Baked Blueberry Lemon French Toast
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No stress, no fuss breakfast! Prep the night before or freeze as needed. Easy, simple and company worthy!
what is baked french toast
Baked French toast, also known as a French toast casserole, is a make-ahead breakfast dish with custard-soaked bread baked until golden brown, adding desired toppings such as fruit, confectioners’ sugar or maple syrup.
reasons to make baked blueberry lemon french toast
- Make-ahead and freezer friendly. Conveniently prep everything the night before and pop it in the oven right before serving. No stress, no fuss, and no more flipping individual slices of French toast while your guests are impatiently waiting, aka hungry toddlers!
- Great for large crowds. With its easy prep and hands-off cooking, this French toast casserole is perfect for big family gatherings, holidays (think Christmas morning before presents or Easter brunch), baby showers and weekend company.
- Guaranteed favorite. Who doesn’t love French toast? With its soft custardy-bread-pudding vibes and cinnamon sugar crumb topping, this breakfast casserole is sure to be a guaranteed crowd-favorite.
- Versatile, flexible recipe. Use cinnamon swirl bread, add in different berries, swap out for gluten-free bread or top with nuts, dried fruit or syrup. Baked french toast can be as simple or as over the top as you want!
how to make the easiest french toast casserole
- Layer with bread cubes and blueberries
- Top with milk + egg custard
- Refrigerate overnight
- Sprinkle with brown sugar cinnamon crumb topping
- Bake until golden brown perfection
tips and tricks for success
- Use day-old, stale bread. The best French toast casserole starts with stale, dried bread. The drier the bread, the more custard it can soak up without falling apart.
- Use fresh blueberries. Frozen blueberries will have more juices released that may result in soggy French toast.
- Avoid fat-free milk. Use whole milk for the creamiest texture as fat free or 2% milk will not provide enough richness for the custard.
- Prep the night before. Baked french toast is one of those great dishes that you can prep ahead of time and is recommended to do so, assembling everything the night before and giving the bread plenty of time to soak the egg custard. This is key for that favorited bread-pudding texture.
- Halve the recipe. Need a small-scale version? This recipe can easily be halved and baked in an 8×8 baking dish, reducing the bake time to about 35-40 minutes.
- Freeze before baking. This will preserve the texture and prevent sogginess, storing the crumb topping separately. Always use a freezer-safe baking dish, label, date and freeze up to 3 months.
baked blueberry lemon french toast variations
Bread
Use day-old, stale brioche, challah, sourdough or cinnamon raisin (or cinnamon swirl) bread.
Fruit
Add in your favorite berries (strawberries, raspberries or blackberries), bananas, apples or peaches. We also have a pumpkin, cinnamon apple and strawberries and cream version.
Cream cheese
Add in 1 (8-ounce) package brick-style cream cheese, cubed, for an extra decadent, creamy layer.
Topping
Serve with maple syrup, cinnamon sugar or blueberry jam.
Tools For This Recipe
9 x 13 baking dish
Baked Blueberry Lemon French Toast: Frequently Asked Questions
You can quickly dry out the bread by baking the bread cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan at 275°F for about 10-15 minutes.
There can be many reasons for this – too much dairy was used, the bread was soaked too long or the bread was too soft (ex. white bread). If your french toast is soggy, pop it back in the oven, increasing the baking time as needed until the desired consistency is reached.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! Prior to baking, cover the french toast tightly with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed, adding a few more minutes to the bake time as needed.
For the best results, we recommend assembling, freezing, then baking to help preserve texture. But if you’ve already baked your french toast, no worries at all – it can still be frozen!
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
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
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
Equipment
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. Remove baking dish from the refrigerator; let stand 30 minutes. 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.
For the crumb topping
- In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add cold butter and toss to coat, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Video
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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.
I’m really excited about trying this recipe; mine is in the fridge soaking as i type. The recipe calls for 12 count pack of kings Hawaiian rolls and a 9 x 13 dish. It is stated that the initial layer should be repeated 2x but i didn’t have enough bread and blueberries. Is this a typo? Should the dish be smaller? Thanks.
It really depends on how (the size) it’s been cubed. You can always use a smaller baking dish or use more rolls – it’s up to you!
Made this for Christmas morning breakfast. The fresh blue berries were a real treat in the N.C. in December. This was a huge hit with requests to make it again soon.
I just made this and put it in the fridge to cook in the morning. The bread soaked up all the milk/egg mixture. Is this supposed to happen? Hoping you’ll answer before the morning. Wonder if I have to mix up another liquid mixture.
Yes, that’s exactly what is supposed to happen! 🙂
Hi – I can’t wait to try making this. Many other baked FT recipes say to let the bread get a bit stale – do you recommend the same with King’s Hawaiian? It’s already so much softer than other breads – so I would imagine so…..so it doesn’t end up MUSHY? Thanks! M
Yes, absolutely!
Made this today for breakfast. Didn’t find Hawaiian bread, so I used Italian. Also, increased the amount of milk ( I like it a little soggy). The lemon zest is the special ingredient, my house smelled so good while it was in the oven. I’ll be making it again soon. Thanks for sharing!!!
Most French toast recipes that you leave in the refrigerator overnight ask you to take it out and sit for 30 min at room temp. can it go from refrigerator to oven right away
You can leave it at room temperature or it can go straight in the oven with additional baking time – either way works!
Made this for Easter breakfast and it was a hit! I added more blueberries than the recipe called for, and I substituted agave sweetener for the maple syrup since that’s what I had on hand. Delicious!
I wonder if this heats up well. I’d like to have a to-go serving for the mornings.
Yes, it heats up well.
We just had this for breakfast and it was very good. I only had 4 sweet rolls left after making a bread pudding with caramel sauce and had just bought fresh blueberries on sale. Used 2 oval baking dishes and divided the mixture between the two. I made a third of the liquid mixture but used 2 eggs. It was kind of tricky but worked. Did use most of the whole lemon zest as we like lemon. It did take a little longer to bake. I started out at 15 minutes, then added 7, it was still a little runny, turned off the oven and left them in for a few more minutes and they got puffy and brown and perfect! Thanks.
Hi, I`m drying to try this recipe but where I live right now, you wont be able to find hawaiin bread… what`s a good substitute?
Crusty sourdough or French bread would be a great substitute.
I am definitely going to make this since I finally found the King Hawaiian bread:) One question – do you have the nutritional breakdown?
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, it is best that you use free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
Making this for our house and my sister’s for Sunday morning (quaratine) breakfast. Will it be ok to sit in the fridge for 18 hours before baking? I would need to make around lunch today and deliver to her since I won’t be able to tonight.
Made this today for Mother’s Day and it was such a hit! The only thing two things I changed was the bread – I used Challah (16 oz loaf, day or two old) and the amount of milk which I reduced by 1/4 cup. After reading previous reviews saying it was too custardy I didn’t want it to be too soggy, which is why I reduced the milk, but next time I think I will just go for the full amount because the custardy party was half of the deliciousness. The crumble made it nice and crisp on top. Blueberries were juicy, lemon zest added a fresh twist. This recipe is a keeper and I’ve already shared the recipe. Thank you!
So delicious! I made this for Mothers Day, not a spec was left over 🙂 That crumb topping is a total must <3 I also tucked in small cubes of cream cheese for extra oomph! I wasn't able to find hawaiian rolls, so I opted for french bread which was just as delicious (though I'll be on the look out for those rolls next time!) I will definitely be saving this recipe for future use! Thanks so much for sharing!
Could you make this with Challah bread? Looks amazing?
Yes, of course!
This is so delicious!! I am just putting mine in the fridge to sit overnight and I am so excited from breakfast tomorrow. I made this for a brunch last weekend and had to make it again for my family to enjoy! Thanks for sharing this great recipe. <3
In other baked French toast recipes ive been looking at it calls for day old bread or to bake the bread for a few minutes to dry it out a bit….I prefer my baked French toast a little less custardy… would drying out the bread help with that? any other ways to make it less custard-y?
For a “less custard-y” type French toast, it may be best to reduce the amount of liquid.
This looks great! My 5-year-old *loves* blueberries and my hubby *loves* lemon so I think I might be making this for breakfast before Church on Easter. I know my 2.5 year-old-twins will eat anything that makes a mess and blueberries certainly qualify! Thanks for this!
We had this today for brunch, so delicious!!!!!! The “yields 8 servings” makes me chuckle, my husband, three year old son, and I nearly polished the entire thing off ourselves!! 🙂 With no help from the picky five year old. 😉
Thank you for this delicious recipe.. I made it this morning. It was very tasty, a little more custardee than I would like but the past comments helped out a lot and I can’t wait to try it again. Great tasting!