Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

80 Comments

5 from 25 votes
12 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
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Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake, without any overnight chilling, is the perfect cross between a Bake and a Danish. Try it today!

This Breakfast recipe doesn’t have to be intimidating or made a day ahead of time. Like my favorite Classic Easy French Toast Bake, this is ready in no time at all!

Sabrina’s Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake Recipe

I love the classic French toast bake for its ease and delicious crunchy brown sugar topping. Still, this blueberry cream cheese variety is as deliciously creamy and full of blueberry flavor as it is crispy like the original version. It’s perfect for most holidays. With a soft middle but a crunchy, crispy topping, this recipe is my go-to for all spring brunches, including the all-important Easter brunch.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake Recipe

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake, without any overnight chilling, is the perfect cross between a Bake and a Danish. Try it today!
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
blueberry bake slice on a plate
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

French Toast Bake

  • 1 loaf French bread , (I also routinely use a loaf of Texas Toast)
  • 8 large eggs
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream , (half and half would work too)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 8 ounces cream cheese , cut into 16 pieces
  • 1 pint blueberries , washed and dried

Brown Sugar Topping

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter , cold and cut into small squares

Instructions

FRENCH TOAST BAKE:

  • Spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a large bowl, add the eggs, milk, heavy cream, sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  • Chop the bread into 3/4-to-1-inch cubes and put it in the bowl with the egg mixture and toss well until all the liquid is absorbed.
  • Pour half of the bread and egg mixture into the pan, top with half of the cream cheese and blueberries.
  • Pour over the remaining bread mixture then top with remaining cream cheese and blueberries.

BROWN SUGAR TOPPING:

  • In a small bowl or a food processor add the flour, remaining brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and mix.
  • Cut in the butter with a fork or pulse in the food processor for 5-10 seconds or until the butter and brown sugar mixture is crumbly.
  • Cover evenly with the brown sugar-butter topping and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is crispy and the center is no longer wet.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 462kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 180mg | Sodium: 381mg | Potassium: 247mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 905IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 137mg | Iron: 2mg

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Table of Contents

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Ways to Serve

  • Eggs and Bacon: Serve the french toast casserole as a side to go with classic bacon and eggs, served to your liking, of course.
  • Sausage: Try making a square of this bake the main part of your meal, and serve up some savory protein beside it like seasoned breakfast sausage. Any sausage will do, really, whether turkey, chicken, or classic pork.
  • Glaze: Add a lemon glaze to the top of the bake. Mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon lemon zest for a wonderful, tangy glaze.
  • Syrup: No matter whether this bake is served as a side or as the centerpiece of your plate, you might enjoy some maple syrup or a blueberry syrup drizzled over the top the same way you would classic french toast or pancakes.

Can This Be Made Ahead?

You can make this ahead of time so that it’s ready to go in the morning. This is especially helpful on a busy holiday morning like Christmas or Easter. Here are the steps to follow:

  • Bread: Cube the bread and leave it out overnight uncovered.
  • Eggs: Mix the egg custard ingredients and keep covered in the refrigerator.
  • Toppings: You can certainly prewash the blueberries and cut the cream cheese ahead of time. The brown sugar topping can also be made and kept covered in the refrigerator.
  • Layer and Bake: In the morning turn on the oven, toss the bread with the egg mixture, layer and cook as directed in in the recipe card.

More Delicious Blueberry Recipes

Photos used in previous versions of this post.

Cross section of blueberry cream cheese french toast casserole
french toast bake

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Delicious! I made it the night before and let everything sit in the fridge overnight, but I left the crumble topping off overnight. In the morning I added the crumble and baked. Delicious. I also blended the cream cheese and dolloped it on. I love this recipe!

    Reply

    1. We love this recipe too, Tracy! So glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the five star review.

      Reply

  2. We really enjoyed this. I added a layer of pecans under the topping and it worked well. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

    Reply

  4. Would you be able to substitute the French bread with regular sandwich bread? That’s all I have, I’ve made it before with the French and I don’t have time to run back out!

    Reply

  6. Love this dish, it’s a hit in my home!
    I was wondering if I could make this ahead of time and freeze it?

    Reply

    1. I haven’t tried freezing it. My concern would be that the bread may be soggy when defrosted and the over all “crunch” would be affected by freezing. Let us know if you try freezing it.

      Reply

  7. Has anyone ever used cut strawberries instead? I want to make for Mother’s Day tomorrow but my mother in law is not a huge fan of blueberries.

    Reply

    1. Haley, I got crazy busy and didn’t get to your question in time. What did you end up using for fruit and how did it turn out?

      Reply

  9. So good and I love that it doesn’t require any overnight prep. I used brioche bread and frozen blueberries! Highly recommend! Definitely 5 star worthy!

    Reply

  12. I made it for our family Christmas breakfast with side serving of fresh fruits, and it was a big hit with everyone. They all said it was the best French toast they have ever tasted. I didn’t have any milk, so I substituted with oat milk. I had leftover cream cheese frosting, so I omitted the granulated sugar, and spread it on top of the layers. The sweetness was just right. This is definitely a keeper!

    Reply

  14. Dinner, Dessert & Delicious! Mine was more of a bread pudding/cake because I soaked the bread for a while. I used blackberries instead of blue, added half again the amount of cinnamon and not quite a whole loaf of Dave’s White Bread. It was a little moist even after cooking much longer than called for. I also didn’t have heavy cream so I found the substitution of 1/4 cup melted butter, 3/4 cup of milk and if low fat (which it was) to add a Tbsp. flour. I used half of that. Next time I think I will blend the cream cheese and do more of a spread so there is a layer throughout rather than squares.

    Reply

  16. I’m going to make this recipe for the first time on Easter. Question – French bread loaves can vary so much by size, approximately how many cups of bread cubes should I use?

    Reply

  17. OMG, this was amazing! I was looking for something that would remind me of the cream cheese stuffed blueberry french toast that we had at a B&B one vacation. This far exceeded that memory! I didn’t make the sugar topping to put on it and it was still incredible!

    Reply

    1. I slightly freeze the cream cheese. This allows it to be sliced very thin with cheese slicer, an spread evenly distributed all over the casserole.

      Reply

    1. Yes, but I would toss them in flour before adding them and you may need to add an additional 5 minutes or so to the bake time since it’ll lower the temperature of the dish. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  20. Perfect addition and quick throw together for an impromptu holiday birthday brunch. I’m making this for all my clients fridges for Christmas morning! Awesome recipe!

    Reply

  22. I made this for a crowd of adults and children and everyone loved it. We have a milk allergy in the family so I used almond milk instead of the whipping cream. Still turned out great!

    Reply

      1. Hello. I was going to follow a different recipe using a loaf of sourdough bread that was highly praised. Think the loaf would taste good here as well?

        Thank you

        Reply

        1. You could certainly use any type of bread for this recipe, but it might end up with a tangier flavor with the sourdough (which could also be excellent!)

          Reply

  23. directions state brown sugar in egg mixture
    directions state brown sugar in topping
    where is the ¼ c sugar and how much brown sugar in egg mixture?

    Reply

    1. The sugar is used in the egg mixture (step 2) and the amount of brown sugar is 1/2 cup, you will need an additional 1/2 cup brown sugar in the topping. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  27. This recipe was just delicious! The only change I made was lighten up on the topping because I wanted to serve this w/ maple syrup and didn’t want it to be overly sweet. The casserole is pretty sweet on it’s own so maple syrup wasn’t even necessary. Really good!

    Reply

      1. I just made this today for Christmas breakfast! Ya’ll, we bought a whole bunch of other stuff in case this casserole didn’t turn out, but then we tasted it and were shocked at how good it was!!! I only made two changes: I used brioche bread, and I used two pints of blueberries (one for each level). My kids, who only eat nasty packaged muffins for breakfast, said it was the best thing they had ever tasted! Everyone cleaned their plates and then went back for seconds! Such a great recipe. I made everything the night before so I only had to throw it together. The cream cheese made it and cut down the sweetness. It’s perfect!! Thank you!!!

        Reply

  28. Made for a potluck today. It was really good. I got a lot of compliments! I also omitted the white sugar, though I did just forget it lol. It is worth mentioning that the bread expands while it is baking so if you, like me, use a vintage pyrex lasagna pan which is not as deep as a standard 9×13, you will have a small heart attack when you see the giant mass seemingly about to overrun your oven. But it held up perfectly and was very popular! I bought maple syrup to serve with it, but I forgot to put it out. No one minded! I used a Vietnamese cinnamon to give it some extra oomph as the main flavoring of the dish, and I highly recommend picking up some from Penzey’s or another retailer if you can.

    Reply

  29. Hi Sabrina! I plan to make this for the first time for Easter brunch. Have you made any tweaks to the recipe since your original post? I want to make sure it’s perfect! Sounds SO yummy! Thanks!

    Reply

  30. Made this today. Was delicious! My husband said it was a keeper. I didn’t add the white sugar to the mux. The brown sugar was plenty. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

    Reply

  31. We made this today only using brown sugar and not white and making the cream cheese pieces smaller and using ground nutmeg. Cannot find whole nutmeg around here and it was still good!

    Reply

  33. A winner with guests! I love it, too. I added toasted almond slices to the top after baking. Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.

      Reply

    1. You can prep each part (I have it broken down above in the post) to make it easier in the morning to bring it all together. Enjoy!

      Reply