Easy Fluffy Brioche French Toast Casserole

Easy and Fluffy Make-Ahead Brioche French Toast Casserole

Weekend mornings and holidays call for something special and that's when I like to make a hearty breakfast like this fluffy and delicious make-ahead French toast casserole. It's semi-home because you start with a loaf of brioche from the store. I like to purchase the brioche I use from Aldi's. It never disappoints and the cost is budget-friendly.

Hearty Brioche French Toast

Most mornings I start out slow with coffee ~ always need my coffee ~ and a health bar of some sort (gag me now) but on those occasional mornings when I want a big ole breakfast for the whole family I like to make pancakes, waffles or French toast.

If I think about it in time I like to prepare a make-ahead French toast casserole; I have a few breakfast casseroles I've shared with you already over the years like this super simple but amazing Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole and this Pumpkin Pie Pull Apart Bread but this is my newest recipe in that category and it is fabulous!

It may even be my favorite. I'm still debating that.

It is by far the easiest to make. 

And, if you forget to get it ready the night before, no worries, you can make it and leave it to sit in the refrigerator and have it for lunch or dinner.  

I would recommend a 3 hour minimum for letting all the flavors blend and allowing the brioche to soak up the egg mixture.  

Make-Ahead Brioche French Toast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 loaf of fresh Brioche or Challah cut into cubes

3 eggs, beaten

1 ½ cups milk

1 cup half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS:

Grease the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.  

Arrange bread slices in an even layer on the bottom of your baking dish.  

Whisk together eggs, milk, half and half, vanilla and salt.

Stir in brown sugar and pour over bread.

Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place butter slices on the top of the casserole.  

Bake 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown. 

Thicken it Up

The next time I make this I'll adjust either the recipe (doubling it) or use a smaller baking dish to get a thicker French Toast square.  It was delicious and a small piece definitely filled me up but I think I thicker piece would have made a bigger impression.  What do you think?

📖 Recipe