Easy Overnight French Toast Bake Recipe - But There Is A Secret! (2024)

Are you looking for anEasy Overnight French Toast Bake Recipe to make for your family? A French Toast casserole is a huge staple for my children during the holidays – especially on Christmas – and this recipe is a go-to favorite for sure.

While most casseroles require some heavy lifting, this french toast bake does not. This breakfast consists of cinnamon, bread, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and milk. All staple items you probably have in your house right now.

An overnight french toast bake is simple and truly doesn’t need any additional sides to serve along with it. However, sometimes my husband likes to have an egg or two with this dish.

We love to make breakfast casseroles at home. I love to prepare this oven baked french toast casserole dish during the colder months because who doesn’t love to wake up to a warm breakfast when it’s snowing?

Anticipate about 15 minutes of prep time to get your ingredients ready and set in your casserole dish. Are you ready to get into what you need to get started? Let’s do this.

Related: Air Fryer French Toast Sticks for Kids

Easy French Toast Bake Ingredients:

  • 2 loaves, french bread
  • 8 eggs
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

French Toast Bake Recipe Topping

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened

How To Make Overnight French Toast Casserole

Grease a 9×13 pan with nonstick cooking spray, Cut bread into 1″ cubes and place into prepared pan. In a mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, sugar,and vanilla. Whisk until combined well. Carefully pour over bread, trying to cover each piece with the egg mixture.

Gently press bread into the liquid. Cover and refrigerate overnight or continue with the steps to add topping and bake.

How To Make Overnight French Toast:

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Add brown sugar, flour, cinnamon,and salt to a bowl and mix well. Use a pastry blender to cut in butter until it’s in small chunks. Mix well.

Sprinkle topping on top of french toast and continue to bake, or cover and refrigerate overnight until ready to bake. Note: You can cut in cold butter with a pastry blender as well. It will just take a little more elbow grease and extra time to mix.

When ready to bake: If refrigerated, remove from refrigerator and sprinkle topping over bread. Preheat oven to 350 and bake, uncovered for 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve with syrup if desired. Serves 8-10.

Related: Cheesy Bacon And Egg Muffins – Breakfast Egg Cups You Make In Your Muffin Tin

What’s The Secret To French Toast Bake?

Let’s just pretend that you forgot to prepare this overnight french toast casserole the night before, but everyone is still begging for your French Toast Bake. Guess what? You can STILL MAKE IT!

It will still taste fabulous. I’m not even sure there will be a kitchen protest at the end of it all.

If you are in a pinch, just make this recipe right on the spot – and BAKE IT. Don’t worry about letting it soak overnight. Give it about 15 minutes and then pop it in the oven. You will all survive! 🙂

Easy Overnight French Toast Bake Recipe - But There Is A Secret! (7)

Easy Overnight French Toast Bake Recipe

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 1 day

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Total Time: 1 day 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • * 2 loaves, french bread
  • * 8 eggs
  • * 2 cups whole milk
  • * 1/2 cup white sugar
  • * 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • French Toast Bake Recipe Topping:
  • * 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • * 1/2 cup flour
  • * 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • * 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • * 1/2 cup butter, softened

Instructions

Grease a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray, Cut bread into 1" cubes and place into prepared pan.

In a mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, sugar,and vanilla. Whisk until combined well. Carefully pour over bread, trying to cover each piece with the egg mixture.

Gently press bread into the liquid. Cover and refrigerate overnight or continue with the steps to add topping and bake.

How To Make Overnight French Toast:

Add brown sugar, flour, cinnamon,and salt to a bowl and mix well. Use a pastry blender to cut in butter until it's in small chunks. Mix well.

Sprinkle topping on top of french toast and continue to bake, or cover and refrigerate overnight until ready to bake. Note: You can cut in cold butter with a pastry blender as well. It will just take a little more elbow grease and extra time to mix.

When ready to bake: If refrigerated, remove from refrigerator and sprinkle topping over bread.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake, uncovered for 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve with syrup if desired.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 269Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 159mgSodium: 256mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 1gSugar: 19gProtein: 8g

This doesn't include the extra syrup you might want to pour on top.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Tag me on Instagram (@VeraSweeney) so I can see your wonderful creation! I would love to see your dish.

How To Reheat French Toast Bake:

I would not put this in the microwave. I mean – I’m not going to tell you what to do, but if you are ASKING me then I will suggest youreheatwhatever you’d like at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until warmed through.

WHAT IS THE BEST TYPE OF BREAD TO USE?

When deciding which bread to use for your breakfast french bake casserole, consider choosing either French bread, Challah Bread or Brioche Bread. You could also use Italian bread if need be.

How To Dry Out Your Bread

You really need to use stale bread when making french toast bake. This will ensure that your dish isn’t soggy.

You can wait for your bread to become stale on its own – which is what I usually do. This is really easy for me to do because I always have stale bread in my house. LOL! Or you can bake the bread a bit to dry it out.

If you need to bake your bread to dry it out, heat up your oven to about 300 degrees and cook your bread for about 15-20 minutes.

What Can I Add To This Recipe To Spruce It Up?

For fun, we’ve added fruit like blueberries, bananas, and strawberries to give it a sweet twist. On special occasions, we’ve also added slivers of almonds. The choice is yours!

Looking for more great recipe ideas? Try these delicious starts:

  • Slow Cooker Applesauce
  • Apple and Cinnamon Muffin Recipe
  • Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats
  • Pumpkin Spice Bars
Easy Overnight French Toast Bake Recipe - But There Is A Secret! (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good French toast? ›

Nail the Egg-to-Milk Ratio

Eggs and milk are the essential components of the custard base that gives French toast its tender richness—but get their ratio off and you'll wind up with undercooked slices that have an unpleasantly savory "scrambled eggs" flavor.

Should French toast have more eggs or milk? ›

Whatever you decide on, the ratio of liquid to egg will still be about ¼ cup liquid to one egg, and one egg per two slices of bread. So, if you want to make four slices of French toast, you would need four slices of bread, two eggs, and ½ cup milk. How's that for an easy recipe?

Why is restaurant French toast so much better? ›

Restaurant French toast is generally a superior product because of time. Letting it soak in the custard for up to five minutes allows more delicious dairy to be absorbed. This step is where having stale bread is essential. Using soft fresh bread will take on too much custard and become a mushy mess.

Is milk or heavy cream better for French toast? ›

We use whole milk because the higher fat content makes the French toast nice and creamy, but you can substitute heavy cream, almond milk, or even coconut milk. The flavors will change a little, but the end result will still be delicious!

Why is French toast unhealthy? ›

French Toast is a delicious breakfast entree that is loved by many. With this in mind, french toast can be very calorie dense with high amounts of added sugar and fat. But, it can be tweaked to reduce the sugar and fat content while adding some fiber to your breakfast - yay!

Should I soak French toast overnight? ›

Ideally it's best if you can soak the bread in the french toast batter overnight however, if this cannot be done I suggest leaving it soak for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour. As we want that custard like middle, cut very thick slices of bread.

Is it okay to leave French toast out overnight? ›

A good rule of thumb is …. when in doubt throw it out. French toast has eggs in it, so should only be left on the counter no more than 2 hours.

What is the best pan for French toast? ›

Your perfect companion for making French toast is a non-stick frying pan. CRISTEL® has an exceptional selection of non-stick frying pans with removable handles that are great for both pan-frying and also oven-cooking.

How do you keep French toast from being too eggy? ›

If the balance is off and you include too many eggs or not enough milk, the finished French toast will have a scrambled egg-like flavor. When scaling this recipe up or down, keep in mind that you need 1/4 cup of milk for every egg.

What happens if you soak French toast too long? ›

The first is using fresh bread, which soaks up too much of the egg mixture and doesn't cook through, remaining eggy and soggy in the middle. Leaving the bread in the egg mixture for too long is another route to soggy French toast.

Why is my French toast not crisping? ›

How do I make French toast not soggy? You dip the bread in the egg batter instead of letting it sit then don't use too high a temperature when you fry it so it cooks more thoroughly through.

Should bread be soaked for French toast? ›

Ideally it's best if you can soak the bread in the french toast batter overnight however, if this cannot be done I suggest leaving it soak for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour. As we want that custard like middle, cut very thick slices of bread.

Should you toast your bread before making French toast? ›

Use stale bread or toast the bread until it's golden-brown. It needs to be sturdy to hold up to the egg mixture. If the bread is fresh from the bag or you toast it too lightly, the finished dish will be soggy. Soak the toasted or untoasted bread for about 10 seconds per side to achieve the optimal texture.

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