This Brioche French Toast Casserole is a perfect breakfast or brunch recipe for a holiday or special occasion. You can assemble it the night before then bake for about 35 minutes and enjoy hot out of the oven. Plus this recipe is delicious as is, but there’s plenty of wiggle room to add your own twist.
There may be no better way to serve brunch or breakfast for company than a casserole, especially one you can make the day before, refrigerate overnight and cook the next morning. But this recipe is also versatile so you don’t have to leave it overnight before cooking. Just let it sit long enough for the brioche bread cubes to soak up the custard and then bake until puffy and golden brown. We use chopped pecans and a simple brown sugar and butter topping, but you can certainly embellish on this recipe by adding fresh blueberries, more spices like nutmeg or cloves, orange zest or another nut like walnuts or almonds.
Ingredients that Matter
The star of the show here is the buttery delicious brioche bread, but you’ll need a handful of pantry staples to make this French toast casserole:
- Brioche. This French bread is known for its rich, buttery flavor. That’s because it’s an enriched bread, meaning the dough has added butter, eggs and milk. These ingredients work together to make a super tender, light and fluffy bread. It’s best to buy a loaf from a local bakery, but you may also find it at your local grocery store. Just note that some grocery store chains may sell a generic brioche loaf that’s loaded with ingredients that aren’t all that you may not find all that pleasant, like palm oil and monoglycerides. If you can’t find brioche, swap in challah.
- Eggs. A French Toast Casserole is really a form of a bread pudding, and like a bread pudding, you’ll need both cubes of bread and a custard. For the custard, we use five eggs, which will thicken and hold the bread together as it cooks.
- Milk and Half-and-Half. The dairy component of the custard is whole milk and half-and-half. We find this is a great balance of richness without being too heavy compared to using heavy cream.
- Cinnamon and Vanilla. Both cinnamon and vanilla are used to provide flavor.
- Brown Sugar. While not as sweet as a traditional bread pudding, this casserole is still fairly sweet. It’s a French toast casserole, after all! We prefer to use brown sugar here for its molasses flavor.
- Pecans. Chopped pecans are using both in the casserole and as a topping. We like the texture plus it adds a nice savory component. Feel free to swap in walnuts, if desired.
- Butter. The topping is almost a pecan caramel sauce, and it starts with melted butter. It’s easiest to assemble the topping if the butter is still hot or warm to help dissolve the brown sugar.
How to make Brioche French Toast Casserole
We love simple recipes like this, especially when hosting a get-together. Here’s how it all comes together.
Start by cutting the brioche into bite-size pieces, about 1-inch cubes. Spray a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Add the bread to the baking dish.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, half-and-half, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt until smooth.
To make the topping, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and salt until well combined.
Add more pecans to the bread gently toss. Pour custard evenly over bread and pecans.
Spoon topping over bread mixture.
Cover with foil and bake in a 375°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until the bread puffs and is golden brown, another 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Video: How to Make Brioche French Toast Casserole
Serving and Storage
This Brioche French Toast Casserole is best served hot or warm with a drizzle of maple syrup, some fresh blueberries or strawberries, more chopped pecans and a dusting of powdered sugar.
Consider making some tweaks to the recipe by adding raisins or dried cherries, chopped walnuts or almonds, apples or even fresh peaches or nectarines.
As mentioned, you can make this recipe a day ahead of time. To make this an overnight French toast casserole, simply assemble, cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate until the next morning.
Pro Tip: Remove the casserole from the refrigerate while the oven is preheating to 375°F. This will give the casserole enough time to almost come to room temperature. You can store leftovers in an air-tight container (or simply cover the casserole dish with foil or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the casserole after it’s baked. To freeze, cut into portions then transfer those portions to a freezer-safe zip-top bag, label, and freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat, we suggest thawing frozen portions in the refrigerator overnight then reheating in the oven until hot, about 10-15 minutes.
Other Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
PrintRecipe
Brioche French Toast Casserole
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 9– x 13-inch baking dish 1x
Description
This Brioche French Toast Casserole is a perfect breakfast or brunch recipe for a holiday or special occasion. You can assemble it the night before then bake for about 35 minutes and enjoy hot out of the oven. Plus this recipe is delicious as is, but there’s plenty of wiggle room to add your own twist.
Ingredients
French Toast Casserole
- 1 loaf brioche bread (about 1 lb.)
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 5 large eggs
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ½ cup half-and-half
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. table salt
Topping
- ¼ cup melted butter, hot
- 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch table salt
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- powdered sugar, maple syrup and berries, for serving
Instructions
French Toast Casserole
- To assemble the casserole, spray a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and add to baking dish along with pecans. Gently toss to combine. Set aside.
- Whisk together eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl or large measuring cup until smooth. Add the milk, half-and-half, vanilla, cinnamon and salt and whisk until smooth. Pour evenly over the bread mixture.
Topping
- To assemble the topping, Stir together melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add pecans and stir until well combined. Spoon mixture over French toast casserole.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375°F (if the casserole was in the refrigerator overnight, set aside on the counter at room temperature while the oven preheats). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes then remove foil from baking dish and continue cooking until the bread is puffy and golden brown, another 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving. Serve dusted with powdered sugar; drizzle with maple syrup and garnish with berries, if desired.
Notes
This Brioche French Toast Casserole is best served hot or warm with a drizzle of maple syrup, some fresh blueberries or strawberries, more chopped pecans and a dusting of powdered sugar.
Consider making some tweaks to the recipe by adding raisins or dried cherries, chopped walnuts or almonds, apples or even fresh peaches or nectarines.
As mentioned, you can make this recipe a day ahead of time. To make this an overnight French toast casserole, simply assemble, cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate until the next morning.
Pro Tip: Remove the casserole from the refrigerate while the oven is preheating to 375°F. This will give the casserole enough time to almond come to room temperature. You can store leftovers in an air-tight container (or simply cover the casserole dish with foil or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the casserole after it’s baked. To freeze, cut into portions then transfer those portions to a freezer-safe zip-top bag, label, and freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, we suggest thawing frozen portions in the refrigerator overnight then reheating in the oven until hot, about 10-15 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 min.
- Hands-Off Time: 30 min.
- Cook Time: 35 min.
- Category: Breakfast/Brunch
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American/French
John Travis
Yum!!! This was so good!!