Rich and delicious brioche French toast casserole recipe with chocolate chips and lots of berries. This is the easiest way of making French toast using just one pan.
Are you looking for an easy and quick French toast recipe, the perfect breakfast or brunch for Mother’s Day or other weekend mornings? Look no further! Make this overnight brioche French toast casserole; the whole family will love it!
Soft chocolate chip buttery brioche bread dunked into a sweet custard mixture made with eggs, milk, and cream and mixed with raspberries, blueberries, and crunchy pecan nuts.
Check out more breakfast ideas: Easy Spam Eggs and Rice, Banana Muffins with Nutella, or Banana Bread without Baking Soda.
Why will you love this recipe?
- No hassle: There is no need to stand by the stove and fry individual classic French toast pieces. That also means you will not have to clean the stove once you’re done.
- One pot and super-fast: Chop the bread, mix the eggs and dairy, and combine all the ingredients in just one pot.
- Make in advance: Prepare everything at least 2 hours in advance or the night before. Bake before serving.
- Versatile: You can use another kind of bread, use other types of berries or nuts.
Simple ingredients
- Brioche: You can use a brioche loaf or a pack of small brioches. We love to use those with chocolate chips, but that’s completely optional; plain brioche is just as delicious.
- Day-old bread is perfect, especially if you plan to soak it overnight.
- Dairy: Whole milk and heavy cream.
- Eggs: Four large eggs.
- Berries: We had fresh blueberries and raspberries, but feel free to use whatever you like.
- Nuts: Pecans are great, but walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts are also perfect.
- Granulated sugar: About 4 tablespoons for the egg mixture (if you like the dish to be sweeter, you can add a bit more) and 1 tablespoon for sprinkling over the top before baking.
- You can also make the casserole dish with brown sugar.
- Other ingredients: A little bit of butter for greasing the casserole dish and vanilla extract for extra flavor. You can also add ½ – 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
How to make brioche French toast casserole?
- Assemble the dish: Combine bread cubes (1-inch cubes/ 1.3 cm) (1) and milk mixture (2) in the prepared baking dish (3). Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until the next morning.
- Add berries and top with more berries, chopped nuts, and sugar.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until set and golden. If it’s still too jiggly in the middle, bake it for 5 more minutes, then check again (4).
Variations on the recipe
- Use another bread: Challah bread, French loaf, or ciabatta. You could even make the casserole with leftover plain cake pieces.
- If you don’t have chocolate chip brioche, but would still like the chocolate, add about 1 cup of dark chocolate chips to the dish together with the berries.
- Add more spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, all-spice, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, or apple pie spices.
- Other fruit: Use peeled and chopped apples, chopped peaches (fresh or canned), or other canned or fresh fruit instead of berries.
Expert Tips
Soaking time: You can actually bake the easy brioche French toast casserole as soon as you’ve assembled it, but I recommend leaving it for at least 2 hours so that the bread can soak the egg mixture better. If planning to bake the dish immediately, it is preferable to use fresh bread, which will absorb the liquid faster.
- Bake immediately or within a couple of hours = Fresh bread
- Soak overnight = Stale bread (1-2 days old)
Bring the brioche French toast casserole to room temperature before baking; this will take 20-30 minutes, the time the oven needs to get hot.
Recipe FAQ
You can make the casserole with any white bread. We love to use these chocolate chip brioches, but Challah bread, French loaf, ciabatta, or baguette are all good.
You can if you use dairy-free/vegan brioche. Then, grease the baking dish with margarine or a similar product, and use dairy-free milk and cream to soak the bread.
You have over-soaked the bread (See Expert Tips) or didn’t cook the casserole long enough. Bake the dish until golden brown, puffy, and no longer wet in the middle.
Store leftovers for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Reheat in the oven (350°F/ 175°C) or microwave until heated through. We often eat the leftovers cold or at room temperature.
How to serve the baked French toast casserole?
- As it is or with additional toppings.
- Top it with more fresh berries, whipped cream, or/and drizzle it with maple syrup or runny honey.
More delicious casseroles
- Quick Sweet Potato Casserole
- Creamy Gnocchi Bake Recipe
- Mac and Cheese with Cream Cheese
- Old-Fashioned Baked Mac and Cheese
- Quick Chicken Chipotle Enchiladas
Easy Brioche French Toast Casserole
Equipment
- Baking dish 8×12 inches/ 20×30 cm
Ingredients
- 14 oz chocolate chip brioche 400 g, Notes 1, 2
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk 230 ml
- 1 cup heavy cream 230 ml
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar divided
- 4 ½ oz raspberries 125 g, Note 3
- 4 ½ oz blueberries 125 g
- ¼ cup pecans chopped 40 g
Instructions
- Butter the baking dish well (bottom and sides). 1 tsp butter
- Cut the brioche into thick slices, then cut the slices into large cubes. Arrange them in the baking dish. 14 oz/ 400 g brioche
- Whisk the eggs with vanilla extract, milk, heavy cream, and some of the sugar. 3 eggs + 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk + 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream + 4 Tbsp sugar
- Soak bread: Pour the egg mixture over the brioches pieces. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. You can refrigerate it overnight as well.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 175°C. Remove the casserole from the fridge and let it stand at room temperature until the oven preheats.
- Scatter 2/3 of the raspberries and blueberries over the soaked brioche pieces. Fold them in lightly using a spoon or a spatula. 4 ½ oz (125 g) raspberries + 4 ½ oz (125 g) blueberries
- Scatter the remaining berries and the chopped pecans on top of the casserole. Sprinkle lightly with the remaining sugar. ¼ cup (40 g) pecans + 1 tablespoon sugar
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until set and golden. If it’s still too jiggly in the middle, bake it for 5 more minutes, then check again (a very light jiggle is ok, the brioche casserole will set more while it stands).
- Rest casserole: Remove from the oven and let set for about 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Bread: Small individual brioches or a brioche loaf. Substitute brioche with challah bread.
- Chocolate: If you have plain brioche but would still like the chocolate chips, add about 1 cup of chocolate chip to the dish together with the berries.
- If some of the raspberries are very large, cut them in halves.