Torrijas – Spanish Style French Toast

Spanish Torrijas is a simple recipe for stale bread. Soaked in orange and cinnamon spiced milk before being coated in beaten egg and fried in olive oil until crispy, the French toast is then coated in cinnamon sugar to create a delicious eggy bread with creamy centres and crusty edges. It can be enjoyed warm or cold, for breakfast or dessert.

Jump to:

• What is Torrijas?
• We why love this recipe
• Ingredients notes and substitutions
• How to make Spanish French Toast
• FAQ
• My recipe tips
• Serving Ideas
• Variations
• Storage / Make ahead
• More easy Spanish recipes for you
• Torrijas – Spanish Style French Toast

What is Torrijas?

Torrijas (pronounced toh-ree-has) is a Spanish style French toast that is flavoured with spices, sometimes wine or sherry, and often drizzled with honey. Similar to the French Pan Perdu or the British Bread and Butter pudding, it is traditionally enjoyed during Holy Week or Samana Santa. Recipes for this Spanish Easter dish have been passed down from generation to generation and there are many different ways of preparing them, and using different ingredients. There are many regional variations of the dish too. Some torrijas are made with wine, others – like this recipe for torrijas – are made without alcohol and known as ‘Torrijas de Leche‘ – torrijas made with milk.

We why love this recipe

• Delicious recipe for leftover bread or stale baguette, especially if you have more bread than is needed to make bread crust croutons.
• The dish can be served warm or cold, for breakfast or dessert.
• The recipes uses simple store cupboard ingredients (which is one of the reasons I love cooking these traditional Spanish recipes, they’re not fussy or complicated).
• I’ve reduced the amount of sugar in this recipe for torrijas so my toddler could enjoy it. Many recipes you will see include sugar in the milk, but I really don’t think you need it as you either coat in cinnamon sugar or drizzle with honey before serving (or do both!).

Ingredients notes and substitutions

• Bread – pretty much any STALE bread, apart from thin ready sliced bread as this can go slimy. The freshness and crustiness will alter how long you need to let it soak in the flavoured milk. I find the best breads to be country style bread or crusty baguettes.
• Milk – full fat milk is best for a richer tasting custard however you can use half fat milk, oat milk, or soy milk.
• Cinnamon – you can use a cinnamon stick instead of cinnamon powder.
• Orange – orange zest, you can use lemon zest instead if you prefer.
• Eggs – eggs are used to coat the soaked bread before you fry it.
• Olive oil – being a Spanish dish, olive oil is used to fry the eggy toast. You don’t need to use an EVOO.
• Sugar – white sugar or granulated sugar, for the cinnamon sugar coating. Leave this out and sweeten the toasts with honey if you prefer.

How to make Spanish French Toast

1. Place the milk, cinnamon and orange zest in a medium sized saucepan, and put on a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then when bubbles begin to appear, take off the heat and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
2. Slice the bread into 1 inch /2½ cm thick slices.

3. Place the bread slices in an even layer in a shallow dish.
4. Pour over the flavoured milk, making sure the bread is evenly coated in milk.

5. Beat the eggs together, then pour them onto a plate.
6. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Using a large spoon or spatula, as the bread can be quite soft and fragile, place a piece of bread in the beaten egg and coat both sides, then place in frying pan. Repeat with another 5-6 pieces bread, depending how large your frying pan is.

7. Mix the white sugar with ground cinnamon in a small bowl and place to one side.
8. Fry on a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until golden, then flip over with a large spatula, and fry for another 3-4 minutes until golden.

9. Remove the torrijas from the pan and place on a sheet of kitchen paper towel to drain off any excess oil. Repeat with the rest of the slices of bread.
10. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the torrijas whilst still warm.

FAQ

My recipe tips

• The bread needs to be stale – if bread is too fresh bake to dry out (see FAQ above). Leave the crust on the bread to help with making them easier to cook as it holds the bread slices together. If your bread isn’t stale then the torrijas can end up slimy.
• The best type of bread is a crusty bread such as a crusty baguette, or artisan / country style bread. You can use softer brioche but don’t leave it soaking in the milk otherwise it will fall apart, just dip both sides in the milk and then the egg and fry. I don’t recommend using ready sliced bread as it will become slimy.
• The bread will be fragile when soaked in the flavoured milk so take care when removing them.
• If making ahead, don’t reheat the torrijas in a microwave as they will become rubbery.
• If you want to serve them warm the day after they are made, reheat in the oven at 180˚C / 350˚ F for 10-15 minutes or in a frying pan for 5 mins, turning half way to warm them through. TIP: Don’t cook them for too long or they can become rubbery.

Serving Ideas

• Enjoy them for breakfast served with plain Greek yogurt, honey and fresh fruit.
• Serve as dessert with whipped cream, chocolate chips, toasted nuts, strawberry compote, or a scoop of ice cream.
• They can also be enjoyed as an afternoon snack with a cup of tea or coffee.
• For crispy edges and soft insides, serve torrijas fresh from the pan whilst still warm.
• You can also enjoy them at room temperature or even straight out of the fridge. All ways of serving have different textures: fresh, you have the crispy edges which go so well with a drizzle of honey; served cold, the bread is firmer and you can eat with your fingers.
• Our favourite way to enjoy them is for a weekend breakfast or brunch with a drizzle with honey, ‘torrijas con miel’ – (see picture below)

Variations

• Sugar free – leave out the cinnamon sugar to make this a sugar free recipe. If making it sugar free I like to serve it with fresh berries.
• Caramelised – sprinkle the finished torrijas with a little caster sugar and then use a blowtorch or place under a hot grill until the sugar melts and caramelises. This variety is best served with a scoop of ice cream!
• Chocolate – sprinkle with grated chocolate or drizzle over melted chocolate. Turn it in to chocolate orange by increasing the amount of orange zest to the zest of a whole orange.
• Vanilla – add ½ teaspoon vanilla to the milk.
• Other spices – although not traditionally Spanish, flavour the milk with a couple of cardamom pods or a star anise. Serve with edible rose petals and crunchy pistachios.

Storage / Make ahead

• Fridge – this Spanish bread pudding will keep in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days.  If you want to reheat them, place back in a frying pan on a low heat and warm through.
• Freezer – You can freeze the cooked Spanish french toast for up to 1 month.

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