Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Wentelteefjes
Stale bread turned in cinnamon-sugar custard and fried in butter until golden, the classic Dutch way to use up an old loaf.
Dutch · easy · serves 3
prep 10 min · cook 12 min
~402 cal · 11g protein · 52g carbs · 17g fat · 2g fiber · 27g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Wentelteefjes are the Dutch answer to French toast, and the name is pure Netherlands: etymologists read it as wentel eventjes, turn it over for a moment, for the way each slice is flipped in the custard and then in the pan. Older Dutch called the same thing gewonnen brood, won bread, the mirror image of the French pain perdu, lost bread. It is the thrifty, tender rescue of bread gone stale, a fixture of Dutch kitchens for centuries.
Day-old slices are dipped in a batter of egg, milk, cinnamon, and sugar until they soften, then fried slowly in butter so the outside sets to a lacy golden crust while the middle stays soft and custardy. A last shower of cinnamon sugar goes on while they are still hot, and the smell of it fills the house.
They are weekend breakfast and after-school food, the kind of thing a Dutch grandmother makes when there is old bread to use and children to feed. Simple and frugal, wentelteefjes turn the end of a loaf into something everyone fights over.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 3
6 slices stale white bread, thick slices
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar, or vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch pinch of salt
3 tbsp butter, for frying
2 tbsp cinnamon sugar, to finish
Instructions
1
In a wide, shallow dish, whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, and salt until fully combined.
2
Lay the bread slices in the custard and soak 1 to 2 minutes per side, until they have drunk it in but still hold together.
3
Melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat until it foams.
4
Fry the soaked slices, a few at a time, for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until deep golden and set.
✎ Chef’s note
Medium heat is the trick, not high and not low. Too hot and the crust burns over a wet middle, too slow and the slices dry out. Never put a lid on the pan or the crust goes soggy.
5
Add fresh butter to the pan as needed between batches so every slice fries in a little fat.
6
Shower the hot slices with cinnamon sugar and serve straight away, with dark syrup (stroop) or fruit if you like.
Gelderland home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Gelderland. Two dishes barely leave the province. Kruudmoes is a Veluwe porridge of barley and buttermilk cooked with herbs, and the Achterhoek has pot deur mekare, everything through each other, served with nagelholt, beef cured with cloves. Stamppot by contrast is national and appears in Dutch cookbooks by 1661.
🗺️
Netherlands. Rijsttafel is a Dutch invention rather than an Indonesian one: a colonial-era banquet that put a dozen or more Indonesian dishes on one table at once so that a European household could survey the whole of a cuisine in a single sitting. Naming it accurately is more interesting than calling it Indonesian, because the staging is the point.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Netherlands
Stamppot BoerenkoolKale mashed straight into potatoes with a well of gravy and smoked sausage, the Netherlands’ winter engine.
UitsmijterFried eggs over ham and cheese on buttered bread, the Dutch open-faced lunch plate served any time of day.
StroopwafelTwo thin waffle wafers pressed around a layer of warm caramel syrup, the Dutch treat meant to rest on your coffee cup.
Browse all Netherlands recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Whisk.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Netherlands meal
PoffertjesDessert
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Pain PerduFrance
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Wentelteefjes?
Stale bread turned in cinnamon-sugar custard and fried in butter until golden, the classic Dutch way to use up an old loaf.
Where does Wentelteefjes come from?
Wentelteefjes is a Dutch dish from Gelderland, Netherlands.
Can Wentelteefjes be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Wentelteefjes recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Wentelteefjes safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Wentelteefjes take to make?
About 22 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 12 minutes cooking), serving 3.
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