On any given lazy Sunday when my family and I are having a good sleep-in and just plan on being around the house, there is nothing better than indulging in warm, fresh French Toast for breakfast.
However, if you’re anything like me, you always end up making absolutely too much batter (this goes for literally anything I make! Just ask my husband!).
If you’re anything else like me, you absolutely hate being wasteful, and recycling and reusing are a way of life.
But what to do with leftover french toast batter? Are there ways to reuse or repurpose that leftover batter in other recipes?
Absolutely! In this article, I’m sharing five of my favorite ideas for using leftover french toast batter, which everyone in your family will love.
Table of Contents
What To Do with Leftover French Toast Batter: 5 Cool Ideas
1. French Toast Bread Pudding
Now, what is the absolutely easiest thing to do with leftover French Toast batter and one of the best things ever to do with it? MAKE MORE, OF COURSE!
Or, if you want to put a twist on your French toast, you could make French Toast Bread Pudding.
Now I’ll be completely honest with you about this recipe. I didn’t want to make it. Straight up. No joke. I really thought it was going to be a waste, and I didn’t want to try it.
I had never had bread pudding, for one, and the thought of bread, being a pudding, and being all wet and I envisioned it being sort of…gross, it just didn’t sound appealing.
My husband actually made it instead and encouraged me to try it, and hands down, I can honestly say it was amazing. (Not only amazing that my husband didn’t burn down the house trying to make it but amazing also that it tasted sooooo good).
I really didn’t think it would taste the way it did. When I have a little bit of time to really dedicate to being patient with the recipe, it is now one of my favorite comfort recipes to cook on lazy days.
For this recipe, I typically use:
- 8 Pieces of day-old French Toast (If I’ve planned ahead on making this, I make sure to put the toast in the fridge to help it get a little harder for the recipe)
- 2 teaspoons of melted butter
- 1 cup to 1 ½ cups of milk
- ½ cup of heavy cream or half-and-half (I like heavy cream because it thickens up)
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- 1 cup of regular white (granulated) sugar
- 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon (optional)
- ¼ cup of honey (optional)
First, grease the pan or brush the butter into the bottom of the pan. Next, cut up the bread and put it in your pan.
Mix your butter, milk, heavy cream (or half-and-half), eggs, brown sugar, regular sugar, cinnamon (optional), and honey (optional) together and pour it into your pan.
My husband likes to just throw everything in one pan to mix, but I like mixing the wet stuff first and then adding in the dry stuff after it’s mixed together as well.
That’s just a me thing, but do it in whatever way feels best.
Once you’ve covered the bread with the mixture, let it sit and absorb the mix for about 5-10 min, then cover your deliciousness with some aluminum foil.
Stab it a few times with a knife or fork to create some ventilation, and bake it covered for about 45 min, then uncovered for another 45 minutes or so. The best way to check to make sure it’s done is the middle will no longer giggle.
With this, you can also make a glaze to go on top. My mom makes this yummy glaze with powdered sugar, a little bit of milk, and honey.
To make it, you need the following:
- 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons of milk or heavy cream. Heavy cream makes it thicker!
- 1 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons of honey (optional)
If you’re not a fan of honey, no worries! It can be left out!
After all of this is mixed and your dish is out of the oven, just drizzle it on top (I like doing it while it’s still hot, so it melts on top), and let it cool.
2. Pancakes/Cocoa Pancakes
One of my favorites, though more complex recipes, is Cocoa Pancakes!
This is my own personal name for this recipe, but the Cocoa is optional. For this recipe, you take your batter and add the following:
- 1/3 cup of flour (all-purpose)
- 2 Tablespoons of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 2 lightly beaten eggs
- ½ cup of milk
- Cocoa powder, or ½ cup of chocolate chips (optional)
Just combine all of this in a bowl and mix. Cook as normal, or you can try this in your waffle iron.
If it’s more of a waffle you desire, simply add an additional tablespoon of vegetable oil for a crisper edge. You might be surprised!
3. Chicken Tenders/Chicken Nuggets
This kid-tested and approved recipe is one of the easiest recipes to make!
To make chicken tenders, you simply flour your chicken as you usually would, but after you flour them, throw them in a bowl of batter and cover.
Once covered, you can flour them again (my grandma does this to make them extra crispy) or simply throw them in your fryer to fry.
The taste is equivalent to that of chicken and waffles; only the waffle is already on top of your chicken!
I like to drizzle the chicken after it’s fried with some melted butter, maybe some honey, and pancake syrup, or you can eat it as usual.
It’s really up to your preference!
4. Corndogs
Along the same path as chicken nuggets and strips would be to make your own corn dogs!
Now admittedly I have not done this one (yet), my best friend loves to use this mixture as a substitute for corndog batter.
Simply put your hotdog on a stick and dip it into flour, then your mixture. The flour for both the chicken and corndog recipes really helps the batter to stay onto the meat better.
One thing my friend, however, has suggested is dipping the hotdog into either butter or an egg wash before adding the flour.
Hotdogs can sometimes be dry, and it’s much easier to get the flour to stick to a wet surface than a dry one and water is just not thick (or tasty) enough to use as a good bonding agent.
This is another recipe (just like the others) that you can really play around with in different ways (like drizzling it with honey or powdered sugar!) to find what tastes best for you!
5. Crepes
Another super easy recipe to try with leftover french toast is crepes.
For this, you will need your batter, whipping cream, and flour tortillas. Incorporate the whipping cream into your batter, and once mixed well, dip the tortillas in the batter and fry until it’s golden brown, and that’s all.
Once done, you can add any toppings you like.
Conclusion
Just remember, French toast batter does not really last super long; it is recommended that you use the batter within at least 24 hours.
If not, in my experience, the batter just does not taste as good and starts to go bad. So, make sure you eat it quickly.
