Make Ahead Oven Baked French Toast Recipe + Video

Oven Baked French Toast is perfectly sweet and has the texture of bread pudding. Assemble everything the night before, then bake French toast in the oven the next morning. Perfect for overnight guests, weekend brunch, and holidays!

 

This French Toast bake is simple to make in a baking dish! It’s a great recipe loaded with cinnamon sugar flavor, making it the perfect dish for weekend mornings or even Christmas morning. You’ll love this easy French Toast recipe! 

And if you’re a French toast lover, you’re in for a treat. I’ve given you the step-by-step recipe below to make the perfect breakfast.

This is such an easy way to feed a big family, or to have leftovers for the next day. 

Follow the simple steps on the recipe card below to get started on this baked French toast casserole.

New recipes like this are not only delicious, but they’re fun to make! It tastes just like regular French toast, but fills the whole pan! 

Oven Baked French Toast

This overnight French toast oven casserole is not only easy to make, but the bread has hours and hours to soak up all of that delicious flavor.

Oven baked French toast is so good, you won’t even need to add maple syrup! This makes a great special occasion breakfast, but it’s just as good for a weekend brunch too. 

Don’t need as much? Try this Air Fryer French Toast for a quick and easy breakfast.

Slow Cooker Overnight Breakfast Casserole is a savory alternative that saves you an extra step. Just toss all of the ingredients in the crock the night before and wake up to a delicious breakfast!

To see us make French toast in the oven from start to finish, watch the video in this post!

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• French Bread – Sourdough, French baguette, or your favorite gluten-free bread should all work just fine with this easy baked French toast recipe.
  
  You can honestly use any pieces of bread, so have fun! 
  
•  Pure Vanilla Extract – If you love warm vanilla flavor, try vanilla bean paste or baker’s vanilla instead.
  
• Half and Half – This is a dairy product found in the US that’s made from equal parts whole milk and heavy cream. 
  
  You can make your own mixture at home or even use all milk or all cream if you’d like.
  
• Praline Topping – For a lighter or allergy-friendly option, leave this off the top and serve oven baked French toast with fresh berries or whipped cream instead.
  
  You can also just opt for a brown sugar mixture as well, or even a little bit of pure maple syrup. 

You can easily top with blueberries to turn this into a blueberry French toast casserole! Adding fresh fruit is always a great thing. 

Tips for Making French Toast in the Oven

• Cube the bread

For extra bread pudding texture, slice the French bread for French toast into large cubes instead. 

This way, they’ll be more submerged and will stick together when baked. Scoop into bowls so everyone can get as much or as little as they’d like!

• Too soggy? 

I’ve made adjustments to this French bread oven recipe over the years and found that using less milk creates a better texture. 

You may need to play with the amounts and reduce the liquid further depending on your preferences.

• No need to wait

While refrigerating overnight saves time in the morning, you can easily make this easy baked French toast from start to finish if you’d like! 

Just keep in mind that the bread will be crispier since it won’t have all that time to absorb the liquid.

• Dairy-free option

Instead of butter, use margarine or plant-based baking sticks.

Then, replace the half and half and milk mixture with canned full-fat coconut milk. Shake it well first to combine the liquid with the cream.

Or, combine your choice of soy, cashew, or oat milk with dairy-free heavy cream. Silk makes a small carton that has a very neutral flavor.

How to Store Leftovers

Cover oven baked French toast tightly with plastic wrap or transfer to a sealed container. Refrigerate and use within 3 to 4 days for best results.

Heat individual portions in the microwave or pop the entire pan back in the oven until warmed through.

Freezing French Bread French Toast

We regularly freeze leftovers and they hold up beautifully. Divide into smaller containers with lids or freeze the entire pan for the holidays.

Thaw French bread French toast in the refrigerator overnight and bake uncovered at 350°F for about 10 minutes.

French Toast Oven Recipe FAQ

Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours. 

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Other Easy Breakfast Recipes

Make Ahead Oven Baked French Toast Recipe + Video

Donna Elick

Oven Baked French Toast with praline topping has the texture of bread pudding. Assemble it the night before, then bake it in the morning!

5 stars from 2 reviews

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Tried this recipe?Please comment and review!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Chill Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Method Oven

Servings 8

Equipment

• 9×13-inch casserole dish
• cutting board
• bread knife
• mixing bowl
• whisk

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ butter, for preparing baking dish
• ▢ 1 loaf French bread
• ▢ 8 large eggs
• ▢ 1 cup half and half
• ▢ 1/2 cup milk
• ▢ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste if you want to really jazz it up
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt

Praline Topping

• ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter, 2 sticks, room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 cup chopped pecans
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

 

• Prepare a 9″x13″ baking dish by generously buttering the entire inside of the dish. Set the baking dish aside.
• Using a serrated bread knife, cut the French bread, on the bias, into slices approximately 1-inch thick. Arrange slices in the prepared baking dish in 2 rows, slightly overlapping the slices. Set dish aside.

  In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs. Add half & half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk until well combined.
• Pour the egg mixture over the bread slices, making sure they are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. I like to make sure all my slices are good and coated. Even dunking them in the mixture sometimes.

  Cover casserole dish with foil and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, set oven to 350°F to preheat.

  Meanwhile, prepare the praline topping by adding all ingredients to a medium mixing bowl, then stir to combine.
• Use a small scoop to portion the praline topping into 8 dollops evenly across the top of the casserole. Using a silicone spatula, spread topping evenly over the bread (like you are icing a cake).

  Bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden.
• Serve warm drizzled with syrup and enjoy!

Video

Donna’s Notes

How to prevent soggy French toast – We have been enjoying this recipe for 10 years. I have made a few changes. There is less milk/cream than in the original recipe, as the bread is sometimes too moist for my taste.

Substitute for half and half – Half and half is a dairy product found in the USA. You can substitute half cream and half milk for half-and-half. You can also use any combination of all cream to all milk as long as you are adding 1-1/2 cups total.

Praline topping – In the original recipe, the praline topping included corn syrup. It really doesn’t need it, so it has been removed from the ingredient list.

Serving suggestions – This French toast casserole is amazing served with fresh berries instead of the praline topping if you are looking to lighten it up.

Freezing the casserole – The leftovers freeze VERY well! We eat about 1/4 of the pan. I freeze the leftovers in 3 containers, so when we want a special breakfast I just thaw it and pop it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Perfect.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 682cal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 260mg | Sodium: 471mg | Sugar: 35g | Fiber: 3g | Calcium: 144mg | Iron: 3mg

All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Originally published June 2011, updated and republished December 2024

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