Aquafaba is the not-so-secret ingredient that make this vegan French toast recipe soft, thick, and eggy—without the eggs. Use your favorite bread or berries to create your own signature version.

Aquafaba is the liquid that comes from soaking or cooking beans or legumes—it’s the thick liquid you see when you open a can of chickpeas. The liquid is often used in vegan baked goods as an egg substitute, as its texture and composition of starches and protein make it useful for thickening, binding, emulsifying, and foaming.

You can use the liquid from canned or boxed chickpeas or other beans, or make your own.

Headnote: Use a large nonstick griddle to make the French toast in batches. The texture of the toast will depend on which kind of bread you select. Denser breads will need to be soaked a bit longer than softer breads.

By Darshana Thacker Wendel,

Ingredients

French Toast

  • 1 ½ cup unsweetened, unflavored plant milk
  • ½ cup almond flour
  • 1 cup aquafaba
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 pinches of salt (optional)
  • ½ tablespoon orange zest (from half an orange)
  • 8 whole-grain bread slices (about ¾ inches thick)

Berry Compote

  • 4.5 ounces (about 1 cup) blueberries or raspberries (fresh, or frozen and thawed)
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet.
  • Combine the plant milk, flour, aquafaba, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt (if using) in a bowl and stir until the mixture is smooth. Transfer to a shallow pan. Stir in the orange zest and mix well.
  • Warm a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Dip each bread slice into the mixture and let soak for a few seconds. Turn over and soak for a few seconds more. Place in the skillet and cook over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn over gently, then cook the other side for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown.
  • Place the toast on the wire rack and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until crisp.
  • Combine berries, applesauce, and maple syrup in a blender and pulse until sauce reaches a chunky consistency.
  • Serve the french toast warm with the berry compote.

Comments (8)

(3 from 1 vote)

Recipe Rating

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Rhonda Gamble

How can I cut down this recipe to make it for one?

Megan Edwards

Hi Rhonda, You could halve all the ingredients in this recipe so that it only makes 4 slices of toast instead of 8, which might be a nice portion for a single serving (and potentially give you leftovers to reheat later). Alternatively, if you're a Forks Meal Planner subscriber, you can add this recipe to your meal plan using the green button right above the ingredient list and adjust the serving size within the planner. Let us know how it turns out!

Laura

A bit fussy and not much flavor. Definitely needs more cinnamon, some vanilla, maybe a dash of nutmeg. I found the almond flour just settled to the bottom of the batter, so by the time you got to the last few slices of bread you had clumps of almond flour and orange zest. Not likely to make a second time. The berry compote was tasty though.

Jill

When we soak or cook beans in water, lectins in the beans go into the water, so we throw it out. Why is it ok to eat the soaking/cooking water from garbanzo beans when it should be full of lectins?

BDykes

I've made a lot of things w/aquafaba. I've made divinity, whipped it for cream and used it in place of egg in some recipes. I've read soaking and boiling decreases the lectins and also that chickpeas have the least amount in them.

Lesa

This recipe even with a non stick pan stuck like glue to the pan and again to the rack in the oven. When I continued with the recipe after adding 1 egg white and avocado oil to the pan I was good and it turned out deliciously.

Andrea

Yeah, but then it's not WFPB any longer. I think you missed the point here.

MB

Just came across this recipe and I am fascinated. French toast had always been a favorite breakfast of mine and I thought it was gone forever to me when I found out I could no longer eat eggs. I would love to try this recipe, but also cannot have almonds. Is the almond flour necessary?

About the Author

Headshot of Darshana Thacker

About the Author

Darshana Thacker Wendel

Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.
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