How To Make Banana Foster French Toast Banana Foster French Toast is sensationally delicious and a perfect weekend treat. There is something elegant about flames dancing while sweet, caramelized bananas dance in the pan. Banana Foster French Toast is a decadent breakfast remixed with French toast, banana foster sauce, and pecans.
Easy Bananas Foster French Toast
This Easy Bananas Foster French Toast is one of our favorite breakfast recipes! Crispy slices of buttery brioche are topped with a delicious homemade bananas foster sauce made from dark rum, butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and crunchy pecans. Delicious on it’s on, but devilishly good with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!
Bananas Foster French Toast Recipe
TGIF! With less than 4 weeks until Easter, I’m currently working on all things BRUNCH! And you can’t think of brunch without thinking of French toast! It’s a timeless classic, and mainstay on restaurant menus around the world!
But between me and you? Nothing beats HOMEMADE French toast!
And this Bananas Foster version is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten! Just one bite transported me back to New Orleans, where I first experienced the joy of bananas foster!
The toast itself? It’s tender and buttery, yet crunchy, crispy, and almost caramelized at the edges. And the banana topping? Oh my gosh… it’s to-die-for flavorful! Between the almost caramelized bananas, crunchy pecans, and buttery RUM flavor, I may never go back to putting maple syrup on my French toast again.
Let’s Make French Toast!
Although this recipe may look – and sound – pretty fancy, it’s actually made with basic ingredients you might already have in your kitchen! The most important ingredient? The bread! I suggest using brioche or challah bread, preferably from a bakery. And if you can, buy the bread a day or two before you intend on using it. Slightly stale bread actually works best for French toast!
Once you have your bread situation settled, you’ll make your egg mixture, which consists of eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, rum, cinnamon, and sugars. You’ll whisk all of these ingredients together in a shallow bowl or baking dish, then dip your bread in the mixture, allowing to coat both sides of the bread.
Next, you fry! You’ll melt the butter in a large frying pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side. Remember, everyones stovetop runs a little different (not to mention the exact pan you use will effect the cooking time), so keep an eye. You want the bread to be golden brown on both sides!!
Can I leave out the Rum?
Yes! You may omit the alcohol from this recipe completely, or you may use another liquor such as bourbon, whiskey, brandy, or even rye. I’ve also heard of folks using rum extract, which I personally haven’t tried, but you could give a whirl. I would start with 1 teaspoon of extract and adjust from there.
P.S. If you’re looking to make this extra boozy, feel free to add an extra tablespoon or two of rum to the bananas foster sauce! Just taste as you go to ensure you don’t go overboard!
Make the Bananas Foster Sauce
I added pecans to my banana sauce, which is totally optional! You may omit these, or use walnuts instead. If you do use nuts, I suggest toasting them first. Or, try using candied pecans, which makes this already fabulous sauce extra special!
Once you have your nuts ready, you’re going to melt your butter over medium heat. Then you’ll add in your brown sugar, cream, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Then stir in the pecans and bananas. Be sure not to overcook here, or your bananas will become mushy. Finally, remove the pan from heat and stir in the rum! Or, if your want to cook some of the alcohol out, you can leave on heat and cook for another minute or so!
Quick Banana Tip
Unlike most baking recipes that call for ripe bananas, for this recipe you’re going to want to seek out very firm bananas. In fact, I like to use slightly underripe bananas, because they hold their shape well and don’t get mushy after being cooked.
Bananas Foster French Toast
Bananas Foster French Toast feature a caramelized brown sugar banana topping and a rich Challah french toast. The perfect start to any morning!
Yield: 2 -3
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Tessa’s Recipe Rundown…
Taste: The banana topping is deeply sweet with caramel flavors while the french toast itself is caramelized, rich, with a lovely hint of cinnamon. When it all comes together it’s DIVINE.
Texture: The French toast is caramelized at the edges, fluffy inside and the bananas are floating in a thick sauce.
Ease: The French toast only fries on the stove-top for a few minutes before finishing off in the oven, leaving you time and space to make the banana topping.
Appearance: Absolutely, positively mouthwatering.
Pros: Perfect for a birthday breakfast, a special brunch, or just when you feel like indulging.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Yes.
This is one of those recipes that’s so ridiculously indulgent and mouth-watering that it’s almost too good to believe.
I recently encountered someone who haaaates bananas with a passion. I had actually never met anyone like that before but it seems like since then I keep hearing about this banana hatred. Who knew? It’s shocking to me because bananas are so unassuming! I have to admit that I don’t much like to eat a banana straight up without a little bit of crunch somewhere. They’re so soft that I seriously feel like I’m a baby eating baby food when I eat a banana. Is that weird?
So anyways, I hope YOU like bananas! Not that you need to love them, anything doused in brown sugar and butter is bound to be fabulous.
Bananas Foster French Toast Recipe Tips
Don’t let all that I’ve written below intimidate you. This really is quite a simple recipe. I just want to always give you all the information you need to be successful in the kitchen, and to answer any questions you might have ahead of time. Plus I think it helps to really understand the details of a recipe so you can master it then really make it your own!
The Bread
The bread is clearly the base of any French Toast and should not be taken lightly!!! So that means no sad white sandwich bread here. My all-time favorite French toast bread will always be Challah bread. It’s already so rich and eggy that it really enhances the kind of light and fluffy yet custardy texture inside a thick slice of French toast. If you want a sturdier chewier texture, go for country-style bread or even Texas toast. Just make sure the bread you use is tightly crumbed, meaning it won’t have large holes or thick crusts.
The Milk & Eggs
Use good quality eggs and whole milk and whisk really well, there should be no unincorporated pieces of egg yolk or egg white. You could use 2% milk but you’ll loose out on some of the flavor and richness.
Cooking the French Toast
You can use a griddle, but I actually prefer a pan because I think it allows for better frying in an even layer of butter and oil. That’s right, I said oil. We’re frying in a combination of butter and oil to get the best texture and the best flavor. The oil helps to seal and crisp the outside of the bread so the inside stays nice and custardy.
As you get ready to cook, get your bread soaking in the custard mixture as close to the pan as possible to avoid drips that will make a gross mess. Let any excess drip off before you carefully place it into the hot pan. Fry for about 2 to 3 minutes per side. I like my French Toast pretty well fried and crisp at the edges! My favorite tool for slipping and remove the French toast is a fish spatula, it’s thin enough to slide right under and doesn’t pick up and transfer a bunch of grease because it’s slotted.
Bananas Foster
Don’t use overripe bananas, as they won’t hold their shape while they’re cooked.
Typically bananas foster calls for rum but I figured since this is a breakfast recipe that might be a little much. Feel free to add some after the sugar has dissolved in the butter, if you desire. It’d certainly be appropriate for a celebratory brunch!
Keeping Warm
Keep the finished slices of French Toast warm in a 250°F oven. Keep the topping warm over the lowest heat setting on the stove. This little trick makes easy work of having everything come to the table warm and ready to eat without hassle.
Bananas Foster French Toast
Bananas Foster French Toast are tender and golden brioche French toast topped with the most decadent caramelized brown sugar banana topping. This easy French toast recipe is mouthwatering delicious!
There is nothing quite like having fluffy, golden classic French toast smothered in warm maple syrup for breakfast, but on the weekends or on special occasions, there is nothing better than these Bananas Foster French Toast with caramelized bananas and sweet crunchy pecans. Seriously the absolute best French toast ever!Bananas Foster French ToastPlay Video
To make this homemade French Toast recipe, brioche bread is dipped in rich vanilla – cinnamon infused custard and then cooked to golden perfection. The topping, a combination of caramelized bananas and pecans smothered in warm buttery brown sugar syrup, is out of this world delicious
What is Bananas Foster French Toast?
Bananas Foster is a famous New Orleans dessert made with bananas, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum and banana liquor. After cooking the bananas in the sweet syrup, the rum and banana liquors are added and then ignited to burn off the alcohol. Bananas Foster is usually topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. In this easy French toast recipe, I combine a tasty breakfast recipe with a delicious easy dessert for the ultimate most amazing breakfast or brunch treat!
Bananas Foster French Toast Ingredients
To make things simple and easy, I divided this recipe for French toast into two easy parts. The basic French toast recipe portion and the bananas foster topping portion.
Brioche French Toast:
- Brioche – Challah or white bread works wonderfully for this French toast recipe.
- Butter – For cooking the French toast, I use unsalted butter. Cooking spray can be used.
- Eggs – I use large eggs.
- Granulated Sugar – just a little sugar is needed as the topping will provide additional sweetness.
- Half and Half – You can use whole milk although Half and Half produces a richer custard
- Cinnamon – A must have spice for this recipe.
- Vanilla Extract – gives a great flavor to the custard.
Bananas Foster Topping:
- Butter – Unsalted preferably.
- Brown Sugar – I use light brown sugar.
- Maple Syrup – Real maple syrup can be expensive but this is a great recipe to splurge on.
- Rum – I use dark rum. White rum can be used also. If you prefer to stay away from spirits, use rum extract.
- Pecans – You can use roasted or raw pecans.
- Bananas – Use ripe bananas that don’t have a lot of dark spots on them (see photo below). Overripe bananas don’t hold their shape in the sauce.
How Do You Make French Toast?
- First, make the French toast custard. In a bowl or shallow dish, mix the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and Half and Half. Whisk until well combined.
- Preheat a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. When you are ready to cook the French toast, add the butter to the skillet or griddle (not before).
- In batches, dip the bread slices into the custard to coat both sides. Remove the bread from the custard mixture letting the excess moisture drip off.
- Place the bread in the skillet or griddle and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown.