Overnight French Toast Casserole. Prep ahead of time and wake up to a sweet breakfast casserole, swirled with cinnamon and covered in pecans!
Love gooey breakfast recipes? Try our easy Monkey Bread today! Readers also love our cinnamon rolls, for good reason!
Why this Recipe Works
Everyone loves homemade french toast. But those of us responsible for getting the family breakfast on the table do NOT love having to prep and cook individual slices of french toast before we’ve even had our first sip of coffee.
That’s why Overnight French Toast Bake is a lifesaver.
- Made from cubed bread layered in a casserole dish, this easy french toast casserole gets prepped the night before with whisked eggs, butter and spices.
- In the morning, just pop it in the oven and let it bake. Put on a pot of coffee and enjoy the tantalizing aroma of cinnamon, sugar and pecans wafting through your house! Scoop a portion on to your plate, drizzle it with maple syrup and start your day right.
Overnight French Toast Casserole is easy enough for any casual family breakfast but delicious and impressive enough for a special occasion.
Try our berry french toast casserole for a fruity twist, perfect for holidays! OR give our pumpkin french toast a try next! Topped with pecans it’s a delicious treat.
Ingredient Notes
- Bread – Cinnamon swirl bread is my favorite but any loaf of white sandwich bread will do.
- Milk – Use any milk you prefer. Whole, skim or even nondairy milk are all good choices.
- Eggs – You’ll need 6 regular sized eggs for the french toast casserole.
- Spices – Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves make the casserole smell–and taste–amazing!
- Vanilla – Store bought or homemade vanilla extract work great!
- Pecans – You can leave them out if preferred but I LOVE the crunch and nutty flavor. For best flavor, toast the pecans first!
Easy Instructions
First, cube the bread and place it in a baking dish. Pour the combined eggs, milk, spices, and vanilla over the bread.
Melt butter in a saucepan, then whisk in the brown sugar. Stir in the chopped nuts and pour the mixture over the bread.
You can bake it right away or cover and stash it in the fridge overnight. Bake for 25 minutes covered with foil, then uncover and bake an addition 20.
Serve plain or with all your favorite french toast toppings! Try our homemade cinnamon sugar mix or top it with buttermilk syrup! Gingerbread syrup would be a delicious addition for the holidays too!
Tips and Tricks
- Change up the bread for different flavors. Cinnamon Swirl bread is divine as the base for the french toast casserole, but I’ve also loved this with raisin bread or challah (a hearty egg-washed bread).
- Stale bread is okay. The bread cubes will be saturated with the egg mixture and left to soak it up all night long. French toast is the perfect way to use up day-old homemade bread or a loaf of store bought bread that’s a little past its prime.
- Nut substitutes. Swap the pecans for walnuts or slivered almonds for a tasty twist.
Recipe FAQs
You can prep Overnight French Toast Casserole as much as a day in advance, if kept well chilled and covered.
No, the french toast doesn’t have to chill overnight. The recipe works perfectly even if you bake it right away. It’s so easy to toss together that I’ve made it at the last minute plenty of times with amazing results!
The best bread to use in french toast casserole is a white bread. My family prefers to use cinnamon swirl bread, but it’s delicious with everything from plain old sandwich bread to baguette. That’s one of the many things I love about this recipe!
More Easy Breakfast Recipes
- Eggnog French Toast Bake
- Waffles Recipe
- Sausage and Gravy
- Blueberry Muffins
- Swedish Almond cake
- Baked Chocolate Donuts
Favorite Breakfast Dishes
See all Breakfast and Brunch recipes
Overnight French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 loaf Cinnamon swirl bread 16 ounce, cubed
- 6 large eggs
- 1 ¾ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Place cubed bread in a 2 qt baking dish or 13×9. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over cubed bread.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter. Whisk in brown sugar and heat over low until melted. Remove from heat. Add in chopped pecans. Pour over bread.
- Cover dish with foil and refrigerate overnight (or if desired you can bake immediately).
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes with foil on. Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes. ENJOY
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Overnight French Toast Casserole makes weekend breakfasts as easy as they are delicious! Throw the ingredients in a casserole dish, stash it in the fridge and it’s ready to bake first thing in the morning–even before that first sip of coffee!
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Made this for my husband and I and we loved it. It will definitely be on the Sunday breakfast rotation and a must when friends visit. I used the left over cinnamon swirl bread I purchased from our local bakehouse and it worked perfectly.
I have made this and my family loved it. I am wanting to make for a weekend away and was wondering if I could make ahead and freeze, if so do I bake first?
Have been looking for overnight breakfast recipes & this would be nice. Could this be doubled & made in a 9″x13″ aluminum foil pan & for how long? I would be fixing this for 10+ people. I also am from Ohio. You may have visited a county away?
I love this recipe!! I want it to be our traditional Christmas breakfast. Thanks for the recipe! It’s delicious and definitely a time saver 🙂
I was just wondering…I think this looks and sounds AMAZING, but every time in the past that I have tried making overnight casseroles with bread in them, the result was mushy. No one in my family likes a mushy texture, so they were flops for us. This looks crunchy around the edges, but is the bread mushy in the middle/on the bottom? If so, I’d better stick with regular old French toast. 😉
Yeah, the inside of the casserole is definitely soft. But that is my favorite part of french toast, the center 🙂
Made this this weekend. Delicious. Reminded me of sticky buns. Easy. It is sweet, gooey goodness. My husband who isn’t one for many sweets had 2 helpings and again the next day.
Sticky buns! Yes, great comparison. So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe (as did the husband!) 🙂
Hi Aimee – I entertain two to four times a year and lean toward brunches. I love being able to prepare my food the day before. Therefore, I am always on the search for unique brunch casseroles. I made the Cinnamon French Toast Casserole yesterday for 25 friends and family. WOW, it was great. I asked our friends and family to critique the “new” casserole and every one of them loved it … it was a hit and it is a keeper!! Thank you.
Happy New Year Marilyn! I’m so glad your friends and family loved the new recipe!! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know 🙂
Hi Aimee! I just wanted to let you know that I’m featuring this amazing recipe in my post in order to make it for my families, this is ourcouponss.com, thank you for your sharing.
So I made 2 yesterday. i made some changes due to family preferences and I changed the light brown sugar to white sugar for my dad do not like it, feather more, Apple pie spice in place of cinnamon. Yum yum!!
thanks
ooooh who knew my state was such an egg producer! woot Ohio lol. This french toast casserole looks SO simple and comforting-that syrup shot…mmmmm
Yay Ohio 🙂
omg, that syrup shot!! It has me just dying for a big, warm plate of this right now!!!
I am out of the house early on the weekends too. Sometimes we get to have a more made-up breakfast though, and I love to have sweet goodies like this casserole.
We love having french toast casseroles ready for busy weekends! This one looks great!