How to Make French Toast with Orange Zest

Our favourite French toast recipe with orange zest for added flavour.

ricotta on french toast
My favourite French toast topped with fruit sauce and honey orange ricotta.

Also Read: French Toast FingersStrawberry Rhubarb Sauce, Apple French Toast Bake, Honey Orange Ricotta

Want a cute breakfast or brunch idea for someone special? Add some red hearts. All you need is a heart shaped cookie cutter and some lovely red jam or sauce. For details read on after the recipe.

French toast with heart cutouts, red fruit sauce, oranges and whipped cream.
Who wouldn’t feel loved with a breakfast like this! Don’t forget the real whipped cream!

Don’t have time to make fruit sauce and whipped cream – strawberry jam and a dusting of powdered sugar will do!

red heart French toast
Double layer of French toast with delicious strawberry jam or strawberry rhubarb fruit sauce in the middle.

What’s the Ratio of Milk to Eggs for French Toast

As a standard guideline, use 1/4 cup milk for 1 egg. This will be enough for 2 slices of toast.

Recipe for French Toast

ricotta on french toast
Print Recipe
5 from 7 votes

French Toast with Orange Zest

The orange zest adds a special touch. Next time try lemon zest and serve with a little saskatoon or blueberry jam instead of syrup. So good.
Prep : 10 minutes
Cook : 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup milk or cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp orange zest
  • 1-2 Tbsp canola oil or butter
  • 8 slices thick dry bread*

Instructions

  • In shallow dish big enough for dipping bread, beat eggs. Whisk in milk, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar and orange zest.
  • Dip each slice of bread into egg mix just before cooking . For thick, dense bread, let soak for 30 seconds or longer. Give thin, fresh bread just a quick dip on each side to prevent it from getting too soggy.
  • Heat large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 Tbsp of oil or butter. Add remainder as needed while frying the bread.
  • Add dipped bread and cook over medium heat until brown on both sides about 2 minutes per side.
  • Keep cooked French toast slices in 200°F oven until ready to serve.

Notes

* Ideally, use thick cut, several day old bread or brioche that will soak up and hold the egg dip without becoming too soggy. 
 
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Course: Breakfast, brunch
dollop of honey orange ricotta
A dollop of honey orange ricotta and fruit sauce to make French toast even tastier.

Helpful Tips

  • Use dry, old, thick bread. French toast was invented to revive old, dry bread and make it pleasant to eat. If you use fresh, thin bread, it will soak up too much of the egg dip all at once and you’ll end up with soggy French toast – it may even tear as you try to remove it from the egg mix. Of course you can use whatever bread you have access to, just be aware of the difference and dunk fresh, thin bread much more quickly than thick, dry bread. You may even consider drying out fresh bread by dry slices at 275° F for 10 minutes before giving them their first dip.
  • Skim milk or cream – the difference in fat content will also make a difference in the texture of your final toast. The higher the fat content of your milk, the firmer your toast will be. So if you’re using low fat milk and you want to avoid soggy toast, maybe use a little less or opt for an additional egg.
  • A little sugar in the batter is yummy, but totally optional.
  • We love vanilla, cinnamon and orange zest, but you could also try nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, Grand Marnier, lemon zest, dried herbs (lemon verbena?) or whatever else you love best.
  • My family loves maple syrup, but I love adding fruit and other toppings:
plain French toast
What’s your favourite topping?

4 Steps to Red Heart French Toast

1.Make a batch of French toast making sure you  have an equal number of slices.

2. Use a cookie cutter to cut hearts out of half the cooked slices. It’s easiest when you cut the hearts out after the toast has been cooked.

cookie cutter and jam with toast

3. On the other pieces of toast, spread your favorite red jam. I used our homemade strawberry freezer jam because it’s just so darn good!

4. Now simply stack them on top of each other, dust with icing sugar and voila – beautiful Red Heat French Toast.

red heart French toast

More Heart 💖 Shaped Foods to try

If you like this post, find the information useful and want to help me be able to provide more helpful tips and recipes, please comment below or share this post on social media. You can reach me on Instagram @getgettys or Facebook @GettyStewart.HomeEconomist.

Select, store and serve seasonal food for everyday cooking with Getty. Getty is a food educator and Professional Home Economist, who loves sharing tips and recipes following the seasons from her Canadian kitchen. Sign up to get seasonal tips and recipes delivered to your inbox. Learn more about Getty or check out her books and pdf guides.

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