This brioche french toast casserole is made from buttery brioche bread soaked overnight in a rich cinnamon custard, baked to golden perfection. It’s the best, most indulgent brioche french toast breakfast that also happens to be quick and easy. Make this for a decent weekend treat or a special holiday breakfast or brunch.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I love wonderfully indulgent breakfast recipes. My Maple Donuts and Maple Pumpkin Coffee Cake are just two of many that I love making when I want an extra special breakfast. This brioche bread french toast recipe is no exception. I know you’ll reach for this easy overnight brioche french toast over and over again.
- Easy to make, bake and eat: This perfectly spiced overnight brioche french toast tastes like you just bought it from the best bakery in town. You may be surprised to learn just how easy it is to make! This quick and easy recipe comes together in about 10 minutes. All you have to do after mixing all the ingredients for the baked brioche french toast, is to simply cover it and let it sit overnight in the fridge. The next morning, bake it and enjoy!
- Perfectly cozy and made for holiday breakfast and brunch. There’s nothing more satisfying than enjoying a deliciously indulgent breakfast everyone will love. This brioche casserole is endlessly adaptable and the perfect canvas for all the toppings you love.
Ingredients
This easy brioche french toast bake requires only a handful of simple ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your pantry and fridge.
- Dry Ingredients: Gather brioche bread or challah bread, salt, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom spices.
- Wet Ingredients: Gather melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, heavy cream, milk, vanilla extract and eggs.
Substitutions
This overnight brioche french toast recipe is as easy to make as it is delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions if you need them.
- Brioche Bread: This brioche french toast casserole uses brioche bread. Feel free to use another thick buttery bread like challah bread.
- Ground Spices: The ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom are the perfect blend of aromatics to make this french toast casserole really shine. If you don’t have all the spices, feel free to use any blend of baking spices you have on hand. Pumpkin spice, chai spice or apple pie spice blends would all work well in this recipe. Use 1 ½ - 2 teaspoons for this baked brioche casserole.
- Butter: Feel free to use salted butter if needed. Just omit the added salt.
- Brown Sugar: This recipe calls for brown sugar. Maple sugar is a wonderful refined sugar free alternative.
- Maple Syrup: Anything baked with maple syrup is perfect for me, but feel free to replace this ingredient with an equal amount of honey or more brown sugar.
- Heavy Cream: Use an equal amount of half and half.
- Milk: Whole milk is preferred, but feel free to use any milk you like.
- Vanilla Extract: This gives a lovely flavor boost to the overnight french toast with brioche bread. Omit if needed.
How To Make
This brioche bake french toast recipe takes a few easy steps from start to finish and tastes restaurant worthy. Here’s how to make it:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together until well combined.
- Whisk in the milk, heavy cream, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and salt until well combined.
- Pour the melted butter into the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Evenly coat the bottom and sides of the casserole dish. Add the cubed pieces of brioche or challah bread into the casserole dish.
- Pour the custard mixture over the brioche bread. Gently mix the bread in the liquid until all the pieces are coated. Cover the dish with plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (170 C). While the oven preheats, pull the casserole out of the fridge to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bake the brioche french toast casserole for 40 - 45 minutes.
- Cool the brioche bread french toast for 15 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar, drizzle maple syrup and top with fresh berries or chopped nuts.
How To Store and Reheat
- To store leftover brioche casserole: Fully cool the baked brioche french toast. Cover the casserole with plastic wrap or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Reheat leftover pieces of french toast casserole by baking in a 350 F (177 C) oven until warmed though or slice into pieces and heat through in the microwave.
Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly and easily resulting in a smoother custard filling.
- Evenly cube the brioche or challah bread: 1 inch pieces are the perfect size for baking and eating.
- Spice it up: Use your favorite blend of warming spices to make this breakfast casserole even more delicious.
- Use a 9x13 casserole dish. This casserole really puffs up while baking so make sure to use the correct size dish. If you need to use a smaller dish, cut the recipe in half and bake this in an 8x8 dish for about 30-35 minutes.
- Top the brioche french toast casserole with your favorite toppings. Although this easy overnight french toast casserole tastes amazing without toppings, I love topping mine with powdered sugar, maple syrup and fresh berries. Chopped nuts or whipped cream would also be delicious toppings.
FAQ's
This is usually caused by underbaking the brioche casserole. Make sure to bake the brioche french toast casserole until the top is a puffy and beautiful golden brown.
Day old bread soaks up the custard more easily while also holding its shape while baking. Using day old bread preferred, especially if you plan on letting this casserole sit overnight.
The longer the bread sits in the custard, the better the casserole will taste. However, it will still taste delicious without the chill time. I recommend using fresh bread if you don’t have time to let the casserole sit and would like to bake it right after mixing the ingredients together.
If you try this Brioche French Toast Casserole Recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! -M
Brioche French Toast Casserole Recipe
Equipment
- 1 9x13 baking pan or casserole dish
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 whisk
- 1 plastic wrap
Ingredients
Brioche French Toast Casserole
- 6 large eggs (US), room temperature
- 1¾ cups (415 ml) whole milk, room temperature
- ½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream, room temperature
- ¼ cup (59 ml) maple syrup
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp (57g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 16 oz. loaf brioche or challah bread, cubed
Optional Toppings
- ¼ cup (30 g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (118 ml) maple syrup
- 1-2 cups berries
- ½ cup chopped nuts
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together until well combined.
- Whisk in the milk, heavy cream, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and salt until well combined.
- Pour the melted butter into the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Evenly coat the bottom and sides of the casserole dish. Add the cubed pieces of brioche or challah bread into the casserole dish.
- Pour the custard mixture over the brioche bread. Gently mix the bread in the liquid until all the pieces are coated. Cover the dish with plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (170 C). While the oven preheats, pull the casserole out of the fridge to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bake the brioche french toast casserole for 40 - 45 minutes.
- Cool the french toast bake for 15 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar, drizzle maple syrup and top with fresh berries or chopped nuts. Slice, serve and enjoy!
It doesn't say how much bread to use
Hi Joe, apologies for leaving this information off. The recipe has been updated to reflect 1 (16 oz./1 lb.) loaf of brioche bread or challah bread.
Absolutely delicious! This will become a Christmas tradition for my family. I made it exactly as directed with an entire loaf of the sliced St. Pierre brioche that you can get at most grocery stores. I cut each slice into nine pieces and left them to sit on the counter for a few hours to develop the “stale” bread effect. I then assembled it all in a glass 9x13 dish and I let it sit overnight in the fridge. It baked to perfection the next day. Not too moist as some commenters mentioned on similar recipes I found.
Hi Emily, thank you so much for a lovely review of this recipe. It means so much to know this recipe will become a Christmas tradtion for your family!