Vanilla Berry French Toast (Vegan GF)

Sticky, sweet and hearty vegan French toast with just a few basic staple ingredients. This stack of naturally sweetened toast is easily gluten-free and makes a great family brunch or weekend breakfast.

You may know by now that brunch is by far my favourite meal of the day. I would pretty much eat it all day long if I could (and I sometimes do). Sweet and savoury, healthier or more indulgent, you can pretty much have anything and everything for brunch. A lot of dishes also revolve around bread – think lime-smashed avocado on thick toast or crunchy slices topped with PB&J and banana… and the better the quality of bread, the better the final dish.

Recently, I was heard there was a new bread available in the UKcalled Jason’s Bread, a ciabatta-sourdough style artisanal loaf that comes sliced in the supermarkets. So, I thought it was a great excuse to try out a new vegan French toast recipe idea. You can see more about the bread I use on my Instagram, too.

Back to this simple and delicious recipe for Vanilla Berry French Toast (Vegan). It is naturally plant-based, and the batter is also gluten-free so opt for your favourite GF bread to make this dish free of wheat/gluten.

Here’s what we need for the batter:

• Plant-based milk: any kind will work here – I like to use almond, oat or soya but play around with it.
• Maple syrup: just a little bit of syrup really adds to the texture of the batter and helps it all turn wonderfully golden and crisp.
• Chickpea flour: this is perhaps the surprise ingredient but makes the batter thick and adds that “eggyness” that traditional French toast has. You can find gram/chickpea flour is more supermarkets in the Indian cuisine aisle for example at really reasonable prices!
• Cinnamon, vanilla and salt: all of these add wonderful flavours to the batter.
• Vegan butter/margarine/coconut oil: whatever you choose to fry your toast in, it is essential for a good crispy outside to have a thin layer in the pan. I’ve also tried this with spray oils in the past and the flavour and exterior is just not the same. Vegan butter will add the best flavour, but try margarine or coconut oil, too.

Whisk all the ingredients together to form a batter and then dip in the bread. Fry off until golden and then serve them stacked high. For this Vanilla Berry French Toast, I’ve simply served them with warmed vanilla berries, thick creamy coconut yoghurt, some chopped chocolate and a drizzle of maple syrup. That said, serve these French toast slices as they are and allow people to spread, top and drizzle as they please.

This Vanilla Berry French Toast is a great way to use up and show off your favourite bread and is a healthier, plant-based and refined-sugar-free version of the classic brunch dish. Use GF bread to make this recipe fully gluten-free and serve them with your favourite toppings. The toast is thick, sweet, sticky and wonderfully golden and crisp and no-one would tell there are no eggs in the mix!

If you are looking for more vegan brunch dishes, how about my:

• Peanut Butter Blueberry Chocolate Chip Courgette Baked Oats
• Cookies and Cream Baked Skillet Pancake
• Mini Oat Pancakes
• Breakfast Potato Cakes with Chilli Jam
• Green Shakshuka with GF Flatbreads

Vanilla Berry French Toast (Vegan GF)

• Servings: 2
• Time: 15 minutes plus cooling
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Sticky, sweet and hearty vegan French toast with just a few basic staple ingredients. This stack of naturally sweetened toast is easily gluten-free and makes a great family brunch or weekend breakfast.

Ingredients

• For the toast:
• 180ml plant-based milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 20g chickpea flour
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp vanilla
• Salt
• Vegan butter/coconut oil, for frying
• 4-6 slices bread
• For the toppings:
• 200g mixed frozen berries
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• To serve: 2 tbsp coconut yoghurt, extra syrup, pomegranate, chopped chocolate

Directions

1. Add the milk, syrup, chickpea flour, cinnamon, vanilla and a pinch of salt to a bowl and whisk well.
2. Heat a large frying pan with some vegan butter/coconut oil. Dip each slice of bread into the batter on each side and transfer to the pan, cooking one or two at a time depending on the size of the pan. Cook for a few minutes on the first side until golden, flip and cook on the second side and cook for until crisp. Repeat to cook all the French toast.
3. Meanwhile, warm the berries in the microwave or in a saucepan with a splash of water and ½ tsp vanilla until softened.
4. Serve the French toast stacked, topped with some coconut yoghurt, the warmed berries, extra syrup, pomegranate and chopped chocolate.

I look forward to hearing what you think of this Vanilla Berry French Toast and I hope you will love it as much as my family does. Please tag me in your brunch dishes, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With French toast love x

This recipe was originally sponsored by Jason’s Bread for social media, but I am choosing to share it here as I love it so much – not sponsored, all opinions are my own.