Baked French Toast Recipe: Easy Cinnamon Brunch Casserole

If you’re a french toast lover looking for the ultimate baked french toast recipe, you’ve found it! This is the superhero version of your breakfast favorite — made with THICK slices of monkey bread, a dreamy cinnamon-brown sugar streusel, and an unbelievable caramel syrup to top it all off. It’s a crowd brunch dream, you guys!

Why This Is the Best Baked French Toast Recipe

If you’ve never had Kneader’s Bottomless French Toast, then you haven’t lived! It’s only the all-time best breakfast food to ever grace the planet. And I’m not exaggerating. This french toast bake takes everything glorious about classic french toast and cranks it up to eleven. No standing over a hot griddle on medium heat flipping individual slices one by one like a short order cook — just pure, oven-baked magic. The great thing about this recipe is that you do almost all the work the night before, and the next morning your casserole dish comes out golden brown and absolutely dreamy. Be still my heart!

The Best Bread for a French Toast Bake

Let’s talk about the most important thing: the kind of bread you use. This is not the moment for basic sandwich bread, friends. This french toast bake is made out of big, thick, fresh slices of monkey bread — and it is absolutely life-changing. That said, different types of bread work beautifully here. A loaf of french bread cut into thick slices is a total classic. Croissant bread gives you an extra rich egg custard mixture situation that is SO good. Day-old bread and stale bread are actually the best bread options because they soak up the milk mixture without turning to mush. Fresh bread can get a little soggy, so if that’s all you have, leave your bread slices out overnight to dry. You want those bread cubes and bread chunks sturdy enough to hold up to the overnight soak. If you love bread pudding vibes, chocolate bread pudding uses the same genius principle!

How to Make the Egg Mixture and Overnight Soak

With slices of bread this thick, you absolutely cannot just dunk them in an egg mixture and plop them on a frying pan — you’d end up with an eggy, undercooked mess! Instead, we whisk eggs (large eggs, please!), whole milk or heavy cream, vanilla extract, warm spices, and a little bit of white sugar together in a large bowl. I’m talking an extra rich egg custard mixture that gives you that gorgeous custard-like texture. Pour it right over the top of the bread in your baking dish or casserole dish. A sheet pan works too if you’re doing individual servings! The best way is to do this overnight soak in the fridge so the custard sets completely and every slice of bread drinks up all that creamy goodness. You can even use buttermilk in place of a cup milk for a little tang — so good!

The Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Streusel Topping

Can we talk about the aromatic topping for a second?! This cinnamon-brown sugar streusel is honestly one of my favorite things about this whole recipe. In a small bowl, mix together dark brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, melted butter, and a little extra liquid if needed, then cut it together with a pastry cutter or fork until crumbly. You want that gorgeous brown sugar crumb scattered all over the top of the bread before it goes into the oven. The topping ingredients bake up into this crackly, caramelized situation that makes the final dish look like it came from a fancy brunch restaurant. Sprinkle on some fresh berries or fresh fruit right before serving and I literally can’t even. Check out how I use similar topping magic in my brown sugar banana streusel bread!

Special Occasions and Weekend Brunch Tips

This breakfast casserole is basically made for special occasions. We’re talking Christmas morning, Christmas day, Mother’s Day, or any weekend brunch where you want to show up and show OUT. One of the popular additions to this recipe is pure maple syrup or real maple syrup drizzled on top — and please, I’m begging you, do not skip my caramel buttermilk syrup. It is buttermilk syrup perfection and pairs SO dreamily with the warm spices. Coat your baking dish with cooking spray before adding the bread cubes, and cover with an airtight container or foil for the overnight soak. In the morning, preheat your oven (375° F oven is my sweet spot) and bake until golden brown and gorgeous. Want even more brunch recipes? Our favorite french toast recipes have you completely covered for every weekend breakfast situation!

Make It Your Own and Serve It Up

One of the great things about this recipe is how flexible it is! In a separate bowl, you can mix up extra toppings — fresh fruit, fresh berries, whipped cream — whatever makes you happiest. Sugar amounts are totally adjustable depending on how sweet you want the final dish. If you’ve made something like pumpkin french toast casserole or even Ree Drummond’s baked french toast casserole before, you already know how simple ingredients can turn into something spectacular. I hope you love this gem as much as we do — drop a star rating in the recipe card below so I know what you think! And if you’re ever out in Utah, be sure to drop by a Kneader’s Bakery for the real-life inspiration behind this whole glorious, monkey-bread masterpiece. Now go make this. You have to make this!!

Love this? Don’t miss our Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists Recipe.

Monkey Bread French Toast

Yield: 8 thick slices

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If you love French toast, you'll flip over this recipe for chunky, overnight, baked French Toast! This is the superhero version of your favorite breakfast toast made with THICK slices of monkey bread, delicious cinnamon and brown sugar swirled throughout, and an unbelievable caramel syrup to top it off.

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Ingredients

For the Bread Dough:

• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (think warm bath water)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cups flour

For the Monkey Bread Coating:

• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 tbsp cinnamon

For the French Toast:

• 6 eggs
• 2-1/2 cups milk
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp butter, cubed

Caramel Syrup:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Make the Monkey Bread Loaf:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Proof the yeast using the oil and sugar.
3. Mix the salt into the flour in a stand mixer bowl.
4. After the yeast has proofed, add the yeast mixture to the flour. Knead with bread hook until a dough forms, and then continue kneading for an additional 5-6 minutes until dough is elastic.
5. Cover and let rise for about 10 minutes. Prepare a loaf pan by spraying generously with nonstick cooking spray and lining it with parchment paper.
6. Divide dough into 32 small pieces. Dip each piece into the melted butter, and then roll the buttered piece of dough in the cinnamon sugar before placing it in the prepared loaf pan. Repeat with all the remaining dough.
7. Bake loaf for 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top and feels set in the middle.
8. Let cool COMPLETELY before slicing into 8 slices.

Prepare the Baked French Toast:

1. Generously spray a 10x15 baking dish with cooking spray and layer with parchment paper. Layer the 8 slices of bread into the prepared dish.
2. Whisk together the eggs, milk, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla. Pour mixture over the bread slices.
3. Layer the cubes of butter over the slices of bread. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight until all of the liquid has been absorbed by the bread.
4. Preheat oven to 350ºF and bake for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.

Make the Caramel Syrup:

1. Over medium-high heat, whisk together the brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream. Bring to a boil and let boil for 3 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat immediately and serve over French toast.