- October 12, 2022
- by Amy Gorin, MS, RDN
- 0 Comments
Healthy Ricotta French Toast with Oranges
Want healthy French toast? Look no further than this ricotta French toast with oranges. It’s so delicious!
One of my favorite weekend morning activities is making healthy French toast, like my Pomegranate Pecan French Toast, my Baked Butternut Squash French Toast, and my Protein French Toast.
This ricotta French toast recipe combines sweet mandarin oranges with creamy ricotta cheese for a delicious, protein-rich breakfast.
Ingredients
You only need a handful of ingredients to make this healthy ricotta French toast:
Eggs: These add high-quality protein. Making this French toast is a fun way to add eggs to my morning.
Ricotta and vanilla extract: These ingredients make the French toast subtly sweet, without the need for any syrup or butter.
Part-skim ricotta is one of my favorite cheeses, and I like how it adds some creaminess and moisture to the ricotta French toast without a ton of added sugar.
The ricotta adds protein to the French toast—so much so that when combined with the protein from the eggs and milk in the batter and the whole-grain bread, each serving of French toast offers 23 grams of protein, almost half the daily value.
Whole-grain bread: You’ll use this for the base of the ricotta French toast. You can substitute gluten-free bread if needed.
Mandarin oranges: You’ll use the orange wedges, as well as the zest, in this ricotta French toast. Pan-heated mandarin orange slices to bring out their sweetness. I lightly browned the pieces of bread before topping them.
The mandarin oranges are an excellent source of immunity-helping vitamin C, and they also offer a little bit of filling fiber.The mandarin oranges are an excellent source of immunity-helping vitamin C, and they also offer a little bit of filling fiber.
You’ll find that orange zest is on the bitter-sweet side, like lemon zest, so use just a little in this ricotta French toast recipe.
Helpful kitchen tools
These items will make it easier to make a batch of ricotta French toast.
Step-by-step instructions
Making this ricotta French toast is pretty easy.
First, whisk eggs in a small bowl. Combine with milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
Dip bread into egg mixture, turning to coat sides evenly.
Spray a large non-stick pan or griddle with spray oil, and heat bread slices over medium heat until browned on both sides.
Meanwhile, spray a small pan with spray oil; heat orange segments over medium heat, about 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently at the end, until segments are slightly browned.
In a small bowl, combine ricotta with remaining vanilla extract.
Top toast with ricotta mixture, orange segments, and a sprinkling or orange zest.
In this French toast, you don’t just get taste. You get lots of nutrition, too!
Recipe FAQ
The trick to delicious French toast is slightly browning the toast pieces. To do this, you want to cook your French toast over medium-high heat and be careful not to burn it. Flip so that both sides are evenly browned.
Here’s a secret to quick French toast: You don’t have to soak it. You can simply dip the toast in the egg mixture. The most important thing is making sure that all of the bread is covered in egg mixture before you cook it.
Yes, you can. Half and half is thicker than milk, so this will lead to a creamier batter. You can replace an equal amount of milk with half and half. Note that this will also increase the calorie count of the French toast.
More recipes made with oranges
If you love the taste of oranges in this ricotta French toast, give these other delicious recipes a try:
- Vegan Mandarin Orange Creamy Coconut Smoothie Bowl
- Endive with Goat Cheese, Mandarin Orange, and Mint
- Orange Strawberry Smoothie
Healthy Ricotta French Toast with Oranges
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup low-fat milk or almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, divided
- 4 slices whole-grain bread gluten-free, if necessary
- 2 seedless mandarin oranges, peeled and zested
- ⅔ cup part-skim ricotta vegan ricotta, if needed
Instructions
- Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Combine with milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Dip bread into egg mixture, turning to coat sides evenly.
- Spray a large non-stick pan or griddle with spray oil, and heat bread slices over medium heat until browned on both sides.
- Meanwhile, spray a small pan with spray oil; heat orange segments over medium heat, about 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently at the end, until segments are slightly browned.
- In a small bowl, combine ricotta with remaining vanilla extract.
- Top toast with ricotta mixture, orange segments, and a sprinkling or orange zest.
Nutrition
I’d love to hear from you! Let me know if you make this ricotta French toast!
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