I love to host morning parties, and I look for breakfast recipes that can be prepared in advance, yet are hearty enough to satisfy the biggest appetites. Some of my favorite brunch options include red velvet waffles, cheese blintzes, sausage casserole, hash brown egg casserole, baked oatmeal and this decadent french toast casserole. My kids request french toast for breakfast all the time, but who has time to stand at the stove flipping piece after piece of bread? This french toast casserole is so much easier to make, and you can even assemble it the night before, then pop it in the oven in the morning when you’re ready to eat!
French Toast Casserole Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need challah bread, eggs, milk, heavy cream, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, all purpose flour, brown sugar, butter and salt.
How Do You Make French Toast Casserole?
French toast casserole is made in two parts, the casserole and the cinnamon streusel topping. To make the casserole, cut up bread cubes and place them in a baking pan. Make a custard mixture to pour over the bread by whisking together eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar, cream and vanilla. Let the bread soak in the egg mixture in the fridge for at least a few hours so that it has time to absorb all the flavors. For the cinnamon streusel topping, mix together flour, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a bowl. Take cold slices of butter and mix them in until topping turns into crumbles. When you are ready to bake the french toast, just put the crumbles over the bread mixture and bake it all together. Once the french toast is browned and cooked through, take it out of the oven, let it cool a bit and serve it with syrup and fresh fruit.
Tips For French Toast Casserole
Cut the bread into similar sized pieces so everything will cook evenly. The casserole must be refrigerated for a minimum of 2 hours to let the egg mixture soak in. Refrigerating it overnight is even better! You can also make the streusel the night before. Just store it separately from the casserole in a bag in the refrigerator. Sprinkle it over the casserole before it goes in the oven. Top your casserole with fresh fruit, maple syrup, whipped cream or a combination of the three. You could also do a drizzle of raspberry sauce, or even homemade cranberry sauce during the holidays!
Flavor Variations
While this recipe is delicious as-is, you can change up the ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
Bread: Instead of challah, try using brioche, french bread or cinnamon raisin bread. Add-Ins: You can add up to 3/4 cup of fresh fruit into the bread and custard mixture. I often do berries or sauteed apples. Another great option is 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. You can also add up to 1/4 cup of pecans or almonds to the streusel topping. Flavorings: During the holidays, swap out the heavy cream for eggnog. You can also add more spices such as nutmeg, ground ginger or allspice. For fall, add 3/4 cup pumpkin puree to the custard mixture, and reduce the milk by 1/4 cup.
This french toast casserole is a great way to make french toast for a crowd without standing over a griddle. The flavors and textures are simply the best!
