French Toast Casserole makes the perfect brunch recipe. You can even make it the night before and throw it in the oven the next morning. Everyone will ask for seconds!
This French Toast Casserole is basically magical. It comes together with minimal ingredients, it can be made overnight, and it tastes like heaven on a plate. It is the perfect recipe for a holiday brunch, but if you wanted to make it every single weekend, I would not judge you.
Oh my goodness, Lisa!!! Another easy and delicious recipe. Definitely a keeper!
How to Make Baked French Toast Casserole
This is a brief overview of how to make this delicious recipe. For the full recipe with all of the measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Dry the bread. Just like in regular French Toast, dry bread is the key. Read more about how to do this below.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, whole milk, and vanilla.
- Make the streusel topping. Combine the butter, oats, and brown sugar. You can read more on this below.
- Add the bread to the egg batter. Make sure that the bread is fully covered by the mixture.
- Put it all together and bake. Pour the bread and egg mixture into a greased baking dish. Top with the streusel and bake. Serve and enjoy.
Drying Bread for French Toast Casserole
Drying bread before making French toast or bread pudding is key to helping the bread soak up the egg batter. The drier it is, the more it can soak it up.
You can dry out the bread by cutting it up and setting it out overnight. Or you can pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. If you put it in the oven, make sure to flip it once during baking so that it is dried out all around.
Bread for French Toast Casserole
The best bread to make this French Toast Casserole recipe is French Bread. Challah, sourdough bread, and brioche are two more really great options for this recipe.
I like buying a 16 ounce loaf from the grocery store. Once it is cut up and dried out, it will give you 10 cups of dry bread cubes, which is perfect for this recipe.
Streusel Topping for French Toast Casserole
One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the streusel topping. Typically streusel is made by combining flour, butter, and brown sugar. In this recipe, we are using quick cooking oats instead of the flour to change things up a bit.
Here are a few tips and tricks:
- Make sure the butter is cold. This can make it harder to combine, but it will help it hold up to baking.
- If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use two forks. (See my recommendation below.)
- If you would prefer flour over oats, you can replace the 1/2 cup oats with 2/3 cup all purpose flour.
- If you only have rolled oats, you can give them a quick chop in your blender to get the consistency of instant oats.
Make the Night Before
It is easy to make this an overnight French toast casserole and put it together the night before the night before. When making this the night before, there is no need to first dry the bread because there will be plenty of time for the bread to soak up the egg custard. Follow these simple steps:
- Follow the recipe as written through step three.
- Cover the casserole dish and put it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- When ready to bake, make the streusel topping and add it to the casserole.
- Bake the French toast casserole uncovered for 40 minutes.
Freezing
If you want to prepare this in advance, you can freeze this French toast casserole after pouring it all in the baking dish. (After you have completed step three in the recipe card below.)
Wrap the casserole dish at least two times with aluminum foil and place in the freezer for up to three months.
Proceed with caution when using glass or ceramic baking dishes. I have had baking dishes shatter when putting them directly from the freezer into the oven. You are better off using an aluminum baking dish if you want to freeze it.
When ready to serve, bake the casserole for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Then add the streusel topping and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
Variations
There are so many great spins on this simple recipe.
- Berry French Toast Casserole: We add frozen berries (my pick is strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries) to this recipe for a really fun and delicious spin.
- Apple French Toast Casserole: Adding apple pie filling is really the way to go if you want to make a fall spin on this amazing breakfast casserole.
- Cranberry French Toast Casserole: This one is my pick for Christmas morning. A little homemade cranberry sauce makes this so festive.
Substitiutions
If you have someone with dietary restrictions there are a few tweaks you can make.
- Make this gluten-free. Swapping out the bread for gluten-free bread is such an easy fix. You will want to double check your oats to ensure that they were processed in a gluten-free plant.
- Make this dairy-free. You can swap out the whole milk for almond milk or coconut milk. You will want to either skip the streusel topping or swap the butter for a dairy-free butter.
Other Brunch Recipes
Not sure what to serve with this? Any of these ideas would be perfect with this great recipe.
If you make this easy baked French Toast Casserole or any of my other recipes, please let me know! I love hearing from you.
French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 16 ounces French bread cut into cubes, and dried, see note (453.6 grams)
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups whole milk (454 grams or 473.2 ml)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Topping
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 grams)
- 1 cup brown sugar packed (213 grams)
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats (44.5 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.16 ounces French bread
- In a large bowl combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk until all the eggs are fully broken down and the mixture is smooth.8 eggs, 2 cups whole milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Toss the egg mixture with the bread until all of the bread is fully coated. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- In a small bowl, using two forks or a pastry cutter, combine the butter, oats, and brown sugar.1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
- Top with the streusel, and bake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes or until the casserole begins to pull away from the sides of the baking dish.
- Cut, serve, and enjoy with powdered sugar and maple syrup.
Notes
Sarah McElroy says
Hi Lisa,
Should the butter be cold or soft for the French Bread Casserole?
Thanks, can’t wait to have this for Easter Breakfast.
Hi Sarah! The butter should be cold to cut with the other ingredients and make tat nice crumbly top.
Karen says
Oh my goodness, Lisa!!! Another easy and delicious recipe. Definitely a keeper!
So glad to hear, Karen!
Sheila says
How big should the bread cubes be?
You can sort of see in the video, but a little less than 1 inch by 1 inch.
Linda says
Everyone enjoyed the French Toast Casserole even when I had to make it dairy free (my daughter has a severe dairy allergy). I used Almond milk and margarine. It turned out great! I served it with crispy bacon and of course lashings of maple syrup. Delicious! Thanks once again Lisa.
I’m so happy it was such a hit, Linda! Thank you for letting me know those substitutions worked! I’m sure that will come in handy for someone else too.