This french toast bake stands out from the rest with warm cinnamon and sweet bourbon! An easy make ahead breakfast!!
Make breakfast easy on yourself with this super EASY and delicious overnight french toast bake! Whip it up the night before, pop it in the refrigerator, and just bake the next morning. Easy peasy! But this isn’t any ordinary french toast bake… this one has warm cinnamon running all through it, and is spiked with a bit of bourbon!
Okay, so breakfast food is pretty much some of the BEST food around. Well, I think so anyway 😉 Problem is, I’m not exactly a morning person, so I don’t really feel like getting up extra early to get breakfast together. But yet, I still need want that great breakfast food! Grrrrrrr. So what’s a gal to do?
Make this amazing french toast bake!
The best part is that this french toast bake can, and should be, made ahead of time. I typically put the dish together after I’m finished cleaning up from dinner, so that gives it a good 12 hours to hang out, for the flavors to really come together.
Then in the morning, I can stumble out to the kitchen, slide the pan into the oven and go back to snooze for a bit. The casserole bakes for 45 minutes to an hour, so that’s plenty of time to catch a few extra zzz’s.
I LOVE the cinnamon bourbon flavors in this dish, but if you’re not a fan, feel free to swap them out for your favorites. It’s also great with just vanilla extract.
We love this french toast bake for everyday occasions, but it’s also perfect for the holidays!
If you can whisk eggs and slice bread, you can easily make this! That’s how easy it is. Using day old bread is actually best for this, so it’s a perfect use up for bread that would otherwise get thrown out!
Making the crunchy topping is made easy by zipping it up in the food processor, but you could also use a pastry cutter, two forks, or even your hands.
I hope you guys give this one a try… I know you’ll love it! Serve it drizzled with warm maple syrup 🙂
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread or sourdough is also good
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp bourbon
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- CRUNCHY TOPPING:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter cubed and kept chilled, one stick
Instructions
- Spray a 13x9" baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Slice loaf of bread into 1 inch cubes and place in prepared baking pan.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, bourbon, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk to combine well.
- Pour mixture in an even layer over the bread, soaking it.
- Tightly cover baking pan with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
- TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
- To a food processor, add all topping ingredients except for the butter. Pulse it a couple times to combine. Add in cold cubed butter and pulse until butter is cut into the mixture and it resembles coarse, pea-sized crumbs.
- Place in a plastic bag in the refrigerator overnight.
- TO BAKE:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Take baking pan out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or so while the oven is preheating.
- When oven is ready, remove plastic wrap from baking pan. Take the plastic bag with the topping out of the refrigerator and sprinkle evenly over the top of the bread.
- Bake for 45 -60 minutes. If you like your casserole to be soft, bake for 45. If you like it to have a good crunch to it, bake it for 60.
- Serve drizzled with warm maple syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar if desired.
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Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Craving more Breakfast Foods?
Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Oven Roasted Breakfast Potatoes with Bacon, Caramelized Onions and Herbs
Vanilla Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes
Bakery Style Lemon Blueberry Muffins with Mascarpone Glaze
Lisa says
Amanda, is this very eggy? I hate hate hate eggs, but my husband has been begging me to make overnight French toast. Your recipe looks the most delicious so I’m willing to try this one. Thanks and I’ve made a lot of your other recipes many times and we enjoy them. One of our favorites is the tropical coconut pineapple rice! I even passed it on to my parents and they loved it. Oh and your honey garlic salmon is to die for.
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Lisa 🙂 I’m so glad to hear how much you enjoy the coconut pineapple rice and honey garlic salmon! I don’t think of this as being very eggy, but I also like eggs lol. If you’re worried, you could always eat more of the crunchy top, it’s definitely less egg custard-like 🙂
Lisa says
Thank you
Lisa says
I made it today for breakfast but I only used 5 eggs lol. It was really delicious. My husband really enjoyed it so I’ll be making it again! Thanks for the recipe my hubby is happy I finally made overnight French toast.