Tonga Toast is one of the most popular breakfast dishes on Disney property. Served at Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, it’s a classic take on French Toast. Unfortunately, you can’t get this dish at Disney gluten free, but with some at-home substitutions, you can easily recreate this classic breakfast dish at home safely.
I recommend using Bread SRSLY’s gluten free (and vegan!) sourdough bread to make this at home.
You can see me walk through this recipe step-by-step in my YouTube video below.
Recipe yields – 4 servings
Sugar-Cinnamon Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Batter Ingredients:
4 large eggs (omit if you are making egg free or vegan)
1 1/3 cup whole milk (substitute non-dairy milk if making dairy free or vegan)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Tonga Toast Ingredients:
1 quart canola oil, for frying
1 loaf sourdough gluten free bread (uncut, 12 inches long) (Recommend using Bread SRSLY gluten free sourdough bread loaves)
2 large bananas, peeled
Method:
For Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
Mix sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl (large enough to roll toast) with a fork until thoroughly blended. Set aside.
For Batter:
Whip eggs in medium bowl (large enough to dip toast) until well beaten. Add milk, cinnamon, and sugar. Mix well and set aside.
For Tonga Toast:
- Preheat oil to 350 degrees F in a large pot or a deep fryer. (If using a large pot, use a candy thermometer to make certain the oil does not get any hotter or it will burn.)
- Slice the gluten free bread into four three-inch-thick slices.
- Cut each banana in half crosswise, then each piece lengthwise.
- Place a gluten free bread slice flat on the counter and tear out just enough from the middle (do not tear all the way through) to stuff half a banana into; repeat with each bread slice.
- Dip stuffed gluten free bread into batter, covering both sides, allowing excess batter to drip off bread and place carefully into hot oil.
- Cook 4-5 minutes until golden brown. If needed, turn toast over after 2 minutes and cook for another 2 minutes on other side. Remove and drain excess oil.
- Roll toast in cinnamon-sugar. Repeat for each piece of toast.
Version of this recipe found originally at Oh My Disney.
I have always been jealous that we couldn’t have the Tonga Toast, so I would love to try this recipe.
The Bread SRSLY bread is *so* pricey, though. Are there any more reasonable good options?
It is pricey but probably the most authentic sourdough bread for the recipe. You can substitute any other GF bread you’d like. I do also like Luce’s Gluten Free Sourdough bread (though it’s more of a rustic loaf). You can also make regular homemade GF bread in place of sourdough. Hope that helps!
I want to make this for Christmas morning, and we are vegan. In your notes you say to omit the eggs if making the vegan version. Would I need to use a flax-egg instead as a binder in this or is it really ok to omit it altogether? Have you made it without the egg?
Hi Shannon, you could use a flax-egg binder, though I personally have tried it without and just used a non-dairy milk as my wash. Because it’s getting deep fried & there’s no breading, the goal is really to get the cinnamon to stick to the outside, so the non-dairy milk with cinnamon and sugar should work for you just fine. I hope that helps!
By the way, I think that’s how Disney makes it vegan. They don’t, to my knowledge, use a flax-egg binder. 🙂