🍞 Air Fryer French Toast Sticks are a FAST and EASY breakfast ready in less than 20 minutes using just 6 ingredients. Lightly crisped on the outside, tender on the inside, and spiced with plenty of cinnamon to make you reach for just one more! They’re perfect for breakfast on the go, weekend brunches, or as a tasty snack kids and adults both love!
Quick & Easy Air Fryer French Toast Sticks
I love French toast of all kinds, like my pumpkin French toast, overnight caramel French toast casserole, and croissant French toast. My cinnamon sugar French toast sticks are a particular favorite, inspired by one of my favorite childhood treats.
So, it only felt fitting to make them in the air fryer, too! Even better than fast food or frozen options, these French toast sticks in the air fryer are:
- Easy to make at home in about 15 minutes using just a few simple ingredients.
- Golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside while remaining soft and tender in the center.
- A large batch recipe perfect for taking on-the-go.
- Perfect for serving with maple syrup, powdered sugar, fruit, honey, or melted butter!
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make French toast sticks in an air fryer, you only need a handful of very common fridge and pantry ingredients, including the following:
- Eggs
- Heavy cream or half-and-half: I suppose you can use whole or 2% milk or plant-based milk such as almond, soy, or oat milk. The richer the dairy you use, the richer-tasting the air-fried cinnamon French toast sticks will be
- Cinnamon: I love a really strong cinnamon flavor – if you do not, scale this back. You can also include vanilla extract for a little extra depth
- Light brown sugar
- Unsalted butter, melted
- Thick-cut bread: Personally, I think the best bread is thick-cut Texas toast, but artisanal, thick-cut, soft, bakery bread or even cinnamon raisin bread are good options. I do not recommend using bread slices from a regular loaf of bread – either white or wheat. It’s too thin and skimpy in my opinion to give you the mouthfeel of French toast sticks
- Cooking spray
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Air Fryer French Toast Sticks
Making air fryer cinnamon French toast sticks is so easy! Just follow these very straightforward steps and recipe tips:
Step 1: Whisk the wet ingredients in a shallow bowl until smooth.
Step 2: Use a serrated knife to slice the bread into wide strips.
Step 3: Dip, flip, and batter each stick of bread with the egg and cinnamon-sugar mixture, and place them in a cooking-sprayed air fryer basket. For less mess and easier cleanup, line your air fryer basket with parchment paper. Be careful not to oversoak the bread! We don’t want it to become soggy. I like to add a quick spray of oil before cooking to help the bread crisp.
Step 4: Air fry in a greased basket for about 3 minutes. I like to use an XL air fryer. The bigger the basket, the better, so you can cook more air-fried French toast sticks at once. However, use whatever-sized air fryer you have. Work in batches so as not to overcrowd the basket.
Step 5: Flip and air fry for 3 additional minutes or until done before serving with your favorite accompaniments.
No Air Fryer? No Problem!
If you don’t have an air fryer, I recommend either pan-frying the battered bread in a skillet with a bit of butter, like you would make traditional French toast.
Alternatively, you can bake the French toast sticks on a Silpat-lined baking sheet in a 375F oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, flipping once halfway through baking.
Air Fryer Cinnamon French Toast Sticks
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, whisked
- 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half*
- 2 to 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 12 slices thick-cut bread, cut into thirds**
- Condiments for serving, as desired (maple syrup, honey, confectioners’ sugar, melted nut butter, cinnamon-and-sugar, fresh berries or fruit, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat an XL air fryer to 375F.*** See Notes if you don't have an air fryer.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and lightly whisk, making sure to break up the yolks.
- Add the cream, cinnamon to taste (I love a really strong cinnamon flavor – if you do not, scale this back to 1 teaspoon), brown sugar, melted butter, and whisk to combine.
- Dip, dunk, and flip each slice of bread in the liquid mixture. Tips – Coat only as many pieces of bread that can fit in your air fryer basket at once, probably about 8. Don't oversoak the bread but also make sure each slice of bread is sufficiently coated. If you don't have quite enough liquid mixture to coat every slice of bread, then don't since the absorbency of all bread varies. You will simply yield a bit fewer French toast sticks.
- For easier cleanup, spray the basket of your air fryer with cooking spray, then add a piece of parchment paper, and spray again. If you don't choose to use parchment, the spray the basket well with cooking spray.
- Add the coated slices of bread to the air fryer basket, making sure not to overcrowd the basket. I can fit about 8 slices at a time.
- Give a quick, light spray of cooking spray over the top of the bread.
- Close the air fryer and fry for 3 minutes.
- Open the air fryer and use a tongs to flip over the bread. Give a quick, light spray of cooking spray over the top of the bread.
- Close the air fryer and air fry for 3 additional minutes, or until as necessary so they are done and lightly crisped and golden browned.
- Repeat the process with all the remaining coated bread until all the French toast sticks have been air fried.
- Serve immediately with the condiments of your choice. French toast sticks are best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. Note that they will lose their crispy exterior after they are refrigerated and reheated.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Pumpkin Cinnamon Overnight Pull-Apart French Toast – Make it ahead of time for a relaxing brunch or holiday get-together!
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Overnight Syrup-On-The-Bottom French Toast – Assemble it the night before and wake up to AMAZING French toast the next morning! An EASY homemade syrup layer on the bottom with super SOFT challah bread on top!
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