Crunchy French Toast (or Cereal French Toast) is a cereal-crusted french toast recipe that is a delicious and fun twist on a sweet classic. Thick slices of bread are dipped in a cinnamon batter and coated in crushed cereal and baked to perfection.

Cereal French toast is one of my husband’s favorite breakfasts and has become a staple in our house for special occasions or sleepover nights! 

A few years ago, Jesse and I went to Seattle and ate at a restaurant called Mother’s. They have this crunchy, Frosted Flakes French toast that every local raved about, so we knew we had to try it! 

We waited in a line outside the door for over an hour. And it definitely did not disappoint! Years later, Jesse still talks about it all the time. So much so that he actually searches Yelp for “crunchy french toast” every time we go out of town!

This year my son, Sutton, really wanted to make some thing special for his daddy for breakfast. We wanted to spice it up a bit and give him some variety, so we made both Fruity Pebbles French Toast and Honey Bunches of Oats French Toast!  

Full disclosure: This can feel a little time-consuming, but the result is always so worth it. But we tend to save crunchy french toast for special occasions (primarily because it’s so sugar-loaded!) so it doesn’t bother me one bit.

Here are a few easy tips I’ve learned that make the process more successful:

1. Using pie dishes for the cereal makes the process cleaner and helps to get full coverage of the bread. 

2. Cooking the bread on a buttered pan or electric griddle  on the stove for 2 minutes on each side before putting it in the oven makes the cereal extra crispy. 

3. Use salted butter to balance the sweetness of the cereal.

4. Use thicker slices of bread and don’t allow the bread to sit in the batter for too long. This prevents soggy bread! 

 

Check out my other favorite breakfast recipes here:

Fruity Pebbles French Toast

5 Healthy Breakfast Toast Ideas

 


Pin it for later!

Best Crunchy French Toast

  • 4 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 8 thick slices of bread
  • 2 heaping cups crispy cereal
 
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and heat a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Add cereal to a shallow pie dish or plate. Crush cereal with hands or rolling pin. Add all ingredients into a shallow dish or a wide bowl and whisk well to combine.

  3. Add the batter and the cereal into two separate shallow dishes. Dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture on both sides and then press gently into the cereal, flipping to coat both sides.

  4. Melt a small piece of salted butter in a skillet or griddle over medium heat (or grease with cooking spray). Place the bread slices on the hot skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden on the bottom and then flip and cook on the other side.

  5. Place bread on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Cover bread with an additional piece of foil (to keep from burning the cereal) and bake for 7-10 minutes or until center of bread is no longer soggy.

  6. Serve with syrup, fruit or other toppings of your choice. Enjoy!