Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake
This Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake is a breakfast favourite! Save time and make the recipe in advance, keeping it refrigerated until you are ready to bake it in the morning. Perfect for busy mornings, including holidays!
Give me a breakfast that I can make ahead of time and I’m a happy morning camper. Like many of you, our weekends can be so busy…packed with kids sports, kid shuffling and everything weekend life throws at us. That’s why I appreciate being able to prepare a breakfast the night before I want to bake it. So today I’m sharing a delicious and easy-to-make breakfast recipe that I think you will love…Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake.
French toast is a breakfast that I have always loved…I have fond memories of my Dad making French toast on weekend mornings. Soft delicious bread soaked in milk & eggs, fried up and served with loads of syrup. The best.
French Toast in a Casserole!
This recipe for Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake is a lot like the classic French toast we love, but instead it’s made in a casserole form. I really love being able to assemble a classic recipe into a casserole because it makes serving breakfast so simple. Especially so on the busiest mornings where you might be serving a crowd, like Christmas or Easter. No one has to stand at the stove flipping toast, instead the toast is all ready at the same time.
And as you can see we all love this recipe…it was completely devoured…even all the delicious crispy bits at the bottom of the pan. No matter how much butter I add to the pan ahead of baking, we always end up with crispy bits, but that suits us just fine, they’re delicious!
Serving ideas:
Drizzle with maple syrup or extra cinnamon and sugar. And for a complete breakfast, serve this Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake with sausages or bacon and an assortment of fresh fruit or this fresh fruit salad.
Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake Recipe Tips
- Milk: You can use 2%, whole milk or half + half cream.
- Bread: I like to use Challah bread because it’s slightly sweet and I just really like the texture of this bread. But you can also use a French bread, brioche or your favourite bread sliced thick.
- Cinnamon + Sugar Mix: I always have a cinnamon & sugar mix made in a jar in my spice cabinet, all ready to go for sprinkling on toast, muffins and recipes like this French Toast Bake. I make it using 1/2 cup of white sugar and 2 tbsp of ground cinnamon. For this toast bake, I used about 1 1/2 tbsp of the mixture to sprinkle on top before baking. You can also use brown sugar instead.
- Make sure that the milk/egg mixture is completely soaked into the bread. That’s why it’s best to let the assembled dish rest overnight. If you find after this time, that there is still liquid in the bottom of the dish you can consider adding a slice, or more, of bread. Or using a spoon, scoop out the liquid and drizzle it over the bread until it’s all soaked in.
- This easy French toast casserole recipe would be perfect for holiday brunches, like Easter brunch, Christmas morning or Mother’s Day brunch.
Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Bake
This recipe does require some resting time before baking. You can make this dish the same day, but let it rest for at least 1 hour so the egg mixture has time to soak into the bread. It’s best to let it rest covered, overnight in the fridge if possible, then bring it to room temperature in the morning (about 15-20 minutes) before baking.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: -26861506 minutes
- Yield: 6 – 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 large loaf of Challah bread (thickly sliced (you can use a French loaf or Texas toast too))
- 5 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups milk (2% or whole milk)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 – 2 tbsp cinnamon/sugar mix (see Recipe Tips below)
Instructions
- Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter.
- Slice the loaf of bread into thick slices, about 3/4 inch wide.
- Arrange the slices of bread in the baking dish and set aside.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. I like to use a hand blender to do this so the mixture is completely combined and smooth.
- Pour the egg mixture over the bread, making sure to soak all pieces from top down. Use a fork to lightly press the bread into the egg mixture.
- Let the bread soak up the egg mixture for at least 1 hour. It’s even better if you cover the dish with plastic wrap, then let it rest overnight in the fridge. Let the dish come up to almost room temperature before putting it in the oven to bake. Just make sure that all of the milk/egg mixture has soaked in completely. See Recipe Tips.
- When it’s time to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Then sprinkle the french toast with 1 – 2 tbsp of cinnamon/sugar mix.
- Bake covered with foil for 25 minutes.
- Then after this time remove the foil and bake for an additional 25 – 30 minutes, or until the french toast has puffed up and the the centre of the french toast bake isn’t jiggly.
- Serve with syrup.
More Delicious Breakfast Casseroles:
PIN IT to make later!
I hope you love this baked french toast casserole! Have a delicious day!
