This Pumpkin French Toast is a really nice breakfast to make in the fall for a special weekend morning.  The bread develops a wonderful, crunchy crust, and it’s wonderful served with warm maple syrup.

Pumpkin French Toast on a plate with syrup

This recipe for Pumpkin French Toast has always been a website favorite.  If you’re a fan of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal, you’ll be happy to know that this cereal is what provides the crunchy crust for the French Toast.  And… that gives you a reason to buy a box of that addicting cereal to keep in your pantry!

Ingredients displayed for pumpkin french toast

Ingredients needed:

  • eggs
  • unsweetened pumpkin purée
  • heavy whipping cream
  • milk
  • ground cinnamon
  • ground nutmeg
  • white sugar
  • Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
  • day-old French bread

three photos showing how to make pumpkin french toast

How to make Pumpkin French Toast:

First things first.  You want to use a loaf of French bread that is at least a day old, and maybe even two days old.  Fresh French bread is just too soft for making French toast.  The bread is dunked in a simple French toast batter that is made of eggs, pumpkin puree, milk, cream, cinnamon and nutmeg.  If the bread is too soft, it’ll soak up that mixture like crazy, and you’ll end up with soggy French toast.  That’s not good!

A quick dunk in the batter, and a quick searing in a hot skillet on both sides, keeping the skillet covered while cooking, and it turns out golden brown

pumpkin french toast on a platter

It’s ready for serving!

two slices of french toast on a white plate

There’s the distinct flavor of pumpkin in this French toast, and the bread absorbs all of the wonderful spices. The cinnamony crust is optional, but I think it adds a unique twist to the recipe. The bread stays soft and pillowy inside, and then a crusty layer forms on the outside.

Pouring syrup onto french toast

Pour warm maple syrup on top!

It’s very difficult to eat just one piece!  It’s worth every extra minute at the gym though, so have at it!

Stack of two slices of french toast

If you are looking for more fall breakfast recipes, you might also enjoy my Spiced Apple Waffles or these Apple Fritter MuffinsApple Crisp Coffee Cake, Pumpkin Morning Glory Muffins, and Amish Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are also very good choices for a fall breakfast!

5 from 2 votes

Pumpkin French Toast with Cinnamon Toast Crunch Crust

This Pumpkin French Toast is an awesome fall breakfast recipe.  The crunchy cinnamon addition to the crust is completely optional, but oh so delicious!
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 servings (2 slices per)
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Ingredients

Instructions 

  • In a low-lying, flat bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.  Put the crushed cereal in another low-lying flat bowl.
  • Heat a skillet to medium-heat, and brush with butter (or spray with nonstick spray). Quickly dip the bread on both sides into the egg mixture, then cover both sides of the bread with the crushed cereal. Place in a hot skillet, reduce heat to low and cover with a lid. Heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining bread.
  • Serve immediately with maple syrup.

Notes

  • *This recipe really is best with French bread that is a day or two old- if it's too soft, it will absorb too much of the liquid and turn out soggy.
  • *Do a quick dip into the liquid. You don't want to soak the bread in it.
  • *You may leave off the crumbled cereal if you don't wish to add crunch. (It's good though!)

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 553kcal, Carbohydrates: 91g, Protein: 16g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 114mg, Sodium: 814mg, Potassium: 282mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 20g, Vitamin A: 2750IU, Vitamin C: 0.7mg, Calcium: 91mg, Iron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)

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7 Comments

  1. Sadie says:

    5 stars
    Fantastic! I’ve been making French toast for 50 years and I think this could be the best so far. It was nice and light, not soggy or eggy. Great flavour. The spices aren’t overwhelming. I added allspice but didn’t change any of the other ingredients. The ratio of eggs to cream and milk is a perfect balance. I used homemade sourdough sandwich bread sliced 1″ thick, and soaked the bread for about 30 seconds on each side. We’re not fans of the cereal so I omitted it. The pumpkin flavour is subtle. The next time I’ll use 1/2 cup.

    1. Lori Lange says:

      Happy to hear, thanks!

  2. Betsey says:

    The crunch is a great idea. We made this today and it was great! I made a few changes like using French vanilla creamer in place of the whipping cream, reduced the nutmeg to 1/4 tsp because I think nutmeg is strong and added 1/2 tsp of cloves, pumpkin isn’t at it’s best until there are cloves with it.

  3. Quilted Cupcake Jean says:

    Made this today – loved it! Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe. Pumpkin is a huge favorite of mine.

  4. Michelle says:

    Very tasty. My first recipe from your site. Now I need to find about 4 more recipes to use up the rest of this big can of pumpkin puree…

  5. Kristin says:

    I made this french toast this weekend and it was delicious! Just the right amount of pumpkin flavor and spice. Very easy to make if not a bit messy but well worth it. I am definitely making this again. And next time I’m going to make my homemade cinnamon syrup to pour on it.

  6. Maria says:

    I love the crunchy crust. Perfect treat for fall!