Perfect Baked French Toast

Our easy Baked French Toast casserole is lightly spiced, slightly sweet, perfectly soft in the middle, and has a buttery crisp top. You can make this straight away or make it in advance — even overnight! Jump to the Easy Baked Cinnamon French Toast Recipe

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How We Make Baked French Toast From Scratch

I’ve always loved French toast, and we’ve even shared a more traditional stovetop French Toast recipe on the blog, but this easy baked version has quickly become my favorite. It’s delicious and is perfect for making in advance or for crowds.

We use quality bread, eggs, a combination of milk and cream for richness, maple syrup and vanilla extract for sweetness, and warm baking spices to make it extra delicious.

The recipe is straightforward and perfect for making ahead of time, which, if you are making this to entertain, like, say for Thanksgiving morning or brunch, is perfect! Here’s the basic process:

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1. Dry out the bread. For the best baked French toast, it’s important that you use either day-old bread or that you quickly dry out the bread in the oven before mixing it with the other ingredients. This ensures that the bread absorbs all the liquid and flavors of the French toast but that it doesn’t turn mushy. (Really fresh bread will turn to mush on you.)
2. Make the French toast custard. To make this extra flavorful, rich, and a little creamy in the middle, we use quite a few eggs, milk, and cream. Of course, milk will do, if you don’t have cream, but keep in mind that the mixture will lose a little of that lovely richness. To flavor the egg mixture, we add maple syrup (I like using pure maple syrup), vanilla extract, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt.
3. Dip the bread into the custard. When we first made this recipe, we would pour the custard over bread slices lined up in a baking dish. That worked, but not all the bread was covered by the custard. That’s why before pouring all the custard over the bread, we quickly dip each slice into it first.
4. Add dipped bread to a baking dish and pour over the custard. I like lining the bread up so that they look like roof shingles. Then we pour the rest of the custard on top.
5. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or leave it overnight. For the best French toast, you want to give the bread a chance to absorb as much custard as possible. This should happen within half an hour, but if you are making the French toast ahead of time, you can cover and refrigerate the dish overnight!
6. Bake. We bake covered for 30 minutes, uncover the dish, and bake another 10 minutes or until the bread looks puffed and golden brown on top. Before baking the final 10 minutes, we pour melted butter over the top of the bread and sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over, adding a buttery, crisp topping.

More of our favorite breakfasts: Take a look at our recipe for making The Best Fluffy Pancakes or these Perfectly Crispy Waffles.

Baked French Toast Variations

This French toast casserole is delicious, as written, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few changes you can make so that it is your own. Here are a few suggestions:

• Add dried fruit or nuts: For more texture and color, add 1/2 cup or so of nuts or dried fruit to the custard before pouring over the bread.
• Add pumpkin puree: For a pumpkin French toast, whisk 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree into the custard. Here’s our Baked Pumpkin French Toast for inspiration.
• Add sliced bananas: After baking for 30 minutes, uncover the casserole dish, add the melted butter and sliced bananas, then top with the cinnamon sugar topping. Bake another 10 minutes.
• Add fresh berries: Sprinkle fresh berries over the baked casserole or add them to the dish before baking.
• Make a cheesecake-inspired version: Beat 6 ounces of room temperature cream cheese with a bit of maple syrup until whipped and slightly sweet. Dollop the cream cheese between slices of bread in the casserole dish before baking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make baked French Toast in advance?

Absolutely! You can dry out the bread and prepare the custard mixture a couple days in advance and then mix the two together and bake (just keep the custard covered in the refrigerator). Or you can follow our recipe up to adding the custard mixture to the bread in the casserole dish, cover, refrigerate overnight, and then bake the next day. Leftover French toast stores pretty well, too. Simply reheat in the microwave or oven.

Can I freeze baked French Toast?

Yes! After baking the French toast, let it cool, and then transfer it to freezer-safe, airtight containers. Freeze for a month (maybe more). When you are ready to eat it, reheat in the oven or the microwave until warm.

What kind of bread should I use?

For the best French toast, use high-quality bread, preferably from a local bakery. For French toast with a little more texture, we recommend a bakery-style hearty bread like French bread, sourdough, or a rustic loaf. For French toast that’s more soft and buttery in the middle, try enriched breads like Brioche or Challah. It’s also best to use day-old bread since it soaks up the custard flavors more easily without becoming mushy. If you don’t have the time to wait, don’t worry, we’ve built a step into our recipe that dries out the bread anyway.

More Crowd-Friendly Breakfast Recipes

Perfect Baked French Toast

Makes 8 servings

Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size 1 of 8 servings / Calories 285 / Total Fat 11.5g / Saturated Fat 5.6g / Cholesterol 158.7mg / Sodium 441.5mg / Carbohydrate 33.5g / Dietary Fiber 1.4g / Total Sugars 9g / Protein 11.3g

AUTHOR: Adam and Joanne Gallagher