This Overnight French Toast Casserole is prepared the night before for an easy, crowd pleasing breakfast. This breakfast casserole has all the flavors of French Toast with a sweet maple custard that is soaked into bread. It is great for holiday mornings or for when you need to feed a crowd.

Oh, how I love a good breakfast casserole! For the perfect breakfast buffet, serve up a few varieties – this Overnight French Toast Casserole would go perfectly with this Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole Recipe, and this Sausage Breakfast Casserole. You’ll have something for everyone!

My Favorite French Toast Casserole Recipe

Every year to ring in the new year, my family rents out a cabin. There are lots of games played, lots of food eaten, and lots of fun times had.

One of the things that takes the most coordination is the food. We usually take turns with meals, but there are lots of mouths to feed.

I always love taking a breakfast, because then I have a chance to make a few breakfast casseroles. And it’s even better when I make overnight breakfast casseroles so that all I have to do is bake them up in the morning!

This Overnight French Toast Casserole is my favorite of them all. The cream cheese gives it a different little twist, and you can never go wrong with maple in my book. When I make this for just my family, it’s always gone in a flash, and the same goes when I make it for a crowd. It really is a crowd pleasing recipe!

Ingredients You’ll Need

For this breakfast casserole, you will need:

white bread – I use just regular white bread that you can get at the grocery store. Nothing fancy at all. It will take about 2/3 of a regular sized loaf.
cream cheese – I have only ever tried this with regular cream cheese, although I would guess that a less-fat cream cheese would probably work.
eggs – I always use large eggs.
milk – I used 2%, because that is what we keep on hand. Whole milk or 1% would probably work just fine, too.
half and half – this is a mixture of milk and cream. You can usually find it next to the cream at the grocery store. You can also make your own mix of cream and milk.
maple syrup – I have made this casserole with both real maple syrup and pancake syrup. I definitely prefer the real maple syrup version. But my kids, who are used to pancake syrup, prefer the pancake syrup version.
vanilla – I am a fan of real vanilla extract.
powdered sugar – you don’t have to sprinkle on the powdered sugar, but I always do!

How to Make It

Start by putting your cubed bread into a prepared baking dish.
Make the “custard” that will soak the bread by combining cream cheese, eggs, milk, half and half, maple syrup and vanilla.
Pour that mixture over the cubed bread.
Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, you’ll bake the french toast, then pour the remaining syrup over the hot casserole.

Tips and Tricks

When you are mixing together the custard mixture, the cream cheese may not mix in completely. I usually still have some small balls of cream cheese in the mixture. Don’t worry too much about them, as they won’t affect the flavor or texture of the finished casserole.
Make sure to set the casserole out for 30 minutes before baking, or your casserole might bake unevenly and take more time to bake.
You can serve more maple syrup at the table, if desired, although I think it is plenty sweet.
If you don’t want to make this the night before, you can make it the same day, but you’ll want to give it a few hours in the refrigerator for the bread to really absorb the liquid.
Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator.

More Breakfast Casserole Recipes

Brioche French Toast with Salted Caramel and Bananas
Baked French Toast Casserole with Apples and Raisins
Creme Brulee French Toast
Eggnog Croissant Bread Pudding with Caramel Eggnog Syrup
Blueberry Banana French Toast Bake
Cranberry Orange Baked French Toast Casserole
Eggs Benedict Strata

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