Easy French Toast Bake with no overnight chilling has cinnamon, brown sugar, and buttery French bread perfect for your family or a crowd.
This Breakfast Recipe has all the familiar flavors of your favorite French Toast, and is designed to feed a crowd all at once. Just like Sheet Pan Pancakes, this recipe will have your family drizzling warm maple syrup in no time. For a savory to add to the feast jump over to my Breakfast sausage croissant casserole!
Sabrina’s Easy French Toast Bake
Easy French Toast Bake takes half the effort of making individual slices of french toast, and this breakfast will still be the perfect, warm, inviting, family-friendly meal you’ll love throwing together quickly on the weekend. One of the great things about this recipe, is if you have some cream or half and half in your fridge pretty much everything else you likely have in your pantry. This is a great recipe for using up any bread that is about to go stale, and give it new life as a warm, comforting breakfast.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread , I also routinely use Texas Toast
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream , half and half would work too
- 1 cup brown sugar , divided
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon , divided
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , cold and cut into small squares
Instructions
- 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, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Chop the bread into 3/4-inch to 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.
Video
Nutrition
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Table of Contents
About this Recipe
The warm, cozy flavors of this breakfast casserole are perfect for a special holiday breakfast, or you could also make Pumpkin French Toast Bake during the fall! Either way, the crusty and soft French bread will soak up the flavors of sweet spices, and be toasted to perfection with a buttery eggy crust. Serve this easy French toast casserole alongside some simple scrambled eggs and Fruit Salad, or make life even easier with an Oven Baked Omelet.
Ingredient Notes
- Maple Syrup: You will love serving this with real maple syrup. I like to use organic, real maple syrup and I find Trader Joe’s brand to be the best price. I have some on hand at all times, if I can.
- Nutmeg: The flavor of whole Nutmeg nuts is completely different than the pre-ground variety and adds another dimension to baked goods. Keep one in an airtight container or zip-top bag in your spice rack, then take it out and freshly shave it with a microplane or the smallest holes of a box grater when a recipe calls for it.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- 9×13-inch Baking Pan: Such a useful baking pan to have in your arsenal, especially one with high sides and even-baking. A good pan of this size will be consistently useful.
How to Store
- Serve: To keep it fresh, you shouldn’t leave any leftover French Toast at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: Once it’s cooled, cover the dish or put it in another airtight container. Properly sealed, the breakfast bake will stay good in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freeze: To keep your French Toast Bake longer, store it in the freezer. It will stay good for up to 3 months.
Variations
- Bread: Any bread with a nice crust will work well such as sourdough, brioche, baguette, or challah.
- Spices: Add additional favorite warm spices such as clove, ginger, anise, or Pumpkin Pie Spice.
- Protein: Make a sweet and savory Bake by adding in crumbled bacon or sausage.
Related Recipes
More French Toast Recipes
Photos used in previous versions of this post.
SO good! I used a sourdough loaf that needed to get eaten up. I substituted the brown sugar and white sugar with 3/4c maple syrup and it turned out great! I may go up to a cup of syrup next time. I had to remove 4Tbsp of milk mixture to make sure it wasn’t soggy. I also excluded brown sugar in the crumble and just drizzled it with more maple syrup at the end! This was delicious! Thank you!
Appreciated your photo and feedback, Julia and thanks for the five star review!
Amazing recipe – delicious with challah too. I have been making this for years and it is always a hit!!
Thank you Susan for the kind words!
How big is a “loaf of French bread” or a “loaf of Texas toast”? Weights would help here.
Point taken Steve. Did a bit of research…
Texas loaf – approximately 20 – 24 oz.
French bread – 1 – 2 pounds.
Hope that helps.
Made this today and it was a hit! We have a few picky eaters, kids and grandkids, and everyone loved it! I’ll definitely be making this again. Great for a crowd.
Sounds like your French Toast was a big hit Carolyn! Thanks for letting us know and thank you for the five star review!
I have made this many times. My family loves it….soooo good. Thanks!
You’re welcome Lee and thanks for the five star review!
Can you make this recipe overnight leave in fridge and then bake next morning?
This is my favorite recipe for French toast. I make it every year for the holidays. We are going away this weekend and they want me to make it however where we are staying does not have an oven. Can I make this in the crockpot?? Please help we leave tomorrow and have all to make and just found out no oven lol
Laura, to be honest I have never tried this in a crockpot. If you give it a try, please let us know how it turns out and enjoy your trip!
Hi,
I’m looking forward to this. What I would like to do is make it, bake it, and freeze it. I saw that you can freeze it, but how do I thaw it/warm it to eat as if I freshly made it? I would like to bake take on a vacation trip without having to take all ingredients and baking dish.
Thank You
Thaw at room temp and if you have access to a microwave, I would plate it and slightly warm it up for just a few seconds to make the bread taste soft once again. Have a lovely vacation.
Made for breakfast and it was a great treat for us! Was almost like having a morning pastry treat/ delicious- and went great with coffee too?
Glad you enjoyed the French Toast Bake Josie and thanks for the five star review.
I don’t understand the part in the instructions where you say “ In a small bowl or a food processor add the flour, remaining brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt and mix.” My issue is the part where it says “remaining brown sugar” because he recipe clearly states only 1/2 cup of brown sugar is used and that 1/2 cup is supposed to be mixed with the other ingredients, meaning there is no brown sugar left! Please let me know – should I add more brown sugar and if so, how much exactly?
1/2 cup of brown sugar is listed twice in the ingredients. Perhaps that will help clear things up. Sorry for the confusion. A total of 1 cup of brown sugar is used in the recipe.
Excellent! Everyone loved it. Going to be a go to recipe for me
Thank you Michele and thanks for the five star review.
Hi, id like to try this in a crock pot, do you have recommendations on how to do that?do you not recommend? Thanks!
I’ve not tried this recipe using a Slow cooker or crock pot.
Deee-LISH! I made this for the first time today and it was amazing! I added crumbled bacon to the top and it was so good! This a new family favorite and it was super easy to make!
We are HUGE fans of bacon around here. Love that idea Lisa!
If I am going to freeze, do I bake before freezing?
Yes, otherwise the bread will get soggy. Let us know how you like it!
Excellent for Christmas Morning
Great idea! Thank you Eva for the five star review.
OMG! This is the BOMB! I totally messed up too and used 2 sticks of butter in the topping because I am an idiot and forgot that 1 stick of butter is a half a cup! but it was fine!! My family LOVED LOVED LOVED this recipe! I used a loaf of sliced brioche bread and I only had six large eggs but everything worked out. Thank you SO much!
Your comments made me smile! Thank you Anne and thanks for the five star review.
Can you let it sit overnight
Bread would get soggy I’m afraid.
So good, quick and easy to throw together in the morning!
Yep, we think so too. Thanks Sara, and thank you for the 5 star review.
Turned out great! Big hit at our family beach vacation .
How fun! So glad the family enjoyed their French Toast Bake. Everything tastes better at the beach.
Delicious! I baked 40 minutes and it came out perfectly.
Great to hear Shanita and thanks so much for the 5 star review!
Awesome! Third Easter in row that it’s on the menu!