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!
We would definitely eat this for brinner! French toast is the hubby’s favorite so I’m sure he would swoon over this.
French toast is often a special occasion food in my family, getting this as Breakfast Treat for weekend, with no extra work!! yes please! thanks for sharing a good idea!
You are very welcome 🙂
I could not do what you do every week with all the extra curriculars. I’d go INSANE. This girl needs her relax time. With french toast!
Yeah. I pretty much am insane. 🙂
I feel for you. My kids were in sports too so we were always on the run, no sleep in days at all. It was a crazy time. But so much fun. I look back now and wish I was still running around with both of them. I hate that my son is away at school. Every single day without him is weird, you never get used to it. Can you tell it’s the holidays blues season? Ha. I just want him home so we can all decorate the tree together. It’s the little things. Okay, enough, I’m bumming my own self out. Oy.
Okay on to this recipe. I cannot wait to try this one. I love easy overnight recipes. They are the key to a happy morning. Love the photos. The one of you pouring the syrup over had my stomach growling.
Awww, I love your nostalgia 🙂 And I know I’ll be the same way too, cause my oldest is a senior in HS this year and it’s already making me sad 🙂
I love lazy morning breakfasts 🙂 I also love the comics in the photos…such a cute idea!
Hahaha, I love the comics in the photos too…it gives me something to chuckle at during a photo shoot 🙂
I have yet to try an overnight type casserole! This would be perfect for Christmas morning!
If you do any, you MUST try this. OMG it’s so delicious. 🙂 (not biased or anything, haha)
French toast is my four year old’s favorite food, hands down. The second is waffles. Can’t wait to give your casserole a try as I know she’ll give it rave reviews!
My recipe tomorrow is a French Toast Casserole 🙂 How fitting! I swear, always!
Yours looks gorgeous, pinned, and I want it for breakfast!
ALWAYS 🙂 I already pinned your french toast this morning, Yummers!!!
I should make this casserole for my children. They will love it!
French toast is one of my favorite things to have for a special breakfast! I love your overnight version, such a time saver!
You can’t go wrong with Breakfast for supper any day of the week! Love this french toast!
Umm this looks like the most amazing french toast in the history of french toast!!! Totally want to make this for Christmas morning!!!
we go through crazy amounts of eggs – good thing er have chickens 🙂 and I would LOVE this casserole any time of day
We eat SO MANY EGGS and there are just 2 of us, so I can’t even imagine how many you guys go through! Overnight French toast is one of my favorite recipes. It’s like waking up in a bed and breakfast!
Oh I definitely need this in my life.
This french toast casserole looks utterly delicious! Great photos. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I love this French Toast Casserole!! WE totally eat breakfast for dinner around here to and this would really fit the bill!! Pinned! 🙂
I hope things will calm down and you will have a chance to relax soon. We adore French toast so this casserole sounds perfect! Love that it’s an overnight dish!
Don’t you sometimes wonder what you did with all of your time before you had kids? Crazy how busy life is, wouldn’t trade it for anything, but the occasional lazy Saturday morning would be nice. Especially if I had this breakfast waiting for me!
Simmers hours are brutal! I don’t envy you, but I know what you about being too busy! This is why we do breakfast for dinner too! This will be added to the rotation, looks so good!