This vegan Baked French Toast is made with fresh berries, orange zest, and almonds, in a creamy vanilla “custard” made with silken tofu. An eggless French toast recipe that is surprisingly easy, and full of delicious springtime flavor.
This vegan Baked French Toast is a snap to make and tastes and looks delicious! Perfect for special occasions or a holiday brunch. Today, I’ve used fresh strawberries and almonds, but the recipe can be adapted to fit what you have or what is in season—for example, in winter, use frozen blueberries and walnuts; in summer, try peaches and almonds, in the fall, use pears and pecans!
It’s a simple foundational recipe for your own creations and I’m excited to share it! We used to serve this up at our restaurant Mizuna, back in the day! I’ll also share a non-vegan option in the recipe notes if you are bound and determined to have your eggs and cream. 🙂
What you’ll need!
Vegan Baked French Toast Ingredients
- Fresh Orange (zest and juice)
- Silken tofu – organic, firm or extra firm
- Maple syrup -always use real maple syrup, or sub honey (not vegan)
- Olive oil– or sub melted coconut oil, avocado oil
- Plant-based milk – oat, soy, almond, coconut
- Vanilla Extract
- Seasonings: Salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg (use freshly grated for incredible flavor!)
- French Bread (fluffy, airy with good crust) sliced into 1-2 inch chunks, yes you can use sourdough of course, as long as it is not overly dense!
- Fruit: Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, pears, roughly 3 cups. Use fresh or frozen.
- Nuts: sliced almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts.
Baked Vegan French Toast (Instructions)
Preheat the oven to 400F
Step 1: Zest the orange and set the orange zest aside.
Step 2: Make the vegan custard. Add silken tofu, maple syrup, oil, orange juice, vanilla, soy, milk, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and blend until silky smooth.
Step 3: Prep the bread. Cut the bread into 1-2 inch chunks and place in a large bowl.
Step 4: Mix it up. Pour the batter over the bread and toss lightly.
Add in the orange zest.
Add up to 3-4 cups fresh or frozen berries or fruit. (You can put the frozen berries in still frozen.)
Add sliced almonds or other nuts.
Step 5: Assemble. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Make sure some of the fruit is on top. 🙂
Step 6: Bake! Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 15 more minutes until beautifully golden and puffed.
Chef’s Tips
- Be intentional about the placement of the berries. Make sure a few are on the top, strawberry skin side up for the prettiest presentation.
- Drizzle with maple syrup before baking!
- This can be assembled a day ahead. Bring to room temp before baking. Or bake it ahead, and reheat, covered, in a 350 F oven.
Storage
Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and stored in an air-tight container. Reheat in a warm 350F oven, in a toaster oven or microwave. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Serving suggestions
If creating a whole vegan brunch spread, any of these will work too!
Enjoy the vegan Baked French Toast!
xoxo
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Vegan Baked French Toast
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8–10 1x
- Category: Brunch, vegan, breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Pacific Northwest
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Healthy (Vegan) Baked French Toast – made with fresh berries, orange zest and almonds. An adaptable, foundation recipe for different seasons and your own creations. A healthy version of our favorite brunch recipe! Can be made ahead! Vegan!
Ingredients
- 1 orange (zest and 1/4 cup juice)
- 1 package silken tofu ( 12.3 ounces, 350 grams) or see notes for eggs
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons oil (olive oil, or melted coconut oil, avocado oil)
- 1 cup plant-based milk ( or see notes)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 16 ounces French bread ( fluffy, airy bread) sliced into 1-2 inch chunks; yes, you can use sourdough as long as it is not too dense, as well as gluten-free bread.
- 1 lb berries or fruit (strawberries or mix in blueberries, blackberries or raspberries) 3 cups, or sub apples, pears, peaches.
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds ( or pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts… etc)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Zest the orange, and set zest aside.
- Make the batter: In a blender, combine the silken tofu, maple syrup, oil, milk, orange juice, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend until smooth and creamy and the tofu is fully incorporated.
- Bread: Cut the bread into chunks and place in a large bowl.
- Assemble: Pour the creamy mixture, over the bread. Add half of the orange zest. Toss well so everything is nice and coated. Toss in the strawberries and almonds. Pour into a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the rest of the orange zest over top.
- Tip #1: For added yumminess, grate fresh nutmeg over top and drizzle with more maple syrup.
- Tip # 2: Turn some of the strawberries so they are skin-side-up for a pretty presentation. Cover with foil. If your dish is overly full, cover with parchment and then foil (to prevent sticking).
- Bake 30 minutes. French toast should look slightly puffed. (If making with eggs and french toasted is not puffed yet, keep covered, baking another 15 minutes or until puffed.)
- Uncover, and continue baking uncovered for 15 minutes or until nicely golden.
- Serve with maple syrup ( I like to drizzle a little more over the top) and powdered sugar.
Notes
*** If wanting to swap out eggs and cream for the tofu and nut milk, use 5 large eggs and 1 cup half and half (or milk)
You can make this ahead, keep in the fridge for up to 3-4 days and reheat.
The bread matters. I try to find a fluffy, airy bread with a good crust. It can be whole grain, just light and fluffy-16 ounces!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 383
- Sugar: 11.8 g
- Sodium: 169.8 mg
- Fat: 11.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 58.6 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 12.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Can’t wait to try this! We have an egg allergy in our home and I appreciate your vegan recipes.
Let us know what you think!
This is really simple and very, very delicious! I just love your website, Sylvia! Great recipes!!
Thanks so much Jude!
This looks amazing. Do you think the batter without the sweet maple could be used as a batter for a vegan frittata?
Hi Gabrielle- this is an interesting idea- I love the way you think! I’m not sure but I think it is worth a try. I’m might experiment with this. 😉
If anyone has made this using gluten free bread, please let us know !
I think it should work fine!
In the ingredients it calls for 1/4 cup of maple syrup but in the instructions it calls for 1/4 cup of orange juice…? Which one should I use?
You use both. 🙂 In the ingredients, it lists it as “1 orange (zest and juice)”.
Awesome! Thanks so much…I’m LOVING your recipes. Thanks so much for sharing 😁👍🏻
This looks delicious! If I am making it the day before, do I follow all of the steps, mixing the batter, bread, berries, fruit and nuts together and then just refrigerate overnight? Also, are frozen berries okay to use? Thank you!
Yes and yes. Just bring to room temp before baking.
Is there a silken tofu/egg substitute for those that can’t eat dairy/soy/eggs? Thank you so much.
I dont have one for this recipe- I’m so sorry. I’m sure there are others out there without the tofu, perhaps just google? The tofu gives this a nice “puff” like eggs do.
Hi, Sylvia – I love your recipes! Could this be made using old-fashioned oats instead of the nuts?
I don’t see why not? Let me know how it goes! Curious!
Could you prep this the night before, to bake in the morning?
Totally!
Can I use honey instead of maple syrup?
Yes!
Has anyone made this successfully using GF bread? If so, what kind of bread?
I’m curious about this too!
Made this for Christmas brunch because we had a couple dairy free folks attending, and it was a hit! I was all over the place with ingredients: macadamia nut milk, fresh pears and apples for the fruit, and I sliced cashews in half because that’s what I had in the cupboard. I sprinkled a handful-ish of frozen blueberries on top for color. Thank you, Sylvia. This is going into our breakfast rotation!
So happy you improvised and liked it!
I’m going to make this for Christmas breakfast, can I substitute plain Greek yogurt for the silken tofu?
It might be too tangy?
Sounds wonderful! Can this be made with frozen berries?
Totally!
I made this using peaches. Simply wonderful!
This sounds great except I avoid using oil. Can I leave it out? Sub something?
Hi Leslie, I feel like the oil gives it the crispy top, but haven’t tried it without it. What if you decreased by half?