25-Minute Crispy Captain Crunch French Toast

Want to turn boxed cereal into a gourmet brunch? This Crispy Captain Crunch French Toast does just that! Captain Crunch French Toast is sliced bread dipped in egg wash and coated in crushed Captain Crunch Cereal, then pan-fried until crispy and golden brown.

Just when you thought a bowl of sugary cereal couldn’t get any better, you use it as a crispy coating on French toast and YOUR MIND IS BLOWN. This Captain Crunch French Toast will transform your old childhood favorite into an over-the-top breakfast dish.

French Toast is a classic breakfast treat that usually consists of sliced bread soaked in egg and then pan-fried. It’s usually on the sweeter side and served with maple syrup but can also be savory (check out this Savory French Toast Casserole next!).

However you serve it up, it’s always flippin’ delish. So how do you elevate it?

Well, you can stuff it, top it, or you can add a crispy, crunchy, sweet cereal exterior coating. This Captain Crunch French Toast lies behind door number 3.

As a mom-on-the-go with a gourmet palate, I’m always looking for easy ways to elevate recipes, and by adding a cereal coating, you can do that with just one ingredient, and in 30 minutes total!

Cap’n Crunch French Toast Ingredients

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Here’s everything you’ll need:

• Brioche. Or challah are the two preferred breads to use for the perfect French Toast. But you can truly use any bread you have on hand with a great outcome, even sourdough like in this Sourdough French Toast!
• Eggs. The egg wash is critical to making any French toast.
• Milk. Or heavy cream. Any percentage of milk or any unsweeted, unflavored nondairy milk will do. The milk in the egg wash adds moisture and fat, allowing it to soak into the bread more to give you a fluffy French Toast.
• Vanilla Extract. For flavor.
• Cinnamon. For more flavor.
• Captain Crunch cereal. The perfect crispy exterior.
• Butter. For frying.
• Maple syrup (optional). For serving!

Brioche is Best, But This Hack Will Do for other Bread

The airy and buttery texture in brioche is the perfect contrast to the crunchy exterior on this Captain Crunch French Toast. If for some reason you can’t find brioche, challah is delicious too!

This recipe is also an incredible way to re-vamp stale bread and bring it back to life!

If you are using regular white or wheat bread, it’ll still make for delicious french toast! However, you’ll want to soak the bread in your egg mixture just a little bit longer.

So, to be clear, with brioche or challah we want a quick dip, to avoid your bread getting soggy. While using thicker and heartier sandwich bread or stale bread, leave it in the egg mixture for about 30 seconds on each side, to get that airy, buttery, pillowy texture on the inside.

How to Make Captain Crunch French Toast

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The Secret to the Perfect Egg Wash for French Toast

If you’ve ever made French toast before, you may have struggled to mix the cinnamon into the egg wash.

Pro tip: It’s much easier to mix the cinnamon into the milk first, which will then readily integrate into the beaten eggs.

Start by adding the milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon into a shallow bowl. Use a fork to whisk together as best you can.

Then, add the eggs and beat. If you are risk-averse, you may want to crack the eggs into a separate dish first, so you can extract any eggshells that may fall in and avoid tainting your cinnamon milk with a rare (but gross) bloody egg.

How to Easily Crush Captain Crunch

There are several ways to crush your Cap’n Crunch but after trying every which way, I’ve found that a rolling pin and storage bag is the quickest and easiest method.

Place your cereal in a storage bag (consider these reusable storage bags to minimize waste). Seal it shut, lay it flat, and use a rolling pin or mallet to crush. Then you can just pour it right out from the bag into a shallow bowl.

While you want most of it to be crushed into a fine cereal dust, I like to live some bigger bits for extra texture and crunch.

If you don’t want to use the bag method, you can use a mortar and pestle, crush it with your hands, or even crush it with a fork in a bowl. Alternatively, you can use a food processor or blender.

Get the Butter Hot First

To get the best texture on your Cap’n Crunch French toast and achieve that perfect golden brown, you need to get your butter hot in the pan first.

Add about 1 tablespoon of butter to your pan over medium heat and wait until it melts completely. Then, tilt the pan back and forth to coat it in an even layer of butter.

Give it an additional minute to heat up and bubble. Then you can add the French toast to the pan.

Getting the butter hot first means that when you lower in the French toast, it will start to fry and make a crisp outer coating immediately. The bread won’t soak up any butter and get soggy.

Stretch Before You Run

You wouldn’t run a marathon before stretching, would you? Set yourself up for success by prepping your ingredients and setting them up in a cute little assembly line.

Bread. Then, egg wash. Then, crushed Captain Crunch. Easy as 1, 2, 3!

You should now be able to move your bread down the line pretty quickly. If you leave your bread in the egg wash for too long, it will make the middle of your French toast soggy. Womp womp 🤦‍♀️!

Completely Coat It, Cap’n!

Once your assembly line is set up and your butter is hot, it’s time to get to dunkin’! Working quickly so that your bread doesn’t get soggy, press the brioche into the egg was and flip it, so it’s coated on both sides.

Then, place it in the bowl of crushed Captain Crunch and press down lightly. Flip it and repeat on the second side. You may have to grab some cereal dust and sprinkle it on top to make sure it’s fully coated in Cap’n Crunch.

Fry Your French Toast until the Captain Crunch is Golden Brown

Working with 1-2 slices at a time (whatever you are comfortable with and how ever many can easily fit in the pan with ample space in between so you can access each slice to flip it), carefully lower the French toast into the hot butter.

Fry it until it is golden brown on both sides, which usually takes about 2-4 minutes.

You may have some crumbly pieces of cereal fall off into the pan. It’s best to remove them before adding more slices so they don’t get too burnt.

Keep adding butter as needed to make sure all of your French toast is able to fry in bubbling butter.

Keeping Your French Toast Warm

This French Toast is best served right out of the pan, but if you need to keep it warm, transfer it to your pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s best to put them right in the oven and keep them warm, rather than heating them up later.

The best part of this Captain Crunch French Toast is that crispy exterior—protect it at all costs!

If you have leftover egg wash, cover it up tightly and stick it in the refrigerator. It will last another 2 days!

Storing and Reheating Leftover Captain Crunch French Toast

French toast will stay delicious for 5-7 days wrapped and sealed in the refrigerator after preparing it. You can also freeze it for up to a month!

From the fridge, reheat on a frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side, until thoroughly heated through. You can also reheat it in the toaster or the oven at 375°F for 10 minutes from the refrigerator or 15 minutes from frozen.

The microwave will work in a pinch but does tend to make it a little soggy.

Serving Your French Toast Coated in Cap’n Crunch

This cereal French toast recipe is flavorful and sweet enough to stand on its own but is also delicious with whipped cream and/or maple syrup.

If you’re looking for something savory to complete your breakfast, here are some of my favorite things to serve it up with:

• Over Hard Eggs
• Soft Scrambled Eggs
• Vegan Breakfast Sausage Patties