Vegan Masala French Toast

Fluffy Vegan Masala French Toast is a simple breakfast recipe that comes together in less than half an hour. This savory French Toast is bursting with flavor from a handful of spices sprinkled into the chickpea flour mixture used to delicately coat your Masala Toast.  

A savory French toast with Indian spices just sounds delicious, doesn’t it? I remember my mum and dad having this during our weekend brunches while I indulged in a much sweeter version of French toast.

Having a sweet tooth, I didn’t give Masala French Toast a shot until I was much older, and boy do I regret it! 

Jump to:

• What is Masala French Toast
• Ingredients
• How to make Vegan Masala French Toast
• Recipe Tips
• Substitutions
• Storage
• Helpful tools
• Vegan brunch recipe alternative
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

this recipe

What is Masala French Toast

Masala French toast is a savory Indian breakfast recipe. It’s also known as Bombay Toast. While classic French Toast is usually sweet, this recipe puts an Indian spin on it and you wind up with a stack of absolutely delicious breakfast food.

When I say savory, I’m talking about the delicious flavors from some of the common Indian spices, like red chili powder, cumin, turmeric, garlic powder and, of course, salt and pepper. You can’t go wrong with any of these spices or adding a few other common spices. 

Honestly, every household has their own version of it. Some of them are pretty fancy too!

To make the best french toast, you can use a loaf of bread that’s a few extra days old. Older bread is a little more firm and is the perfect texture to not get too soggy from the water, flour and spice mixture (usually it would be a custard, but in this instance, it’s just a mixture!).

What makes this vegan? 

Vegan Masala French Toast is a vegan version of the classic masala toast recipe you may have had. In order to make this a vegan recipe, what I’ve done is swap out the milk and eggs for water and chickpea flour. I adapted the amount of spices used as well to keep this a simple but easy to modify base recipe. 

With this being a vegan, eggless breakfast recipe, it’s the perfect recipe to make for those with egg allergies or those avoiding recipes with animal products.

Ingredients

• Chickpea flour
• Turmeric powder
• Cumin powder
• Red chilli powder
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper powder
• Salt 
• Water
• Onion
• Tomato
• Bread
• Cilantro leaves
• Oil or vegan butter 

How to make Vegan Masala French Toast

Making French Toast has never been so easy. You don’t have to spend a lot of time prepping the ingredients and it doesn’t take long to cook on the stove top. 

Start by adding your chickpea flour, salt and other spices to your mixing bowl. Mix all the dry ingredients together. 

Then slowly add in your water and whisk to make a runny batter with no lumps. Next, add your diced onion, tomato and chopped cilantro to your batter and mix well again.  

Now grab your bread slice and use a spoon to spread the batter on it or dip it in the batter bowl so that both sides of the bread are covered in batter.  

Finally, grease a pan with oil or vegan butter and place the bread slice in the pan to cook. When one side is completely cooked, flip it over and cook the other side. Repeat with the other slices of bread until you have a beautiful stack of freshly made, steaming Vegan Masala French Toast. 

That’s it! …What? I told you this Bombay Toast was super simple to make. You can top with cilantro (otherwise known as coriander) and a sprinkle of red chilli flakes for more heat. 

Recipe Tips

• If your french toast batter is too thick, slowly add a little more water to the batter until it reaches your desired consistency. 
• Feel free to adjust the spices to taste. A popular addition to masala French toast recipes is to add a chopped green chilli for some added heat.
• To add a bit of sweetness to your Bombay Toast, you can sprinkle on a bit of powdered sugar to your cooked vegan French Toast. You may be amazed at how satisfying a sweet bite of this indulgent Breakfast Masala French Toast is (don’t go crazy though…if you pour on a load of maple syrup, it may just taste a little sickly!). Another option is to sprinkle on a bit of ground cinnamon.
• For crispier toast, let the toast cook a little longer in the pan on each side. You can also toast the bread in a toaster oven before dipping it in the batter or spread it on. 
• Serve with a bit of tomato sauce or opt for something like Lebanese toum if you’re into strong savory flavors!

Substitutions

A common variation or substitution to make in any French toast recipe is to change out the type of bread you use. You can use whatever bread you have in your bread box and remember that stale or older bread is actually optimal for this French Toast recipe.

Some choices to try are: white bread, brioche bread, baguettes, French bread, sourdough bread, ciabatta bread etc. 

If you’re following a gluten free diet, use gluten-free bread (or an equivalent choice) and ensure that your flour is gluten-free, like chickpea flour is. Always good to check that your spices are gluten-free as well. 

You can also swap out your flour choice. I chose to use chickpea flour for the recipe, but you can also use any other vegan flour options like almond flour, coconut flour, oat flour, cassava flour, all purpose vegan flour, etc.  

Alternatively, instead of substituting the chickpea flour, you can swap out the spices or vegetables for other ones of your choosing. An option one of my friends enjoys (but I personally don’t love!) is adding a finely chopped garlic clove and a little cumin powder.

To add a little richness, I’ve heard that some people will use almond milk or oat milk instead of water, but I’ve personally never tried this. 

Storage

Storing your leftover eggless French Toast is relatively easy. You’re not using any perishable ingredients so you don’t have to refrigerate any extra Masala French Toast. However, if you would like to refrigerate your Bombay Toast you can. 

You can also place your French Toast in an airtight container and keep it on the counter. Your leftovers should last 2-3 days on the counter and could last 4-5 days if kept in the refrigerator. 

Helpful tools

One of the wonderful things about this vegan French Toast recipe is it doesn’t require many tools in the kitchen. Less tools equals less clean up, yay!

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Vegan brunch recipe alternative

If you liked the sound of this vegan French toast, make sure to check out my savory lentil pancakes – they’re another delicious and vegan-friendly brunch!

I hope you decide to make some wholesome Vegan Masala French Toast for your friends and family. It’s a simple dish to make when you’re looking to provide a belly-filling meal for guests.  And if you’ve already tried it, be sure to let me know in the comments below. 

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