Classic IHOP French Toast Copycat Recipe

Are you looking for the perfect meal to start the day? Well, to me, there's nothing more comforting than some warm and buttery iHop French toast! The sweet and soft classic breakfast dish practically melts in your mouth and makes you beg for more.

I don't even bother if it's hot or cold. I just savor and am never disappointed with the goodness of good old French toast on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Jump to:

• Savory toppings
• Top tips
• Choosing the best bread
• Ingredients
• Step by step instructions
• Notes
• Related recipes
• Full Recipe

I'm incredibly excited about sharing this recipe because it's not just a recipe for French toast. It's an IHOP French toast recipe.

If you wonder what it is, well, I've found the secret to its restaurant-style dish. You just have to add a little flour to the batter to make it extra delicious and fluffy.

I've also learned that the type of bread you use also makes a massive difference to your toast. I decided to share all the tips I've learned to help you bring the IHOP flavor to your kitchen.

I especially love the versatility of French toast. There are recipes to choose from and create based on your preferences.

You can have it sweet and syrupy, warm and savory, creamy and buttery or light and fluffy. You can spin and do wonders for the dish as long as you have the necessary ingredients.

And what's better is that French toast isn't hard to make at all! You can make them using a base of eggs, milk, and bread. It's then left to you to decide how to spin it with perhaps vanilla, breakfast meats, cinnamon, fruit, powdered sugar, or anything else you prefer.

Now you just hang in there! I'll be covering the best toppings to sprinkle on your French toast and relish it, later on.

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Savory toppings

There are no inhibitions on what and how you want to top your toast. You can add something sweet, spicy, savory, or something in between.

Here are a few of my tried and tested toppings to tingle your taste buds!

• Shredded coconut

  Yes, you are topping your French toast with shredded coconut to give it a tropical twist. Besides, it's better than a topping of powdered or brown sugar.

• Bacon

  This salt and savory meat go well with your fluffy and sweet French toast.

• Peanut butter and banana

  This combination not only goes great in a sandwich but will also satisfy your sweet tooth on French toast!

• Pecan

  If you like the toast crunchy, just add a topping of pecans. It's subtly flavored, so there's no worry of it overpowering the toast's taste.

• Peanut butter and jelly

  Who will ever outgrow this favorite childhood snack? You can now add it to your French toast to relish its taste.

• Strawberries and blueberries

  There's nothing better for your classic dish than a classing topping of strawberries and blueberries. The berries' natural taste goes well with your toast's creamy syrup.

• Rice Krispies or Cap'n' Crunch

  Here's another excellent way to add some crunch to your French toast, and bring out the child in you! Just sprinkle it all over the toast for a nostalgic crunch.

• Cinnamon

  I've to warn you; this is the most addictive topping on the list! It's also the most straightforward option where you just have to give a light cinnamon dusting to your French toast.

• Sunny side-up eggs

  There's no other better way to start your day with a smile than French toast topped with sunny-side-up eggs. Just fry two eggs and slide it with your French toast for a heavy meal!

• Nutella

  How could we forget this! I recommend you add it to French toast that's more of milk and bread than sweet lest you end up with an intense sugar rush!

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Top tips

Are you up to learning a few secrets on making the best French toast?

I have to tell you that nothing called the 'perfect' toast because each person has a personal preference. However, here are some tips and tricks that should help you maximize the toast's flavor and experience.

You can also read some extra tips which I posted on this Double Dipped French Toast recipe.

1 Use densely crumbed and high-quality bread

While any slice of bread dipped into the egg-based soaking liquid will taste good when fried in butter. However, you need to use tasty loaves of bread for your toast!

I suggest using traditional country white bread like challah or brioche

It has a dense and practically cakey crumb that soaks the custard up nicely to give your French toast a creamy interior and crunchy outside.

Oh yes. Use thick sliced bread, each measuring about an inch wide.

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Choosing the best bread

The bread is the foundation of your French toast, so the secret to the perfect toast lies in using the best bread.

I've tried out these types of bread, and I have to say that each bread gave a different taste to the French toast!

• Brioche bread
  Using this kind of bread is the best, and it is also known as the king of French toast options. It's because it's richer and fuller than your standard Pullman sandwich bread. Its crust is sturdy while the soft, plush crumb soaks up the custard thoroughly.

  When done, you end up with an excellent slice of French toast. It has a crisp outside, and creamy inside that practically melts in your mouth.

Tip: Buy a loaf instead of a pre-cut loaf. You can regulate and cut slices as per your required thickness.

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• French bread
  Don't be surprised! Yes, a loaf of French bread will give your toast a little chewiness. Though French bread isn't exactly soft, you can safely leave it to soak up in the milk and egg mixture for a long time.

  You end up with a delicious saturated piece of toast that doesn't crumble apart while transferring it.

Tip: Slice French bread diagonally to give you larger slices.

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• Challah bread
  Challah bread should be perfect for you if you want sweet and creamy French toast. The bread is a sweeter and more buttery version of brioche but doesn't contain dairy products.So it is even perfect for anyone who is lactose-intolerant. Though challah bread isn't so sturdy, it can soak up a fair amount of custard or milk and egg moisture without crumbling.

  The result is a perfect, soft, and fluffy French toast, as long as you toss it properly.

Tip: Simply reduce the sugar or sweetness in the batter if you use challah bread. It's a sweet bread, remember.

It's even better to avoid over saturating it if you want to balance it out with something salty, tangy, or savory like bacon.

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2 The magic of dry, dry bread

Cooking French toast starts with a dry, dry bread to cook up well if not you'll end up with soggy slices.

This way, you can soak your bread in the custard to get the perfect custardy interior without worrying about the bread falling apart.

You can wait till the bread go stale, or as the Cook's Illustrated suggests, dry the slices out.

It's better to dry out the bread because stale bread is usually flavorless. You get the freshly-made flavor if you buy a fresh loaf of bread and dry it out.

How to dry out the bread?
Arrange the slices on wire racks and bake for 8 minutes on each side at 300°F to dry out evenly.

I'm a bit of the lazy kind, so I prefer placing the bread slices on a baking sheet, leaving them overnight. It's because ovens usually emit some residual heat even in switched off mode.

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3 Use room temperature ingredients

I learned from Fine Cooking that you couldn't merely start cooking with cold milk and eggs. Yes! It's better if you bring the ingredients to room temperature before starting so that the bread quickly absorbs its rich flavors.

It especially applies to melted butter, which shouldn't be solid and grainy.

Extra Tip:

Another tip is to use ⅓ cup of milk for every one egg because a higher egg proportion leads to a firm and chewy slice of french toast while a heavy-milk batter gives a moiré custardy feel.

Plan ahead

You may not be able to make your French toast at the spur of the moment. You need time to bring the ingredients to the room temperature, so plan.

Or, if you forget, fill a large, shallow container with hot tap water. You can then pour the milk into a tall glass container, preferably covered, and then place milk and eggs in hot water. This process will warm the eggs in about five minutes while the milk may take a bit longer.

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4 Only yolks, not egg whites?

According to Cook's Illustrated, it's better to use only egg yolks for the soaking liquid because egg whites contain sulfur compounds, which gives eggs a unique eggy taste.

Since yolks contain lots of fats, it will make your French toast taste extra-rich.

But I'm skeptical about using only egg yolks for my French toast because egg whites give you a firmer slice of toast that fries nicely and holds its shape.

Besides, I especially dislike the fact that the egg whites will go to waste because I despise egg white omelets, and I'm not a fan of meringues.

If you finally decide to make your French toast using a whole egg, then don't skip this next step because it makes a huge difference.

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5 Strain the custard

I've learned from experience that straining the custard mixture is good before putting bread into it.

It's because no matter how much effort you put to whisk the custard, there is always some lumps of remaining egg whites. Hence, you end up with a few slices of bread coated with whites and not the custard.

If you noticed a pool of egg extending from the bottom of your French toast, it's because of the unincorporated egg whites. It is often called the "foot," the term used for macaroons in cooking parlance.

Doing the extra step of straining the liquid yields every piece of bread absorbs the creamy and flavorful custard.

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6 Full-fat dairy for the custard

If you're using milk instead of heavy cream, try using full-fat milk and melted butter. It will result in a creamy, velvety, and pillowy texture, mainly if you're using quality ingredients that contain fats.

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7 Saturate the bread

In the past, I used to give the bread a quick dip fearing to make it soggy. But over time, I realized that you would get a better result if you saturate the bread slices in the custard but not to the extent of getting soggy.

Here's one trick on how to do it.
Place a bread slice atop the custard mixture and count one to ten, then flip it over, repeat the process. It's helpful with dry or stale bread and you can cut half the time if you use fresh bread.

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8 Adding Fancy booze

Of course, most of us love to experiment and use our own blend of spices and sweetness to the custard mix in the form of cinnamon, vanilla, etc.

For me, I like to add something different, like adding a few tablespoons of Cointreau (a triple sec style of orange liqueur) or Grand Marnier liqueur (is a mix of oranges and cognac that is on the sweet side).

Or sometimes I'd like to add Kahlua, which is a coffee-flavored liqueur from Mexico. Lots of people used it when baking desserts like this tiramisu recipe.

I don' know about you, but I believe adding a few drops of liqueur adds zest to the recipe at the same time, yields a crispier French toast.

And don't worry. It's a minimal amount of alcohol, and it burns off anyway, so there's no risk of anyone getting hammered over breakfast.

If you're not a fan of alcohol, you can skip this process.

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9 Confectioner sugar vs granulated sugar

If the recipe requires adding sugar to the custard mix, I skip the granulated and use confectioner sugar instead.

You know why?
It's because powdered sugar dissolves quickly and evenly to the mixture. Besides, granulated sugar tends to sink to the bottom, which means you need to do more whisking.

Substitute powdered sugar with your favorite liquid sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or agave to avoid the problem.

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10 Balanced sweetness

Here's another trick. We usually lace our French toast with sweet toppings like maple syrup, honey, etc. But to balance the sweetness, it is recommended to minimize the amount of sugar used in the custard or perhaps skip it altogether.

If you plan to use powdered sugar as a topping or garnish, don't add any sugar to the soaking liquid.

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11 Use a nonstick spray and preheat the skillet

To get that good ol' French toast, always preheat the skillet before using it to prevent the custard from spreading out. Hence, forming a foot on the bottom of the toast.

If the pan isn't hot enough, there's no time for the batter to seep out and the eggs start to cook as soon as it hits the pan.

Extra tip:

• Spritz the pan with a nonstick spray before adding butter. It helps to ensure the butter doesn't burn.
• Wipe down the pan after cooking each slice to prevent the last slice bits from adhering to the next.

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12 Cooking for a group? Bake your French toast

Avoid the wait. Just use the oven and bake the toast if you're preparing for a group of people.

Just arrange the soaked slices on baking sheets and bake to cook its interiors. Then, broil them to get a golden brown exterior.

There is another alternative, which is similar to baking a French toast casserole.

• Grease a 9x13 inches baking dish using some butter. Then, generously spread some butter on one side of each slice of the bread and arrange the slices (squeezing them slightly to fit if needed).
• Put the buttered sides up in one layer and pour the custard evenly over the bread.
• Cover with foil and put in the fridge for one hour, enabling the custard to get absorbed by the bread thoroughly. (This process is perfect if you want to revive a day-old or stale baguettes).

Note: The butter serves as a top coating that prevents the bread from getting soggy while waiting the entire mixture to chill, and the bread soaks up the custard.

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Ingredients

• • 6 slices bread
  • 3 tablespoon butter (unsalted)
  • 2 tablespoon confectioner sugar

Custard batter:

• • 2 pieces eggs (large)
  • 3 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt

Garnish:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon Maple syrup
• 1 cup blueberries (or other favorite fruits)

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Step by step instructions

1 In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk, vanilla, salt and flour. Mix using a whisk or an electric mixer to ensure the flour is fully incorporated.

2 Heat the skillet or a large flat bottom pan over medium heat. Once the surface is hot, spray some vegetable oil and add the butter.

3 Saturate the bread into the batter, making sure to coat each side nicely. Dip bread one slice at a time.

4 Cook the bread for 2-3 minutes per side or until the surface turned golden brown. Repeat the process with the remaining slices.

5 Serve immediately and garnish with butter, syrup or your favorite fruit toppings.

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Notes

• The flour added in the batter creates a thicker coating on the slices hence helps the toast from getting a soggy texture.
• The bread is the foundation of your French toast, so the secret to the perfect toast lies in using the best bread (like Brioche, French bread or Challah bread.

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Related recipes

• Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes
• Low Carb Carbquick Pancakes
• Double Dipped French Toast
• Croque Madame Sandwich

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Full Recipe