French Toast Casserole is one of our family’s favorite breakfast recipes. In fact, we make it for special occasions all year long and ALWAYS on Christmas Day. Thick cubes of bread are soaked in a sweet vanilla custard and topped with a buttery cinnamon crumble. It is simple enough for a weekend breakfast and special enough for holiday breakfast or brunch.
The best part is that you can prepare everything the night before. In the morning, just pop it in the oven and let it bake. It’s not only delicious, but feeds a crowd and is especially perfect for feeding guests in town.
For other breakfast favorites, check out our Sausage breakfast casserole and classic holiday breakfast casserole. And if oyu are looking for something equally as impressive to pair it with, try our Easy Candied Bacon.
Why we think you’ll love it:
- Simple. The easiest make-ahead breakfast for holidays or weekends.
- Customize. Easy to customize with fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips.
- Holiday perfection. Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any special occasion AND perfect for feeding a crowd or enjoying leftovers later.
- Your house will thank you. Our French Toast Bake smells amazing and looks beautiful with minimal effort.
French Toast Casserole Ingredients
- Bread (1 24-ounce loaf of sourdough, brioche, French bread or challah): The main idea is that you want the bread to be sturdy enough that the bread cubes will hold up after being combined with the egg mixture.
- PRO TIP: For any of these breads, you can slice and toast or let slices sit out for 24 hours to make them more stale and sturdy.
- Eggs (8 large): Create the rich custard and give the casserole structure.
- Milk (2 cups) and heavy cream (½ cup): Add moisture and richness.
- Vanilla extract (1 tablespoon): Adds warm, sweet flavor.
- Sugar (¾ cup): Sweetens the custard perfectly.
Topping
- All-purpose flour (½ cup): Helps create the crumble texture.
- Packed light brown sugar (½ cup): Adds caramel-like sweetness.
- Ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon): Brings warm, cozy flavor.
- Salt (¼ teaspoon): Balances the sweetness.
- Cold unsalted butter (½ cup, cut into pieces): Creates the crumbly, golden topping.
How to Make French Toast Bake
BREAD. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and scatter evenly in a greased 9-x-13-inch baking dish.
EGG MIXTURE. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar together, then pour evenly over the bread.
CHILL. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
TOPPING. Mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut butter into this mixture until crumbly. Place the topping in a small resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight as well.
BAKE. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Unwrap the baking dish and sprinkle the topping evenly over the bread. Bake, uncovered, for 45–60 minutes, depending on how soft you like it. This overnight French toast casserole should be soft on the bottom and crisp on the top.
Serve it with some of our favorites, including: Buttermilk Syrup, Cinnamon Buttermilk Syrup, Whipped Cream and sliced strawberries
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- BREAD. Choose sturdy bread such as sourdough, challah, or brioche so it can soak up the custard without getting soggy.
- OVERNIGHT. Soak overnight to let the flavors deepen and the bread fully absorb the custard.
- TOPPING. Keep the topping chilled until you are ready to bake, then sprinkle it over the bread for the best texture.
- TOO SOGGY. If your casserole comes out too soggy try some of these tips:
- Soak the bread in a separate bowl. If there’s too much egg in the pan it may be left a little soggy. One way around this is to store your bread mixture overnight in a bowl. In the morning, transfer the bread to the baking dish leaving behind the extra liquid.
- Not soaking the bread long enough. You want the egg mixture to seep deep into the bread for a soft custardy center. If the mixture doesn’t have time to soak into the bread it may end up creating a soggy mess.
French Toast Casserole Recipe
Video
Ingredients
French Toast
- 1 (24-ounce) loaf sourdough bread (or brioche, challah or French bread)
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup sugar
Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Instructions
- Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and scatter evenly in a greased 9-x-13-inch baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, mix eggs, milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar together, then pour evenly over bread.
- Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- To make the topping, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut butter into this mixture until crumbly. Place the topping in a small resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight as well.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Unwrap the baking dish and sprinkle the topping evenly over the bread.
- Bake, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes, depending on how soft you like it.
Notes
Variations.
o For a more savory casserole, add ham and cheese, chorizo, green chilies, sausage, or crumbled bacon.
o For a sweet casserole, add thinly sliced apple, orange zest, sliced apricots, sliced pineapple, blueberries, or chopped pecans.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
For a more savory casserole: ham and cheese, chorizo, green chiles, sausage, or crumbled bacon.
For a sweet casserole: thinly sliced apple, orange zest, sliced apricots, sliced pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, and chopped pecans.
You can also swap ingredients, like milk for almond milk, cinnamon for nutmeg and more!
FREEZE. Freeze this easy French toast casserole before or after baking. Wrap the dish with plastic wrap then foil and freeze for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to eat, thaw overnight in the fridge, remove all the wrapping, and bake.
If it has been pre-baked, cook it at 350°F for 20 minutes. If it has not been pre-baked, cook according to the recipe directions.
If you have any leftover baked French toast casserole, cover the pan with plastic or divide it into individual airtight containers. Keep it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave.
If not overnight what’s the minimum time to soak in the fridge
Excellent
I was looking for a recipe so I could use up a whole loaf of bread and this did not disappoint. In fact, this was a huge hit! I did substitute out the heavy whipping cream for cream cheese. It made the custard rich and creamy. I didn’t get a chance to refrigerate this overnight either, but the custard mixture soaked all the way through probably since the bread loaf I had wasn’t sourdough. I also added oatmeal to the stresel on top and it gave it a breakfast on the grandparents farm nostalgic taste. I will definitely be making this again!
very nice
I just prepared this for my daughter’s birthday Brinner! I usually make a different French toast bake recipe that calls for a full stick of melted butter and 1/4 C of brown sugar mixed together and spread on the bottom of the pan before layering the slices of bread. But I like the idea of cutting bread into cubes like monkey bread and your egg batter mixture has more to it than the other recipe. So I took the caramel bottom idea from the one recipe and combined it with everything else from your recipe. I think this is going to be a huge hit! The bottom turns to caramel while baking and the whole thing tastes like Werther’s toffee in French toast form! YUM!!! I also decided to use cinnamon swirl brioche bread. This will be dessert for dinner for sure. ♥️🤤🎉
Yummy! That sounds absolutely delicious! Definitely dessert for dinner. 🙂
Had this for Brunch,delicious! Ladies were very happy 😊
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that!
This was SO good!! It’s tedious work but SO worth it. I was nervous to use sourdough but I’m very glad I did use it. You couldn’t taste sourdough at all. And because it’s a denser bread… it turned out perfect.. not to hard and not smooshy gooshy! I turned off the oven at 45 mins and just let it stay warm in the oven for a while because it didn’t look browned yet. By the time we were all ready to eat, it was perfectly browned. I will definitely make again!
Thanks for sharing what you did! The sourdough in this recipe is really good. So glad you all enjoyed the dish!
I made this with a few substitutions. I didn’t have heavy cream so I used french vanilla coffee creamer and used just a drop of vanilla extract. I added a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg and used ten eggs.For the bread I used half a loaf of Hawaiian sweet bread and four brioche rolls. I also didn’t leave it sit in the fridge overnight as I didn’t have time. It came out absolutely delicious and was gone in a few hours.
Oh I’m so happy to hear it turned out yummy and everyone loved it! Thanks for giving the recipe a try and sharing what you did.
Made this a few times now and we all love it! I would like to make a pan to freeze and I am aware you can choose to freeze it before or after baking. Wrap dish with plastic wrap then foil. It can keep for up to 2 months in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat thaw overnight in the fridge, remove all the wrapping and bake. If it been prebaked cook at 350 degree F for 20 minutes. If it has not been pre-baked, cook according to recipe directions.
My question is would you make it, leave overnight in the fridge for the mixture to soak in the bread and in the morning put the topping on then freeze or do you make it completely add topping and put it directly in the freezer without leaving in fridge overnight? I plan on not pre-bake it.
I would probably let it soak overnight just to make sure it gets soaked into the bread before freezing.
First how many ounces or grams is your sourdough loaf?
Second could you use rye, whole wheat or whatever?
Thirdly, is it ok to use regular milk?
I use the 24 oz loaf of sourdough typically. I have not used rye or whole wheat. I like to use bread that is light and spongey that will soak up the custard well, not making it soggy. I’m not sure how well a rye or whole wheat would do that? I haven’t tried. And I use regular milk along with the heavy whipping cream. You could also use half and half, but I always use milk/heavy whipping cream and it turns out 100%!
I have made this countless times and it is amazing!!!!! I haven’t made it for a while though and I forgot if the brown sugar should be packed or not? Thanks! This is such a delicious recipe!!!
I’m so glad that you love the recipe!! It is one of our favs too. I don’t usually pack the brown sugar. But honestly, either way it would still turn out just fine I think.
I used pumpkin pie creamer and added some pumpkin pie spice, and a cinnamon brioche bread, was a touch more bread pudding-ish, but it was delicious
I’ve made this once before and it turned out amazing! This time around I don’t have heavy cream, can I use half and half instead?