By Emily Kennedy, Recipe Developer & Tester for EatingWell Magazine
There is a small café called 3 Squares a few miles from the EatingWell offices that makes what I consider to be the world’s best French toast. It’s nothing fancy -- made with challah bread and served with cinnamon whipped cream, sliced berries and bananas. It is the kind of breakfast that I crave, and I have made it my mission to figure out how to make it (and make it healthier) at home. Here are my secrets to perfect, healthier French toast:
Get the Right Bread: You want bread that does not have too chewy or tough a crust or too many holes. This means steer clear of your beloved French baguette and fancy artisan breads. And while bread made from white all-purpose flour may taste good, it won’t do much for you nutritionally. But you don’t have to sacrifice taste to get the benefits of fiber from a whole-grain bread. To make a tasty, whole-grain French toast, I like to use a medium-density, semi-soft bread like thick-sliced whole-wheat, multi-grain or oatmeal sandwich bread, which is soft without being too delicate.
Use a Sturdy Pan: I like to make my French toast in a cast-iron pan, which gets nice and hot and maintains its heat evenly. I heat my pan slowly over medium-high heat and use just enough melted butter to barely coat the inside. This gives the toast a delicate, crispy exterior without drying out the interior. Think crème brulee—crackly, sugary shell on top of silky pudding.
Related: 3 Health Reasons to Cook with Cast Iron
Use Low-Fat Dairy: Traditional French toast recipes call for heavy cream, eggs and vanilla extract to make the custard. To make a healthier version with less fat and fewer calories I use reduced-fat or nonfat milk in place of the cream and a combination of whole eggs and egg whites. Replace one egg with two egg whites. No one will know the difference. Vanilla or almond extract and a sprinkle of cinnamon will add flavor without any added fat or calories.
Related: 3 Essential Ingredients of a Healthy Breakfast
Be Creative with Your Toppings: The French toast I get at 3 Squares Café is decadently topped with a generous dollop of cinnamon whipped cream and sliced fresh fruit. At home, I prefer something lighter. So, I whip just a tiny bit of heavy cream and fold it into nonfat Greek-style yogurt. I promise, it is delicious, and you save saturated fat and calories by cutting some of the whipped cream with thick and rich Greek-style yogurt. Just be careful not to eat the whole bowlful by yourself.
Other easy, healthy toppings include fresh fruit, a spoonful of fruit jam or preserves or even a smear of peanut or almond butter. Finally, a tablespoonful or two of genuine Vermont maple syrup is always a good choice—there’s nothing to beat it and a little goes a long way.
Recipes to Try: Baked Apple-Cinnamon French Toast & More Breakfast Casserole Recipes
Healthy Recipes for Pancakes
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What's your best tip for keeping pasta dinners healthy?
By Emily Kennedy
Emily Kennedy tests and develops recipes in the EatingWell Test Kitchen. Emily recently moved to Vermont from New York City, where she worked at Food & Wine, food52.com and Real Simple. She is a recent convert to the glories of kale and has a weakness for doughnuts, strawberry licorice and anything her Italian-American grandmother makes, especially pizza.
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Cast Iron? Uck...cast Iron will hold flavors from other foods...if fish was last item cooked in that pan...you might get a fishy French Toast? I only use a GOOD stainless with the special thick heat dispersing bottom or even a heavy, big omelette pan. I fry it in butter, maybe mixed with a little veg oil, med heat until its a little crispy, golden and custard like inside.
I got the mixing Greek Yogurt with heavy cream and the other stuff in the article...I will try that. Butter w/maple hot and poured over is not the healthy way, but a classic and almost anything can be put on the hot French Toast. I'm just thinking now of a mushed up heated sauce made from ripe bananas, some light Karo syrup and maybe butter and pinch cinnamon? Maybe a little runny melted chocolate chips in there too? MMMmmmmmmm. F r e n c h T o a s t I l o v e y o u .
I grew up with dipping bread in some beaten egg and frying it and YES< in a cast iron skillet THE END
How do people eat so much sugar on everything? Especially in the morning YUK
Your French toast would not be my best as I would not want mine sweet
While you are right about eating more of your daily calories in the AM as opposed to the PM, you should still limit or avoid sugars
What do you say you make the night before? Do you let it soak overnight? That would make it way too soggy
You are right about the cinnaon floating to the top