Overnight French Toast Bake

I am a huge breakfast fan, so a breakfast idea like this overnight French toast bake makes me incredibly excited. Fragrant with the aroma of cinnamon and rich with the flavor of a baked custard, this baked French toast recipe is everything breakfast dreams are made of.

Overnight French Toast Bake

In general, I love anything sweet that I can call breakfast and get away with. Give me a chocolate croissant or blueberry muffin with my morning coffee and I’m a happy girl.

So, knowing this, it’s really no surprise that I am obsessed with this overnight French toast. It’s one of my favorite breakfast dishes because of both its fabulous taste and entertaining-geared simplicity.

Traditional french toast requires you stand over a frying pan and fry each piece of toast for you and your guests.

With this overnight French toast bake, you can prep everything the night before and then assemble your prepped ingredients in one large pie dish or individual ramekins.

By baking the toast in a pie dish or individual ramekins, you’re not only saving yourself the extra effort of frying individual French toast, but you’re also giving yourself the chance to actually enjoy your breakfast with the rest of your family and friends.

Plus, don’t you think French toast looks darling when its in ramekins or a pretty pie dish?

Overnight French Toast with French Bread

I’ve made this dish for holiday brunches, Mother’s Day brunches, and weekends where I’m entertaining guests, and every single person always raves over this.

The house becomes filled with the smell of cinnamon, sugar, and butter as your toast bakes in the sweet egg and milk batter it had previously been immersed in and has now absorbed.

When choosing the bread for this overnight baked French toast recipe, you want to choose something hefty and sturdy. Because the bread will be soaked in the custard batter overnight, it’s important that the bread can stand up to it.

When making pain perdu, or regular French toast, my preferred choice of bread is brioche. Brioche is a fluffy, enriched bread classified as a type of viennoiserie.

Brioche is very delicate and must only be briefly dipped in French toast batter before it’s fried. It doesn’t do well being completed soaked in the batter and left to soak overnight.

Try it and you’ll get a soggy mess!

Instead, for an overnight French toast bake like this, you’ll want to use a crusty loaf of French bread. Whether it’s a baguette or a loaf, go for something with a thick crusty exterior that can hang out in the batter overnight and not be dissolved by morning.

Assembling the French Toast

The next morning, when you take the pie dish or ramekins filled with custard-soaked bread, you’ll simply add the crumble topping.

The crumble topping, which can also be made ahead of time, consists of butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. This is added on top before the pie dish or ramekins are popped into the oven.

Once the crumble topping has crisped and you’re ready to serve breakfast, feel free to drizzle warm maple syrup over the top of the baked French toast.

Some FAQ’s about making overnight French toast:

Why is my baked French toast soggy?

The most common reason for soggy French toast is using the wrong kind of bread. With baked French toast, you want to use thick, crusty French bread as it is soaked in a custard batter. A soft bread like brioche or challah won’t hold up.

Can you leave French toast out overnight?

French toast should always be kept refrigerated because of the custard batter it’s dipped in. When you’re ready to reheat it, you can pop it back into the oven at 350°F and warm for 15 to 20 minutes.

How do you keep French toast casserole from getting soggy?

Use the right bread! Use day-old crusty French bread for the best results.

How long can you leave French toast mix in the fridge?

If the bread has been placed in the custard batter, then you shouldn’t leave the bread soaked in the batter longer than overnight. If you are simply storing the custard batter on its own in the fridge, then it will keep for 3 – 4 days.

Overnight French Toast Bake

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Refrigerate overnight: 12 hours

Total Time: 13 hours 15 minutes

A delicious and easy make-ahead breakfast idea using French bread soaked in a custard batter overnight and topped with a crisp, crumble topping.

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Ingredients

• 1 Loaf of crusty bread, an artisan French loaf is my favorite
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup brown sugar or white sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

for the crumble topping

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

Instructions

1. Cut French bread into 2-inch cubes. Place bread cubes in ramekins or a large casserole dish/pie dish. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk your eggs, milk, heavy cream, white or brown sugar, and vanilla extract together until smooth. Evenly pour batter over bread chunks. Cover with plastic wrap tightly and place in the fridge overnight.
3. Create your topping for your french toast by whisking the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Drop in the cubed butter and use your hands (or a pastry cutter) to create a crumbled dough (clumps no bigger than the size of peas). Refrigerate in an airtight container.
4. The next morning, place a spoonful or two of the cinnamon crumb topping on top of the bread chunks, then bake at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is nice and crispy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 8 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 672

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