French Toast
Genevieve Ko
1566 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
1,566
10 minutes
Savory French Toast With Cherry Tomatoes and Basil
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Cooking Notes
Anett
Savory French toast was a staple of my childhood, my mom still makes it when we visit. I never even knew about the sweet version until I moved to the US. The last time we visited home, we had it stuffed with ham and cheese, served with aioli at a local restaurant. It was absolutely sublime.
Julie
Anyone else find that the brioche was too soft inside? I’ve always heard brioche makes the best French toast but halfway through I switched to Italian five-grain, which had more body. Tomatoes cooked in butter were the very best part. It made for a very satisfying dinner.
Kathleen
I’m going for dinner - with some crispy garlic sausages! Maybe some pesto?
Brendan
As I looked at this recipe I thought it was SO close to perfect - just needs some fresh mozzarella and it's French Toast with a Caprese Salad Toss.
Diane
So good. I used a thick-sliced seeded whole-grain bread. Two eggs for two slices-soak well, cook low and slow. Salt, white pepper and garlic, onion, and mushroom powders in the eggs/cream. No tomatoes-mushrooms softened in butter w/onion and garlic. Served with homemade veg barley soup. Better Half loved it. Options: sliced tomatoes & melty cheese creamed spinach/chard pesto in eggs, mozz & marinara on top smoked turkey w/cheese or gravy open-face patty melt wilted greens w/fried egg & cheese
Ida Y.
I started with a salted rosemary Meyer lemon sourdough bread and it was a great choice. Cooked on med-low and it cooked through perfectly. Once cooked I topped with basil and pan-seared tomatoes as shown but also sprinkled with finely chopped pan-fried parmesan cheese on top. It was delicious and next time I will add finely shredded parmesan to the egg mixture.
Lori Cole
I'd say this would make a fine breakfast too!
dona
As a kid I remember not liking sweet breakfasts that much so when mom made French toast I always topped it with a thin slice of cheese and sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. So good!
Fran
I’ve made this several times, and have found that if using fresh basil, adding it to the pan as the tomatoes are finished preserves its flavor, which otherwise gets lost with cooking. Works well with olive oil in place of butter too.
Sandy
This is just excellent -- great as a side with almost anything. Don't forget the tomatoes. They are easily tossed into the skillet near the end of cooking and they become an unctuous sauce. I made this with leftover home-made brioche -- yum! Dinner guests raved!
Ratna
In our home we always make french toast without any sugar or cinnamon because some eat it savory, with mustard and ketchup, and some eat is sweet with maple syrup and stewed fruit, and some eat one of each. Halved cherry tomatoes in half the batch is a great idea!
Emily
Absolutely delicious twist on French toast. I made this for dinner with challah that was a few days old, which is my favorite bread for French toast. The tomatoes make the dish — if I were to add something else I have a hunch it would be good with a fried egg, but I haven’t tried that (yet)! Works for dinner but would be amazing as brunch.
Alana
Personally didn't enjoy the tomatoes added possibly because they were too sweet. I think some cheese and mushrooms on top would be delicious though.
Simone
Easy quick snack or light dinner. Never thought about savory French toast but a good way to use up stale bread.
Bonnie
I’m going for dinner - with some crispy garlic sausages! Maybe some pesto?
Fran
Love this. Have been making it for four years. My favorite is with a whole grain country loaf. Olive oil instead of butter for variety. A mix of cherry and grape tomatoes in different colors. Don’t add basil until the tomatoes are just about done, or it will lose all its flavor.
saintsavory
Made this with cheese omelets for dinner and the kids (teenagers) loved it.
MarkO
We really enjoyed this. I added some shallot to the pan with the butter, served with a couple sausage links and a fried egg. Topped with crumbled goat cheese.
Gillian Zyland
This sounded great, but as I assembled it, I kept being tempted by things like grated orange zest, vanilla and cardamom, along with the pepper and hot sauce. So halfway through I dipped the first two slices of challah in one dish of egg mixture w/ hot sauce, and then the second two w/ the orange and spice combo instead. Both were delicious. Breakfast and dessert! (Tomatoes, then Lemon curd ginger jam yogurt = topping/sauce.) :p~~ :D
KO
Savory French toast was a staple of my childhood, my mom still makes it when we visit. I never even knew about the sweet version until I moved to the US. The last time we visited home, we had it stuffed with ham and cheese, served with aioli at a local restaurant. It was absolutely sublime.
Fran
Have been making this for a couple of years now. Works great with rustic whole wheat bread or sourdough. I find that adding the basil at the end, instead of in the batter, preserves its flavor.
JCW
The only non-gluten free bread I can eat is sourdough so I made this with sourdough. I used Egg beaters instead of eggs and sauteed it in mix of shallot-infused olive oil & butter. I sprinkled parmesan on at the end. Yum.
Julia
Surprisingly delicious and so simple. I served it with grilled sweet Italian sausages, but a fried egg on top would have been good too.
Dawn
A simple, savory, quick meal which I made for lunch. I had some chanterelles, so roughly chopped them & added to the tomatoes. Seasoned the veggies with a salt free seasoning combo along with salt & pepper and it was a winner! And my house smelled yummy. Used the leftover French toast the next day for breakfast topped with peanut butter & strawberry rhubarb jam, so this can go both ways: sweet AND savory...
rachel
I made stuffed savory french toast with chives, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. This is my kind off breakfast fir dinner!
Fran
I’ve made this several times, and have found that if using fresh basil, adding it to the pan as the tomatoes are finished preserves its flavor, which otherwise gets lost with cooking. Works well with olive oil in place of butter too.
Lisa: delicious! will make again!
This is my favorite "no recipe" recipe from the Times! used a mix of leftover hawaiin rolls and whole wheat bread. hawaiin roll savory french toast was awesome! also used Truff white truffle hot sauce, a mix of multicolored grape and cherry tomatoes and lots of fresh black pepper and basil. was thinking of adding shredded mozzarella but we ate it all up too fast before we even had a chance to get the cheese out. it was really that good. my picky eater cleared her plate. cream sodas for dessert.
Lisa: delicious! will make again!
loved this so much made it again the next morning using a hearty whole-wheat sandwich bread. Also great, but incredible how much difference bread variety can make. I prefer the Hawaiian roll version I made first but whole wheat also lovely. the whole wheat bread has more flavor on its own so it needed more pepper and hot sauce than my original version. also threw in leftover cucumber tomato salad with pickled onions which helped take the whole wheat version up a notch.
SB
Caramelized onions and just briefly headed through tomatoes on top were delish. Cute, satisfying dish that’s pretty easy to make your own.
Lella
My husband has been a prolific baker of sourdough this past year, so we used leftovers of that to make this and it was sublime. I'm actually rather frustrated that I know this recipe exists; as a non-lover of sweet breakfasts, French toast has always been easy to pass up, but not when tomatoes are involved. Delicious.
DJ
Made this toast with stale French bread and topped with ratatouille. Love another dinner-for-breakfast option!
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