Chef Juliana
Arroz de Natal com Passas e Nozes
You already know more than you think. Make arroz soltinho, dress it for Christmas, and the holiday plate suddenly looks generous without turning dinner into theater.
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Rabanada
Created by
You think frying bread for Christmas is beyond you. It isn't. Stale bread, milk, eggs, cinnamon sugar, and the sense to let each slice drip before it hits the oil.
Pastries & Cookies
Brazilian
Christmas
Holiday
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
20 min cook•40 min total
Yield12 rabanadas
You look at a plate of golden rabanadas and hear that little voice: isso não é pra mim. Too much oil, too much mess, too much Christmas expectation standing over your shoulder. Anota aí: this is not a talent. Cozinhar não é dom, é um aprendizado, and this recipe is bread learning to behave in your hands.
I like rabanada because it tells the truth about home cooking. The best slice starts with old bread, the one nobody got around to eating. Fresh bread collapses in the milk and turns dramatic, like a person who has never missed lunch. Stale bread holds its shape, drinks just enough, and fries into a crisp edge with a soft middle. That's not magic. That's structure.
This isn't the pê-efe, rice, beans, meat or egg, and something green, the plate that quietly keeps a country itself. But it belongs beside that same logic: comida de verdade, made from ordinary things, with no packet pretending to be flavor and no mystery sold back to you. A gente uses what is already in the kitchen and makes the holiday out of it.
You'll soak, drain, fry, and roll. That's the whole thing. The only ponto is paying attention: bread wet but not falling apart, oil lively but not smoking, sugar clinging while the slice is still warm. Do that and Christmas is solved, at least the sweet part.
Rabanada came to Brazil through Portuguese Christmas cooking, where slices of stale bread were soaked in milk or wine, dipped in egg, fried, and sweetened as a way to use bread that had gone dry. In Brazil it became especially tied to the Christmas table, often made with French bread or a long rabanada loaf and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Regional homes argue about condensed milk, wine, syrup, and whether it should be served warm or cold, but the old idea is the same: stale bread is not waste when the cook knows what to do with it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
day-old French baguette or Brazilian French rolls
Quantity
1 baguette or 6 rolls
sliced 2 cm thick
whole milk
Quantity
2 cups
sugar
Quantity
1/3 cup
for the milk
vanilla extract (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salt
Quantity
1 pinch
eggs
Quantity
3 large
neutral oil
Quantity
2 cups
for frying
sugar
Quantity
1/2 cup
for coating
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for coating
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| day-old French baguette or Brazilian French rollssliced 2 cm thick | 1 baguette or 6 rolls |
| whole milk | 2 cups |
| sugarfor the milk | 1/3 cup |
| vanilla extract (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| salt | 1 pinch |
| eggs | 3 large |
| neutral oilfor frying | 2 cups |
| sugarfor coating | 1/2 cup |
| ground cinnamonfor coating | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium heavy frying pan, 24 to 26 cm
- •Two shallow bowls for dipping
- •Tongs or slotted spoon
- •Wire rack or paper towels
- •Rimmed tray
Instructions
- 1
Slice the bread
Slice the stale bread about 2 cm thick and lay the pieces on a tray. They should feel firm and a little dry, not fresh and bendy. Stale bread holds its shape in the milk; fresh bread drinks too fast, falls apart, and then you blame yourself instead of the bread.
No stale bread? Slice the bread and leave it uncovered for a few hours, or toast the slices in a low oven until dry but not browned. That's a fair shortcut. Buying a powdered mix is not. - 2
Mix the milk
In a shallow bowl, stir the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, vanilla if using, and a pinch of salt until the sugar mostly dissolves. Taste it. It should be gently sweet, not candy. This is what seasons the middle of the bread, so plain milk alone leaves the slice tasting sweet only on the outside.
- 3
Beat the eggs
In a second shallow bowl, beat the eggs until no streaks of white remain. The eggs make the outside set in the oil, giving you that golden coat. Half-beaten eggs leave slippery white patches on the bread, and nobody needs that little Christmas sadness.
- 4
Soak and drain
Dip each slice into the milk mixture, turning once, just until the center softens but the slice still lifts in one piece. Hold it over the bowl for a few seconds and let the extra drip off. Wet bread is good; dripping bread drops milk into the oil, spits at you, and fries heavy instead of crisp.
- 5
Coat with egg
Move the soaked slice into the beaten egg and turn it to coat both sides. Let the extra egg drip back into the bowl. You want a thin coat, not a puddle, because too much egg makes ragged edges and burns before the bread warms through.
- 6
Fry until golden
Heat the oil in a medium heavy pan over medium heat until a tiny drop of egg sizzles right away but the oil is not smoking. Fry 2 or 3 slices at a time, turning once, until deep golden on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Don't crowd the pan. Too many slices drop the temperature, the bread drinks oil, and suddenly your rabanada is heavy and sulking.
- 7
Drain the slices
Lift the rabanadas out with tongs or a slotted spoon and set them on a rack or paper towels. Give them a minute to shed the extra oil. The surface should look glossy and gold, not greasy and wet. That pause keeps the cinnamon sugar from turning into paste.
- 8
Roll in sugar
Mix the 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon in a shallow plate. While the rabanadas are still warm, roll each one in the mixture until coated on all sides. Warm bread grabs the sugar; cold bread lets it fall off, and then you're sweeping Christmas off the counter.
Chef Tips
- •Use stale bread with a real crust. A soft sandwich loaf turns mushy fast. French bread, a baguette, or a dedicated rabanada loaf gives you a slice with backbone.
- •Keep the oil at medium heat. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the middle warms. If it is too cool, the bread drinks oil. Listen for a steady sizzle, not angry popping and not silence.
- •You can add a little condensed milk to the milk mixture if that's your family's table. Use 1/4 cup and reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons. It will be sweeter and richer, so know what you're choosing.
- •Don't use powdered custard, powdered milk mixes, or anything pretending to make this easier. Milk, egg, sugar, cinnamon. Four ordinary things are enough when you treat them properly.
- •Rabanada is best the day it's made, warm or room temperature. Leftovers keep in the fridge for 2 days and come back nicely in a low oven or air fryer until the edges wake up again.
Advance Preparation
- •Slice the bread the night before and leave it loosely covered so it dries evenly.
- •Mix the cinnamon sugar up to 1 week ahead and keep it in a closed jar.
- •Fry the rabanadas up to 4 hours before serving and hold them at room temperature. Rewarm in a 160°C (325°F) oven for 8 to 10 minutes if you want the edges crisp again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 90g)
Calories
230 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
220 mg
Total Carbohydrates
31 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
17 g
Protein
6 g
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