Strawberry Stuffed French Toast is a fun breakfast or brunch idea for Valentine's Day made with brioche bread, cream cheese and strawberries!
Strawberry Stuffed French toast is what brunch dreams are made of – deliciously sweet and perfect for a cozy Sunday. Easy to make, this really takes french toast up a notch with the cream cheese and strawberries stuffed inside two slices for bread and then cooked until golden brown!
Ingredients & substitutions
- Eggs: Eggs are the base for the french toast batter. For an egg-free version, you can use a flax egg, like I did in this vegan french toast recipe.
- Milk: I used 2% milk for this recipe, but any will work well.
- Vanilla extract and cinnamon: For flavor and sweetness in the batter.
- Bread: I like to use a brioche loaf for my French toast as it has a nice sweetness. It’s best to use day old bread so that it soaks up all of the milk mixture.
- Cream cheese: Use a whipped cream cheese to make it easier to mix with the strawberries and honey. I have made this before with greek yogurt, and it works well but may ooze out more when cooked.
- Honey: Use honey to sweeten the cream cheese and flavor the stuffing. You can swap with maple syrup, cane sugar or just leave out.
- Strawberries: Chop up the strawberries to fold them into the cream cheese. You can also just keep them sliced and add them on top of the bread.
- Butter: I like to use butter to cook up the stuffed french toast because it adds a nice flavor, but any normal cooking oil will work well.
How to make strawberries and cream French toast
- Measure the cream cheese, honey and diced strawberries and place in a large bowl.
- Mix together until well blended. It will be chunky, so don’t expect a smooth mixture.
- Spread some of the whipped strawberry cream cheese mixture on 6 of the brioche breads.
- Top with the other brioche breads and you’re ready for the batter.
- Whisk together the eggs and milk, then add cinnamon and vanilla extract and combine. Place the stuffed french toast inside the batter.
- Quickly flip the french toast with your hands or spatula.
- Transfer the stuffed french toast to a heated skillet with butter.
- Cook on one side without touching and then flip to the other side until brown and crispy.
- Cut the stuffed french toast in half diagonally, top with fresh strawberries and maple syrup and enjoy immediately.
Tips for making the recipe
- Don’t use fresh brioche for this recipe, you want a loaf that is a day or two old. If it’s too soft, it will fall apart quickly in the wet batter.
- Give the bread enough time in the milk and egg mixture to soak up as much of it as possible. For tougher Texas toast bread, you can let it soak for 5 minutes. For softer brioche, 30 seconds is sufficient.
- Cook on medium heat for the perfect temperature. If it’s too hot, the outside will burn quickly without the inside cooking all the way. This creates a soggy center and uneven texture.
- Use whipped cream cheese. Because the brioche is very delicate when uncooked, using whipped cream cheese makes spreading so much easier without potentially breaking up the bread.
Frequently asked questions
The bread needs to be fried for about three minutes on each side, until it is the doneness you prefer. It takes around 20 minutes to make a serving of six if you’re making one a time. Having a large griddle helps!
Make sure that the pan is hot before you fry the toast, this will help the egg mixture to brown and cook. French toast can be soggy if too much egg is used, so be sure to follow this recipe exactly.
You shouldn’t use fresh toast for French toast, the drier it is, the more of the mixture it will soak up. If you only have fresh bread, you can try and dry out the slices in a warm oven for a few minutes, but be careful not to toast it.
This strawberry french toast is a nice twist from traditional french toast because it is stuffed instead of plain, has a beautiful presentation and adds extra servings of fruit to your breakfast. It’s a must-try for a different weekend breakfast, especially for Valentine’s Day weekend.
More breakfast recipes:
- Stuffed French Toast
- Banana Pancake Dippers
- Strawberry Chia Jam & Toast
- Vegan French Toast
- Breakfast Egg Cups
- Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
- Blueberry French Toast Casserole
If you make this healthy-ish feelgood Strawberry Stuffed French Toast recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Strawberry Stuffed French Toast
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whipped cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup diced strawberries plus more for serving.
- 12 slices brioche bread one loaf
- 1 cup milk
- 4 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the whipped cream cheese with the honey and strawberries, set aside.
- In a large shallow bowl, add the milk, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt and whisk to combine.
- Spread the cream cheese mixture on 6 slices of brioche, then seal with the other 6 slices.
- Heat a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add ½ tablespoon butter to the skillet.
- Dip the stuffed brioche in the egg and milk mixture, dredging them well on both sides so they are coated in the batter. Immediately transfer from the bowl to the skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes until edges become golden brown, then flip and cook on the other side for an additional 3-4 minutes. Repeat for the remaining 5.
- Remove from heat and serve with extra strawberries and maple syrup and powdered sugar, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Instead of regular milk, you can use any other plant-based milk.
- Instead of eggs, you can use flax egg.
- Instead of cream cheese, you can use greek yogurt or any other spread you’d like.
