French Toast Breakfast Bake
This French toast breakfast bake is your secret weapon for effortless mornings when serving a crowd. Everything is prepped in advance so all you have to do is bake and serve. The result is a soft, rich casserole with just enough sweetness and a crisp, buttery streusel on top.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: French Toast Breakfast Bake
- ⏰ Prep Time: 20 minutes
- 🕰️ Bake Time: 30-40 minutes
- 🍞 Flavor Profile: Buttery, custard-y and sprinkled with a touch of citrus and spice. Like the best French toast you ever had, but made super easy.
- 🥄 Good For: Family breakfasts, weekend breakfast, holiday breakfasts
- ↪️ Make Ahead: Designed for prepping ahead! Make it the night before and pop in the oven in the morning.
- 🧡 Difficulty: If you can tear up some bread, you can make this.
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hey friend, I'd like to introduce you to my favorite way to feed a crowd breakfast without any stress-my French toast breakfast bake! Prep ahead, super tasty, and easy-as-can be, I usually put this casserole and my Denver omelet casserole out on the breakfast buffet so folks have both a savory and sweet choice.
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Make Ahead: 20 minutes the night before and breakfast is DONE.
- So Cozy and Tasty: This casserole bakes up soft and buttery with a delightful custard texture similar to my pannukakku recipe.
- Perfect for Crowds: Family holidays, gatherings, parties-this casserole is perfect for serving breakfast to a crowd without any stress.
- You Control the Toppings: Butter and maple syrup are classic, but you could also set up a toppings bar with berries, bananas, nuts, chocolate chips, oh my!
- A recipe you can trust: My recipes are testing dozens of times in my home kitchen before they get published, so can feel good that this recipe will turn out right for you the first time.
🍞 The Ingredients You Need
- Bread: You can absolutely use regular sliced sandwich bread (like my soft sandwich bread recipe) for this, but the flavor is upgraded with a baguette or sourdough boule.
- Eggs: Yes, this recipe calls for 8 eggs! It's a lot, but when you consider this makes 6 servings, that's only 1 ⅓ eggs per person.
- Orange Zest: This is the secret ingredient that gives this casserole a ton of bright flavor. Don't skip it!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Make it vegan: In a blender, combine 12 ounces silken tofu, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 13.5-ounce cans full fat coconut milk with the sugars, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla extract, and orange zest from the recipe. Use it in place of the egg mixture in Step 3 of the recipe. Use vegan margarine for the streusel topping.
- Make it gluten-free: Use any gluten-free bread in the casserole and any gluten-free all-purpose flour in the streusel topping.
- Add fruit: Stir in ⅔ cup blueberries, chopped apples, or other fruit into the mixture before chilling.
- Add other mix-ins: Stir in ½ cup chopped nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, or dried cranberries into the mixture before chilling.
🥣 How to Make French Toast Breakfast Bake
Step 1: Tear up the bread into similar sized pieces into a casserole dish.
Step 2: Whisk together the custard ingredients well in a bowl.
Step 3: Pour the egg mixture over top of the bread pieces. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Step 4: Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl and cut together to form a crumbly topping.
Step 5: Sprinkle the streusel topping onto the casserole. Bake in 350° oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crunchy.
Step 6: Serve topped with pats of butter, maple syrup, and fruit of your choice.
🙋🏻♀️ French Toast Breakfast Bake FAQs
Using day old or dried out bread helps keep French toast casserole firm and tender. You can also toast fresh bread for a few minutes to remove some of the moisture.
Bake for 30-40 minutes in a 350° oven. 30 minutes will give you more of a soft texture, 40 minutes a more solid texture.
A loaf of crusty French, Italian, or sourdough bread gives the best texture and flavor.
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Make lots: doubling or tripling this recipe takes no extra time but gives you lots of extra servings-perfect for big families and big gatherings!
- Make ahead: you can make this breakfast bake up to 48 hours in advance, so make life easier on yourself by prepping it before you need it.
- Don't skip the orange zest: it gives the breakfast bake a bright, fresh flavor that is so delectable!
- Use day old or dried out bread: that helps give it a dense, tender texture instead of a soggy one. If you don't have any day old bread, you can toast your bread for a few minutes to remove some moisture.
- Round out the meal: I like to serve out the meal with fruit and homemade yogurt (or use my coconut yogurt recipe if you have dairy-free guests) and a savory casserole option. Both my Denver omelet casserole and Mediterranean quiche would be great choices!
🥣 More Holiday Breakfast Ideas
If you tried this French Toast Breakfast Bake or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
French Toast Breakfast Bake
Ingredients
For the French Toast
- Cooking spray or butter for greasing pan
- 10 cups torn bread chunks from crusty day-old bread baguette or a sourdough boule work great
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 ½ cups half and half cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 large orange
For the Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter (1 stick)
- Warm maple syrup, butter, and fruit for serving
Instructions
- Grease a 9" x 13" casserole dish with cooking spray or butter. Spread the torn bread chunks in an even layer in the prepared baking dish. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, half and half, sugar, brown sugar or coconut sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla extract, and orange zest.
- Pour the egg mixture over top of the torn bread, making sure to evenly distribute the liquid. You might need to press down the bread with the back of a wooden spoon to get it to absorb some of the mixture.
- Cover the casserole dish tightly with plastic wrap, bee's wrap, or aluminum foil. Place in the fridge for at least an hour, but preferably overnight. You can also prep it up to 48 hours in advance.
- Make the topping by combining the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter in the basin of a food processor or in a large bowl. Pulse the food processor, or use a pastry blender or two forks, to blend it until the mixture resembles the size of peas. Place topping in a food storage container and place in fridge until ready to bake.
- When ready to bake: preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the cover from the casserole dish, and sprinkle the topping in an even layer over the bread.
- Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crunchy. 30 minutes will give you more of a soft texture, 40 minutes a more solid texture. Serve topped with pats of butter, maple syrup, and fruit of your choice.
Notes
- To make it egg-free: In a blender, combine 12 ounces silken tofu and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with the milk, half and half, sugars, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Use it in place of the egg mixture in Step 3 of the recipe.
- To make it vegan: In a blender, combine 12 ounces silken tofu, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 13.5-ounce cans full fat coconut milk with the sugars, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Use it in place of the egg mixture in Step 3 of the recipe. Use vegan margarine for the topping.
- To reheat: pop individual pieces in the microwave at 50% power for 30 second increments until warmed through, or do my preferred method-warm it in the oven! Cover the entire dish in foil, and then pop in a 350°F oven until warmed through, about 15 minutes.
Nutrition
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I cannot express with words how good this french toast casserole is! It's the perfect texture, perfectly sweet, and I love how you can make it ahead. Try it out for your next family holiday!
This one isn't vegan as says
Hi Michelle! We have a vegan option for this casserole that we give details for both in the post and the notes section of the recipe card. Here's the info if you'd like to make your french toast casserole vegan: "To make it vegan: In a blender, combine 12 ounces silken tofu, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 13.5-ounce cans full-fat coconut milk with the sugars, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Use it in place of the egg mixture in Step 3 of the recipe. Use vegan margarine for the topping." I hope this helps!