Quick & Easy! Discover the Fastest Method to Make French Toast No One Talks About

This weekend, you’ve promised your kids their favorite breakfast: homemade French toast. With its caramelized crust and soft, milky, vanilla-soaked center, this treat always manages to bring smiles to their faces. The issue, however, is that it’s hard to keep everyone happy at once: in the skillet, there’s only room for one slice at a time. So, everyone patiently waits their turn, eyeing the person next to them who is already enjoying their piece… It’s not exactly the most social setup. Good news: there’s a way to prepare a large batch of French toast for the whole family. According to this chef, this technique is much quicker and easier than using a skillet!

When Chef Elle Simone makes French toast, she does it differently than most. After mixing her batter of beaten eggs and sweetened vanilla milk, she doesn’t dunk the bread in it. Instead of going back and forth between the bowl of vanilla milk and the skillet, making a mess of the countertop, she pours the liquid mixture directly into a large baking sheet suitable for the oven. She then places eight thick slices of bread on it, waits a minute, then flips them over to soak the other side with the mixture. Next, she bakes it all for 10 minutes at 400°F in the lower part of the oven. “The best part is you don’t even need to flip them during baking,” she exclaims in this video from America’s Test Kitchen. After the 10 minutes are up, she simply moves the tray to the top of the oven and turns on the broil setting. In just 3-4 minutes, the French toast is caramelized to perfection and ready to be enjoyed. And this time, everyone can dig in at once!

Note: to soak 8 slices of bread, Chef Simone whisks 3 large eggs with 1 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of liquid vanilla, and she also adds 2 tablespoons of melted salted butter for extra tenderness.