This delicious make ahead french toast casserole is the perfect overnight breakfast casserole recipe. It’s such an easy french toast recipe and your family will love it! Try adding peanut butter to the top–it’s so good!
Easy French Toast Casserole
Since we live about 30 minutes from the nearest grocery store, adapting recipes to what we have in our kitchen is important–most French Toast Casserole recipes include whipping cream, half and half, or cream cheese–none of which we usually have in our kitchen. Here’s an easy French Toast casserole recipe that you can make with ingredients probably already in your kitchen.
Who doesn’t love a good French toast recipe? When it comes to breakfast casseroles this one is pretty awesome. You can meal prep with it, you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate overnight, and it’s a crowd pleaser!
Is this a healthy French toast casserole?
This is not a healthy recipe or one that I would suggest to someone on an active diet. It’s definitely a treat that is perfect for special occasions, like Christmas morning or birthdays.
Is this an easy breakfast casserole?
Yes! This recipe is super forgiving. You can use pretty much any kind of bread and all the ingredients are probably already in your fridge or pantry.
French bread is delicious if you know ahead of time that you’ll be making this, but you can make it with any loaf of bread, bagels, hamburger or hot dog rolls–seriously, any bread that you have in the house will work.
Can I make this French toast casserole ahead of time?
Absolutely. This delicious make ahead breakfast casserole is the perfect overnight french toast casserole recipe. You can make this the night before and pop it in the oven in the morning, or you can make a batch and heat it up the next morning.
Pro Tip: reheat this breakfast casserole in the toaster oven, makes it very tasty!
How long does it take to make this breakfast casserole?
My easy French toast casserole takes about 45 minutes of baking time. If you prep it the night before, you can just pop it in the oven in the morning while you get ready and go about your routine.
It only takes about 10 minutes to prep, so it’s quick to throw this together and have it ready for an easy family breakfast that everyone will enjoy.
Can I make this French toast casserole with gluten free bread?
I think you could use any kind of bread to make this breakfast casserole. It’s very forgiving–French toast is great like that :)
Looking for other great breakfast recipes to try?
Zucchini and Sausage Breakfast Casserole Skillet I love how easy this is to pull together! It’s filling as is, but you could easily add some whole grain toast if you’d like to add some carbs to your morning!
Easy Crepes You can easily make these sweet or savory, and even the pickiest kids will love this easy breakfast crepe recipe. I’ve found that kids love that they’re easy to eat with their hands.
Healthy Breakfast Fried Rice Recipe This is one of our favorite breakfasts–especially the second day! We love making this for beach trips or times when we know we will have a house full of people. You can add extra eggs, make breakfast tacos or burritos, or eat right out of a bowl.
Sweet Homemade Sausage Recipe We love prepping these and freezing them–they’re so easy to pop into the microwave and we have also diced it up and added these sausage patties to eggs.
Brown Rice Pudding This is a comfort food, for sure–but it’s healthy! Your favorite bread pudding, but lightened up!
Healthy Chorizo and Eggs So simple and much healthier than traditional chorizo. I love making this into breakfast tacos for all the boys in my house.
Ingredients in this casserole:
- bread
- milk
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
Cinnamon Streusel Topping:
- flour
- brown sugar
- butter
- cinnamon
How to make this French Toast Bake:
If you’re putting this in the fridge overnight, make sure to give it 30 minutes to warm before putting it in the oven. Sometimes cold pans can crack when put inside hot ovens.
1. Slice bread into cubes.
2. Grease a deep dish pie pan or baking dish, and add bread cubes to the dish in an even layer.
3. In a separate bowl, add your milk, eggs, vanilla extract, brown sugar, and cinnamon together. Mix well after all the ingredients are added.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the bread–make sure it’s poured evenly over the bread. You shouldn’t see much of the liquid.
Sometimes I’ll save some of the egg mixture and stick it in the fridge so I can add more if I need to before I stick it in the oven. The goal is for the bread to soak up the egg and milk mixture, but not be dripping in it.
5. Prepare your cinnamon topping: Mix the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl. Slowly mix in the butter with your fingers, breaking it up and mixing it all together. Don’t stress if it’s not all melted together–it’ll be perfect after you bake it.
6. Sprinkle the cinnamon topping over the uncooked casserole. Cover the casserole and place in the fridge for a minimum of an hour or as long as overnight.
You could bake this immediately, but I think giving it an hour for the flavors to settle is best.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pull the pan out of the fridge and let warm for 30 minutes on the counter (so you don’t break your pan by putting it into a hot oven).
8. Bake foil-covered casserole for 45 minutes, then remove cover for last 15 minutes. Poke a knife in the middle to make sure it’s cooked–it shouldn’t feel or look too wet.
What toppings do I put on this french toast casserole?
We love serving this with maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg, apples, blueberries, bananas, or if you’re in our house, peanut butter. Melting the peanut butter will allow it to be drizzled over the casserole and is so delicious.
Why is my French toast casserole dry?
You either used too much bread or too little egg mixture. This can be remedied fairly quickly by adding some more egg mixture and putting the casserole back in the oven.
I’d cover the casserole so it doesn’t brown any more. Make sure that you don’t add too much egg mixture, because if it’s drenched it won’t cook through and will be soggy.
Why is my French toast casserole soggy?
You probably used too much egg mixture. I’d take some more bread and dice it, toss it with the soggy casserole, and place it back into the oven for a bit.
Make sure to mix it up well so the soggy pieces transfer some of the liquid to the dry bread. The casserole should look wet but not drenched.
Can French toast casserole be frozen?
I haven’t frozen this recipe, and would be a littler nervous that it would thaw unevenly and the bread would be soggy. I should mention, though, that I don’t freeze much that isn’t cooked, and I’d be more likely to cook the casserole and then freeze it, then warm it in the oven from frozen.
Does this French toast casserole have to sit overnight?
Nope! I prefer to let this casserole sit for at least an hour in the fridge before cooking so the egg mixture can soak into the bread, but you’re ok to cook it immediately, as well!
Printable French Toast Casserole Recipe:
Easy French Toast Casserole with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 loaf bread (or leftover bread, dinner rolls, etc)
- 2 c milk
- 3 eggs
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt to taste
Cinnamon Streusel Topping:
- 1/4 c flour
- 1/4 c brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter , cold
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Directions
- Slice bread.
- Grease a deep dish pie pan.
- In a separate bowl, add your French Toast Casserole ingredients together. Mix well after all the ingredients are added.
- Pour the liquid evenly over your torn bread. You shouldn't see much of the liquid sometimes I'll save some and stick it in the fridge so I can add more if I need to before I stick it in the oven.
- The goal is for the bread to soak up the egg and milk mixture, but not be dripping in it.
- Prepare your cinnamon topping: Mix the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl. Slowly mix in the butter with your fingers, breaking it up and mixing it all together.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon topping over the uncooked casserole. Cover the casserole and place in the fridge for a minimum of an hour or as long as overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pull the pan out of the fridge and let warm for 30 minutes on the counter (so you don't break your pan by putting it into a hot oven).
- Bake foil-covered casserole for 45 minutes, then remove cover for last 15 minutes. Poke a knife in the middle to make sure it's cooked it shouldn't feel too wet.
- 10. Serve with syrup, or if you're in our house, peanut butter and syrup!
- For more detailed instructions and cooking tips, visit MyCrazyGoodLife.com
Could I use croissants instead of regular bread?
I haven’t tried it with croissants but it sounds delicious!
If I use cloverleaf dinner rolls, how many should I cube?
Hi Elizabeth, I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of that brand. I’m sure you can eyeball it :)