My family loves this easy baked French toast recipe. It is lightly spiced, slightly sweet, perfectly soft in the middle, and has the must delicious buttery cinnamon sugar top. You can make this right now or prepare it in advance for a stress-free breakfast or brunch!
Watch the Video
I’ve always loved French toast! We’ve even shared a classic stovetop recipe on the blog, but this oven baked French toast recipe has quickly become my favorite.
It’s incredibly delicious and perfect for prepping ahead or serving a crowd. You can even make it the night before!
Key Ingredients
- Bread: Use high-quality, day-old bread from a local bakery for the best baked French toast. French bread, sourdough, or a rustic loaf are great. Try enriched bread like Brioche or Challah for French toast that’s soft and buttery in the middle. If you don’t have the time to wait for day old bread, we added a step into our recipe that dries the bread anyway.
- Eggs: The base of our rich and delicious custard.
- Milk and cream: Are whisked with the eggs for the custard. I love the combination of milk and cream when making French toast. I use heavy cream, but whipping cream is fine.
- Maple syrup and vanilla extract: Add a touch of sweetness to the custard.
- Spices: The perfect blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg makes our baked French toast taste and smell incredible.
- Butter: I pour melted butter over the French toast for a golden brown and crisp top before baking.
- Cinnamon sugar topping: While optional, I love the sweet crunch of a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar before baking.
How to Make Baked French Toast
Whenever I make French toast, especially baked French toast, I check my bread. Really fresh bread will turn to mush, so you really want to use drier, day old bread. If you’re sitting there with a fresh loaf, no worries! You can dry it in the oven before making this recipe. Simply slice it and bake it in a 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk eggs, milk, and cream together to make the rich and creamy custard. Then, add maple syrup (I like using pure maple syrup), vanilla extract, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt for some sweetness and flavor.
When I first tested this recipe, I poured the custard over bread slices lined up in a baking dish. That worked, but the custard didn’t cover all of the bread. So now, I dip each slice into the custard first, guaranteeing every bite tastes amazing. Then, I pour over the rest of the custard.
Before baking the French toast, I recommend setting it aside for 30 minutes. This will give the bread a chance to absorb as much of that delicious custard as possible. You can leave it longer if you want. Just cover it and refrigerate it (it’s fine in the fridge overnight).
To bake the French toast, cover it and slide it into your oven for 30 minutes. Uncover it and then bake another 10 minutes until the bread looks puffed and golden brown on top. For a buttery, crisp topping (it’s so delicious!), pour melted butter over the top and sprinkle cinnamon sugar before baking the final 10 minutes.
Baked French Toast Variations
This French toast casserole is delicious, as written, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few changes you can make to make it your own. Here are a few suggestions:
- Add dried fruit or nuts: For more texture and color, add 1/2 cup of nuts or dried fruit to the custard before pouring it over the bread.
- Add pumpkin puree: For pumpkin French toast, whisk 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree into the custard. For inspiration, here’s our baked pumpkin French toast.
- Add sliced bananas: After baking for 30 minutes, uncover the casserole dish, add the melted butter and sliced bananas, then top with the cinnamon sugar topping. Bake another 10 minutes.
- Add fresh berries or fruit: Sprinkle fresh berries or cinnamon apples over the baked casserole, or add them to the dish before baking. I also love adding a dollop of whipped cream when serving.
- Add cheesecake filling: Beat 6 ounces of room-temperature cream cheese with maple syrup until whipped and slightly sweet. Dollop the cream cheese between slices of bread in the casserole dish before baking.
Storing and Make Ahead
Baked French toast lasts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. It can also be frozen for up to 2 months. Reheat in the microwave or a 350°F oven.
To make this baked French toast in advance, assemble, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight. Bake in the morning as directed in the recipe.
More Crowd Friendly Breakfast Recipes
- Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches
- Spiced Apple Dutch Baby Pancake
- Ridiculously Good Cinnamon Rolls
- Quick and Easy Blueberry Muffins
Easy Baked French Toast
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
I love this baked French toast recipe with its lightly spiced, slightly sweet custard. It bakes to be perfectly soft in the middle with a buttery cinnamon sugar top.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 large day old bread loaf like brioche, challah, crusty sourdough or French bread, see notes
6 whole eggs
1 cup (236ml) whole milk
1/2 cup (118ml) heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons real maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons butter plus more for greasing dish
Cinnamon Sugar Topping1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
- Prepare French Toast
1Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with butter and set aside.
2Slice the bread into thick slices (1/2-inch to 1-inch thick). Cut each slice in half, making two triangles. If your bread is fresh, dry it out in the oven (a tip for how to do this is below).
3In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cream, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt until combined.
4Quickly dip each slice of bread into the custard and place it in the baking dish, arranging each slice so that it is angled and overlaps slightly (like roof shingles).
5When all the bread slices are arranged in the baking dish, pour the remaining custard over the top of the bread.
6Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
- Bake French Toast
1Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
2Bake the French toast, still covered, for 30 minutes.
3While it bakes, make the cinnamon sugar topping by stirring 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon together.
4Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, uncover the French toast, and slowly pour the melted butter over the top, trying to cover most of the bread slices.
5Scatter the cinnamon sugar over the bread, and then bake, uncovered, until the tips are golden brown and the bread looks puffed, about 10 minutes.
6Cool for 5 minutes, cut into 8 squares, and serve with your favorite toppings.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Fresh bread: Day old or dried out bread is best for this. If your bread still seems fresh, slice it and place it in a 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes to dry it. You do not want to brown the bread; you want to dry it out.
- Overnight French toast: Assemble, tightly cover, and refrigerate overnight. Take out 20 minutes or so before baking in the morning to give it a chance to come closer to room temperature before baking.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Turned out great! Not too sweet. My family enjoyed it with a little extra drizzle of maple syrup and overload of berries.
Yay! There are never too many berries on french toast 🙂
Never thought of baking French Toast. Great idea! Awesome-ttasting!
We loved testing this recipe because we never thought to bake french toast either. Loved it and so glad you did too 🙂
I googled so many recipies for Christmas Day. I chose yours and it was hands down one of the most delicious French toast I have made. I make it often on the pan for my kids, prepped this the day before Christmas to put in oven on Christmas morning. It was amazing. Soft in middle, crisp top. It tasted like cinnamon donuts to. Fantastic recipe.
This is wonderful, Bianca. Thank you so much for coming back and sharing!
Made half a recipe using a bread loaf pan. I added one sliced banana and a handful of currant raisins for the second part of the recipe. I wish I could add a picture because I was proud on how delicious it looked 😉 and it was !
Can I freeze this? If so is it better to freeze before cooking or after? And how should I reheat? I’m thinking thaw first but oven temp and for how long?
Hi Ruth, You can definitely freeze this. I do not think you need to thaw in the fridge before reheating. I’d slide it into a 350F oven and heat through.
My 7 y.o. daughter ate the whole thing!!! She never eats breakfast. She…ate…it! Amazing and simple recipe using oven-dried wheat bread slices. No need for syrup. Becoming a brunch staple for the future. Thank you!
I used Dutch Crunch that I bought about a week ago and forgot to use. It was incredibly delicious. I let it sit in the fridge for just the 30 mins and ended up broiling the top once I added the butter/ sugar combo. It turned out great. Thanks for this recipe!
Sounds delicious, Amber!
My custard baked into egg 🙁 What did I do wrong ? Not sure how to avoid for next time (not giving up).
Hi Vanessa, Did you cover the dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking? This allows the bread some time to absorb the custard before baking. The dish should be mostly dry before baking (which means most of the custard made its way into the bread).
Delicious. When family comes to town,I make the day ahead( add whatever guest likes as fruit). Always a winner and no messy kitchen in the am! Thanks
Hooray for a clean kitchen in the morning! We are thrilled you enjoy the recipe, Donna.
delicious. whole family gobbled it up.
That’s wonderful, Cheryl!
Must be doubled! You won’t believe how fast it disappears!
Music to our ears, Lisa! We are so happy that you enjoy this recipe so much.
This was bad. The tops burned and dried and the bottoms were eggy mush. The only thing I did different was use Texas toast.
Hi Deh, We are sorry that you didn’t enjoy the recipe! It sounds like the bread you used was too fresh. Using Texas toast should not have affected the recipe, but when the bread is too fresh, it can become mushy. We provide tips in the recipe for drying out fresher bread before adding the custard.
Amazing! Loved the fabulous recipes!!!
I’ve always loved baked French toast when we have a houseful of overnight guests such as holidays, etc. I just made this with fresh peaches and strawberry topping baked on. It was wonderful and the whole family loved it! My daughter wants a copy of the recipe so I’m forwarding it to her. I love the creativity of the different variations. Thanks for sharing.
We love your addition of peaches and strawberries! I bet it tasted fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
This recipe is fabulous!!! I found this gem the day before Thanksgiving. Hubby ran to the store for the bread but we had everything else (also a plus). My favorite part is that it can be made the night before. Just pop it in the oven the morning of, no work required before guests arrived and I got to focus on family! We added all sorts of fruits and even whipping cream, my son loved it too!!!
Wonderful! It sounds like you found us just in time! We are thrilled that the whole family fell in love with the recipe.