Overnight French Toast is an easy breakfast for a crowd made without standing over the stove but still leaves you with the crunchy french toast you love in just 30 minutes!
We love easy breakfasts like this Easy French Toast Bake made with bread cubes and an easy custard and Breakfast Casserole made with eggs, bacon and hash browns for the holidays. With a quick mix of just a few ingredients you’ll have a house full of happy guests.
overnight Baked French Toast
This recipe is supposed to be a quick alternative to the classic French Toast that requires active cooking time. With Christmas coming up quick we’re all about easy recipes we can bake ahead for a crowd and the crispy surface area of these french toast slices are basically the best part of this recipe and what sets it apart from most casseroles.
If you have a big crowd you may want to make a couple of pans of the recipe. You can even bake it off in a baking sheet since we aren’t using a ton of liquid in the recipe.
Fun overnight french toast flavor mix-ins:
- Freeze dried fruit powder: Once you’ve finished those snacks you have all the powder left behind, I use these in all different recipes from oatmeal to baking to waffles. You can add the powder here to flavor the french toast.
- Cocoa Powder/chocolate chips
- Almond Extract: use just 1 teaspoon of almond extract and some sliced almonds for a fun, rich almond flavor.
- Top with cheesecake mixture: cream cheese mixed with powdered sugar and vanilla extract to taste (I do 8 ounces cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla)
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Can you make this overnight french toast today?
Yes, if you want to make the recipe and don’t want to wait so long just make the custard and dip the bread into it letting it soak up all it can before placing it into the pan and baking. If you pour over all the custard it won’t have enough time to soak into all the bread to cook the same way.
We love serving this with fresh fruit, especially if you’re making a fruit salad. If you make your own pancake syrup (we like using the one from these Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Icing) or with a side of bacon or sausage the idea is just to keep things simple and easy.
You can also top the french toast with some chopped nuts and some fresh Easy Whipped Cream.
Tips for Overnight French Toast:
- Use a good thick cut bread, I use a loaf that I can slice for this because pre-sliced bread is just too thin.
- If you want a richer flavor you can dot the top with small pats of butter or brush the top with melted butter.
- You can swap the whole milk for heavy cream for a richer flavor or also tone it down to 1% milk.
- I don’t recommend pulling back too far on the sugar, the brown sugar topping helps to caramelize the top of the french toast too and the texture here really helps to set the recipe apart.
- If you don’t want the french toast to brown too much (I like it as brown as the picture) then cover the top with foil when baking and it will stay soft.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup brown sugar packed (divided)
- 8 large eggs beaten
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 loaf french bread cut into thick slices
Instructions
- Whisk the butter, ½ cup brown sugar, eggs, whole milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
- Arrange the bread in the pan and pour the custard over the bread, then tightly cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees before baking and remove the pan from the refrigerator, sprinkle remaining brown sugar over the pan and baked for 30-35 minutes.
Nutrition
Hi! I made this one time in the past and it seemed like the pieces on top were pretty dry after baking. Should I give it a good stir before I bake it in the AM?
Oh oh. Did you add a little butter before baking or did you happen to cover it while baking? Hope it turns out just the way you want and you enjoy!
Will sourdough bread work in this recipe?
It will have a different taste but it will!
This is such a delicious and easy dish .My whole family loves it! I just received your cookbook, can’t wait to try the recipes. I enjoy all your recipes. Hope you have a Merry and blessed Christmas, hello from Texas ! ?
If I don’t have brown sugar on hand, can I substitute with cane sugar?
I haven’t tested it with cane sugar so I can’t speak to the moisture content of it, but I can’t see it hurting.
Would challah be as good as French bread or will it turn out soggy?
It’ll work. Enjoy!
Excellent! Baked in a 9×9 glass square dish at 350 for 40 minutes. Just added pecan chips.
Would leaving this in the fridge for 24 hours be too long?
You should still be ok. You just don’t want it to dry out.
If you use the Cheesecake mixture topping, when do you put it on?
On top before baking. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
What size pan
9×13
Do you overlap the bread slices as shown in the picture or lay flat?
I overlapped them as shown in the picture. Enjoy!
What temperature is the oven on. I put it together last night ready to bake.
So sorry about that! You should bake at 350 degrees.
Hi, Sabrina,
What temp does this delicious dish get baked at? 350?
Thanks!
Yes 🙂 Thanks for catching that!
Looks like a delicious breakfast to me! Love how I can prepare this the night before!
Makes the morning easier!
My family loves overnight French toast. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Mallory!
Such an easy and delicious recipe! Perfect for Christmas morning!
This looks so easy and delicious! It would be perfect on Christmas morning!
Definitely!
This french toast bake is amazing! I love any recipe that I can make ahead & save me time in the morning.
Yes! I need all the help I can get in the morning too!
What temperature do you bake this recipe??
350 degrees 🙂