A make-ahead overnight breakfast casserole is great for holidays, weekends, or guests!
This Blueberry French Toast Casserole starts with bread soaked in a creamy custard mixture. It’s layered with blueberries and a sweet cream cheese mixture and finally topped with a crunchy streusel topping and baked in the morning!
Serve it alongside a fresh fruit salad with a fresh cup of coffee!
Blueberry Baked French Toast Casserole
We love French Toast but this make-ahead casserole recipe is super easy and means almost no work in the morning. It’s our usual Christmas breakfast next to Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole (so we have a sweet and a savory option).
- Prep ahead! This french toast casserole is assembled the night before and baked in the morning.
- Swap out the fruit to change up the flavor.
- A great way to use up any kind of leftover bread
- Sweet and delicious with lots of flavor, every person in my family loves this.
- Great for holidays (like Easter breakfast or Christmas), for a lazy Sunday, or when you have guests over.
- Leftovers freeze and reheat well!
Ingredients
BREAD This easy French toast casserole is made with bread that is slightly stale or dried. Regular white bread works (or really, any leftover bread from French bread to dinner rolls) but we get the best results from a soft buttery bread such as brioche or Challah bread. Ensure the bread is slightly dry by leaving it overnight uncovered. It can also be dried in an oven at 350°F for about 7-8 minutes.
BERRIES We love blueberries but try raspberries, strawberries, or even leftover cranberries for a sweet-tart bite.
EGG MIXTURE Just like french toast, the bread needs a custard mixture. A combination of egg and milk soak into the bread overnight.
CREAM CHEESE The sweet cream cheese mixture adds tang and richness making it almost like cheesecake! It’s sweetened with a bit of sugar and some lemon zest (orange zest works too).
TOPPING While it’s optional, we love a buttery oat streusel topping. This is similar to a topping that would be sprinkled over fruit crisp.
How to Make Blueberry French Toast Casserole
- Make the cream cheese mixture: Combine the cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice and mix until fluffy (per the recipe below).
- Layer the Casserole: Layer the bread cubes in a casserole dish, add cream cheese and blueberries.
- Top with Custard: Combine eggs & milk to create a custard and pour over the bread cubes.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Bake: Top with the streusel topping and bake until golden!
Recipe Tips
- Bread should be dry. It can be cut and left on the counter overnight or baked for a few minutes.
- Non-dairy milk works well in this recipe.
- Remove the casserole from the fridge for about 45 minutes before baking (while the oven preheats) to help it bake more evenly.
- The topping is optional but adds great flavor. If you don’t want to add the topping sprinkle with a few slivered almonds for the last 15 minutes of baking.
Leftovers
This blueberry french toast casserole freezes perfectly with just a little preparation!
- To Freeze: Just assemble the first stage, cover it so it is airtight, label it, and pop it in the freezer. Keep the prepared streusel topping in a separate zippered bag in the freezer.
- To Bake: Thaw in the fridge overnight. Bake as directed in the recipe.
More Breakfast Casseroles To Try
- Overnight Breakfast Casserole with Bacon – Easy to prepare.
- Easter Breakfast Bake
- Overnight Sausage Breakfast Casserole – Make-ahead breakfast
- Cranberry Breakfast Bread Pudding
- French Toast Casserole – Quick and easy brunch!
- Overnight Apple Pie French Toast Casserole – Family favorite!
Did you enjoy this Blueberry French Toast Casserole? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Blueberry French Toast Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
Casserole
- 12 slices bread cut into 1-inch cubes
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups blueberries divided, fresh or frozen
- 12 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Topping
- ½ cup oats
- ¼ cup butter softened
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Leave your bread out for a few hours or place it on a tray at 350˚F for about 8 minutes to slightly dry it out.
- In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until fluffy.
- Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer half of the bread cubes in the pan. Top with cream cheese mixture & half the blueberries. Top with remaining bread and blueberries.
- In a bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, syrup, and lemon zest until well mixed. Pour over the bread cubes, cover with foil, and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the casserole from the fridge about 45-60 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle over casserole just before baking.
- Bake uncovered 45-55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and is hot.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Breakfast, Casserole
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Planning on making this for brunch along with the hashbrown casserole with both being in the oven at the same time (worried about that!) How can you tell if the Blueberry French Toast Casserole is done as well as the hashbrown casserole? Any advice you can give me will be appreciated!
To test if the blueberry french toast casserole is done insert a knife in the center and if it comes out clean and is hot then it is fully cooked. And to make sure the hashbrown casserole is fully cooked you will want to make sure the eggs are cooked through and the casserole is no longer jiggly. Hope that makes sense!
This is so amazingly delicious. I made it the night before. I added the topping right before going into the oven. Do not skip the topping! This may be a new tradition to make every Christmas eve for an easy Christmas morning breakfast. Yummy!
Hi Holly, whichhc is your prefernce to use? Fresh or frozen blueberries? If frozen, do they need to be thawed? Thanks!!
Fresh or frozen, we add them to the recipe as is! No need to thaw them first. I love fresh blueberries but often have frozen blueberries on hand, thankfully this recipe turns out great with either!
Thanks!!! And sorry I just emailed you about this, I forgot I posted the question :(
can I use gluten free bread in your blue berry French toast?
Hi Gloria, we have never tried this recipe with gluten-free bread but others have with great results! We hope you enjoy it.
I made this three days ago for a brunch. It was a HUGE hit. Then I made a half recipe with gluten free bread and flour for a friend. It is absolutely delicious. I used half cinnamon and half cardamom for the topping. Can’t wait to make it again.
This turned out perfect the first time with no changes and baking time was actually right on, mine was pretty thick (We used challah bread which would be hard to not do everytime it has such a great texture) so I wasn’t sure it would be enough time. It was the perfect sweetness on its own and not over the top – the cream cheese mixture absolutely made it for me. Everyone loved it and talked about what it would cost for one slice at a breakfast restaurant. I was wondering if you think you could successfully freeze this in individual portions to heat up in the microwave?
I haven’t tried freezing this but I think it would work just fine, it’s basically french toast which we do freeze often!
Hi … can you do 2 days overnight, instead of one? Making for Christmas and Christmas Eve will be pretty crazy.
Yes, that should be just fine. Ensure it’s well covered.
Incredibly good! Best breakfast/dessert ever! Love it with warm maple syrup poured on top!
It was a gigantic hit with EVERYBODY!
Made a half recipe in an 8×8. This was spectacular!! We used gluten free sandwich bread, but otherwise made as directed. It was done in 40 minutes and came out golden brown perfection. We’re going to do a strawberry/raspberry combo next time. Thank you for another wonderful recipe, Holly!!
Strawberry raspberry sounds so yummy, let us know how it works out for you!
I made this recipe this morning, and I have to say that it has taken over an hour and a half to bake so far! It passed the clean knife test after an hour, but the bread was still soggy. I’ve baked it another 30 minutes and it’s still kind of soggy. I think if I were to make it again, I’d use less eggs and even possibly cut out the cream cheese mixture.
As this is French toast, the texture is expected to be quite soft and moist (almost like a bread pudding). Hope that helps.
This looks amazing! I might try this with brie instead since my husband and daughter aren’t big cream cheese fans. Can I just mix the sugar in with the eggs? Thanks :)
Brie is a delicious idea!
Can this be made the night before
Definitely. Step 4 of the recipe stated to pour the egg mmixture over the bread cubes, cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
Hi Holly, Love your recipes, you need a TV show! Just wanted to know about the bake time in cutting this in half, only 2 of us. 8 X 8 dish still 45-55? Thanks
Hi Donna, thanks so much for your kind words!
Generally, if you make half the recipe your cook time decreases by about a ⅓. I hope this helps!
its worth it !
We think so too Jeanette! Glad you enjoyed it!
What kind of bread is best? Texas Toast, french bread, or regular sandwich bread?
I just use regular sandwich bread but any type will work.
Could I use Splenda? If so, how much?
I haven’t tried it with Splenda so I can’t say for sure but there should be directions on the Splenda package to substitute for sugar.
Could you do this with strawberries instead of blueberries?
I haven’t tried it but I think it would work. Strawberries tend to contain a bit more moisture than blueberries so if you are using frozen, you might like to defrost/drain them first. If you try it that way, I’d love to hear how it works for you.
How much does this make? in cups preferably but servings will do! lol :D Looks very YUM!
:) It is delicious! It makes a 9×13 pan which is about 8-10 servings.
I think I’m drooooooling. That looks incredible.
I would like to double this for a brunch party; any tips of how to adjust baking time
How fun Monica! I’d suggest baking it in two pans. It may take a few minutes longer to bake with two pans in the oven.