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Baked French Toast

What if you could make your French toast (or at least most of it) the night before? This cinnamon-y baked French toast recipe is your favorite brunch treat’s bread pudding-ish cousin.

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Baked French Toast recipe in a casserole dish with a wooden spoon

Did Someone Say Make-Ahead French Toast? CHALLAH!

We’re going out on a limb here and declaring challah bread to be the greatest of all breads. Eggy, fluffy and addictively buttery, challah is good on its own, but it makes the best French toast of all time, too. Every little air pocket fills up with the creamy egg custard, and makes each cinnamon-spiced bite gloriously pudding-like. There’s only one problem with French toast. No, actually, there are three problems with French toast. Please allow us to elaborate.

Baked French Toast squares stacked on a plate with maple syrup

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The Official TMP List of Problems with French Toast (and How to Solve Them)

Everyone knows that French toast is delicious. There’s no problem there. If you’re ordering it in a restaurant, you’re set. However, when it comes to making French toast at home, you start to see a few issues. Making French toast at home is annoying because:

  1. We like to sleep in until the last possible moment. Especially on the weekends and holidays—which are prime French toast-making mornings!
  2. We really don’t like to start the day by creating a ton of dirty dishes.
  3. We’d like everyone’s breakfast to be ready at the same time. Unless you have a giant skillet and a small family, you’ll be cooking French toast pieces one and a time—in other words, some people’s breakfast will be hot and fresh out of the skillet, and others will have been sitting around for a while when they finally get to eat it.

But don’t worry! This breakfast French toast casserole recipe solves all of your French toast problems. Read on!

challah bread cut into pieces in a baking dish
baked french toast batter with cinnamon and milk in a bowl with a whisk
french toast casserole in a baking dish getting ready to go into the oven to bake.
fresh baked french toast in a baking dish with cinnamon and challah bread

Baked French Toast is the Solution to All of French Toast’s Problems.

Oh yes—you can have your French toast and sleep in, too! Meet BAKED French toast. AKA breakfast-y bread pudding. Spiced simply with cinnamon and made with challah bread—the best bread of all the breads—this simple recipe can be made the night before, and baked in the A.M. making your morning both totally indulgent and stress-free. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

  • Challah bread
  • Butter
  • Eggs
  • Heavy cream
  • Whole milk
  • Vanilla extract
  • Cinnamon
french toast casserole in a baking dish hot out of the oven
french toast bread pudding with maple syrup and cinnamon made with challah bread

How To Make This Baked French Toast Casserole

We’ve taken the rich, comforting flavors of challah French toast, and meshed them together with a classic bread pudding recipe to make an easy make-ahead breakfast. Whether you’re making it for a regular old lazy Saturday or a fully-festive Christmas morning, this overnight French toast bake is sure to impress your friends and family, AND it’s easy enough that you’ll get to relax and enjoy breakfast right along with them. Here’s how to make it:

  1. Use your hands to tear up a loaf of challah bread into even-ish pieces.
  2. Scatter the bread in a greased baking dish.
  3. Whisk the milky cream-and-egg mixture.
  4. Pour the custard over the bread.
  5. Bake!
Baked French Toast recipe in a casserole dish with a wooden spoon

Tools You’ll Need:

Make Ahead Breakfast Recipes to Perk Up Winter Mornings

Serving up a big, generous breakfast makes you really look like you have your life together, doesn’t it? These make-ahead recipes will make you look like a morning person (even if you’re totally, totally not):

french toast bake made with challah bread with powdered sugar and maple syrup
baked challah french toast on a plate with maple syrup

We Hope Our Easy Cinnamon French Toast Bake Makes Your Day!

There’s nothing like starting a long lazy day with a big, easy breakfast. Let us know how you like our french toast casserole recipe! Snap a photo and share it on Instagram with the tag @themodernproper and #themodernproper so we can see it (and maybe share it, too!).

Baked French Toast

  • Serves: 6
  • Prep Time:  10 min
  • Cook Time:  45 min
  • Calories: 319

Ingredients

  • 8 cups challah bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 tbsp butter, for greasing pan
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Prepare a 9X13 baking dish by greasing or line with parchment paper.
  3. Scatter the challah bread and evenly into the baking dish.
  4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, whole milk, vanilla and cinnamon until fully combined. Pour the wet ingredients over the bread.
  5. On the center rack, bake for 45 minutes to an hour until cooked through.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories319
  • Protein14 g
  • Carbohydrates20 g
  • Total Fat15 g
  • Dietary Fiber2 g
  • Cholesterol235 mg
  • sodium306 mg
  • Total Sugars5 g

Baked French Toast

Questions & Reviews

Join the discussion below.

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  • Lenita Firth

    if it's an overnight French toast recipe, why would the first instruction be to turn on the oven?

    You don't have to make it the night before but you can. Just turn the oven on when you're ready to bake. Hope you enjoy Lenita.

  • Dana

    Please add amount of vanilla extract to recipe above

    added! Thanks for catching!

  • Jodi Steinbauer

    Can you use Half and half instead of heavy cream and whole milk. If so, How much half and half should you use. Thank you.

    You sure can! It should be the same amount as the heavy cream.

  • Kaitlin

    @themodernproper, if you’re making the night before, do you pour the wet ingredients on prior to refrigerating or wait until the morning to pour over before popping in the oven?

    I would either bake it ahead and then reheat it, or just prep the bread and batter separately. Then put it together the morning of and bake it. Hope that helps!

  • Nova

    Can I expect one loaf of challah come to about 8 cups? I'm not sure I know how to estimate this ahead of time.

    Depends on how big the loaf is. I'm not sure what your bakery sells. If it is at least 1 lb, it should be at least 8 cups.

  • Tresa Jones

    Best French toast ever! It’s a Christmas morning tradition now!

    What! So happy about this!