Baked French Toast Recipe | A Make-Ahead Breakfast! (2024)

This baked french toast is prepped ahead to make your mornings easier and let the bread soak up the tangy cream cheese custard. A bit of powdered sugar, sweet strawberries, and chopped nuts make it the perfect bite.

Why You’ll Love This Oven Baked French Toast

This custard-soaked breakfast is a major time-saving recipe for weekends or special holidays. Here are more reasons to love it:

• Convenient. It’s an easy, make-ahead breakfast you can assemble the night before.
• Dessert for breakfast. It’s a sweet breakfast option that tastes even more like dessert thanks to the powdered sugar and your favorite toppings.
• Great for leftovers. This recipe is great for when you have different kinds of leftover bread laying around.
• Perfect for brunch. Place the baking dish on the table and let everyone help themselves to as much French toast as they want.

Recipe Ingredients

Maple syrup adds natural sweetness with a hint of smokiness to make this oven-baked French toast taste just like the pan-fried version. Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact quantities.

• Cream cheese – Use full-fat or low-fat cream cheese.
• Eggs – Liquid eggs work great for this.
• Whole milk – You can use 2% milk if you prefer. Avoid plant-based milk.
• Maple syrup – Raw honey and agave nectar can be used instead.
• Vanilla extract – Almond extract is a good swap.
• Ground cinnamon – Feel free to use ground nutmeg.
• Orange zest – Freshly-grated zest is best, but dried works too.
• Stale bread – Fresh bread doesn’t work for this because it’ll soften very quickly.
• Powdered sugar – Cinnamon sugar is another great way to add sweetness.

What’s The Best Bread for French Toast?

Any plain, stale bread with an airy crumb is the best kind for this baked French toast casserole. I prefer sliced baguettes, brioche, or challah for an extra rich flavor. Make sure it’s thickly-sliced for best results.

How to Make Baked French Toast

The cream cheese mixture bakes into a custard-like consistency that makes each bite extra indulgent. Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for more detailed instructions.

• Prep the baking dish. Lightly grease a 9×13″ baking dish with cooking spray.
• Add the bread. Arrange the sliced bread in the baking dish. Set it aside.
• Make the cream cheese mixture. Beat the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl until soft and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time. Pour in the milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and orange zest. Mix until smooth.
• Pour it. Drizzle all of the prepared cream cheese mixture over the bread.
• Chill it. Cover the baking dish with foil and refrigerate it overnight.
• Prep the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Set the baking dish on the counter for 15 minutes.
• Bake it. Uncover the baking dish. Pop it into the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
• Serve it. Remove it from the oven. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Garnish it and enjoy!

Tips for Success

Save breakfast with some homemade powdered sugar for this baked French toast recipe.

• Use leftovers. Add all your leftover bread slices into the baking dish. It doesn’t matter if they’re different kinds of bread as long as they’re not savory. Go for croissants, baguettes, challahs, brioche, etc.
• Make it chocolatey. Sprinkle 1/4-1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips between and over the bread slices. This will add lots of chocolatey goodness. Use white, milk, semi-sweet, or bittersweet chocolate.
• Make your own powdered sugar. Process 1/2 cup granulated sugar until very fine. Use it for the recipe and store the rest for later.
• Add fall-vibes. Beat 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice or apple pie spice into the cream cheese mixture for some fall flair.
• Same-day baking. In case you don’t want to wait overnight, assemble the casserole and let it sit for 20-30 minutes before baking.
• Line the baking dish. Use foil or parchment paper to line the baking dish for easy clean-up. Don’t forget to grease the foil or parchment too.

Topping Ideas & Serving Suggestions

This baked French toast is great on its own with a cup of tea, coffee, or a glass of milk. If you’re a coffee person, try my Coffee Frappe or Dalgona Coffee. A side of Crispy Bacon and scrambled eggs is great too. For topping ideas, these are some of my favorite:

• Sliced strawberries
• Berry compote
• Chopped nuts
• Maple syrup
• Peanut butter
• Whipped cream

How to Store Leftovers

This baked French toast recipe isn’t freezer-friendly because the cream cheese mixture would split.

• Fridge: Place it in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can also keep it in the baking dish if you cover it tightly with foil.
• To reheat it: Microwave it in 30-second intervals until warm. For large portions, reheat it in the oven at 300F for 15-20 minutes.

More French Toast Recipes

• Cinnamon Apple French Toast Casserole
• Creamy Crock Pot Banana French Toast
• Savory Feta Cheese French Toast
• Nutella French Toast Rollups
• Banana Bread Stuffed French Toast