How to Make Panettone French Toast
Panettone French Toast is the ultimate Christmas morning indulgence: rich, fluffy, and ready in minutes.
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Whether you’re looking for a new holiday breakfast tradition or simply a way to elevate French toast, this recipe delivers a decadent twist on the classic.
Panettone is a light, airy, yeast-leavened Italian Christmas bread studded with dried fruit. It shares some ingredients with German Stollen, but while Stollen is dense and hearty, Panettone is delicate and cloud-like, perfect for soaking up custard.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
French toast is delicious as it is. Using Panettone makes it extra luscious.
Even though French toast is often served with a dusting of powdered sugar or some maple syrup, I find this Panettone French toast perfect as it is.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need:
- Panettone: for 4 servings, you’ll need about half a loaf, but the rest makes great snacks or another batch of French toast. This rich, fluffy holiday bread is easy to find in stores or online during Christmas, or bake your own from scratch.
- Eggs: you will need those to keep the light, airy Panettone from falling apart.
- Milk: this will make your French toast so luscious.
- Cinnamon powder: as is the case with most of my recipes, this Panettone French toast is very flexible. Feel free to add more or less cinnamon depending on your preference.
- Vanilla extract: I love making my own vanilla extract but you can use store-bought just as well.
- Butter: we will use butter to fry the French toast.
Substitutions
Even though there are only a few ingredients in this recipe, I will give you some substitutions:
- Other bread: Use gluten-free panettone or any bread, brioche, sourdough, or even pound cake work beautifully.
- Milk Alternatives: Plant-based milks (almond, oat, soy) add the same texture and flavor.
- Butter Substitute: Butter adds richness, but coconut oil or vegan butter work, too.
Useful tools and equipment
Having these tools and equipment ensures that you can easily and successfully make this recipe:
- Shallow bowl: Use one wide enough to fit panettone slices and shallow enough to flip them easily. A pasta plate works perfectly.
- Stainless steel whisk: A fork will do, but a whisk blends the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk more smoothly and with less effort.
- 10.5″ cast iron skillet: My go-to for its excellent heat retention and naturally non-stick surface once seasoned. Any skillet will work, but cast iron gives the best results.
- Wide spatula: Panettone slices can be delicate, so a wide spatula makes flipping easier and keeps them intact.
How to make panettone French toast
- Preheat Oven to 200˚F (optional) if you’d like to keep slices warm. Slice Panettone: Remove paper liner from the base (or leave it if saving the rest of the loaf). Cut four slices; the sizes will vary.
- Make the Custard: In a shallow bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Dip each slice in the mixture, shaking off excess.
- Cook in buttered skillet until golden.
5. Flip slices on the second side and cook until golden brown. Serve immediately or keep warm on a wire rack in the oven.
Make Ahead & Storage
I think Panettone French Toast is best enjoyed fresh, but you can prep ahead to save time.
- The night before: Mix the egg batter and refrigerate. Slice the panettone and store in an airtight bag so it doesn’t dry out.
- Cooking ahead: You can make the French toast in advance—just cool slices completely before refrigerating.
Reheating Tip: Place a wire rack over a sheet pan, arrange slices on top, and warm in a 325°F oven until heated through. The rack keeps the bread elevated so it stays crisp, not soggy.
Panettone French Toast
Ingredients
- ½ cake Panettone
- 2 whole eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 TBSP butter, for frying
Instructions
- If you are making a double batch or just want to keep the French toasts warm, warm your oven to 200˚F.
- Unwrap the Panettone. You will notice that it has paper around its bottom. You can gently peel all the paper off. If I want to preserve the other half of the Panettone for later, I often choose to leave the paper on.
- Cut 4 slices off the Panettone. Note: No matter how you slice it, there is no way to make them evenly big. If you left the paper on, you can cut right through is with a good (bread) knife. Set the slices aside.
- Carefully place the soaked Panettone slice into the hot skillet. Fry on the first side until golden brown.
- With a spatula, carefully flip it onto the other side and fry until golden brown.
- When done, remove the Panettone French toast from the skillet and transfer to a plate. You can keep it warm in a warm oven.
- Continue with the remaining slices.
- Serve the Panettone French Toast as is, with a dusting of powdered sugar, some maple syrup, fruit, or your favorite toppings.
Nutrition
Other Christmas recipes you might like
- German Christmas Stollen
- Gingerbread Sauce
- Lebkuchen (German gingerbread)
- Swiss Cheese Fondue
- Cinnamon Star Cookies
This is by far the best way to eat panettone!!
Hi Michelle, that makes me so happy to hear ~ Anja
This is a great idea! Making french toast with panettone sounds delicious. Perfect for Christmas breakfast. Thank you for sharing!
I can’t wait to try this we are always looking for new gluten-free ideas.
Yay! So glad you like this recipe ~ Anja
How long do I soak each piece?
It depends but I just make sure that each slice had a chance to soak up enough of the milk-egg mixture ~ Anja
This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try making it!
Yay! It is as delicious as it is easy to make. Happy Holidays ~ Anja