French Toast Bake with Fruit

Easy French Toast Bake with Fruit is perfect for weekend and holiday breakfast! Make it the night before and pop in the oven the next morning!

French Toast Bake with Fruit is perfect for weekend mornings or holiday brunches! My other favorites to serve are Maple Sausage French Toast Bake and Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole! Of course, you can’t forget the champagne!

Breakfast is always the best meal of the day. However, it doesn’t always seem that way when you have to spend half the morning prepping a meal for everyone to eat. That’s why easy breakfast casseroles are always a go-to.

You prep this French Toast Bake with Fruit the night before, pop it in the oven, and then enjoy with the rest of the family! If you know how to make french toast, you can make this overnight french toast casserole… because it’s even easier!

FRENCH TOAST BAKE WITH FRUIT
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What’s not to love about french toast? I’m sure almost all of us grew up having at least one if not many holidays and special occasions where the baked french toast casserole made an appearance. There’s a good reason for that!

Between the thick soft slices of bread, juicy fillings, and sweet maple syrup running down the sides, there is no better crowd-pleasing breakfast dish. Especially when it comes to this baked french toast with fruit! We have it every Christmas and Easter!

Is French Toast French?

Sadly, the origins of french toast are not from France. The term “french toast” was first used in 17th century England and probably stems from a French recipe, pain perdu or “lost bread”, that has a similar preparation.

Who invented french toast?

French toast dates all the way back to the ancient Romans. The earliest documented french toast recipes are in a collection of Latin recipes called Apicius dated from the 4th or 5th century.

What Is a French Toast Bake?

• A french toast bake is stale (dried out) bread baked in a custard mixture, just like what you dip bread in for french toast. It usually has cinnamon and/or nutmeg added to the custard as well.

French Toast Casserole Ingredients

• French Bread
• Whole Eggs
• Egg Whites
• Milk
• Vanilla Extract
• Sliced Peaches or Strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• Brown Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon

I’ll sometimes sprinkle a 1/4 cup to a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar on the top of the casserole before I serve it. This casserole can be served warm or room temperature. I love it warm but it is still great when it’s cooled!

Do yourself a favor and don’t just let this recipe sit unused until a special occasion comes up, turn every weekend into a baked french toast weekend, and you’ll be sure to have a house full of happiness!

How To Bake French Toast Casserole

If you’ve never tried making french toast, it can seem like a complicated process that’s better left to the professionals, but that’s not the case as all. French toast, in general, is easy to make, and this overnight french toast bake is even easier. Just follow these instructions to see for yourself.

1. Start by spraying a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish (ceramic, glass, or metal) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside the dish while you prepare the ingredients.
2. After that, take a loaf of French bread and cut it into bite-sized bread cubes. You can use your hand and tear it into pieces too. Whatever’s easier for you is the right answer here. Place the bread into the baking dish you just sprayed and spread it out into an even layer.
3. Next, add the egg whites, eggs, milk, and vanilla into a mixing bowl and whisk everything together until the eggs and egg white are incorporated and the mixture is a pale yellow. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Try to get all the bread moistened. You can gently press down on the bread to help moisten the tops.
4. The next thing you’ll need to do is prepare the fruit by stirring together the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl until completely combined. Place sliced peaches or strawberries into a mixing bowl and sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture over the top. Give everything a stir so the fruit is coated in that yummy cinnamon-sugar mixture. Pour the fruit over the bread and spread into an even layer over the dish.
5. Then, sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the fruit. This will help form a nice caramelized crust on the french toast bake while it cooks.
6. Once the bake is prepared, cover the dish in plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. If you forget to pre-make this bake, you can let it sit for a minimum of 4 hours and it’ll come out just fine.
7. When you’re ready to bake breakfast, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the french toast bake from the fridge and take off the plastic wrap. Bake for 45 minutes until the french toast is golden brown and your house smells amazing.
8. Carefully remove the baking dish from your oven. Cut the bake into 8 slices and serve warm. I like to add some extra fresh fruit on top of each slice.

What Kind of Fruit Do I Need?

The original recipe uses peaches, but you can really use any fruit you want. It’s amazing with strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries, too. You could even bake this with a medley of all three.

As long as you keep the fruit measurements the same as it is in the original recipe you can substitute whatever fruit your family loves.

Along with using various fruits, you can also choose whether to use fresh or frozen. The only fruit I suggest avoiding is canned fruit or fruit pie fillings. While canned fruits and pie fillings make great ingredients for some recipes, this just isn’t one of them.

Can You Make a French Toast Bake Ahead of Time?

While you will get the best results letting the casserole sit overnight, you can also get away with serving it as soon as 4 hours after it’s been prepped. Just know the longer it all soaks the better the flavors will be.

What can you serve with a French toast bake?

All the breakfast things! My family loves when I serve up baked bacon, home fries, extra fresh fruit, and buttermilk syrup with our french toast casserole!

When I’m making this for a special occasion, like a holiday breakfast I like to have Grandma’s Potatoes on hand and a simple champagne cocktail like Pomegranate Champagne!

I love that the kids can help me get it ready to go the night before! That way I can simply wake up and preheat the oven! Christmas morning is usually us making coffee and tea, heating the oven and getting ready for the kids to make their way down!

I get to enjoy them opening their presents and we still have a delicious breakfast waiting for us when we’re done!

Need even more french toast in your life? Check out these recipes!

• Apple Pie Stuffed French Toast
• Lemon Pound Cake French Toast Skewers
• Berry French Toast Cups
• Cinnamon French Toast Waffles
• Lemon and Blueberry French Toast Bake
• More BREAKFAST recipes…

Tools used to make this French Toast Bake recipe

Mixing Bowls: These mixing bowls get used just about every day at my house. The grip handle makes them easy to hold and the pour spout makes them perfect for batters!

Baking Dish: This baking dish is a must-have for any home cook. I actually have 3 of them in my cupboard, and each dish comes with a lid for storing leftovers or taking your dishes on the go.

Plastic Wrap: Wrap up your dishes for storing or save leftovers.

*This post originally posted on 12/19/2012.