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.
Baked French Toast Casserole is a popular brunch recipe
Big brunches always mean a good start to the weekends! There are hundreds of brunch recipes on The Worktop. I can't really play favorites.
However, this Baked Stuffed French Toast has a special place in my heart. That's because it is so tasty!
It's also a popular brunch recipe for several reasons.
- First, it's easy to make.
- Second, it looks spectacular when served.
- Third, the taste is amazing!
Hosting a brunch party? Don't miss my best brunch party ideas!
This is an easy French toast casserole recipe
This is quite a simple recipe with only a handful of ingredients. You can get everything at the local supermarket. You might even have most of the ingredients in your kitchen already.
Ingredients
- Brioche bread
- Cream cheese
- Jam
- Eggs
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
Bake it in the oven, no stovetop needed
I love a good French toast the classic way. But it's hard to beat the taste of a baked French toast.
The inside is alway perfectly puffy. The outside usually has the perfect thin toasted crunch.
Plus, baked French toasts are easier. There's no standing in front of the stove cooking each one individually.
Prepare it the night before
In case you were wondering. Yes, you can make French toast the night before!
For this recipe, you prepare everything the night before. In the morning, you'll only have to pop it into the oven.
How do you make baked stuffed French Toast?
Baked Stuffed French Toast is easy peasy. I share the full recipe below.
However here are my helpful tips.
To make a stuffed French toast casserole, you first make "sandwiches"
The first step is to mix cream cheese and jam together.
Next, you use that spread and make sandwiches. These sandwiches are the base of your cream cheese stuffed French toast.
For this recipe, I use cream cheese mixed with raspberry jam. Personally, I think the light pink color you get with raspberry jam is beautiful. And I like the tartness of raspberries and cream cheese together.
However, it's also delicious to make overnight stuffed French toasts with strawberry jam or blueberry jam.
Second, you soak the stuffed french toasts overnight
Now that you have the cream cheese stuffed French toast sandwiches, you are ready for the next step. The sandwiches need to be soaked 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.
Finally, 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.
By doing so, it gives the stuffed french toast a great 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
- Crescent Roll Breakfast Roll
- Overnight Bacon Breakfast Casserole
Looking for more breakfast ideas? Here are all the breakfast casseroles on The Worktop.
Baked Stuffed French Toast
Print Recipe Save RecipeIngredients
- 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 quality vanilla extract
- 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.
Sophie Wildrick says
This Sunday I'm making this. I make my own brioche in my bread machine. Questions ...should I make it a couple days ahead and secondly should I cut the slices 1/4 thick?
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!