Overnight French Toast Casserole

This overnight French toast casserole is the perfect holiday recipe. Assemble it the night before, and cook the next day for a super hands-off brunch recipe.

What is better than an a deliciously sweet French Toast casserole? One that practically cooks itself! This is an amazing breakfast to make when you have company because you prep it the night before, then let the slow cooker do the work!

This is one of those life-saving recipes that you need for holidays like Christmas morning. It has all of the flavor of a classic baked French toast casserole but it's even easier!

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Ingredients

• Bread: you can use many different types of bread in this recipe. A loaf of French bread is typical, but sourdough, challah and brioche are all good options.
• Blueberries: if you prefer to make plain French Toast you can omit the blueberries.
• Eggs: the star of the show!
• Maple Syrup: if you prefer to swap this for brown sugar you can.
• Spices and Extract: Vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg
• Oat Topping: the crunchy oat topping is optional but highly recommended. For that, you will need butter, maple syrup, oats, and pecans.

How to make it

For this slow cooker french toast, I adapted my favorite Blueberry Overnight French Toast Bake recipe.

I took it a step further by treating the bread with a little extra TLC:

1. Tear the bread into pieces rather than cut. This helps the bread get lots of nice nooks and crannies for the eggy mixture to sink in
2. Let the bread sit out or toast for 30 minutes in the oven to get it dry and 'stale.' This helps the bread retain its texture and not get soggy.

How to cook it

1. Whisk the eggs, milk, spices, vanilla, and maple syrup.
2. Add the bread cubes and blueberries to a greased slow cooker and pour the egg mixture over the bread. Give it a light stir so the egg mixture coats the bread.
3. Cover and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
4. To cook: remove from the fridge and place the slow cooker base onto the slow cooker. Cook on high for 2.5-3 hours.
5. When ready to serve, heat a medium pan and melt the butter. Stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon, stirring until dissolved. Stir in the rolled oats, pecans, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Cool slightly before sprinkling over the casserole.

FAQ

The best bread for french toast

You can pretty much use any bread you’d like, however I recommend a thick and sturdy loaf from the bakery department of your grocery store. I used a sourdough loaf for my overnight french toast casserole. You can use challah, brioche, baguette or any french bread for that matter. You can even use a flavored loaf like a cinnamon raisin, however I opted for simple so that the blueberries really shined through in this recipe.

If you’d like to make it a bit healthier, you could even opt for a whole wheat bread. I was unable to find any whole wheat bread suitable for this overnight french toast bake at my grocery store, so I went with white.

Variations

• Add 4 ounces of cubed cream cheese to the egg mixture and whisk well. This creates a mixture that is somewhat similar to a cheesecake/custard mixture.
• Swap the blueberries for any other berry. You can also create new flavors by adding lemon or orange zest.
• Swap the blueberries for chopped apple: I recommend 2 peeled and chopped apples
• Use brown sugar instead of maple syrup in the egg mixture for the classic brown sugar and cinnamon flavor.