Easy Pecan French Toast with Caramelized Pears (So Good!)

Make this Pear and Pecan French Toast for a warm breakfast treat this weekend! You’ll love how classic french toast is taken up a notch with a caramelized pear and pecan topping.

Creating This Unique French Toast Recipe

For some unknown reason, I had the desire to: 1.) make brunch Saturday morning and 2.) eat french toast.

Not so surprised by the first, but slightly surprised by the second because many past experiences with french toast had all been soggy, eggy bread. I don’t particularly love the taste of soggy, eggy bread.

If covered with enough butter and powdered sugar or syrup it is tasty enough. I didn’t want “tasty enough,” I wanted to properly enjoy a delicious plate of french toast.

Something like this pecan french toast with fruit (in this case, caramelized pears).

Reminded of the time my husband’s mom mom (who is an excellent cook!) made us a delicious french toast with pear and brie and having an excess of pears purchased at the grocery store, I decided I wanted some sort of pear topping to go along with our pecan french toast.

Positive that thick slices of sturdy bread was necessary for this experiment, and lucky enough to have just made some the day before, I got busy experimenting on what in my mind was the perfect french toast. Though, there’s absolutely no need to bake your own rustic bread just to make this recipe.

It’s all about eating what you enjoy. As it happens, we particularly enjoyed french toast this way.

No more soggy, eggy french toast for me!

Experiments that go well, like this French Toast with Caramelized Pears and Pecans, pretty much make my day.

Ingredients for Pear & Pecan French Toast

To make the french toast as well as the caramelized pears and pecans, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Whole Milk
• Egg
• Vanilla Extract
• All-Purpose Flour
• Salt
• Granulated Sugar and Brown Sugar
• Bread
• Butter
• Water
• Pears
• Pecan Halves or Chopped Pecans

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

How to Make Pear & Pecan French Toast

This is a super simple french toast recipe, despite having a fruit and nut topping. Here’s an overview of how it’s made:

Make the French Toast:

1. First, combine flour, salt, and sugar in a small bowl. Then, in a medium bowl, whisk together milk, egg, and vanilla. After that, add dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
2. Next, pour egg mixture in a shallow dish. Soak a piece of bread in the egg and milk mixture for about 20-30 seconds per side.
3. After that, cook the soaked bread slice in a buttered skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Then, with the remaining pieces of bread.

Make the Caramelized Pears and Pecans:

Here’s how you make the caramelized pears and pecans for this pecan french toast recipe:

1. First, heat the butter, sugars, and water in a pan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved and ingredients are combined.
2. Then, bring the mixture to a boil, turn the heat to low, and allow the sauce to simmer and thicken.
3. After that, place the peeled and sliced pears cut side down in the caramel sauce and allow to simmer for 3 minutes.
4. Next, flip pears to the other cut side and simmer 3 minutes more.
5. Then, sprinkle pecans in the pan, stir to combine, and simmer 1 minute more.
6. Pour mixture of pears and pecans over the french toast.

The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the free printable card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.

How to Keep Pecan French Toast Warm

If you are preparing a large quantity and want to keep the french toast warm until serving, here is what I recommend:

Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. Then, place the cooked bread slices on the cooling rack in a single layer. Place the baking sheet in a warm oven while you prepare the remaining bread, adding each finished slice of french toast to the baking sheet in the oven as it is cooked.

When you’re done preparing all of the french toast, remove the baking sheet from the oven and serve with the pear and pecan mixture for topping.

Tips for Making Pecan French Toast

• I think a french bread that is thick, rustic, and sturdy is best bread for making this french toast recipe. Thick sourdough bread would also work. Thinner or very airy bread can get soggy and soak up too much of the milk mixture.
• Look for pears that are ripe, but still slightly firm so they don’t turn to mush while you’re cooking them.

How to Serve this Pecan French Toast Recipe

Serve this French Toast with Pecans while still warm with the caramelized pears and pecans on top of the bread. If you like it extra sweet, drizzle some extra maple syrup on top (check out my simple solution for pouring maple syrup)

Want to make it extra special for a holiday morning or other special occasions and delight your taste buds with a super decadent breakfast? If you have some heavy cream, prepare a quick vanilla whipped cream to dollop on top pf the pears and pecans!

French Toast Recipe Substitutions

I think this recipe for Pecan French Toast with Caramelized Pears can be pretty flexible if you want it to be. Here are my substitute suggestions:

• Don’t have pears? I bet green apples or honeycrisp apples would be a wonderful substitution.
• Don’t like pecans? Leave them off or substitute them with another nut that you love. Almonds would work well, too.
• Just want the french toast? Just make the french toast. Top it with whatever you love. This Lemon Blueberry Sauce and Strawberry Sauce are both delicious!

How to Reheat French Toast

If you have leftovers of this pear and pecan french toast that you’d like to enjoy the next morning, I recommend reheating individual slices in a 300F oven or in the toaster. I avoid microwaving french toast because it usually becomes rubbery.

Reheat the pecan pear topping separately in a saucepan over medium heat.

What Goes With Pecan French Toast?

Not sure what to serve with this caramel-pecan french toast recipe? Here are some more delicious breakfast ideas to serve with french toast:

• If you love all things pear, try my recipes for Pearsauce or Pear Butter.
• Eggs are a great savory side dish to this pear and pecan french toast. Try Mini Ham and Spinach Egg Cups or these Crustless Broccoli Quiche.
• I don’t know about you, but I love a couple slices of Crispy Bacon with my french toast (do you know How to Bake Bacon?).
• Fresh Fruit, a Smoothie, or Fruit Salad (this Citrus Salad would be delicious!)
• My kids always love a glass of fresh orange juice with their weekend brunch. Coffee, tea, and milk are also great beverages to serve with a plate of pecan french toast.

Try this Pecan French Toast Recipe at Home!

Next time you’re looking for a special weekend brunch recipe, give this Caramelized Pear and Pecan French Toast a try! Did you love the recipe? Leave a comment below and give it a review for others to see what you thought of this great french toasts recipe.

On Instagram? Share your photo and tag me with @goodlifeeats and #goodlifeeatsrecipes. I’d love to see your photo of this French Toast with Pecans!

More Fall Breakfast Recipes:

These Pumpkin Spice French Toast Cups are made with a pool of caramel sauce on the bottom and are topped with streusel. Perfect for fall breakfasts and brunches!

These Fresh Cranberry Muffins are flavored with classic gingerbread spices and molasses, making them the perfect holiday or Christmas muffin recipe!

These Apple Oatmeal Pancakes are on the healthier side but taste decadent enough to serve around the holidays!

This Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal is a great make-ahead oatmeal recipe to make all fall and winter. It has all the delicious flavors of your favorite pumpkin pie while still providing great nutritional value to start your morning off right.

This easy Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake recipe uses Bisquick as a shortcut and is ready in just 30 minutes! It’s perfect if you’re looking for easy brunch recipes to make this fall.

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