Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake without any overnight chilling is the perfect cross between a french toast bake and blueberry cream cheese danish.
French Toast Bake doesn’t have to be intimidating or made a day ahead of time. Like our favorite Classic Easy French Toast Bake, this is ready in no time at all!
Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake
We love the classic variety for it’s ease and delicious crunchy brown sugar topping, but this blueberry cream cheese variety is as deliciously creamy and full of blueberry flavor as it is crispy like the original version.
We like to make this french toast bake (some call it a french toast casserole) for most holidays. This specific one is our go to for all spring brunches including the all important Easter brunch.
There’s a lot of recipes out there for make ahead casseroles or make ahead french toast with an overnight soaking time. But this is altogether different with a soft middle but a crunchy crispy topping.
Don’t forget to serve it with some delicious maple syrup! OR…
This is how we make it every Easter morning with a Lemon Glaze:
- Mix confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) with just a couple tablespoons of milk to make a thick icing.
- Add some lemon juice and zest to it to thin it to a maple syrup consistency.
Make Ahead Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake:
- Cube the bread and leave it out overnight uncovered.
- Mix the egg custard ingredients and keep covered in the refrigerator.
- You can certainly prewash the blueberries and cut the cream cheese ahead of time.
- The brown sugar topping can be made and kept covered in the refrigerator.
- In the morning turn on the oven, toss the bread with the egg mixture, layer and cook as directed in in the recipe card.
Looking for more breakfast options for a crowd?
What to serve with this french toast casserole:
Oven baked bacon or sausage are easy side dish options along with bowls of fresh fruit.
Tools Used in the Making of this Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake:
9×13 Baking Pan: The perfect baking pan, it has high sides and bakes evenly. Plus when you cut into it you get picture perfect squares.
Maple Syrup: Love serving this with real maple syrup. I keep this brand and Trader Joe’s brand (buy that in store, it is ⅓ the price) on hand at all times if I can.
Nutmeg: The only way I use Nutmeg is with whole nuts. The flavor is completely different than the pre-ground variety and adds another dimension to baked goods. You can also buy these in bulk from your local grocer (I like Sprouts whole Nutmeg) or from Penzey’s online. Then you can grate the nutmeg with a handheld grater.
Ingredients
FRENCH TOAST BAKE
- 1 loaf French bread (I also routinely use a loaf of Texas Toast)
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups 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 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 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 ¾ – 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, and 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
Love this dish, it’s a hit in my home!
I was wondering if I could make this ahead of time and freeze it?
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.
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.
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?
Delicious!!!
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!
This was a hit Christmas morning. Great combination, most and the blueberries in the dish was so good.
This is my go to recipe on All the holidays and in between! Absolutely delicious!
Thank you, Laura!
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!
I’m glad everyone enjoy it!
A….Amazing!!!! I make it everyThanksgiving morning.
Glad to know it’s such a hit in your house.
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.
Sounds divine!
This recipe is a flavor explosion of goodness..right down to the lemon glaze I sparingly added!
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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?
I use a 16 ounce loaf, I’d guess you’ll have between 7-8 cups of bread.
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!
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed it.
I’d actually like it better if the cream cheese was creamed into the recipe rather than chunks.
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.
Will this work with frozen blueberries?
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!
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!
How awesome! Thanks for letting me know.
Do I use self rising flour or all purpose flour?
All-purpose.
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!
I’m so glad it turned out for the family – and I bet the almond milk gave it an extra depth of flavor, YUM!
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
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!)
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?
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!
Is this repeatable?
Also this was super delicious. My boyfriend and I both loved it!
I made your blueberry French toast and it was amazing! Could you do this with apples?
Sounds delicious!
Made this for Easter brunch yesterday. Received rave reviews! So so good. Thank you Sabrina!
Yay! So happy to hear everyone loved it!
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!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
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!!!
I love that you didn’t need any of your backups, haha! So glad everyone enjoyed it.
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.
Sounds amazing, thanks for the tip! So glad you all enjoyed it!
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!
So sorry I’m just now seeing this. No tweaks have been made so I really hope you enjoyed it!
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.
You’re welcome, Evelyn!
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!
So glad you loved it, thank you for coming back to leave a review! And on Christmas day, I so appreciate it. 🙂
I have made this twice now delicious dinner ?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
A winner with guests! I love it, too. I added toasted almond slices to the top after baking. Thanks!
Sounds delicious!
How many SP per serving?
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.
Could this be stored overnight and baked next morning if I wanted to?
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!
Looks so delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
This looks decadent and delicious!
Thank you!
I would love this for breakfast!
It’s so good Krista!
My family would love to have this for Easter brunch!
Thanks Dee!
Love that this version doesn’t have the overnight soaking time!
Thank you! It’s great to have options when you have a craving for it right then and now!
What an amazing weekend brunch idea!