Stop Cooking French Toast On The Stove: It's Quicker And Can Taste Better This Way

Just when you think the excitement around air fryers is starting to fade, along comes yet another recipe that proves they're an indispensable kitchen tool. Although you can use vanilla pudding to get top-of-the-line French toast, consider using a different cooking method from your stovetop. Use your air fryer instead, and you'll turn your classic breakfast or brunch treat into a quick, easy, and mind-blowing foodie experience.

The traditional method of cooking French toast relies on a pan or skillet which, let's be honest, isn't as consistent as we'd all like. Overheat your pan and the eggy mixture fuses so hard to the surface it might as well be part of its DNA. To prevent the whole thing from burning, some of that delicious coating has to be sacrificed, ripped from the slice as you turn the bread. It can be enough to make you want to give up entirely and order out, but don't despair. Your air fryer can come to the rescue.

If — like me — you're stubbornly clutching your skillet demanding to know why an air fryer is better for French toast, there are several good reasons. First and foremost, air frying uses a lot less oil, making an indulgent treat (especially if, like me, you use cream in the batter) a shade healthier. Then there's the dry heat in an air fryer. It surrounds the food, cooking it more evenly and thoroughly in a shorter amount of time, than on the stove top.

French toast in the air fryer cooks at 400 degrees Fahrenheit on a liner or parchment paper. As with most foods for the air fryer, you want to makes sure the slices don't touch while cooking — they need space for the air to move around. Air fry them until they are puffy and golden brown, flip and repeat, and voila: Perfectly crisp, fluffy French toast. You can use your go-to French toast recipe, or, try making the kind that only needs two ingredients. Just make sure to use a bread for French toast that can take a good soak.

There are no bitter burned bits, no not-quite-cooked interiors for those (ahem, like me) who love door-stop thick slices of brioche. Thanks to the liner or parchment paper, you won't lose a scrap of that delicious coating, while clean-up is easy breezy. Then there's the added extra: Air-fried French toast has a different texture to those cooked on a stove. It's lighter because the toast hasn't absorbed as much oil, while that slight puffiness is more than enough to make you devour slice after slice. If you're devoted to your stove-top method, don't worry — you can do both. Lots of home cooks start their French toast off in a pan and finish it in the air fryer for the best of both worlds.