Foil Packet French Toast (Campfire or Grill)

This Foil Packet French Toast Bake is a great way to make breakfast for a group on your next camping trip.

While we love French toast for breakfast while camping, we’re not crazy about how the slow the process can be at a campsite. Unless you have a large flat-top griddle, at best you can only fry up a slice or two at a time.

This production bottleneck usually results in the first slices of toast being cold by the time the last piece of toast comes off the assembly line. So our solution is to make it all at once as a French Toast Bake.

We previously did a post about how to make a Dutch Oven French Toast bake, but we wanted to share this foil packet version as well. What is great about the the foil packet version is that you don’t need any speciality equipment and can easily scale it up or down depending on your appetite and group size.

Just chop up all your bread, soak it in an egg-milk mix, seal everything up in a foil packet and let it slowly cook over your campfire. When it’s ready, you can call everyone over for breakfast!

Why We Love It:

• Can be easily scaled up or down to accommodate your group.
• Everything is ready at the same time. No lengthy production line.
• Can be made over a campfire or propane grill.
• Perfect way to use a slightly stale loaf of bread.

Ingredients

Stale Bread: We used a 2-day old French country loaf for this recipe. Crusty bread works much better for this application than sliced, softer bread (like Texas toast or brioche), which tends to get mushy when soaked. You want something with a little structure.

Eggs: Make sure your eggs are thoroughly whisked. You want the yolks and whites to be fully integrated.

Sugar: The amount of sugar we suggest is for middle of the road sweetness. You can increase or decrease by 1/4 of a cup, depending on your own personal preference.

Vanilla: Not 100% critical, but absolutely worth adding.

Salt: This is essential. The little bit of salt added to baked goods helps balance out the sweetness of the sugar. The best pancakes, cookies, and yes… French Toast all include a little salt.

Milk: We used extra creamy Oat Milk, which worked perfectly. But you can just as easily use dairy milk as well.

Equipment

Parchment Paper: When making foil packets, we really like to sandwich our food between two layers of parchment paper for a few reasons. 1) It prevents sticking. 2) Keeps the aluminum foil clean so it can be reused or recycled. 3) We don’t have to cook directly on untreated aluminum.

Aluminum Foil: Regular heavy duty aluminum foil has been our go to for foil packets. Reynolds Wrap makes a large format grilling foil, which can be helpful for larger groups.

How to make foil packet french toast—step-by-step

The first thing you’ll need to do is get your campfire or grill started. For campfires, you will want to develop a nice bed of embers to cook over, or, you can supplement your campfire with charcoal. You will want to be cooking over medium indirect heat (not directly over the flames).

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs until yolks and whites are completely integrated. Add the sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk. Whisk everything together, ensuring that the sugar has completely dissolved.

Next, cut up your bread. You have some leeway in terms of the shape you want your pieces to be. We opted to cut our French loaf into roughly 1” by 1” chunks, although you could slice a baguette into rounds or semi rounds. You could elect to cut the bread up into small strips. Ideally you want the pieces to be something you can pick up with a fork.

Add the bread chunks to your large mixing bowl with the egg-milk mixture. Using a large spoon, toss the bread pieces until they are all evenly coated with the egg-milk mixture. The bread pieces should absorb all the liquid, but still retain their shape.

Roll out a sheet of aluminum foil, then roll out a slightly smaller piece of parchment paper. Place your bread on top of the parchment paper and spread it out evenly. The goal is to have the bread all in a single layer (no mounding).

Once the bread is arranged in a single layer, you have the option of adding some fruit. We really love how raspberries turn jammy when heated, so we opted to sprinkle in some. Blueberries, blackberries, or sliced strawberries would also work well.

Cover the bread with another sheet of parchment paper, then cover that with a sheet of aluminum foil. Roll or crimp the edges of the aluminum foil to form a sealed pocket.

Place on the campfire grill grate or on your propane grill. Again, you’re looking to cook this foil packet over indirect medium heat. Depending on the heat of your fire, this should take between 8-10 minutes per side.

You will be able to sort of smell when the French Toast is start to brown. And you can always take it off the fire and open up a corner to check on how things are going inside.

Once it’s golden on each side, you’re ready to serve. Remove the top layer of aluminum and parchment paper, add some butter slices, drizzle with maple syrup, and dust with a little powdered sugar (if you have it).

You can divide and serve it on plates, or, you can just give everyone a fork and have them eat straight from the foil packet!

• ½ lb loaf bread
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
• ½ cup berries, optional
• maple syrup, to serve

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

• Start your campfire so you have embers to cook with, or preheat a grill to 350F.

• Cut the bread into 1″ pieces. Set aside.

• Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla and whisk together until smooth.

• Transfer the cubed bread to the bowl with the egg-milk mixture. Toss until the bread is coated on all sides and the liquid has been absorbed.

• Roll out a large sheet of foil, followed by a slightly smaller sheet of parchment paper. Place the parchment on top of the foil, then transfer the bread to the parchment, keeping it in one layer if possible. Top with berries.

• Cover the bread with another sheet of parchment and foil, then crimp the edges together to seal and create a packet.

• Place on the campfire grill grate or on your propane grill over indirect medium heat. Cook for 8-10 minutes per side until the French toast is golden.

• Remove from the grill and carefully open the packet. Top with syrup & enjoy!

Calories: 475kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 12g

*Nutrition is an estimate based on information provided by a third-party nutrition calculator