Overnight Baked French Toast Casserole spiced with cinnamon, flavored with vanilla, and topped with a brown sugar crumb topping. Prep it the night before and pop it in the oven in the morning! Everyone loves this dish! VIDEO BELOW.
Hi, friends! I am popping in today to share a recipe that is one of my most popular. This Baked French Toast is a staple in my family, and since I originally published this recipe a couple years ago, I have received tons of great reviews from my readers (thank you, thank you, thank you)!
With Easter and Mother’s Day approaching, I wanted to make sure this recipe was on your radar. It is absolutely perfect for brunch, and I love the fact that it can be prepped the night before.
In addition to Easter and Mother’s Day, Baked French Toast is always our Christmas morning breakfast. Any morning of the year that I want a special meal with little-to-no effort this is the dish I turn to. It’s super simple and the payoff is huge – I’ve never met anyone who didn’t love this dish! Tell me you don’t want to dive right into that?! ↓
Baked French Toast
- Place cubed bread in a casserole dish. I like French bread best. You want your bread to be a day or two old. Not too moist, but not rock hard either. I prefer a bread with a tender crust.
- Make a cinnamon vanilla custard mixture from: eggs, milk, and – you guessed it– cinnamon and vanilla.
- Pour the custard over the bread, cover it tightly and refrigerate for a few hours, up to overnight.
- Right before baking, top the french toast with a simple brown sugar crumble.
- Bake it! The French toast puffs up, the inside is fluffy and tender, and the outside is slightly crisp. It’s like a French toast-bread pudding hybrid! It’s absolutely perfect!
One of the best things about this French toast is that all the work is done the night before. Psssst….that means you get to sleep in and still serve an amazing breakfast!
This Baked French Toast Casserole is perfect for mornings that you don’t want to stand over the stove flipping individual slices of French toast. Anytime you want to serve something extra special without working too hard you will reach for this recipe.
Once you try this dish you won’t want to go back to standard French toast. Baked French Toast Casserole is the way to go! You’ll love diving into this sweet, delicious, hearty breakfast. Grab some warm maple syrup and dig in!
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Baked Egg Casserole
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Brown Sugar Banana French Toast Casserole
Baked Pumpkin French Toast Casserole
Cinnamon Roll Cake
Cinnamon Vanilla Baked French Toast
Ingredients
French Toast:
- One 15 oz loaf French bread, cut into large cubes (preferably a day or two old)
- 8 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Topping:
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- Maple syrup, for serving
Instructions
Preparation (allow time to soak overnight):
- Place the bread cubes in a greased casserole dish (I used a 2 1/2 quart dish).
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, half and half, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread cubes. Lightly press down on the top of the bread to allow the top layer of bread to absorb some of the custard mixture, or gently stir it to distribute the custard throughout the bread. Cover, and refrigerate overnight (if you want to bake the same day, allow it to soak for at least 3 hours).
- For the topping: combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add butter, and using your fingers or a spoon, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is evenly distributed and the mixture resembles wet, clumpy sand. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to bake the French toast.
Baking:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the French toast from the refrigerator (the bread will have absorbed most of the custard). Crumble the topping over the top of the French toast. Bake uncovered for 40-55 minutes, until puffed, golden brown, and set (check that the center is not too wet). .
- Note: Baking time will depend on how deep your casserole dish is and whether you prefer your french toast more well done. Serve immediately with maple syrup. Leftovers can be refrigerated.
James says
Can this stay in fridge for 10 hours before cooking?
Celebrating Sweets says
Sure! I’ve left it in the fridge up to 12 hours.
Judee says
Looks great
Fatima says
Can I use white slice bread as a substitute for french bread?
Celebrating Sweets says
That should work, just make sure that it is dried out. White sandwich bread can be quite soft, and it might get mushy if it’s too fresh. Enjoy!
Lyn says
This is so yummy and easy to make. I made it again this year for my Thanksgiving brunch so I guess it will be my tradition every year. I made it again using pumpkin flavored egg nog in place of the milk & half and half and subbed out about 1/3 of the cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice. The coolest thing about this recipe is you can pretty much use any bread. This time (I’ve made it a few times) I had “old” bagels and English muffins in the fridge that I used.
Celebrating Sweets says
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to comment. Happy holidays!