This Baked Stuffed French Toast Casserole is a delicious weekend brunch. It’s an overnight recipe, so you can prepare this French toast the night before. Stuff it with a cream cheese and jam mixture by making sandwiches, and soak it overnight in egg and milk.
Big brunches always mean a good start to the weekends. While I’d be happy starting any weekend with any of the brunch recipes on The Worktop, this Baked Stuffed French Toast has a special place in my heart because it is so tasty.
It’s quite a simple recipe with only a handful of ingredients. And in case you were wondering if you can make French toast the night before, the answer is yes!
Growing up we ate a lot of French toasts, but it was always with leftover bread and cooked on the stovetop. These days, I make French toast most frequently in the oven. More often than not, I’m making an overnight French toast recipe.
I love a good French toast the classic way, but it’s hard to beat the taste of a stuffed French toast casserole. Plus, it’s much easier for me to make a stuffed French toast the night before, as opposed to standing in front of the stove in the morning.
How do you make baked stuffed French Toast?
So you want to make a Baked Stuffed French Toast. Sounds complicated? It’s not! When I first heard the phrase “stuffed French toast” I thought I would need to use a piping bag, like how I fill cupcakes. But that’s just silly.
Baked Stuffed French Toast is easy peasy.
To make a stuffed French toast casserole, you first make “sandwiches”
To make a cream cheese stuffed French toast like this recipe, you make sandwiches spread with a mix of cream cheese and jam. For this recipe, I use cream cheese mixed with raspberry jam.
I think the light pink color you get with raspberry jam is beautiful, and I like the tartness of raspberries and cream cheese together. But it’s also delicious to make overnight stuffed French toasts with strawberry or blueberry jam.
Second, you soak the stuffed french toasts overnight
Once you have the cream cheese stuffed French toast sandwiches, you soak them in an egg and milk mixture overnight.
Lay out the cream cheese stuffed French toasts across the bottom of a casserole pan. Then slowly pour the egg mixture over. Wait one minute, then flip the sandwiches over.
I add just a touch of vanilla in the egg mixture, and leave out any sugar. If you have a sweet tooth, once the stuffed French toast casserole is out of the oven, top it with generous amounts of maple syrup and whipped cream.
Third, you bake the stuffed French toast casserole in the oven
In the morning, take the stuffed French toast casserole out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you plan to pop it in the oven. This picture is taken just after the casserole dish has been taken out of the refrigerator.
Love this casserole dish? It is my most handy dish for big breakfasts because it’s large enough to hold six slices of bread across easily.
Then simply bake it at 350°F / 175°C for about 55 minutes. I like to bake the casserole until the top gets a little bit crispy and gives the stuffed french toast texture.
This photo below shows the Baked Stuffed French Toast Casserole as soon as it’s been taken out of the oven. See the perfectly toasted tops I’m talking about?
What is the best bread for French Toast Casserole?
There are a lot of different types of bread you can use for French toast casseroles.
For this Baked Stuffed French Toast, I use brioche bread. Brioche bread is the type of bread I typically use for sweet french toast casseroles because the flavor and texture of it compliments the dish.
Challah also works great for stuffed French toast casseroles, but it’s sometimes harder to get a good loaf. You can’t go wrong with either brioche or challah.
But if I am making a savory french toast casserole, I like to use sourdough bread. See the sourdough in this Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole.
This Baked Stuffed French Toast is a great brunch recipe for the holidays
If you have family or friends visiting for the holidays, this Baked Stuffed French Toast makes a special morning brunch. For family that are staying several days, are a few other big brunch casserole recipes:
- Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole
- Pumpkin Breakfast Casserole
- English Breakfast Baked Omelette
- Overnight Bacon Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 12 slices brioche bread
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons raspberry jam (strawberry jam and blueberry jam also work well)
- 7 large eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- The night before, grease a large casserole dish. Check that you can lay out 6 slices of bread evenly across the bottom of your casserole dish. If they do not fit, trim the bread as needed so you can fit the stuffed french toast sandwiches evenly. I use this 13-inch x 10-inch casserole dish.
- In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese and raspberry jam.
- Spread on a thick layer of the cream cheese mixture on a slice of bread and close it with a second slice to make a sandwich. Place it in the casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining slices. You will want to divide up all of the cream cheese mixture evenly.
- Whisk the eggs together. Whisk in the milk, vanilla and salt.
- Gently pour the mixture over the French toast sandwiches. Allow it to soak for 1 minute. Then carefully using the help of a spatula, flip each sandwich over. Don't let it soak too long because if the bottom bread becomes too soggy, it's hard to flip.
- Cover and set in the refrigerator to soak overnight.
- In the morning, take the french toast casserole out of the oven 30 minutes before baking. Preheat the the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for about 55 minutes. The Baked Stuffed French Toast Casserole is done when there's no more liquid left and the egg is set.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve warm, topped with maple syrup, whipped cream and more jam.
Rachel Bailey says
This was so easy and delicious. Festive Sunday brunch without a lot of work. We served it with fresh fruit salad, maple syrup, and mimosas — yum! If we make it again (and we probably will), I’ll probably stuff them with about a third more filling. But that’s just me — I’m the kind of person who likes frosting straight out of a jar.
Fabian Lanzy says
I modified this recipe slightly for Christmas, omitting Jelly in the filling and using 4 oz (half another package) more cream cheese, with a cup of whole pecans divided through the slices. I also liberally sprinkled this with cinnamon and nut meg before adding the top layer of bread.
I doubled the amount of vanilla in the egg mixture (2 tsp), and once it came out of the oven I sprinkled it liberally with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
The result? A Stuffed French Toast variant that was remarkably like Eggnog on a plate (well, the kids version at least, I’m not ready to douse it in Brandy and set in flames). Thanks Tina for giving me a template recipe to work some Yuletide culinary magic.`
Teresa Jui says
I like this cheese French toast I wouldn’t mind to have for Mother’s Day.
Yolande says
Do you pour any egg mixture over the toast after it is turned over. Seems the bread would be dry if you dibnt
Tina Jui says
Hi Yolande. You lay out the cream cheese stuffed French toasts across the bottom of a casserole pan. Then slowly pour the egg mixture over. Wait one minute, then flip the sandwiches over. I haven’t had any problems with the bread being dry. Hope that helps!
Renee D Kohley says
So special and so fun! Perfect for a special morning like Christmas or New Year!