Toast with Condensed Milk
brioche french toast on plate
Print Recipe
5 from 9 votes

Honey Vanilla Brioche French Toast

Classic French toast gets an upgrade with vanilla, honey, and brioche bread.
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time20 minutes mins
Total Time25 minutes mins
Servings: 4 people
Author: Melissa Oleary

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf of bricohe bread or challah
  • 4 eggs
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ¼ cup honey plus more for drizzling over French toast
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • a pinch of kosher salt
  • fresh berries for topping optional
  • honey or warmed maple syrup for topping

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, add your eggs, honey, milk, vanilla and salt and mix well until the honey is no longer clumpy.
    4 eggs, ¼ cup milk, ¼ cup honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, a pinch of kosher salt
  • Next, slice up your brioche into 1 inch slices.
    1 loaf of bricohe bread
  • Now, preheat a large heavy bottom skillet or griddle on medium low heat. Remember, French Toast is cooked low and slow. Be patient!
  • Once it is pre-heated, add your butter and let it fully melt.
  • Now take a brioche slice and place into your custard mixture gently pressing down until it is completely submerged. Now take it out flip it over and submerge it again in the custard until you don't see any bubbles coming up (for about 2 seconds).
  • Lift your brioche slice out of the custard making sure to let the excess custard drip off and then place in your pan. Continue to add brioche into your pan until you can't add anymore (usually 3-4 slices depending on the size of your pan). Cook the brioche for about 4 minutes on the first side and then flip.
  • Cook for a remaining 3-4 minutes on the other side or until it is nice and golden in color.
  • Continue the steps above until all of the brioche is cooked. TIP: To keep your cooked brioche warm while you are cooking the remainder of the French toast, see notes above on how to keep it warm in the oven.
  • Once all of your French toast is cooked, add to a plate and while still hot drizzle a little honey or maple syrup over the French Toast.
  • Optional: top with your favorite toppings (butter, fresh berries, powdered sugar, ...)
    fresh berries for topping, honey or warmed maple syrup for topping
  • Enjoy

Notes

Crisping up your French toast:
If the French toast does not seem fully cooked and crisp on the outside after the full cooking time, just keep cooking it on medium-low heat until it is crisp on the outside.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 66kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 63mg | Potassium: 62mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 238IU | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition Values are estimates only.

See full nutrition disclaimer here

Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

Course :Breakfast

Reader Interactions

Comments

    5 from 9 votes (8 ratings without comment)

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Beth says

    October 03, 2022 at 9:59 pm

    5 stars
    Made this over the weekend and it was a hit! Really delicious

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      October 04, 2022 at 11:29 am

      I am so glad to hear that!

      Reply
  2. Melissa says

    September 18, 2022 at 1:20 pm

    I am so glad you enjoyed it 🙂

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

profile picture of Melissa from Keeping It Simple Blog

I am so excited you are here. My name is Melissa and I started this recipe website to share easy recipes that I have been cooking for years. I have written hundreds of easy recipes that are tested and perfected. Some of the recipes I learned during my years of working in restaurants, some from owning my own food company, and others from friends and traveling.

More about me →

Footer

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Footer

↑ back to top

About

Privacy Policy

Accessibility

Subscribe

Contact

Copyright © KeepingItSimpleBlog

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




Quick comment ideas!

This worked exactly as written, thanks!
My family loved this!
Thank you for sharing this recipe

Or write in your own words:

A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.