by Holly
Blueberry French Toast Bake is an easy make overnight breakfast casserole recipe! A creamy custard mixture is tossed with bread, blueberries and a sweet cream cheese mixture. Everything is topped with a crunchy streusel topping. Refrigerate this french toast casserole recipe overnight and in the morning simply pop it in the oven to bake!
While we love to start the day with French Toast, this make ahead casserole recipe is great for an easy holiday breakfast (or to feed a crowd). Try swapping out the fruit for your favorites!
Blueberry Baked French Toast Casserole
Wake up to the smell of fragrant blueberries baked into this lusciously decadent overnight casserole recipe. No need to get up early to put it together, because all the work is done the night before! Just assemble, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
The bread soaks up the custard mixture so that it is ready to go in the morning! While this breakfast is delicious and filling, we often add in a side of grapefruit sections or a Fresh Summer Fruit Salad!
How to Make Baked French Toast
This easy French toast starts with bread of course! Regular white bread works (or really, any leftover bread or even leftover dinner rolls) but we get the best results from a denser bread such as brioche or Challah as it holds the custard perfectly.
You want the bread to be slightly dry, so cut it and leave it to sit out overnight. It can also be dried in an oven at 350˚F for about 8 minutes.
To Make French Toast Casserole
- Combine the cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice and mix until fluffy.
- Layer the bread cubes in a casserole dish, add cream cheese and blueberries.
- Combine eggs & milk to create a custard and pour over the bread cubes. Refrigerate overnight.
- Top with the streusel topping and bake until golden!
How Long to Bake French Toast Casserole? Leave this french toast bake at room temperature for about 45 minutes while the oven preheats. Like most make ahead casserole recipes, the center of this french toast bake is really cold so leaving it at room temperature for a little bit helps it to bake evenly. Add topping and bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes.
Can I Freeze French Toast Casserole?
This blueberry cream cheese french toast casserole freezes perfectly with just a little preparation!
- To Freeze: Just assemble the first stage, cover it so it is airtight, label and pop in the freezer. Keep the prepared streusel topping in a separate zippered bag in the freezer.
- To Defrost: Defrost in the fridge overnight.
- To Bake: Bake as directed in the recipe.
More Breakfast Casseroles To Try
- Overnight Breakfast Casserole with Bacon – Easy to prepare!
- Overnight Sausage Breakfast Casserole – Make ahead breakfast!
- CrockPot Breakfast Casserole – Set it and forget it!
- French Toast Casserole – Quick and easy brunch!
- Overnight Apple Pie French Toast Casserole – Family favorite!
- Mexican Slow Cooker Breakfast – Spice up your morning!
Blueberry French Toast Bake
Prep Time 20 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
Casserole
- 12 slices bread cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 12 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Topping
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup oats
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
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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 the cream cheese half of 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.
- Mix topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle over casserole just before baking.
- Remove the casserole from the fridge about 45-60 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake uncovered 45-55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and is hot.
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
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.