Easy French Toast Bake with no overnight chilling and all your favorite French Toast flavors you can serve to your family or a large crowd. Perfect with warm maple syrup.
Easy French Toast Bake may seem like an odd choice for everyone making their New Year’s resolutions this week (and let’s be honest since this is the start of the workweek a lot of people set January 3rd as their official start date!) but this breakfast is the perfect warm, inviting, family friendly meal you’ll love throwing together quickly on the weekend.
Or if you’re looking at this and it is PUMPKIN season, you’ll love my Pumpkin French Toast Bake.
Sure, it has sugar, and butter and eggs. It also saves you from standing at the stovetop cooking each slice individually in the cold. See how I am thinking about you all here? The smell in the kitchen, the warmth from the oven, this is really the perfect January morning breakfast.
Plus… ? I just love staring at how pretty it is. And it tastes even better than it looks! 
If this Easy French Toast Bake needed any more selling, my favorite thing about it is if you have some cream or half and half in your fridge pretty much everything else is a pantry/normal use item. Which means there is a pretty solid chance you don’t have to go to the store this morning before making breakfast. 
Saving you from the cold, yet again 😉
Tools Used in the Making of this Easy 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 1/3 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.
Recipe
Easy French Toast Bake
- Yield: 12
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Course: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
- Author: Sabrina Snyder
Easy French Toast Bake with no overnight chilling and all your favorite French Toast flavors you can serve to your family or a large crowd. Perfect with warm maple syrup.
Ingredients
- 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
- 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
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, add the eggs, milk, heavy cream, sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Chop the bread into 3/4 - 1 inch cubes and put it in the bowl with the egg mixture and toss well until all the liquid is absorbed.
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.
Pour the bread and egg mixture into the pan, 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 Information
Yield: 12 , Amount per serving: 374 calories, Calories: 374g, Carbohydrates: 47g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 147mg, Sodium: 288mg, Potassium: 174mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 25g, Vitamin A: 605g, Calcium: 106g, Iron: 2.1g
All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert.
I changed this up a bit. First there are only 2 of us so I cut the recipe in 1/2. I had homemade sourdough rye that needed to be used up asap and used so I cut that up and used that for the bread. I also had leftover baked apples that I mushed up and added to the egg mixture, then added walnuts to the topping. UMMMMM GOOD!
Is french bread the same as a baguette?
French bread is long shaped bread with rounded edges and yes, baguettes are one type.
Can this recipe be prepared the night before and cooked the next morning? Thanks you!
Yes 🙂
I’ve made this every weekend since I’ve found it. So delicious! I’m traveling this weekend and plan to take ingredients with me to make. To save time, I’m wondering if I can put the mixture that coats the bread (milk, heavy whipping cream, eggs, etc.)in a container already mixed up and coat the bread in it when ready to cut down on prep time. Would this work? Thanks for a great recipe!!
Yes 🙂
This sound like exactly what I’m looking for. Thank you! Can’t wait to try this. I do have a question—did you dry your bread overnight before mixing with egg mixture?
If your bread is too moist, you can dry it out in the oven first. Enjoy!
The flavor is pretty good. Very sugary, it’s more of a coffee cake. I would add less milk next time, the bottom never dried out, it was mushy and I used challah bread and double checked I did everything right.
Hi Sabrina,
thanks for an easy bake recipe for French toast casserole. It was easy to follow and it didn’t take long at all. I was very pleased and the taste was perfect. Just like the doctor order?
Glad to hear it!
Can you divide out the ingredients up top by which is for the bread and which is for the topping?
The topping is 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup unsalted butter. Hope this helps!
Do you use dark or light brown sugar?
I used light brown sugar but you can use either depending how deep you’d like the molasses flavor to be.
Hi! I’m eager to try this recipe. Looks amazing I’ve! I’ve seen that some people said it freezes well. Would I bake and then freeze or freeze before baking? I’m thinking freeze before baking but just wanted to check!
Thank you!!
If you freeze it before baking, wait to add the crumble until right before baking. Enjoy!
This is awesome. I made this months ago but forgot to save the recipe link. So happy I found it again…. for a decadent twist… use cinnamon swirl bread and nutella. I do this when I catch the store deli brand marked down. The bread is too thin to make French toast so I simply used the nutella to make sandwiches with the bread. A thin layer of nutella. Cube the sandwiches and follow the recipe exactly from there. It was amazing out of the freezer as well. I used the aluminum pans from dollar store to freeze and just popped it in the oven. Now that I found it again, I know what’s for dinner tonight..lol
As a cook at a cattle ranch, there are never any left overs when i make this dish. Also they never use syrup, the flavor is that pleasing
I made this for my husband on Father’s Day. It was so easy and impressed everyone. After his first bite, my son asked me to make another one for his birthday later in the week. I used brioche and half and half instead of the cream. It turned out perfect!
This was terrific. I loved it. So much flavor. It was quick and really easy to make. Thanks so much for sharing.
What a wonderful breakfast I had. This dish was awesome, quick and easy to make, and it tasted great. I loved it. Thanks so much for sharing. BK
There’s no temperature at which to bake, listed in the instructions or recipe! Can this please be fixed? Thank you!
In step one it states to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe! I previously used an overnight recipe and the consistency was horrible! No one liked it! However, I was determined to make this because it sounds so good and it included everything I liked. When I read that overnight soaking can cause bread to be soggy and it’s better texture if you make it the same day. I found this recipe and I am a hero in my house again! I cut everything in half because I didn’t have a lot of eggs to use and didn’t want to waste them if the recipe turned out horrible. It was delicious!! Thank you!
My daughter made this for me this past mothers day. It was absolutely delicious!!
Worth taking in the calories!! 100% My son said it was fire!!
can you half this recipe? if so how long would you recommend cooking?
You’ll need to use a smaller pan and depending on the size, it might only need about 30 minutes in the oven. I suggest keeping an eye on it. Enjoy!
How long do you soak the bread?
Can you use brioche bread with this or does it have to be French Bread?
Brioche would work too.
This was a hit with my three kids that can’t agree on anything. I served it with a spoonful of no sugar added cherry pie filling and whipped topPing. I will most certainly make this again!
Love this recipe, the taste is wonderful. Freezes well.
What’s the best way to reheat the leftovers? This is delicious!! This is a new favorite for our family!! Thank you!!
I like to pop mine back into the oven until warmed or even placing a portion into a toaster oven to help keep it a bit crisp. So glad you love it so much!
I’m wanting to make this for my daughter’s birthday, and was thinking of adding some fresh blackberries & raspberries. Will I need to adjust the recipe at all to do that?
No, that sounds amazing!
Mine came out extremely eggy. It was like a scrambled egg sandwich.
Sounds like your bread might have been too fresh. Try drying out your bread in the oven first if it’s too moist.
Sounds great. Thank im in the uk. A cheaper you said French bread loaf? Is that a baguette then? I see you mention brioche was ok too. Sometimes US to English gets confusing. I so is a French bread loaf a brioche or a baguette?
I’m sure it’s great either way but thanks for all the great recipes
I would recommend using brioche.
We had this yesterday for Easter brunch. It tasted amazing and was easy to put together. I assembled the bread the night before and let it soak in the fridge. The next day I added the topping and baked! This just became a family favorite. Thank you.