Eggnog French Toast

This Eggnog French Toast is the ultimate holiday breakfast — cozy, simple, and packed with warm seasonal flavor. The secret is using eggnog as the base of the custard mixture, with a splash of rum extract and a little Orange zest to make it taste like the holidays. It comes together in minutes and is absolutely perfect for Christmas morning.

Why You’ll Love It

Your kitchen will smell incredible — cinnamon, eggnog, and orange zest hitting a hot buttered pan is the closest thing to a holiday candle that actually works.
It’s genuinely easy — beat eggs, add ingredients, dip bread, cook it. No fancy technique, no special equipment.
The rum extract is a game-changer — it adds warm, festive depth without any alcohol, and it’s what sets this apart from regular French toast.
Golden, custardy edges — using eggnog as the base (not just a splash) gives you that rich, custard-soaked texture that gets a little crisp at the edges on a hot pan.
Ready in under 20 minutes — perfect for a holiday morning when you want something special without spending all day in the kitchen.

A Few Notes on Ingredients

The bread matters more than people think. Thick-cut French or Italian bread is the classic move — you want something with enough body to soak up the eggnog mixture without falling apart. I’ve also made this with English Muffin bread, which sounds weird but actually works beautifully because of the nooks and crannies. What you don’t want is a thin sandwich bread. It just doesn’t hold up.
For the eggnog — regular store-bought is totally fine. I’ve used the full-fat kind and the low-fat kind and honestly couldn’t tell you which I preferred. I’ve also made this with the kind that comes in the carton with the festive winter scene on it, whatever’s on sale. It all works.
I use Splenda for the sugar because I’ve been doing that for years at this point, but regular sugar is perfectly fine. It’s a small amount either way. The orange zest is one of Those things that seems optional until you try it, and then you realize it’s not optional at all — it lifts everything.

Ingredients

2 eggs (sometimes I use 3 if they’re on the smaller side)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp sugar, or Splenda — I eyeball this honestly
1 tsp rum extract (or brandy extract if that’s what you have)
1 tsp orange zest, maybe a little more
1½ to 2 cups eggnog — start with less, you can always add
Butter and/or oil for cooking
Thick-cut French or Italian bread — enough for however many people you’re feeding, which I realize is not precise, but I trust you to figure this part out

Instructions

Start by beating the eggs in a bowl that’s big enough to actually dip your bread slices into. I’ve made the mistake of using too small a bowl and then everything is awkward and you’re tilting the bowl and dripping eggnog on the counter. Use a medium or even a large bowl.
Once the eggs are beaten, add the cinnamon, the sugar or Splenda, the rum extract, and the orange zest. Stir all of that together. Then pour in the eggnog and mix it until it’s fully combined — you want everything incorporated, no streaks of egg swimming around. The mixture should be smooth and smell incredible at this point.
Heat your griddle or a large skillet over medium-high heat. I say medium-high but every stove is different and I’ve burned a few batches by being too aggressive. When the pan feels hot — you can hover your hand above it — add your butter, or oil, or both. Butter gives you flavor, oil brings the smoke point up a little, I usually do both.
Dip your bread slices into the eggnog mixture, letting them sit for a few seconds on each side. You want the bread to absorb some of the liquid but not get so soggy it falls apart when you pick it up. There’s a moment, you’ll learn to feel it.
Set the soaked slices onto the hot pan and leave them alone for a few minutes. Don’t fuss with them. Let them get golden and a little crisp on the bottom — this is what makes the edges so good. Then flip and cook the second side until it matches.
Serve immediately. Maple syrup is the obvious choice and it’s the right choice. Powdered sugar is also lovely. Butter melting over the top. All three, if that’s where you are in life.

Variations

My husband likes a splash of vanilla in addition to the rum extract — he thinks it rounds things out and I don’t entirely disagree, though I’d say it makes it taste a little more generic. My younger one, when she was still home, used to do hers with apple butter instead of syrup, which sounds like a lot but actually worked quite well.
I tried a version once with a thick brioche and it was almost too rich — by the second piece I felt like I’d been made of butter myself. French bread is more forgiving.
If you can’t find rum extract, you can use brandy extract, or just use vanilla. The vanilla version is good. It’s not the same, but it’s good.

Leftovers

This does reheat, though I’ll be honest, it’s not quite the same. The edges lose a little of their crispness and you can’t really get that back in a microwave. The oven works better — 325°F for maybe ten minutes, loosely covered. I’ve had leftover French toast stand in the fridge for two days and still be worth eating. Much longer than that and it gets a little sad.
You can also freeze it, though I never really do because we usually finish it.