Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole

Switch up your regular French Toast breakfast with this delicious, easy, make-ahead French Toast Casserole recipe. Perfect for the weekends!

For the last few years, the boy’s preschool has done a Breakfast with Santa a few weeks before Christmas. And every year, they have had this delicious French Toast Casserole as the main dish. We’ve always loved French toast, but this takes it to another level.

I decided, after raving over the meal again this year, that since I know how to make regular French toast, why can’t I figure out how to turn it into a casserole myself? So I started thinking about all the ingredients and how it would work. Then I started to experiment (that’s where the real fun comes in).

I made this as a make-ahead recipe, getting all of it prepped the night before, and refrigerate it. Then in the morning, we just had to take it out and bake the casserole.

Of course, the core of this recipe is in the bread. I made it with a regular store-bought loaf of bread, but next time I plan to make my homemade bread so I can have more uniform pieces of bread in the casserole. But for now, it worked to get a baseline on the recipe, and it was still good, there were just a few pieces that were cooked more than others.

Another key ingredient in this recipe is eggs. Justin did the grocery shopping this week and I asked him to get two dozen eggs because I knew this takes so many. Plus Ryan has been eating scrambled eggs for breakfast a lot lately. So he got home with two dozen eggs. I helped put the groceries away. And dropped an entire carton of eggs that, of course, opened on the way down. All 12 eggs broke all down the inside of the refrigerator and all over the floor. It was a mess. And then we needed more eggs. But at least I was able to add all the shells to my compost bin!

PS: one week later, and even after mopping and vacuuming and mopping again, I am still finding bits of eggshells clear to the other side of the kitchen! After that egg catastrophe, I needed to grab a few forgotten items at the store a couple of days later so bought another dozen eggs. This time they made it to the refrigerator just fine.

Anyway, back to the recipe. Typical French toast is made by dipping bread into a mixture of egg, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla (in our recipe). Since I wanted to add a bit of sweetness to this casserole, I put in some brown sugar as well.

Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole Step by Step

Ingredients

• 1 loaf bread
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

I started by cutting the slices of bread into ninths (two cuts one way, two cuts the other way), and piled all of that into a greased 9×13 baking dish. I didn’t put it in nicely but did make sure that it covered the dish evenly.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread, making sure to get as much of the bread as possible. Cover the dish, and refrigerate it for at least a couple hours, up to overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. I recommend letting the dish sit out at least while the oven is preheating, maybe even a little before that. You don’t want to put a cold glass dish into a hot oven. It could expand the glass too quickly and shatter. I may have experience in this from years ago.

Bake the casserole for about 45 minutes, until the top starts to get crispy and the bottom is no longer moist. Serve warm with some maple syrup on top!

Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole Leftovers

You can store leftovers in the refrigerator. It’s best reheated in the oven but may start to dry out by the second reheating. We’ve also heated a second serving in the microwave, but it’s a bit softer that way. Whichever you choose, store it without any syrup otherwise the bread will get very mushy.

Recipe

Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole

Switch up your regular French Toast breakfast with this delicious, easy, make-ahead French Toast Casserole recipe. Perfect for the weekends!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Course:

Breakfast

Cuisine:

American

Keyword:

bread

|

casserole

|

cinnamon

Servings: 8 servings

4.58 from 7 votes

Ingredients

• 1 loaf bread
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Recommended Equipment

• Bread Knife
• Glass Baking Dish
• Mixing Bowls – Stainless Steel
• Whisk – Wire
• Beeswax Wrap

Instructions

• Cut bread into one-inch cubes; on a regular loaf of bread, slicing it into ninths works well
• Spread out bread in a greased 9×13 glass baking dish
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine all other ingredients and mix with a wire whisk
• Pour liquid mixture over bread, wetting as much of it as possible
• Cover and refrigerate at least 4-5 hours, up to overnight
• Remove the glass dish from the refrigerator and give it about 10-15 minutes to warm up (cold dish in a hot oven could break)
• Put the dish in a cold oven and set it to 350F (lets the dish warm up with the oven)
• Once the oven is preheated, bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bottom is no longer soft
• Serve warm with maple syrup

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Nutrition Facts

Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole

Amount Per Serving

Calories 455 Calories from Fat 90

% Daily Value*

Fat 10g15%

Saturated Fat 3g15%

Cholesterol 172mg57%

Sodium 550mg23%

Potassium 372mg11%

Carbohydrates 74g25%

Fiber 3g12%

Sugar 36g40%

Protein 17g34%

Vitamin A 385IU8%

Vitamin C 0.2mg0%

Calcium 273mg27%

Iron 4mg22%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

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