Baked French Toast Casserole
An easy homemade baked french toast casserole with a cinnamon and sugar topping. This breakfast casserole is a family favorite that you can make ahead and refrigerate overnight or bake now.
French toast is one of my favorite weekend breakfasts. With this easy french toast casserole recipe, you can enjoy french toast for breakfast without all of the work of flipping slices of french toast at the stove.
I love this homemade french toast recipe because it feels like I’m eating dessert for breakfast, even when I make this with healthier ingredients. As this french toast casserole bakes, the cinnamon-sugar top caramelizes and gets slightly crispy, while the inside of the french toast casserole stays soft. The bread is soaked in a custard that is flavored with cinnamon, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Everyone at the table will be asking for seconds!
This baked french toast casserole is quick and simple to make. You can prep this make ahead breakfast casserole the night before and refrigerate it overnight. This french toast bake is perfect for holiday breakfasts and brunches because it can be completely assembled the day before. The best part is how amazing your kitchen will smell as your breakfast bakes in the oven!
If you don’t want to prep this baked french toast the night before, you can assemble and bake it right away. I recommend letting the casserole sit for 20 to 30 minutes before baking so that the custard can soak into the bread. The bread won’t absorb as much of the custard as it would overnight, but it will still be delicious.
What kind of bread is best for french toast casserole?
There are quite a few options when it comes to the best bread for french toast. I like to use a loaf of crusty whole grain french bread, both for nutrition and flavor. You can also use crusty white french bread, challah, brioche or ciabatta. I do not recommend using sandwich bread or other thin sliced bread.
It is best to use day old bread that has dried out a little to add some crunch.
How to make overnight french toast casserole
Start by cutting the bread into 1-inch cubes and putting it in a 13×9-inch baking dish. Arrange the bread so that it is in a mostly even layer. It does not need to be perfect.
Next, you’ll make the custard. I like to mix the french toast batter in a large batter bowl for easy pouring. You can also make it in a large bowl and use a small measuring cup to pour it over the bread.
Whisk together eggs, milk, pure maple syrup (or brown sugar), cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Pour the custard over the bread in the baking dish, doing your best to pour it evenly over all of the bread cubes.
Finally, you will make the buttery cinnamon-sugar topping for your french toast casserole. To do this, combine melted butter, brown sugar (or pure maple syrup) and cinnamon. Pour the topping evenly over the top of the casserole.
Cover the casserole and refrigerate it for at least 20 minutes and up to one day before baking. The baking instructions for this oven baked french toast, as well as the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Healthier ingredients
French toast casserole is a special occasion breakfast that usually isn’t very healthy. I like to make my baked french toast a little bit healthier with these easy ingredient swaps:
- Use whole wheat french bread instead of white bread.
- Use pure maple syrup instead of brown sugar. Pure maple syrup is an unrefined sweetener. Overall we aren’t adding too much sugar to this recipe, only 3 tablespoons in the full casserole.
- I use real butter and whole milk in this recipe and like the richness that these real food ingredients provide.
Tips for making baked french toast
- You can save extra french bread in your freezer and use it to make french toast casserole. Whenever you are left with part of a loaf of french bread, cut it into 1-inch cubes and store the bread cubes in a gallon-size zip-top bag in your freezer. When the bag is full, use the bread in this recipe. You do not need to thaw the bread cubes.
- You can assemble this casserole the night before, refrigerate, and bake it in the morning. If you want to bake your casserole right away, let the custard soak into the bread for 20-30 minutes before baking.
- Leftover baked french toast casserole reheats well. Reheat in the microwave, or in the oven at 350° F, covered, until warm.
- Serve your french toast casserole with pure maple syrup and other toppings as desired. I enjoy this with pecans or sliced almonds and fresh berries or banana.
More Favorite Brunch Recipes
- Overnight Cranberry Orange French Toast Casserole
- Easy Breakfast Casserole with Hash Browns
- Potato, Spinach and Cheese Egg Casserole
- Slow Cooker Frittata
- Coffee Cake
Baked French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 loaf day old French bread, whole wheat, brioche, challah, or ciabatta, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 10 cups of bread cubes)
- 6 large eggs
- 2 ¼ cups milk, I used whole milk
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, or light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Topping:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, or pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Lightly spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Place the bread cubes in an even layer in the dish.
- In a large bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread in the dish.
- To make the topping: In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or maple syrup) and cinnamon. Drizzle over the casserole.
- At this point, you can refrigerate the casserole overnight (covered) and bake in the morning, or let it rest for 20-30 minutes (in the refrigerator) and then bake right away.
- When you are ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350° F. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-20 minutes more, until the top is lightly browned and the casserole is set. Serve with fresh fruit and maple syrup, as desired.
Everyone at brunch enjoyed the French Toast Casserole. Thanks!
Hi can you use white toast in this recipe? If ok how many pieces should i use
Thanks so much
This recipe is best with a heartier bread, rather than white toast bread. White toast would likely get very soggy/mushy.
What size loaf of french bread?
I use a standard size loaf of french bread from my grocery stores bakery.
Can you substitute almond milk for the milk in this recipe?
Yes, that will work well. Enjoy!
Tried it with Oat Milk. Came out really good. Was glad to finally make this it was on my to-do list for a while but didn’t have enough house guests.
I loved this recipe—thank you for sharing! Every single person in my house loved it as well—#momwin. I let it sit overnight—maybe 10 hours total—and it took a long time to bake. It was on the mushy side, and I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Flavor was amazing, but I couldn’t get mine to look firm like the one in your photo. Any suggestions? Thank you!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! If I remember correctly, I think I used the “quick” option of refrigerating for 20-30 minutes and then baking right away, instead of letting it sit overnight. That may be the difference in texture.
Redeemed dry/flavorless store bought Irish soda bread using this recipe! Also used almond milk. Great idea for St Pattys breakfast!
Anyone use gluten free bread? I currently have gf white. Wondering how to modify so the tiny pieces aren’t soaked… which I think would be a major issue.
I have GF members in my family so I know how small those loaves are. Try using 2 loaves or perhaps cutting the other ingredients in half for one loaf.
Maybe Kristine will research this and have a better answer.
Made this for Breakfast – everyone loved it! Very Good! Lasted several days.
Loved this! Since my French bread was fresh, not “day old”, I cubed it and put it on a cookie sheet in the oven 350 degrees for 15 minutes (essentially making croutons). Then I followed the recipe. Before adding the drizzle, I did stir it up well to make sure all the crunchy bits had a chance to absorb the liquid. I let this sit in the refrigerator overnight. The texture and flavors were perfect. With only two of us, I made half the recipe in an 8 x 8 casserole dish. My husband is a big fan. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! I am sure that I will be making this again soon.
This was simple & absolutely delicious. I used crusty sourdough & added a few chopped walnuts
We made this recipe with the leftover crusts from homemade dressing after Thanksgiving. It turned out fabulous! Not too sweet since we used the maple syrup. Just very flavorful. A great way to use up those crusts and not waste them.
Really great recipe! I actually used hot dog buns that were going stale and it worked out so great! Great flavour and not too sweet like other recipes out there. I had mine in the fridge overnight and baked it as directed. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe other than using hot dog buns. Thank you! Will definitely make again!
My family does not love so sweet things, could we omit the topping of butter etc… or is that needed to give the top some crunch?
Baked French Toast is a sweeter breakfast, so this might not be the recipe for your family if they don’t enjoy sweet things. Even without the topping, I think you would want to serve it with some maple syrup so it would still be on the sweeter side. You can make it without the topping, but it will have less flavor overall and a little less crunch on top.
Can anyone tell me how many actual cups of bread to use? I am not using a standard loaf size. Thank u! Looks delicious!
I will try to remember to measure the next time I make this, but in the meantime you would want to use however many cups will fill a 9×13-inch baking dish. 🙂
Can you put Blueberries in it?
Yes, you can add blueberries when you add the bread to the baking dish. That would be delicious!
Worked out perfectly! I just used day old white bread. We’ll be eating tomorrow morning reheated. It’s just our small family, but tonight…. it tastes delicious.
Do leftovers freeze well?
I haven’t tried freezing this, but I think it would freeze well.
Do you use a glass or metal casserole dish? I’m afraid my glass baking dish will break if going directly into a hot oven from the fridge…..
I have always used glass. If you are concerned, you can let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to take the chill off before putting it in the oven.
Can you make ahead and freeze for a day or two and just put in the oven? I’m thinking of pre-making for in the fish house.
Thanks! I’ve made this before and is literally my husband’s favorite! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Jo,
I haven’t tried freezing it and it might change the texture with the bread soaked in an egg mixture. It would also take much longer to cook through.
Thank you for a healthier version of French Toast Casserole! I’ve seen other versions with a bottom crust of brown sugar–yummy, but quite guilt-inducing. Your recipe is much more sane, and still very yummy. I left out the maple syrup from the egg/milk mixture and served it as “breakfast-for-dinner.” Everyone loved it! Ok, truth to tell, the kids preferred the part with the maple syrup topping on it 😉
Great recipe! I actually make fresh bread occasionally, but there’s always leftovers that nobody eats bc it gets hard … so I cube it and place it in the freezer! When it adds up, I make this recipe with it and everybody loves it! Thank you!
This is exactly what I’m planning to do! I’m glad I read through the comments to see that it works well! Very excited to try!
Very good! I used leftover French bread and sourdough bread and then prepared it exactly like the recipe. (I let it rest for 20 mins in the refrigerator.) We poured a little heavy cream over our hot slices instead of adding syrup. Thanks for sharing?
This is delicious! I made it exactly as directed in the recipe. I’m very pleased to have found a recipe that avoids the eggy bottom that other recipes end up having. The only thing that I will change next time it to double the yummy topping so that I will have more of the sweet crust on top. Thanks for the great recipe!
Will Texas toast work?
Yes, that should work.
Hi Kristine,
I made this recipe for our Church fellowship. It was a HUGE crowd pleaser!! 3 different people asked me for the recipe. I actually used Pepperidge Farm French Toast and Cinnamon bread for this recipe. We have some some chilsren (ages between 7-15) they loved it as well!!
This recipe is awesome for using up old bread! I save my bread ends (usually Dave’s Killer Bread) and maybe some stale pieces from dips or dinners. I keep a bag in the freezer and when it’s half full I make half the recipe (for my family if 3). We all love it and it’s so great that it can be prepped overnight!
This was awesome! Most recipes have way to much sugar and are more like dessert. This tastes like french toast! I used a bunch of leftover handmade whole wheat hamburger buns I let go stale. It was perfect!
Easiest and best recipe! Always a hit with friends and family members. I also too with berries and then bake. At the end I broil on medium for 5 minutes, uncovered.
can this recipe be made with day old challas?
That should work fine. Enjoy!
I made it exactly how you said but it’s more like a bread pudding type of texture. I wanted more of a firm texture not so jiggly or mushy. Can you help please?
This baked French toast is supposed to have a texture similar to a bread pudding.
Very tasty and cooks up exactly as described. I added pecans to mine before cooking and topped my slice with maple syrup at the table.
Used up my dried up cinnamon sugar and cinnamon raisin sour dough breads and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. It came out delicious!! Thank you!!
Love these recipes. And the lighter version substitutes
I used leftover homemade cinnamon sugar sourdough bread and this turned out amazing! I left the topping off and it was perfect for us. Thank you for the great recipe! 🙂
Hi Kristine!
Could you please give an approximate measurement in cups for the amount of bread to be used. Loves of bread vary in size. Thank you, Mary Ann Younk
The next time I make this I will try to measure. This recipe is very forgiving, so it doesn’t need to be exact. You can get a rough estimate by placing the bread cubes in an empty 9×13-inch baking dish – that’s how much you’ll need.
Hi Mary Ann,
I prepped this last night to bake for breakfast this morning so I measured out how many cups of bread cubes I used. You’ll want to use about 10 cups of bread cubes, a little more or less is ok. Enjoy!
Could I use heavy cream instead of milk?
I would suggest only replacing part of the milk (no more than half) with heavy cream or the dish may turn out too rich.
Are used almost 2 baguettes and followed the recipe. When I uncovered yet, I tossed it up a little to get the middle pieces to the edges and the edges to the middle. I was worried about it being too mushy. This seem to work well, and I also left it in the oven a bit longer uncovered. Next time I think I will wait until I uncover it to put the topping on. After I tossed it, I added a little bit of brown sugar and cinnamon on top since I mixed it up before. turned out absolutely delicious. I cannot stop eating it.
My best experience reheating leftover french toast casserole, is some slices pan fried like a grilled cheese. I use ricotta and fresh fruit as the filling! It’s insanely delicious and decadent!
I wanted to bake at 425 degrees with my home fries at same time. Would that work or keep at 350?
Hi Mary,
I haven’t tested this recipe at a higher baking temperature. It will probably be ok to bake it at 425 degrees, but it may cook through a bit faster and the top may brown more. With that being said, I always find that whenever I put two (or more) items in my oven at the same time on different racks, they don’t cook as evenly and they typically take longer to bake.
My Family Favorite!