Baked Blueberry Lemon French Toast
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Amazingly sweet and scrumptious make-ahead french toast using a secret ingredient – sweet and fluffy Hawaiian bread!
Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and for those of you in need of an easy brunch recipe that you can make the night before, well, look no further because I have the perfect make-ahead brunch item that mom is just going to love!
Now what makes this dish so special? Well, it takes the classic french toast and transforms it into a completely baked version, which lets you prep everything the night before! Easy peasy, right?
But the real secret to this baked french toast is the special touch of sweetness using King’s Hawaiian sweet and fluffy slider buns. Yes, we’re completely swapping out that boring old plain bread and using King’s Hawaiian instead, adding plump blueberries and fresh lemon zest for that sweet, refreshing touch. And once you sprinkle on that powdered sugar on top of that sweet crumb topping, it is absolute perfection as each bite just melts in your mouth.
It has the perfect amount of sweetness, and you can simply eat this right out of the baking dish. I promise – I won’t judge you if you do, and neither will mom!
Baked Blueberry Lemon French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 (12-count) package KING’S HAWAIIAN Original Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls, cubed
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup, or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the crumb topping
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Lightly coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Place a layer of bread cubes evenly into the baking dish. Top with blueberries in an even layer, repeating 2 more times and ending with a layer of bread.
- In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, maple syrup, lemon zest, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour mixture evenly over the bread cubes. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- To make the crumb topping, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add cold butter and toss to coat, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the bread cubes.
- Place into oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
Video
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by King’s Hawaiian. All opinions expressed are my own.
When refrigerated overnight, does the crumble topping get added the next morning being going into the oven? Or does it get added before refrigerating?
The crumb topping is added right before baking, Jaclyn. 🙂
Thank you!
If prepared the night before, does the dish need to come to room temp or can it go into the oven directly from the refrigerator?
Can’t wait to try it, but have one question…can you use salted butter if you don’t have unsalted?
Sure!
This was delicious. One question however. You say to use a 9X13 pan with one package of rolls. Your instructions say 3 layers of bread but I barely got 2. I’ll use a smaller pan next time or double the rolls. Was a big hit with my fam though as is.
Same for me!! I think a smaller pan is best as well!
This is fantastic!! Just a quick question- this is to be baked uncovered correct?
Yes, that is correct.
How long can this be made before being baked? Can it be made more than 24 hrs in advanced, and just frozen until ready?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Although I wasn’t sure about using King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls in this French toast recipe, I made the recipe exactly as written. This French toast is delicious, especially with the crispy crust that forms on the top layer! My whole family went back for seconds! Definitely a bed-and-breakfast worthy dish!
So good! Even my “don’t-like-french-toast” husband liked it!
I have some regular 5 grain bread. I was thinking this can be more like a bread pudding. Would you happen to have any recipes for bread pudding?
Not at this time. Sorry!
HI! ‘I want to make this for a new mom could i bake it than freeze?
You are so sweet to make this for a new mom, Kami!
Freezing sounds like an amazing idea but unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I made it this morning but I have a question. Is the texture supposed to be soft and mushy? I’m not sure how’s its supposed to turn out. It Was a little too wet for my taste. Am I doing it right?
It should be similar to the consistency of bread pudding! 🙂
I will make this fresh for breakfast tomorrow. Thank you!
Is there a way to make this ahead and freeze it? Should I mix it altogether and freeze it, and then bake it in 2-3 days? Or do I bake it and then freeze it and reheat it up?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I have a sensitivity to maple syrup. Is there something I could use as a substitute/ equivalent in this recipe. Every other item in this recipe works for me, and sounds absolutely yummy. Would love to be able to try and make it.
It’ll of course taste a little different but you could use honey or brown sugar instead. If you like other kinds of syrup those could work as well. As always use your best judgement with modifications and substitutions.
Made this for Christmas brunch ….WOW ,! It was the first to go. Everyone loved it and it was super easy to make freeing time to spend with your family thank youmaria
Hello, I have everyrhing prepped and in the refridgerator and can’t wait to bake this up in the morning! I was wondering if this should be cooked covered or uncovered? Thanks!
Uncovered! 🙂
Hi! This looks like delicious! How would you go about making this ahead of time, as in a couple days ahead? Thanks!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Hello! Two questions. First, in your description before the actual recipe you mention Hawaiian sweet slider rolls, but in the actual recipe, just state Hawaiian buns. Which are the best? Also, they should be cubed, but I have no idea what size each cube should be.
Thanks so much.
They are actually the same, but the official label you want to look for is KING’S HAWAIIAN Original Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls. The cubes can be as small or as large as you’d like.
I just got done cooking and tasting this amazing recipe!! It’s so good. Here’s how I made it: no eggs, just 3Tbs of flax seed powder as a substitute, I made the syrup and lemon juice from a lemon into a thick molasses by cooking it because I didn’t have brown sugar. It made the dish delightfully sour. I used only Buttermilk and plain crusty bread. Chinese 5 spice and vanilla sugar instead of vanilla extract. Used 2 cups of frozen blueberries. It’s hard to mess this one up and you can change and out for other fruit and spices. So good!!! It was fun and easy to make. Kids could get it on helping easily! Super cool recipe. The bread still turned out custardy without eggs and stayed sticky add pudding-y so it’s super awesome!! The spices lemon and blueberry are very robust flavours and are perfect together. The crumble on top adds the needed sweetness to balance tart berries. (And for me the sour Buttermilk and lemon molasses). Thank you.
This was amazing! I used raspberries instead of blueberries and the flavor was so good. I used just a bit less milk (tips from the other comments) and I think it came out perfect!
I made this today and it is really good. One thing, my topping was kinda pasty, not crumbly and I did use cold butter chunks.. It was just a blob and not near enough to put on top. So, I doubled the topping and distributed it over the top. Doesn’t look like your photo, but it tastes good! And smelled wonderful while baking. Thanks.