Indulge in this scrumptious Easy Brioche French Toast Casserole Recipe, perfect for those who crave instant gratification! It's the perfect breakfast to feed a crowd, with no pre-planning needed. Ready in an hour or less with fluffy, golden brown layers of brioche soaked in a rich, spiced custard mixture, whipped cream, and fresh berries.
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This easy French toast bake is the best way to make good use of stale bread. Perfect for a holiday morning, like Christmas morning breakfast, Mother's Day, Easter brunch, or even a regular weekend brunch. Don't waste time making perfectly portioned individual servings when feeding lots of people!
Looking for another delicious hearty breakfast recipe? You might like these sausage and egg muffins, this corned beef hash and eggs, these smashed eggs on toast, or this decadent breakfast burger!
If you're looking for a more classic French toast recipe, try our sourdough French toast!
You may also enjoy these sweet cream pancakes or this custard yogurt toast!
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❤️Why we love this recipe
- Time-saving. With no waiting time, just mix up the custard, dunk the bread slices, then layer them into a casserole dish. While it bakes up perfectly, you can work on other things.
- Flavorful. Buttery brioche bread, and the rich, spiced custard get topped with your favorite toppings like whipped cream, maple syrup, and fresh fruit. It's the ultimate comfort food!
- Crowd-pleaser. The universal appeal of this baked French toast casserole makes it perfect for special occasions like brunch gatherings on Sunday mornings, family breakfasts, or holiday celebrations. Make weekend mornings extra special for the whole family!
- Easy to make. This great recipe is straightforward, and so much easier than making individual slices of french toast. This recipe is accessible for home cooks of all skill levels, so everyone can enjoy a French toast breakfast!
- Made with basic ingredients. You only need a few pantry and fridge staples, plus a stale brioche loaf to bring this perfect recipe together. Anything you don't have on hand can be found at your local grocery store.
- Makes great leftovers. Store leftovers in the fridge, they reheat well and are just as tasty the next morning or days to come!
🍞Ingredients
Here are the ingredients we used for this recipe. You can find more information for substitutions below.
- Brioche. You can buy a loaf and slice it into ½-inch thick pieces, or buy it pre-sliced. We tend to buy it pre-sliced, since it dries out a little faster that way. Make sure the bread is a couple of days old so that it can properly soak up the egg mixture. If you have fresh bread, you will need to toast it in the oven before adding the custard mixture to it.
- Milk. We use whole milk for a nice creamy texture.
- Cardamom. Optional, but we love it. It's one of our favorite warming spices.
Visit the recipe card for the full quantities and nutritional information.
✨Substitutions & variations
Here are a few suggestions on additional flavors to try, or simple variations to this recipe.
- Swap milk for heavy cream. For an even more rich and more decadent bite, swap the whole milk for heavy cream or half and half.
- Less dairy or dairy free. Brioche bread is classically made with lots of butter that give it that luscious, golden brown color, so unless you're able to find a dairy free brioche, you're already going to be starting with some in the bread. However, to reduce the dairy in this recipe, you can use your favorite plant-based milk instead of whole milk.
- Sugar free. Swap the maple syrup for your favorite sugar free version, or your favorite sugar free sweetener of choice.
- Add jam or fruit. Swirl in some fresh berries or even raspberry compote or jam into the custard mixture for a delicious, fruity bite.
- Swap the bread. If you prefer, you can swap the type of bread for your bread of choice. Challah bread would work as a perfect substitute.
- Cut the bread into cubes. If you'd like, you can make some bread cubes, and then dunk the small pieces into the mixture before fishing them out with a slotted spoon. Alternatively, you could cut them up and pour the custard mixture overtop, but they will need about 2 hours in the fridge to absorb the custard mixture.
- Use a different sweetener. You can use granulated sugar or light brown sugar instead of maple syrup for a different flavor if you like.
🔪Prep work
- Allow eggs and milk to sit out at room temperature for about an hour before combining if possible. This will ensure that they whisk together nice and smooth.
- If your bread is fresh, place it on a baking sheet in a single layer, and preheat the oven to 275°F. Bake for 10 minutes until it has the texture of toast and is a bit dry. This can also be done in the air fryer, by setting the air fryer to its lowest setting.
- Grease a 9x13-inch casserole dish, and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Measure out all remaining ingredients.
📋Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and milk. (Image 1)
Add vanilla extract and maple syrup. (Image 2)
Add cinnamon and spices to the mixture. (Image 3)
Whisk very well to combine all the ingredients. (Image 4)
Quickly dunk bread slices in the custard mixture, just until they are completely coated, then quickly remove them. (Image 5)
Add them to a baking dish, slightly overlapping in a shingle-like pattern. Drizzle any remaining custard mixture over top. (Image 5)
⭑Pro Tip: This recipe doesn't require letting the bread sit overnight! Since we dunk the slices of bread individually, they all get coated and saturated, so you can go ahead and bake them right away.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bread is lightly toasty but still soft, and the custard has set. (Image 7)
You can stick a toothpick into a slice of bread and ensure it comes out clean.
Garnish with a dusting of powdered sugar, whipped cream, and some fresh berries. Serve with maple syrup, and enjoy!
You may also enjoy serving this with raspberry syrup, this raspberry compote, this whipped honey butter, or this strawberry butter.
✨Tips & tricks
- Use stale bread. Using slightly stale bread helps it better absorb the custard without becoming too soggy. If your bread is fresh, you can cube it and let it sit out overnight, or toast it in the oven at a low temperature for a short time.
- Even soaking. Ensure that all the bread pieces are well-coated in the custard mixture, that way you won't have any dry pieces of bread or soggy pieces.
- Adjust baking time. Keep an eye on the casserole as it bakes, as oven temperatures may vary. If the top starts to brown too quickly, loosely cover it with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
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💭Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Do not freeze. If possible, leave any additional toppings off of the French toast if you plan to have leftovers. Reheat gently in the microwave.
The bread slices may be too thin, or too fresh, or they were left in the custard for too long! To ensure great results, cut the slices about ½-inch thick, use stale bread, and simply coat the bread in the custard and take it right out of the mixture.
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📖 Recipe
Brioche French Toast Casserole
Equipment
- 9x13 casserole dish
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 1 loaf brioche bread stale, and cut into ½-inch thick slices (about 1 pound of bread and 12 slices)
- 6 whole eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
Instructions
- Grease a 9x13-inch casserole dish, and preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, eggs, vanilla extract, maple syrup, cinnamon, kosher salt, nutmeg, and cardamom. Whisk very well to combine.6 whole eggs, 1 cup whole milk, ½ cup maple syrup, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Quickly dunk bread slices in the custard mixture, just until they are completely coated, then quickly remove them. (Please don't leave them in there for longer than that, or they may become soggy!)1 loaf brioche bread
- Add them to a baking dish, slightly overlapping in a shingle-like pattern. Drizzle any remaining custard evenly overtop.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bread is lightly toasty but still soft, and the custard has set. You can stick a toothpick into a slice of bread and ensure it comes out clean.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Do not freeze. If possible, leave any additional toppings off of the french toast if you plan to have leftovers. Reheat gently in the microwave.
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We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Notes
- If your bread is fresh, place it on a baking sheet in a single layer, and preheat the oven to 275°F. Bake for 10 minutes until it has the texture of toast and is a bit dry. This can also be done in the air fryer, by setting the air fryer to its lowest setting.
- Use stale bread. Using slightly stale bread helps it better absorb the custard without becoming too soggy. If your bread is fresh, you can cube it and let it sit out overnight, or toast it in the oven at a low temperature for a short time.
- Even soaking. Ensure that all the bread pieces are well-coated in the custard mixture, that way you won't have any dry pieces of bread or soggy pieces.
- Adjust baking time. Keep an eye on the casserole as it bakes, as oven temperatures may vary. If the top starts to brown too quickly, loosely cover it with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
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