Stuffed French Toast

A good French toast is crispy and golden brown on the outside, with a rich and custardy center that hardly needs a butter knife. But a sinfully delicious, over-the-top, talk-about-it-for-days French toast is stacked with slices of challah bread and stuffed with a sweetened cream cheese filling.

We designed our stuffed French toast recipe to capture all those qualities, and then some. Here’s how to make stuffed French toast that’s cooked so perfectly it would be the star on a restaurant’s brunch menu.

Ingredients for Stuffed French Toast

• Cream cheese: Take your cream cheese out of the fridge 30 minutes before starting this stuffed French toast recipe. It will be a lot easier to cream so the filling is lump-free.
• Confectioners’ sugar: A 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar sweetens the cream cheese filling.
• Vanilla extract: Lightly floral and slightly sweet, vanilla extract adds a pleasant, delicate flavor and aroma to the filling.
• Bread: Challah is one of the best types of bread you can use for French toast. It’s eggy, rich and sturdy, and it soaks up the custard perfectly. Bread for French toast is normally cut into 1-inch-thick slices.
• Milk: While we recommend 2% milk, you can really use any milk or nondairy milk. Just remember that the French toast’s texture and flavor may change slightly.
• Eggs: Four eggs create the perfect French toast custard consistency.
• Sugar: We sweeten the custard slightly with granulated sugar.
• Cinnamon: Without being overpoweringly cinnamon-y, just 1 teaspoon cinnamon makes this French toast taste warm and cozy.
• Butter: Grease your skillet with 4 tablespoons butter, two for each round of sandwiches.
• Toppings: A pad of butter, the best maple syrup, fresh strawberries and homemade sweetened whipped cream are the best toppings to dress up stuffed French toast.

Directions

Step 1: Whip up the filling

Taste Recipes

In a small bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until smooth and lump-free.

Step 2: Spread the filling on the bread to create sandwiches

Taste Recipes

Spread the cream cheese filling over six slices of bread, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the edges so the filling doesn’t ooze out when cooked. Top each slice with a remaining bread slice.

Step 3: Create the custard

Taste Recipes

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt until combined.

Editor’s Tip: I like to break out my immersion blender for this part. It helps break up the stringy egg bits and creates a smooth, silky custard.

Step 4: Dunk the sandwiches

Taste Recipes

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Dip both sides of the sandwiches in the custard mixture, allowing each side to soak.

Editor’s Tip: Soak each sandwich in the custard for about five seconds on each side. Any longer and the sandwich will be a soppy mess.

Step 5: Griddle the sandwiches

Taste Recipes

Place three custard-soaked sandwiches in the skillet. Toast until golden brown, four to five minutes on each side. Repeat with the remaining butter and sandwiches.

Step 6: Serve with toppings

Serve your cream cheese-stuffed French toast with your favorite toppings, like butter, maple syrup, fresh strawberries and fluffy dollops of whipped cream.

Taste Recipes

Stuffed French Toast Variations

• Fill with fruit: Fruit is the best (and easiest) way to kick this stuffed French toast recipe up a notch. Simply wash and chop your fruit of choice into bite-sized pieces, then layer the fruit on the cream cheese filling before adding the second piece of bread. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple, mango, peaches, pears and apples all work.
• Brighten the flavor: Punch up the flavor by grating lemon or orange zest into the cream cheese filling. The zest will brighten the tanginess so the filling is not as heavy on the sweetness.
• Use a different filling: Nutella is an absolute knockout swap for cream cheese. Make a PB&J-stuffed French toast and spread one piece of bread with jelly and one with peanut butter, or stick with just one of the two. Swap mascarpone for the cream cheese and sprinkle berries inside, because they’re perfect together.
• Add texture: Besides the golden brown crust, cream cheese-stuffed French toast is a pretty soft dish. Add some texture by stuffing or finishing the recipe with candied pecans or toasted shredded coconut.
• Finish with your favorite toppings: Fresh, macerated or cooked-down berries add a lovely tang to stuffed French toast. A flavored syrup (like strawberry syrup or raspberry sauce) is magic here, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream will take your dish over the top but may require you to take a nap in about an hour.

How to Store Stuffed French Toast

Cool the stuffed French toast to room temperature, then place it in an airtight container. The French toast can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.

How to Reheat Stuffed French Toast

Preheat your oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Place the desired amount of leftover stuffed French toast on the baking sheet, and heat it in the oven until warmed through, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping the sandwiches halfway through. You could also warm them in the microwave, but know the outside won’t be crispy.

Can you make stuffed French toast ahead of time?

You sure can! Cream cheese-stuffed French toast is perfect to assemble the night before so you can get right to dunking in the custard and toasting the next morning. To prep the night before, whisk together the ingredients for the custard, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also stuff the bread with the cream cheese, then wrap each sandwich in storage wrap and place the sandwiches in the fridge.

Take the custard and stuffed sandwiches out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Give the custard a good whisk, then dunk the stuffed sandwiches and lay them on the griddle.

Stuffed French Toast Tips

Taste Recipes

What do you serve with stuffed French toast?

Carb-heavy and sugar-loaded, cream cheese-stuffed French toast is a hearty breakfast all on its own, but if you want to round it out with some protein, cook bacon or a mound of juicy breakfast sausages. Or, a cheesy vegetable egg dish adds tons of protein and vegetables to the meal. Smoothie recipes are full of fruits (and sometimes veggies!) and will make a fun drink to sip on.

What bread is best for French toast?

The best French toast is made with day-old, sturdy, thickly sliced bread (aka do not even think about opening your new bag of sandwich bread!). Challah, brioche and Texas toast work best here, just make sure they are slightly stale so they soak up the custard better.

If your bread is a bit too fresh but you’re wondering how to make this stuffed French toast recipe today, just pop the bread slices in a 300° oven for about 10 minutes. You don’t want to give them color; you just want to pull out the moisture.

How do you keep stuffed French toast warm before serving?

If you want to feed your crowd all at once, preheat your oven to 250° and stick a parchment-lined baking sheet inside. When you’ve finish toasting your first round of cream cheese-stuffed French toast, add that round to the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. This trick can be applied to waffle and pancake recipes too!