This brioche french toast casserole is a simple and delicious way to make french toast. It tastes like a sweet, decadent bread pudding for breakfast, with a perfectly crispy oat topping.
Put this french toast casserole together the night before, and all you have to do is bake it in the morning. It's the ideal recipe for a special breakfast on busy mornings or holidays. We make this french toast casserole on Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, Christmas morning, and any day we want a special, delicious breakfast that doesn't require much effort.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Some of the ingredients in this recipe can be substituted, and these are my recommendations:
- Milk, Heavy Cream, and Butter: You can easily adapt this recipe to be dairy-free. Swap the milk out for almond milk, leave out the heavy cream, and trade out the butter for your favorite dairy replacement (margarine works well).
- Spices: I use cinnamon and nutmeg in this brioche french toast casserole, but feel free to leave out the nutmeg and substitute in other spices that complement cinnamon. I highly recommend leaving in the cinnamon.
- Brioche Bread: Feel free to substitute in your favorite sweet bread. Challah bread is a great option!
How to Make Brioche French Toast Casserole
Prep the French Toast Casserole
Spray a 13x9 glass pan with cooking spray, and evenly spread out the cubed brioche bread in the pan. Then set it aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Then mix in the melted butter. Once evenly mixed, add the eggs, milk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Then whisk until smooth with no egg yolks intact. Evenly pour the mixture over the top of the cubed bread. Gently mix the cubed bread with either a rubber spatula or your hands to get the majority of the bread covered in the egg mixture. Don't overmix it--squishing the bread too much will make the casserole dense.
Cover the 13x9 glass pan and put it in the refrigerator to sit overnight for a max of 12 hours, or for a minimum of 3 hours.
Make the Crumble Topping
Stir together the all purpose flour, brown sugar, old fashioned oats, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Add the cubed butter, and stir until the butter is coated. Then use your hands to manipulate the topping until there aren't any more chunks of butter and the mixture is dough-like. (Squeeze it in your hand over and over until there isn't any more flour/oat residue).
Cover and refrigerate the topping until you are ready to bake the casserole.
Bake and Serve
In the morning, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Take the french toast casserole and the topping out of the refrigerator. Break up the topping into small pieces, spreading it over the top of the casserole. Bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until the crumble topping starts to brown. I know this is a large window of cooking time--base it off of how moist you'd like the french toast to be. The longer it's cooked, the drier it will be.
Serve the french toast casserole with your favorite kind of syrup (I recommend buttermilk syrup), sliced fruit, and/or powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Other Breakfast Recipes
If you're looking for other delicious breakfast recipes that are perfect for a quick and filling meal, make sure to check out these hashbrown bacon and egg muffins, or my favorite Greek yogurt banana bread. I also have a fall version of this french toast casserole that is also a crowd favorite--so make sure to check out my pumpkin french toast casserole as well.
If you try out this brioche french toast casserole or any of my other recipes, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a comment below the recipe, or if you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future.
Now get baking, and enjoy!
Overnight Brioche French Toast Casserole
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 loaf of brioche bread about 20 oz, cut in 1 inch squares
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 8 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream*
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup old fashioned oats
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter cold, and sliced into ¼ inch cubes
Instructions
- Spray a 13x9 glass pan with cooking spray and evenly spread out the cubed brioche bread in the pan. Set it aside.1 loaf of brioche bread
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Then mix in the melted butter. Once evenly mixed, add the eggs, milk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth and no more egg yolks are intact. Evenly pour the mixture over the top of the cubed bread.⅔ cup light brown sugar, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, 8 large eggs, 1 cup whole milk, ½ cup heavy cream*, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Gently toss the cubed bread with either a rubber spatula or your hands to get the majority of the bread covered in the egg mixture. Don't overmix it--squishing the bread too much will make the casserole dense.
- Cover the 13x9 glass pan and put it in the refrigerator to sit overnight (max 12 hours), or for a minimum of 3 hours.
- For the crumble topping, stir together the all purpose flour, brown sugar, old fashioned oats, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Add the cubed butter, and stir until the butter is coated. Then use your hands to manipulate the topping until there aren't any more chunks of butter and the mixture is dough-like. (Squeeze the mixture in your hand over and over until there isn't any more flour/oat residue). Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake.½ cup all purpose flour, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup old fashioned oats, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, ½ cup unsalted butter
- When you are ready to bake the french toast casserole, preheat the oven to 350° F. Take the casserole and the topping out of the refrigerator. Break up the topping into small pieces, spreading it over the top of the casserole.
- Bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until the crumble topping starts to brown. This is a large window of cooking time--it will just depend on how moist you'd like the french toast to be. The longer it's cooked, the drier it will be.
- Serve with your favorite kind of syrup (I recommend buttermilk syrup), sliced fruit, and/or powdered sugar.Enjoy!
Kristen says
This was amazing! Made it for Easter Brunch and it was the hit. So moist and. delicous as a leftover!
Maddie Saxey says
So happy to hear it! 🙂
Anonymous says
I made this for my family brunch, and everyone raved about it! It's super easy to put together the night before, and it really does taste like bread pudding.
Rose says
Fantastic
All You Can Eats says
Glad you liked it! 🙂