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 culinary experience!
Crispy and buttery on the outside and soft and pillowy on the inside, this decadent French toast recipe is a Fall favorite in my house. Plus, it comes together in less than 30 minutes and requires just 6 ingredients, making it a quick and easy breakfast idea.
In this recipe, you will learn how to efficiently make a pumpkin egg wash for the French toast. You’ll also learn my best tricks to getting perfectly textured French toast (hint: timing is key!).
This truly may be my very favorite French toast recipes (it’s a tossup between this and my Caption Crunch French toast, which is one of my all-time most popular breakfast recipes!!!), so I hope you enjoy as much as I do!
As a mom with a busy life and a refined culinary preference, 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!
Pumpkin French Toast Ingredients
Here’s everything you need:
- Day old or stale bread. Preferably brioche or Challah, but literally any bread will work!
- Milk. Any dairy or unsweetened, unflavored non-dairy (unsweetened vanilla works, too.).
- Brown sugar. Light or dark, I used light.
- Pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have, check out every pumpkin pie spice substitute.
- Pumpkin puree.
- Eggs.
- Maple syrup for serving.
The Best Bread for French Toast
Really any bread works with this French toast recipe! It’s best if the bread is day old or stale, so that even with soaking up the egg wash, the French toast is firm enough. Here are my very favorite types of bread for this Pumpkin French toast:
- Brioche.
- Challah.
- Sourdough. I love a good Sourdough French toast!
- White bread.
Tips and Tricks for the best Pumpkin Spice French Toast
How to Prepare the Best Egg Wash for French Toast with Pumpkin
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.
Once your milk, sugar, and pumpkin spice are integrated, add the eggs and use the whisk or fork again to stir.
It’s always best practice to crack your eggs into a separate dish so you can easily extract any egg shells that may fall in and avoid a spoiled or bloody egg. Admittedly, I usually take the risk!
Once the eggs are well-integrated, whisk in the pumpkin puree, and you’ll have a smooth and thick pumpkin egg wash!
How to Time the Pan-Frying of Your French Toast Perfectly
If you’ve made French toast before and the texture wasn’t quite right, you may be asking yourself “what is the trick to not soggy French toast?”.
Well, my friends, the trick to getting that perfect crispy, buttery exterior and soft, pillowy interior on your French toast is in the 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. Once the bread is coated, carefully drop it into the butter.
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 for about 3-5 minutes on each side, until both sides are crispy and golden brown. Make sure to add more butter as needed.
Serving Your Pumpkin French Toast
This Pumpkin French Toast is ridiculously delicious on its own or with just a little bit of maple syrup. Pictured, I served it with a little whipped cream, extra pumpkin pie spice, and syrup!
Still, if you want to add a little something, here are my favorite toppings and sides for some out-of-this-world breakfast ideas:
- Whipped cream, especially this Pumpkin Whipped Cream.
- Fresh fruit, like berries, sliced banana, apples, etc.
- Chocolate chips or chocolate syrup.
- Apple butter or peanut butter.
- Over hard eggs or soft scrambled eggs.
- Sliced avocado with salt and pepper
How to Store and Reheat French Toast with Pumpkin
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.
What Makes this Pumpkin French Toast So Special
- It uses real pumpkin and warming spices. This gives the French toast a super rich and festive flavor.
- The texture is perfect. A super soft and tender center with a perfectly crisp and golden-brown exterior.
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.
- Depending on the size of your eggs, there will be enough egg wash for 4-6 slices of French toast.
