Hawaiian Air Fryer French Toast
Enjoy this fun and easy Air Fryer French Toast with a blend of flavors that will transport you right to a tropical island.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Bring the island life to you with this sweet and crispy Air Fryer French toast. Everything is perfect about these, from the texture to the flavor combination.
Why should you use your air fryer to make french toast? These little bites get a lovely crispness on the outside while still staying soft on the inside.
Our recipe for this French Toast uses King’s Hawaiian rolls to bring a bit of extra sweet and they inspired the serving as well. (#notsponsored) With coconut, macadamia nuts, and sweet berries this breakfast is simply heavenly!
Serve topped with Instant Pot Coconut Syrup.
✅ These instructions were tested in the Instant Vortex, Cosori TurboBlaze, and Instant Pot Pro Crisp. This recipe will require a little tweaking depending on the brand you use.
Notes from Our Testing: French Toast in an Air Fryer
For best results, use stale bread!
In this recipe, we recommend just leaving the bread slices out the night before. Since we like french toast made with dried bread, we first tested these by toasting the roll slices in the air fryer and the toaster oven before cooking them. It definitely made the slices easier to flip, but it took so much longer that it wasn’t worth the extra time. If you forget, don’t worry about it.
We like these best when we’ve sliced them and left them out overnight to dry out a little. We chose to do these with rolls because we can fit more roll slices than loaf slices at a bit. Then we can soak them a little longer in the egg mixture, which helps them withstand the hot air frying.
If they’re not dried first, they can get a little gooey when soaked and they’re much harder to flip without affecting their taste. We found it best to reduce the soaking time and keep an eye on them. They usually finished up a minute or so faster.
Keep an eye on them as they cook
The roll slices along the front and back edges of the basket will brown the fastest. The ones in the centers and along the sides cook a little slower.
The rolls will do most of the browning after you flip them, so the second cook time is the one you need to watch really closely.
Frequently Asked Questions about Air Fryer French Toast
No, we wanted the air to flow on both sides of the french toast, so we left the tray in place. You can try it without the tray if you want to make easier clean up, but we didn’t have much problem with the tray.
These french toast bites can get a little sticky, and the butter helped them release and added to the flavor a bit. You can substitute nonstick spray if you prefer.
We preferred these cooked up fresh versus reheated, so we tried to only cook up what we’d eat that morning. However, if you do end up with leftovers, cool them to room temperature, then place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Want more in-depth information about making this recipe? You can now find it below the recipe card.
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Hawaiian Air Fryer French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 package Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls sliced in halves down the middle (and ideally allowed to sit uncovered overnight)
- 6 eggs beaten
- 1½ cup half and half
- 1 tablespoon coconut syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Butter
- Coconut syrup for topping, optional**
- Sliced strawberries or other fresh fruit for topping, optional
- Whipping cream for topping, optional
- Chopped macadamia nuts for topping, optional
- Toasted coconut flakes or toasted shredded coconut for topping, optional
- Powdered sugar for topping, optional
Instructions
- Select Air Fry and set the temperature to 400F to preheat the air fryer.
- Prepare the French toast batter by stirring eggs, milk, heavy cream, syrup, salt, and vanilla extract until blended. Transfer the mixture to a large baking dish.
- Place the sliced rolls face-down in the batter, then flip and repeat on the second side.* (Only dip as many as will fit in the air fryer basket at one time; our basket fit about 16 half rolls at a time.)
- Once the oven is preheated, brush the basket with butter. Add as many slices as will fit and air fry for 3 minutes. Use tongs to flip and air fry 3 minutes more. Remove from the air fryer and serve immediately.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4, brushing the basket with more butter as needed until all of the french toast slices are fried.
- Serve french toast slices topped with a drizzle of coconut syrup, layers of fresh fruit slices, a generous dollop of whipping cream, and topped with a sprinkle of macadamia nuts.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe is based on an old family favorite, Hawaiian French Toast Sticks, that Barbara made over a decade ago.
Over the years, we got a little tired of cutting the bread into sticks and frying the sticks individually. Updating the recipe to the air fryer really helped cut down the prep work.
This recipe really shines when you make small batches, since the air fryer can only fit so many pieces at a time.
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED
You can switch out many of the ingredients in this recipe, thanks to all the toppings. Use what works for you!
- Hawaiian Sweet Rolls: You can substitute regular bread if you prefer
- Eggs: Since the air fryer dries things out more easily, you’ll need a higher ratio of egg mixture for the
- Milk and heavy cream: You can also use half and half or even just milk if you prefer.
- Coconut syrup: Adding the coconut syrup to the egg mixture results in a lovely touch of sweetness. We love serving this with coconut syrup, so we will always add it to the mixture. If you’re not making coconut syrup, you’re fine to omit it.
- Salt: Just a bit makes a big difference.
- Vanilla: We preferred the subtle difference with the vanilla than without it.
- Toppings: When we served it, we set out coconut syrup, sliced strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, whipping cream, chopped macadamia nuts, coconut flakes, and powdered sugar. Everyone had their own preference on the proper amounts.
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