Overnight French Toast Casserole is a simple breakfast recipe for a crowd that everyone loves! This easy french toast casserole features a maple custard and light vanilla glaze and is perfect for brunch or Holiday breakfast. Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Modifications included.
Looking for more delicious breakfast casseroles? Try out my Easy Breakfast Casserole with hash browns, sausage, and eggs, or my Green Chile Egg Casserole. If traditional french toast is more your thing, be sure to grab my recipe for Classic French Toast.
Overnight French Toast Casserole
Baked French Toast is one of my staple recipes for entertaining guests.
Not only is it absolutely delicious, it is so easy to make, in fact it is almost embarrassing how easy it is–but we all need easy recipes-right?!
This casserole takes 15 minutes of hands on prep and because it is made the night before, it is as simple as popping the french toast casserole into the oven in the morning and breakfast is done!
This French Toast Casserole is perfectly sweet and spiced and guests always rave about this easy breakfast casserole. It is fluffy in the center and a bit crispy on the edges. The cinnamon and maple are the dominant flavors, but the light vanilla glaze finishes off the french toast bake perfectly. Only crumbs remain EVERY SINGLE TIME I serve it and people beg me for the recipe–that is how you know it is a winner!
How to Make French Toast Casserole
Like I said, this casserole is SUPER easy to make. It is as simple as cubing up the bread, whisking up a simple egg custard, and placing in the fridge overnight to let the bread soak up the egg custard before baking.
French Toast Casserole is best when given time for the bread to soak up the delicious custard, hence why overnight preparation is best. If you skip the step of letting your bread sit in the custard overnight, the casserole will not be as fluffy. Plus, if you are like me, mornings are always hectic or I am not at my sharpest until that cup of coffee hits–so preparing the night before not only makes this casserole easier to make, it makes it turn out better!
While the casserole is baking in the morning, I whip up a simple vanilla glaze to serve over top of the french toast casserole. It is absolutely not needed, and you can opt to serve this french toast bake with maple syrup instead.
What is the best type of bread to use?
Traditionally Challah Bread or Brioche Bread is the choice for French Toast Casserole. However, I recommend a more basic loaf of bread, such as French bread, Italian bread, or whole wheat bread. Because Challah and Brioche are a very sweet, eggy bread, there is not much contrast to the sweet custard and I find the french toast casserole a bit too sweet, when using those types of bread. If you like sweet casseroles, by all means, opt for Challah or Brioche as the base to this casserole.
Ideally, any bread you choose to use needs to be able to be cut into 1 inch cubes and bread, and dried out to absorb the custard. To dry out your bread, I like to use stale bread and cut up into cubes and lay out on baking sheets for 12 hours before preparing the French Toast Casserole. If you don’t have the time, you can dry out your bread in a 300 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. If your bread is not fully dried out, you may end up with a soggy casserole–so it is important to take the time to dry out your bread.
Pro-Tip: Save leftover scraps of bread or stale bread. Cube and place in freezer safe bag and then use that bread to make this delicious Overnight French Toast Casserole for pennies.
What if my casserole is soggy?
Chances are if your casserole is soggy, you did not use enough bread or your bread was too fresh (soft) to absorb the egg custard. To prevent this from happening, use dried out bread. And if after the casserole has set overnight in the fridge, be sure that most the custard is absorbed before baking. If you have more than 1/2 cup liquid not absorbed by the bread, you may want to drain off a bit of that custard before baking.
Storing Instructions
Leftover French Toast Casserole can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat individual servings in the microwave for 1 minute per serving. Or place casserole covered with foil in 325 degree oven for 30 minutes until warmed through.
You can also freeze French Toast Casserole for up to 3 months after baking if desired. If you are freezing the full casserole, be sure to bake in a freezer safe container, such as a foil baking dish and let the casserole cool fully before freezing. You also want to wrap well in plastic wrap and foil to prevent freezer burn.
Gluten-Free French Toast Casserole
You can make Gluten-Free French Toast Casserole by following my instructions exactly, except for swapping out the bread for your favorite thick gluten-free bread.
Dairy-Free French Toast Casserole
To make Dairy-Free French Toast Casserole, use almond milk or coconut milk in place of cow’s milk. I personally have tried both with delicious results. I highly recommend canned coconut milk for Dairy-Free French Toast is rich and decadent, but it does have notes of coconut in the final product.
Also be sure to use coconut oil or a non-dairy butter substitute, instead of greasing the pan with butter.
Brunch Recipes
- Asparagus Frittata
- Easy Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
- Quiche Lorraine
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
Easy Overnight French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
For the French Toast Casserole
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 16 ounces bread (French Bread, Italian Bread, Whole Wheat Bread) cut into 1 inch cubes (this is about 8-10 loosely packed cups)
- 2 cups milk (or 1 cups milk and 1 cup half and half)
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vanilla Glaze (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- dash of salt
Instructions
- Cube up bread into 1 inch cubes. If time permits, spread the bread out on baking sheets and let dry out for several hours. If time does not permit, dry bread out in a 300 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Grease a 9x13 baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
- Place cubed bread in prepared casserole dish.
- Mix together eggs, maple syrup, milk, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Pour custard over bread, lightly tapping bread down to be fully sumberged in custard.
- Cover casserole with plastic wrap and refridgerate for 8 hours or overnight.
- To Bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and cover with foil. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 15 minutes. Serve warm with glaze and/or additional maple syrup.
For Glaze
- Whisk together milk, salt and vanilla. Add in powdered sugar and whisk until thin glaze forms. Add in more milk 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed to thin out.
- Drizzle over cooked French Toast Casserole and serve.
- Store leftover casserole in air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
This post was originally published in March 2018, but has been updated in December 2019 with new tips and pictures. The recipe remains the same.
I really like your recipes but because of the black header, when I want to print, it uses up way too much black ink. Could you possibly change it to black letters on white background?
Hi Christine, I recently changed to the black header because it was easier to read. I just made changes, so it should be super compact and printer friendly now. Thanks for sharing that input!
Hello! Is it possible to half this recipe to accommodate an 8x8pan? I have a few people coming over and 9×13 seems to be a bit large for my guests. Would you have any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Ryan! Yes, you can cut this recipe in half and prepare in an 8×8 pan! I hope you enjoy!
Thank you!!
Amazing french toast bake! Our new Christmas morning tradition!!! I used 10 cups of dried out whole wheat crust loaf and 7 eggs. I also used 3 rounded teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg, dotted with butter and brown sugar before baking. Absolutely delightful! Thank you! Merry Christmas!!!
Oh I love that is now a tradition. So glad you enjoyed and hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!
Have you ever tried with orange extract vs vanilla extract? Would that work?
Hi Donna! Orange extract has a very strong flavor, so I would not recommend using in place of vanilla. It would be better to just omit the vanilla altogether.
I bought French bread for this recipe to make on Christmas Eve (in 3 days) for Christmas morning! But now I’m second guessing that the bread will be TOO stale by then ?? Should I cut it up already and keep it out? Or refrigerate? Or make the recipe early? Thanks!
Hi Marni, if it is fresh bread and the sell by date is no later than December 24, it will be fine. I would personally leave at room temperature sealed well and then cube up early on Christmas Eve and then pour custard over the bread cubes before going to bed. If your French bread expires before the 24th,freeze the bread and pull out the 23rd and cube up the 24th. Hope that helps and Merry Christmas.
Ok! Thank you!! I’m excited to have a little bit healthier Christmas morning breakfast (we usually do Monkey Bread) so thank you for this recipe!!
I hope you and your family enjoy Marni!!
This was really good. I was worried abt it being too mushy in the middle but it was just perfect. I topped it with berries after it was baked and sprinkled some icing sugar over it. It loooked so pretty. In case you are running out of space in your fridge like me, I made this in a Tupperware to soak the night prior and then transferred it into a greased casserole pan. I used sourdough bread.
I am so glad you enjoyed Manjini! And AWESOME tip for saving room in the fridge. Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe, Thanks!
I made it for a family brunch on the weekend and received lots of compliments.
I am so glad that everyone enjoyed Jan!
This was tasty and filling – I used a whole loaf of the Udi’s Gluten Free white deli sandwich bread and it turned out great! I did mix it all in the pan with my hands to help along the denser gluten free bread. Topped with the icing and maple syrup…delicious!
I am so glad you enjoyed! And thanks for letting us all know how it went with Udi’s bread 🙂
Planning to make for a baby shower, but we have a few things to bake the morning of. Have you tried cooking this in a crockpot? I think it’d work but wondering if you’ve ever tried. Thank you!!
Hi Erica! This casserole can technically be made in the slow cooker, but it does change the texture. It would need to soak up the egg mixture and then be placed into a very well greased crock pot for about 8 hours.
Looks good but no one likes maple syrup in my home. Any replacement ideas!
Absolutely Debbey–I would use brown sugar or regular sugar in the french toast custard (you will just need to mix better to incorporate). I hope you still enjoy!
Thank you…planning on fixing it next week when we are invaded by our daughter and husband, 4 teens, son and fiancé and his best friend!
HA! Good luck with that household! But I am sure wonderful memories will be made in the chaos! Enjoy the casserole Debbey!
Could I swap egg whites for the eggs? We made custard and have million egg whites left over!
Hi Rachel! French Toast is best when made with egg yolks because you want the base to be custard like for the best flavored french toast casserole. But I understand you wanting to use the egg whites. I would say compromise and use half egg whites and half whole eggs. Hope that makes sense. I will say my Hash Brown breakfast casserole is great using all egg whites 😊
Have you ever made this with raisin bread? If so, what modifications are needed? Thank you!
Hi Dori, this is DELICIOUS with raisin bread and you can make as recipe states. Enjoy!
I only have 1% milk, however I do have buttermilk. Do you think I should use that instead?
I would use 1% milk as the buttermilk could over take the flavor of your casserole. I have made this with skim milk in a bind and while not as rich, it turned out.
Looks great! Making this tomorrow for a couple of singers I’m hosting this evening. I bought a day-old sourdough loaf because the brioche and french loaf I saw wasn’t kosher and one of the students eats kosher. I’ve only got whole milk (other recipes call for half and half or heavy whipping cream, but yours doesn’t–I’m hoping it will still taste good to use just milk?), and my 9×13 pan is in not so great shape. Would an 8×8 glass pan work? I also bought a couple disposable 9×13’s for $1. Which would be better? Do you recommend increasing the sweetness if using sourdough?
So many questions–I’m just miserable at baking even simple stuff (probably bc I end up not having the right ingredients or cook ware!) Thanks for any help!
Oh please don’t worry about questions–I am here to help. First, I would use a disposable pan–that way you know it will fit and bake in time. Milk will be perfect–whole milk is best. As for sweeteners–for sourdough you could increase the maple syrup up to 1/3 cup, but I would suggest to serve with syrup on the side and let your company dictate how sweet they want this french toast. Enjoy!!!
I’ve always stayed far away from recipes with overnight prep because they always seemed so hard, but this one was so easy that I cannot believe I haven’t tried it sooner! So delicious!
I am so glad you enjoyed Karly–and you are right, this is EASY!!!