Maple Sausage French Toast Bake
Maple Sausage French Toast Bake is a sweet and savory dish perfect for the holidays but so scrumptious you’ll want it all year long!
This French toast bake elevates Christmas morning to a new level! Classic French bread with eggs & milk, paired with juicy sausage and sweetened with maple syrup & brown sugar – OH MY, is this amazing!
The Best Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole
Is there anything as wonderful on Christmas morning as a scrumptious, make-ahead breakfast casserole?
This savory maple toast casserole recipe is super easy to assemble and refrigerate at night. Pop this luscious sausage & French toast bake on Christmas morning right into the oven.
Now sit back and let the sweet, mouth-watering aroma fill your home while you enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the kids open their presents from Santa!
Other Recipes to Serve with French Toast Bake
- Grandma’s Potatoes make an excellent addition to any special breakfast! They aren’t fancy, but they ARE spectacular!
- Egg Muffins are versatile, high in protein, and quickly made in advance. Just warm and serve!
Ingredients
Sausage: A pound of pork breakfast sausage is ideal for this maple French toast bake, but you could also use chicken or turkey sausage if that’s your preference!
French Toast: The rest of this delicious breakfast casserole uses the same ingredients as regular French toast, just in a larger quantity – a loaf of French bread, milk (whole or 2%, but you can even use half-n-half for a richer taste), and eggs.
Seasonings: Add the warm, rich flavors to this breakfast bake with brown sugar, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt.
How to Make Maple Sausage French Toast Bake
STEP ONE: Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, being sure to break up the meat as it cooks. Drain any excess grease from the pan and set that aside for now.
STEP TWO: Cut the French bread into 1-inch cubes and transfer them into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, milk, salt, one tablespoon of brown sugar, and two tablespoons of maple syrup. Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and toss coat each piece.
STEP THREE: Mix half the bread into a coated 9×13 baking dish. Add sausage over the first layer of bread. Add the remaining bread as the top layer. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar evenly over the top, then drizzle the rest of the syrup. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
STEP FOUR: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Take the casserole out of the fridge and uncover it. Bake for 1 hour or until the top is nice and golden brown. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Tips for Success
- Cut precooked sausage links into fourths if you need a super fast assembly. The texture will be chunkier, but the flavor won’t change.
- When cutting bread, always use a serrated knife to simplify the process.
- For a beautiful Christmas morning presentation, serve with an extra drizzle of warmed maple syrup, a dollop of fresh whipped cream, and a side of berries.
What’s the Difference Between Pancake Syrup and Maple Syrup?
The difference is HUGE – just read the labels! Maple Syrup will have one ingredient: Maple syrup. “Pancake Syrup” suffers from imposter syndrome and often contains no maple. It’s a cheap alternative in every way. It costs less because it’s made from high fructose corn syrup, sodium benzoate, cellulose gum, and about a half dozen other artificial ingredients.
How Do You Make Maple Sausage?
Maple sausage (and maple bacon!) is so yummy! Before cooking the sausage, drizzle a little maple syrup onto the raw patties and let them sit for a few minutes so the maple flavor can soak into the meat. Cook in your skillet or oven as you normally would, and enjoy!
Other Fabulous French Toast Recipes!
- Lemon and Blueberry French Toast Bake
- Overnight Caramel French Toast
- Peach Raspberry Slow-Cooker French Toast
- Crunchy French Toast Sticks
- Eggnog French Toast Bake
- Berry French Toast Cups
*This post was originally posted on 05/09/2013.
Maple Sausage French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 1 lb breakfast sausage
- 1 loaf French bread
- 3 cups milk
- 8 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar divided
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup divided
Instructions
- Coat the inside of a 9-inch x 13-inch baking with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Drain the excess grease and set aside.
- Cut or tear the French bread into 1-inch cubes and place them in a large mixing bowl.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Pour the milk mixture over the bread pieces and toss to coat.
- Spread half of the bread mixture out in the prepared baking dish. Spread all of the sausage over the bread, and the spread the remaining bread over the sausage.
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of brown sugar over the top of the french toast. Drizzle the remaining 4 tablespoons maple syrup all over the top.
- Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and uncover the baking dish.
- Bake for 60 min or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve warm with extra syrup.
Sigh, need to find a yummy site like yours with recipes for 2.
Many times aftergoingo the trouble of downsizing, the recipe loses appeal :'(
Do you use an actual loaf of French bread, like a baguette? Or a loaf of French Toast bread (which is basically just really thick sliced bread).
We use a loaf of French bread, like from the bakery department, not thick siced packaged bread.
I made this for New Year’s Day brunch and was not dissapointed. My only suggestion to fellow readers would be not to break up the sausage too much when you cook it. I broke it up alot, thinking that it would be better but it made it lose some of the flavor. It was still very yummy though. Thanks for sharing!
Do I have to use maple syrup? Does it need to be covered or uncovered when baking? Also whats the reasoning behind letting it set over night what if you are short on time and can only let it set for like 3 hours?? Love this recipe going to give it a try!
A perfect Christmas morning dish.
Thanks so much for this recipe hint. Making this dish this morning with a few changes.
First I used whole wheat bread (15 grain) for a healthier twist.
I then soaked the bread in the milk first for 5 minutes which cut my prep time as I did not want to soak overnight. I then scrambled the eggs together and added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, a dash of pepper and a half a stick of butter.
Mashed altogether using my fingers in the bowl, added a few strips of bacon to the top, saturated with the syrup and proceeded to bake.
Thanks again as it came out WONDERFUL! (BIG SMILE) Will definitely bake again.
If I wanted to make half of this vegetarian, what could I put in place of sausage?
Vegetarian sausage
I love breakfast casseroles to. I have made several and this one will be a new experience. I am going to make this for my office .
I love breakfast casseroles! I hope your office loves it. My husband told me this past Thanksgiving it was the best thing I’ve ever made. 🙂
I love breakfast casseroles and this one looks pretty amazing! Happy Mother’s Day 🙂
Thanks Valerie! Happy Mother’s Day to you too. 🙂
I love breakfast casserole like this, thanks for sharing!!
Me too Tara! Especially around holidays. Thanks. 🙂
I can’t wait to make this. I love french toast and sausage… I always end up dunking my sausage in maple syrup… 😀
Thanks Samantha! Let us know what you think.
When I was a kid I would never eat any kind of breakfast meat, and now I love sausage and bacon. It’s a good thing that people’s taste buds keep developing. Your french toast bake looks delicious.
Thanks Suzanne! I’m so glad they change too. Too many great things would be missed.
Oh! I was yours at maple.
I’m a big maple fan too. 🙂