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This Easy Bananas Foster French Toast is one of our favorite breakfast recipes! Crispy slices of buttery brioche are topped with a delicious homemade bananas foster sauce made from dark rum, butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and crunchy pecans. Delicious on it’s on, but devilishly good with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!
Bananas Foster French Toast Recipe
TGIF! With less than 4 weeks until Easter, I’m currently working on all things BRUNCH! And you can’t think of brunch without thinking of French toast! It’s a timeless classic, and mainstay on restaurant menus around the world!
But between me and you? Nothing beats HOMEMADE French toast!
And this Bananas Foster version is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten! Just one bite transported me back to New Orleans, where I first experienced the joy of bananas foster!
The toast itself? It’s tender and buttery, yet crunchy, crispy, and almost caramelized at the edges. And the banana topping? Oh my gosh… it’s to-die-for flavorful! Between the almost caramelized bananas, crunchy pecans, and buttery RUM flavor, I may never go back to putting maple syrup on my French toast again.
Let’s Make French Toast!
Although this recipe may look – and sound – pretty fancy, it’s actually made with basic ingredients you might already have in your kitchen! The most important ingredient? The bread! I suggest using brioche or challah bread, preferably from a bakery. And if you can, buy the bread a day or two before you intend on using it. Slightly stale bread actually works best for French toast!
Once you have your bread situation settled, you’ll make your egg mixture, which consists of eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, rum, cinnamon, and sugars. You’ll whisk all of these ingredients together in a shallow bowl or baking dish, then dip your bread in the mixture, allowing to coat both sides of the bread.
Next, you fry! You’ll melt the butter in a large frying pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side. Remember, everyones stovetop runs a little different (not to mention the exact pan you use will effect the cooking time), so keep an eye. You want the bread to be golden brown on both sides!!
Can I leave out the Rum?
Yes! You may omit the alcohol from this recipe completely, or you may use another liquor such as bourbon, whiskey, brandy, or even rye. I’ve also heard of folks using rum extract, which I personally haven’t tried, but you could give a whirl. I would start with 1 teaspoon of extract and adjust from there.
P.S. If you’re looking to make this extra boozy, feel free to add an extra tablespoon or two of rum to the bananas foster sauce! Just taste as you go to ensure you don’t go overboard!
Make the Bananas Foster Sauce
I added pecans to my banana sauce, which is totally optional! You may omit these, or use walnuts instead. If you do use nuts, I suggest toasting them first. Or, try using candied pecans, which makes this already fabulous sauce extra special!
Once you have your nuts ready, you’re going to melt your butter over medium heat. Then you’ll add in your brown sugar, cream, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Then stir in the pecans and bananas. Be sure not to overcook here, or your bananas will become mushy. Finally, remove the pan from heat and stir in the rum! Or, if your want to cook some of the alcohol out, you can leave on heat and cook for another minute or so!
Quick Banana Tip
Unlike most baking recipes that call for ripe bananas, for this recipe you’re going to want to seek out very firm bananas. In fact, I like to use slightly underripe bananas, because they hold their shape well and don’t get mushy after being cooked.
How to Keep French Toast Warm
Cooking French toast can be time consuming, and no one wants to serve a lukewarm platter! So to keep the French toast slices warm as you cook, preheat your oven to 300, place the cooked French toast slices on large baking dish, and then pop them in the oven. Just be sure not to keep them in there longer than 20 minutes, or they’ll begin to dry out.
While this recipe is definitely not diet food or low in saturated fat, it is 100% worth the splurge!!! I love serving it with a 1/2 cup or so of pecans chopped on top, for an extra crunch! But feel free to serve with ice cream, whipped cream, extra bananas, etc!
It’s a great menu option for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Christmas, or New Year’s Day brunch! And delicious with bacon, coffee, eggs, etc!
More French Toast Recipes:
- Best Easy Homemade French Toast
- Brown Sugar Butter Pecan French Toast
- Overnight Eggnog French Toast
- Brioche French Toast with Blueberry Compote
- Apple Pie French Toast
- Overnight Pecan Pie French Toast
Easy Bananas Foster French Toast
Ingredients
For the French Toast:
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs, plus 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 and 1/2 tablespoons (44 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (14 grams) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup (76 grams) milk
- 1/3 cup (78 grams) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon (14 grams) dark rum
- 8 slices brioche, cut about 3/4" thick
For the Bananas Foster Topping:
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (142 grams) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (110 grams) pecans, roughly chopped or whole
- 2 large firm bananas, peeled and sliced
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/2 Tablespoon (35 grams) dark rum
Instructions
For the French Toast:
- Melt a few Tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-heat.
- In a large shallow bowl or pie plate, whisk the eggs and egg yolks until well combined.
- Add in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and both sugars, and whisk until well combined. Finally, whisk in the milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and rum.
- Dip each slice of brioche into the egg mixture, making sure both sides are well coated.
- Place brioche slices into skillet and cook until the undersides are golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Flip, and continue cooking on the other side until equally golden brown, about another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Continue with all french toast, adding more butter to the pan as needed.
For the Bananas Foster Topping:
- In a large skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add in the brown sugar and cook, stirring with a whisk, until the sugar has melted and mixture is bubbling, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the cinnamon, heavy cream, and salt and whisk to combine. Add in the pecans and bananas and, using a rubber spatula, fold them into the liquid mixture until they're completely coated. Cook for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and rum.
- Pour on top of the french toast and serve at once!
Just absolutely decadent so delicious and perfect I frigging love this recipe!
Delicious! I made it with 1/2 and 1/2 to cut the calories and it was still great!
I made it as instructed! It’s easy and the teen boys loved it! It’s very tasty, but I’d probably cut the sugar in the topping by a little. It’s super sweet! But if you love sweet, this is for you!
What do I do if I don’t want to use heavy cream? Just sub milk?
I had to use milk one time and it didn’t taste nearly as good.
I made this as is…it was delicious!! How can I convert this recipe into a bananas foster french toast casserole?? Would I make the egg custard and pour over the bread (brioche?!)( and let it soak over night??and at what point do I add the topping??after it’s soaked then pour topping over the soaked bread and then bake???