Baked French Toast Muffins — 🍞🧡😋 A quick, EASY recipe for French toast made in muffin cups! The French toast bites are slightly chewy and lightly crisped on the outside, but soft on the inside! Great for weekday breakfasts and holiday brunches alike!
Table of Contents
One of my least favorite things to do is stand over a griddle and flip pancakes or French toast. Thankfully I avoided it with French toast that’s baked in a muffin pan.
This recipe is fast, easy, and perfect for brunch or a holiday breakfast, but it’s do-able even on busy weekday mornings.
The French toast muffin cups are slightly chewy and barely crisped on the outside, and remains soft on the inside. The pieces of bread hold together remarkably well, although we had no problem devouring them, pull-apart style.
And they’re portable so when you’re late leaving the house for work or school, it’s an easy grab-and-go breakfast. Not that I’m ever late trying to get out of the house…
Ingredients You’ll Need
This recipe is on the lighter side. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk which keeps the recipe dairy-free, there’s only 2 tablespoons of sugar in the batter, and I used sugar-free syrup sweetened with aspartame.
For people like me who like a little French toast with our bottle of syrup, low calorie sweeteners are the way to go and can be a handy tool for people trying to reduce sugar.
- Eggs
- Milk – I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
- Bread – I used regular whole wheat bread
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make French Toast in Muffin Cups
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugars, ground cinnamon, and vanilla.
- Add the bread cubes and toss to coat, then let rest for 5 minutes so the bread has time to soak up the custard mixture.
- Divide the soaked bread cubes between eight muffin cups.
- Bake the French toast muffins until the tops are lightly golden brown, the coating mixture is set, and bread looks fairly dry.
- Let cool for 10 minutes in the muffin cups before serving.
Tip to Prevent Anything From Sticking
Before starting the recipe, make sure to spray the heck out of your muffin pan with cooking spray so the egg-based batter doesn’t cause the French toast to stick.
Recipe FAQs
Since the French toast mixture is baked instead of cooked in a skillet and flipped multiple times, you can truly use any bread you like. I used store-bought whole wheat bread, but white bread, gluten-free bread, brioche, French bread, etc. all work.
Yes! We love the simplicity of using just ground cinnamon, but you can add other warming spices like nutmeg or allspice, or use a spice blend like pumpkin spice.
You have to let the bread cubes rest in the egg mixture for 5 minutes before dividing between the muffin cups! If you skip this step, the bread won’t have time to soak up the egg mixture and the muffin cups will be dry.
Yes! Just double the ingredients list and use two muffin pans instead of one.
Definitely! They keep well in the fridge or freezer and can be reheated in about 30 seconds in the microwave.
What to Serve with French Toast Muffins
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating
In the fridge: Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container and chill up to 5 days.
In the freezer: Let cool completely, then store in an airtight freezer container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
To reheat: Pop the muffins in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.
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Baked French Toast Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- scant 1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 slices whole-grain or whole-wheat bread, diced into 1-inch cubes
- sugar-free syrup, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 8 of the 12 cavities of a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan (note you will not use all 12) very, very well with cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners and in this recipe, I think the bread would stick.)
- To a large bowl, add the first 6 ingredients, through vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add the bread and gently toss with a spoon to coat evenly. Allow bread to rest in bowl for 3 to 5 minutes, or until most/all of the batter has soaked into the bread.
- Evenly distribute bread (and any un-absorbed batter can be drizzled evenly) among 8 cavities in prepared pan by loosely laying it in, without packing down. Each cavity should be about 3/4-full. The bread puffs quite a bit while baking, but deflates upon cooling. Pieces should all lay fairly flat in each cavity because any pieces that are jutting up will be prone to burning.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until tops are lightly golden brown, the coating mixture is set, and bread looks fairly dry (no wet batter); use your judgment when evaluating doneness because type of bread used, muffin pans, ovens, and climates vary. Start watching closely at 20 minutes.
- Allow French toast to cool for about 10-15 minutes in muffin pan on top of a wire rack before gently rimming each cavity with a knife if necessary, dislodging, and serving with syrup.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy French Toast Recipes:
Air Fryer French Toast Sticks — A FAST and EASY recipe for French toast sticks made in the air fryer. Lightly crisped on the outside, tender on the inside, and spiced with plenty of cinnamon to make you reach for just one more!
Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Sticks — These french toast sticks are slightly firm on the outside, tender in the middle, and the cinnamon flavor really shines through!
Pumpkin French Toast — Don’t even think about skipping breakfast when you can have this! It’s fast, easy, and packed with pumpkin flavor!
Caramel Apple Cinnamon Streusel French Toast Casserole – An EASY recipe with a make-ahead overnight option so it’s perfect for weekend or holiday brunches!
Cannoli French Toast Roll-Ups — Rather than making traditional cannoli, I made these cannoli-inspired French toast rollups. They’re easy to make and the filling in the center is creamy, luscious, and studded with chocolate chips.
Croissant French Toast — The French toast would be perfect on a holiday morning because it just feels and tastes more special than regular French toast but it’s so easy to make and you can easily adjust the yield.
Baked Bagel French Toast with Maple Glaze — Soft, chewy bagels make the best French toast! So easy, no flipping required, and tastes phenomenally good!!
Cinnamon French Toast Bake — Cinnamon sugar french toast is baked rather than being griddled, which frees you up from having to stand at the stove flipping it. It takes minutes to assemble, and there’s an overnight option!
Overnight Syrup-On-The-Bottom French Toast – Assemble it the night before and wake up to AMAZING French toast the next morning!! An EASY homemade syrup layer on the bottom with super SOFT challah bread on top!
Post is brought to you by the Calorie Control Council and aspartame.org. The opinions, recipe, text, and photography are my own.
Shoot my last comment got auto corrected…
I found this awesome Artisan bread made by Sara Lee. It is to die for (in all forms)! I have made French toast with it and it was sooooo yummy. Do you think switching out the bread would be a problem?
I’m sure it will be fine. Enjoy!
I linked to your recipe on my blog for easy and healthy recipes for students! https://louisenaumann.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/easy-and-healthy-recipes-for-students/
I just took these out of the oven, and they’re awesome! I adjusted to try to get a dozen muffins (figured I might as well fill the whole tin) using 5 eggs and all the leftover bread crusts that get thrown in my freezer from my kids’ lunches. They have a little more texture thanks to the crusty bits, but are still awesome. This will be my new go-to for leftover crusts! I’m thinking maybe some chopped nuts on top though next time…
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And way to use up your leftover crusts!
These all looks delicious but, please research aspartame ?dangerous substitute. Will try these with a reduced amount of pure maple syrup ?
These look fabulous! I love a good one bowl treat, and savory muffins are the best
Great recipe. Just made these this morning with the parmasean hash brown cups to cheer up my husband since we are in the middle of a snowstorm and he hates the snow and cold. Texan. I loved the hash brown cups! The French toast was great, but going to try with cinnamon and nutmeg next time, and try with a French loaf. Thanks again!
Thanks for trying two recipes and I’m glad you guys enjoyed the hash brown cups and plan to try the French toast again too! Stay warm in the snowstorm!
I’m totally trying these soon! YUM! PINNED! :)
Just made these for Saturday breakfast. Delicious!! I never really looked at label for maple syrup. I was shocked! Natural, but pure sugar. More than a days worth. I am going to alternate with a high-fructose corn syrup free/sugar free brand of syrup now.
Thanks for trying these for your Sat breakfast! Yes with syrup you have to be careful because what seems like a ‘small amount’ can be like 300 calories if you like to squirt it on generously like I do :)
I absolutely love your recipes especially the muffins!! Saved the recipe for chrismas :)
Ugh, YES! Pancakes, waffles & French toast… It’s totally a love-hate relationship. I adore eating them, but making them for more than 1 person is such a chore. And I’d rather spend the time doing something else productive, like… Eating more chocolate. (Truth.) Love this muffin version!!
Such a great idea! I bet these are amazing.
MMMM looks delish, but I would stick to natural sweeteners! aspartame is sooo bad for you :(
Oh my, how scrumptious do these look! I especially love that they are mini and portable!
Yum! What a great idea! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I will definitely try this.
I am so bad when it comes to watching something at the stove and so many times I have browned my butter (which was not intentional! ha).
I love how easy these are and they look super cute!!
I love french toast with muffin style! Love that this makes better use of your time and mine. :-)
Perfect for Christmas morning too! Pinned.
Have a great weekend Averie!
Thanks for pinning and enjoy your weekend, too!