This Pumpkin French Toast uses a combination of real pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to culminate in the perfect blend of rich flavor and satisfying textures for the ultimate Autumn breakfast!
Crispy and buttery on the outside and soft and pillowy on the inside, this truly may be my very favorite French toast recipe (along with my all-time most popular Captain Crunch French toast!).
Plus, it comes together in less than 30 minutes and requires just 6 ingredients, making it a quick and easy breakfast idea.
As a mom with a busy life and preference for bold flavor, I live for a simple hack like adding pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to your French toast egg wash to easily and efficiently elevate it to the next level!
P.S. If you’re going all out, I highly recommend topping it with this Homemade Pumpkin Whipped Cream!
Pumpkin French Toast Ingredient Highlights
Preferably you will use stale bread, but day-old bread will do. My favorites for French toast are brioche and challah, but I also like white bread and even sourdough— literally any bread will work!
Any dairy or unsweetened, unflavored non-dairy (unsweetened vanilla works, too). You can use light or dark brown sugar, I used light.
If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, check out every pumpkin pie spice substitute.
Tips and Tricks for the best Pumpkin Spice French Toast
How to Make Pumpkin French Toast on the Stove
The success of your Pumpkin Spice French Toast relies heavily on the success of your egg wash! It’s hard to equally distribute the sugar and cinnamon into the eggs, but I have a great hack to do so!
Add the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice to a bowl with the milk first. Give it a good stir with a whisk or a fork before adding the eggs to the mixture.
This will help to evenly distribute the sugar and spice throughout the egg wash more evenly, rather than it little clumps.
The trick to getting that perfect crispy, buttery exterior and soft, pillowy interior on your French toast is in your timing.
The key is getting your butter nice and hot in the pan before dropping the French toast in. You also don’t want to over-soak the bread in the pumpkin egg wash.
To achieve this, I suggest adding about 1 tablespoon of butter to your pan first over medium heat. Once melted, tilt the pan to coat the bottom evenly with a layer of butter.
Then, with the butter still over medium heat, dunk your bread in the pumpkin egg wash one at a time, coating it on both sides. You just want to dunk and coat, not sit and soak.
Only dunk the bread when you are ready to fry it. I usually fry one or two slices at a time, as to not overcrowd the pan. Fry the French toast until both sides are crispy and golden brown. Make sure to add more butter throughout as needed.
Crispy Pan-Fried Pumpkin French Toast
SAVE RECIPE TO COLLECTION PIN PRINT RATEEquipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup milk (or half and half, or heavy cream)
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (for frying)
- 4 slices stale bread (or day old)
- ¼ cup maple syrup for serving (optional)
Instructions
- To a shallow bowl, add the milk, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice and whisk to combine.¼ cup milk, ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Crack your eggs into the bowl with the spiced milk and whisk until smooth.2 large eggs
- Add the pumpkin puree and whisk again to combine.½ cup pumpkin puree
- Add about 1 tablespoon of butter to a large frying pan over medium heat and allow butter to melt, tilting the pan to coat the bottom with butter.4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Once your pan is hot and butter is melted, dip the bread into the pumpkin egg wash, one slice at a time, coating both sides and transferring immediately to the hot pan.4 slices stale bread
- Allow your French toast to fry for 2-5 minutes before flipping and cooking on the other side. Both sides should be golden brown.
- Repeat for all 4 slices of bread, adding more butter to the pan as needed.
- Serve hot with maple syrup! Try this Pumpkin Whipped Cream for a fancy finish.¼ cup maple syrup for serving
Pro Tips
- It’s best just to dip the bread in the egg wash, rather than letting it soak. This will help you avoid soggy French toast.
- Keep the French Toast warm in the oven at 200°F until ready to serve.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan—it will make your French toast harder to flip.
- French toast will stay fresh for up to 1 week in the refrigerator in an airtight container. You can also freeze this pumpkin treat for up to a month! From the refrigerator, it’s best to reheat it on a frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side, or until thoroughly heated through. If frozen, you will likely need to double the amount of time in your frying pan. You can also reheat it in the oven at 375°F for 10 minutes from the refrigerator or 15 minutes from the freezer, or in the air fryer on 350°F for about 5 minutes. The microwave will also work in a pinch, but it does tend to change the texture and can make it a little soggy or rubbery. If you have extra egg wash only, you can save that, too. Store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container to make more French toast over the next 3 days.
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