French Toast Casserole
on Apr 16, 2023, Updated Dec 19, 2023
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This French Toast Casserole is a delicious, custard-like dish that is a wonderful way to use any leftover sweet bread or brioche. Since we rarely have any sweet 🍞 bread left over in my home, my mom will usually buy a loaf from the European supermarket just to make this recipe. The texture of this casserole is close to what Americans would call a bread pudding, but my recipe has a bit more of a custard-like texture.
Why You’ll Love French Toast Casserole
You’ll love this French Toast Casserole because it’s a simple yet indulgent treat. This recipe works with any fluffy sweet bread 🥖 or stale bread that has been sitting out for a few days. There’s no thickener or starch necessary to get the perfect consistency for this recipe; instead, I use eggs, sugar, and milk, and let them work their magic in the oven. The result is an amazing combination of crispy edges and soft, custardy goodness.
What makes this dish stand out is its versatility—you can customize it with spices, 🍌 fruits, or your favorite toppings. Whether you enjoy it on a cozy night in or share it with friends at breakfast, this french toast casserole is a delicious and simple way to satisfy your sweet tooth at any time of the day.
How to Prepare French Toast Casserole
🔥 Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
🍞 Line an oven-safe baking dish with sweet bread slices, filling any gaps with smaller pieces.
🥛 Whisk eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Add milk and whisk well.
🥚 Pour the egg mixture over the bread, ensuring all slices are covered.
🥄 Gently push down the rising bread with a spoon to absorb the milk.
⭐ Sprinkle extra sugar on top and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden.
🧊 Cool completely before dusting with icing sugar. If you skip icing sugar, you can serve the pudding without cooling.
Nonna’s Tip 🍞
Feel free to use any sweet bread or brioche you like or have on hand.
Variations and Substitutions for French Toast Casserole
- You can certainly use different types of 🍞 bread like brioche, challah, cinnamon raisin bread, or croissants for varied flavors.
- Add a teaspoon of cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamom to the egg mixture for a different flavor.
- Replace some or all of the milk 🥛 with heavy cream for a richer French toast casserole.
- Feel free to substitute 🍯 honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar for part or all of the sugar.
- For a fruitier version, you could layer sliced 🍌 bananas, berries, or apple slices between the bread layers.
- You could use dairy-free milk substitutes such as almond milk, 🥥 coconut milk, or any other non-dairy milk for a dairy-free version.
More Breakfast Recipes
Best Served With
- This would be beautiful served with fresh-cut fruit on top, such as 🍓 strawberries, mangoes, or raspberries.
- Coffee or tea 🫖
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This is a great 9 by 13 inch baking dish that you can use for many of my recipes.
Common Questions
This recipe works well with my Easter sweet bread, but feel free to use any sweet bread or brioche of choice. It will work with any you like or have on hand.
I have not tried it with other types of milk (such as non-dairy), but it should work. If you do, please let me know in the comments.
Add as much or as little sugar as you like. My mom likes to add a whole cup, which is way too sweet for me, so I made her cut the sugar in half for this recipe.
French Toast Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 slices sweet bread, enough to cover the bottom of a baking dish (about 250 grams)
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups milk, (500ml)
- icing (confectioner's) sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
- Tightly line an oven-safe baking dish with slices of sweet bread, making sure there are no visible spaces. If necessary, cut smaller pieces of sweet bread to fill in any gaps.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the milk and whisk really well.
- Pour the egg mixture on top of the bread making sure all the slices are covered.
- You will notice the sweet bread will rise up from the milk mixture, so take a spoon and gently push down until the bread has absorbed the milk and the bread is no longer lifted.
- Sprinkle a little extra sugar on top and put it in the oven.
- Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden. Ours took 45 minutes but please keep an eye on it. It will puff up a lot and then deflate when you take it out of the oven.
- Let cool completely before dusting with icing sugar and enjoy!
- If you don’t want to add icing sugar you don’t have to cool the pudding before serving; the only reason we do this is so that the powdered sugar doesn’t melt right away.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this easy recipe and it didn’t work out unfortunately. I never fully cooked on the inside after over an hour in the oven. Perhaps it’s meant to be more custardy as You say, but it was still very runny. Perhaps too much milk? Not sure 🙁
Hi Liz, what bread did you use for the base? Did you use a 9 by 13?
I’m going to use panettone. How thick should the slices of bread be?
Hi Paula, sorry for the delay as I was on Christmas break. At least 1/2 inch but I don’t usually measure.