One of the best-loved dishes breakfast and brunch dishes! Blueberry French Toast Casserole is an overnight recipe sweetened with classic New England flavors—maple syrup and fresh blueberries.
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This one's for you sweet breakfast fans out there!
I only occasionally indulge in a really sweet breakfast—when it's not a toast day I usually reach for something savory like a breakfast sandwich or make-ahead breakfast enchiladas.
When I do want a sweet breakfast, I want it to be a really good one: full of flavor, kind of over-the-top, and with a luscious texture. This Blueberry French Toast Casserole fits that bill.
This is a make-ahead breakfast recipe, an overnight blueberry French toast dish. Put the casserole together the night before and let it rest in the fridge. In the morning, pop it in the oven for an easy breakfast. It's especially nice for a Christmas morning breakfast, or at Thanksgiving time when you need to feed a crowd of overnight guests.
Don't wait for the holidays, though—your family or friends will love to join you for this sweet bake any time of the year.
Two New England favorites together in one dish
Blueberry French Toast Bake embodies so much of what I love about comfort food in New England. It's warming and filling, and that's especially nice on a chilly winter or fall day. There's no fussiness or fanciness here—just a delicious dish that folks will ask for again and again.
This easy breakfast casserole also brings together two of New England's best-known and favorite flavors: blueberries and maple syrup.
Lowbush, wild blueberries—those tiny, flavor-packed beauties—are the state fruit of Maine. And across all six New England states, highbush blueberries grow and fruit prolifically in summertime. The perennial bushes can live as long as 50 years!
And of course, everyone knows that up here pure maple is king. I'll always seek out and sing the virtues of the ambrosial flavor of maple syrup from my home state of Vermont! However, when you can't get to the Green Mountain State the good news is that there are exceptional maple producers across the region, tapping trees on their land, piping sap to their sugar houses, and boiling it down into sweet amber gold.
It can't be a mere coincidence that these two Northeastern favorites taste so good together!
More easy morning dishes!
Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas
Muffins, coffee cakes, casseroles, and more!
Why you'll love this dish
One of the best things about blueberry baked French toast is that it's a make-ahead dish. It needs to rest overnight in the fridge to let the flavors meld, and so the eggy batter can transform the bread into a soft, pudding-like texture that is delectable.
In the morning you only need to pop it in the oven. It's perfect for breakfast with the family or to treat overnight guests. Or, make a pan of overnight Blueberry French Toast Casserole to bring to work or a brunch gathering!
Reader Review
"I made this for guests that were staying with us from Vermont and it was a huge success. Very easy to prepare ahead and was perfect for a morning breakfast accompanied by a fruit compote. The bread I used was brioche and the casserole held together very nicely and wasn’t too sweet even with the maple syrup. This will definitely be a repeat breakfast casserole in our house. Thanks for the recipe."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
There are several flavors going on in this French toast bake, and they all work so beautifully with each other: maple, blueberry, orange zest, and warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
🔪 How to make Blueberry French Toast Casserole
Ingredients:
- Sweet bread: Choose an enriched loaf like brioche, challah, Portuguese sweet bread, or Hawaiian sweet bread. Dry bread cubes create the base for this bake, soaking up all the batter.
- Butter: You only need a little softened butter to grease the baking dish.
- Eggs: There are a lot of eggs in this French toast bake—eight large ones! The egg mixture holds the casserole together and gives it lots of rich flavor.
- Half-and-half: A blend of milk and heavy cream, it makes a rich batter for the casserole.
- Milk: I add a splash of milk as part of the batter, too.
- Brown sugar: It sweetens this blueberry breakfast casserole, and brown sugar also brings a hint of deep, molasses-caramel-like flavor.
- Orange: The juice and zest from a fresh orange add a bright note to balance the sweetness and rich flavor of this recipe.
- Maple syrup: Support your local sugar houses! Use pure maple syrup—ideally from Vermont or another New England state if you can. I use grade A dark which has the strongest flavor of all the grades.
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries here. The recipe card has notes about both options.
- Spices: A warm blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg complete this sweet morning treat, along with a little salt to enhance the overall flavor.
Toast the bread
Tear the sweet bread into small pieces and spread them on a baking sheet. Bake them for 15 minutes to lightly toast them.
Add the orange
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Place the toasted bread in a greased baking dish, and use a zester to zest orange peel over the dish.
Add the batter
Mix together the eggs, cream, milk, spices, sugar, and Vermont maple syrup. Pour the egg batter over the bread, making sure every piece gets kissed by the eggy liquid.
Chill it overnight
Wrap the dish and pop it in the fridge to rest overnight.
Bake it!
Remove the plastic wrap and add the frozen blueberries to the pan. Place the French toast blueberry bake covered with foil in the oven; bake for about 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake it a short while longer.
Add a sweet drizzle
Stir together a little orange juice and maple syrup, then drizzle this over the top of the hot dish. Then serve up this French Toast Bake while it's warm.
FAQs
Yes, it's best to make overnight casseroles like this one with stale bread cubes or bread cubes you've dried out. That way the bread can soak up the egg batter. To dry them, leave the bead cubes out on the counter for a day or two. This recipe dries them by briefly baking them in the oven, which makes them nice and toasty, too.
This overnight casserole has baked fruit, bread, and lots of sweetness—pair it with savory sides like crisp bacon or sausage links. You can also serve it with fresh fruit. I like mine with a cup of hot coffee, too.
Tips:
- The overnight rest is important for Blueberry French Toast Casserole, as it lets the bread soak up the batter and creates a creamy texture. Be sure to plan for this time when you get ready to make the recipe.
- If you're using fresh blueberries you can add them before the dish gets refrigerated. However, frozen blueberries should be added right before baking - otherwise, they'll thaw and release juice into the dish turning everything purple!
Treat yourself to this sweet breakfast-brunch dish; it's warm, creamy, full of juicy blueberries, and sweet with plenty of maple syrup!
The Blueberry French Toast Casserole recipe is below! Here are a few other breakfast treats, too:
💬 Did you make and devour this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Blueberry French Toast Casserole
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Ingredients
- 16 ounces sweet bread, like challah, brioche, or Portuguese sweet bread
- Butter, to grease the pan
- 1 medium naval orange (you will use the zest and juice)
- 8 large eggs
- 1 cup half-and-half
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 pinch ground or grated nutmeg
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon pure Vermont maple syrup, divided
- 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Instructions
Layer ingredients in the pan:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Tear the sweet bread into small pieces, roughly 1½ to 2 inches in size. Spread the pieces on a large baking sheet. Bake the bread for 10 minutes; take the pan out, stir the bread pieces around, then pop them back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove the bread and let it cool a little.
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish, bottoms and side with the butter. Spread the toasted bread pieces out in the pan.
- Use a zester to to zest the orange peel over the bread in the pan. (This will yield about 1½ tablespoons of zest.) Save the orange - you will need the juice for after the dish is baked.
- NOTE: If you are using fresh blueberries you can sprinkle them over the bread pieces now. Using frozen berries? Save these, we'll add them after the overnight chill.
Make the egg batter:
- Beat the eggs together in a large bowl. Stir in the half-and-half and the milk. Then whisk in the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, cardamom and nutmeg, and be sure the spices are well distributed. Finally, stir 1 cup of the Vermont maple syrup into the batter.
Assemble then refrigerate the dish:
- Pour the egg batter slowly over the bread pieces in the pan - slowly so that you can get every piece of bread throughout the dish soaked with the batter. If any pieces get missed use a spoon to push them down into the liquid. When all of the batter is added, cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight. (Or for at least 8 hours.)
Bake the dish:
- Preheat the oven to 325° F.
- Remove the plastic wrap. NOTE: if you're using frozen blueberries, sprinkle them evenly over the bread pieces now. Then cover the pan with foil.
- Bake the dish for 40 minutes. Then, remove the foil and return the pan to the oven. Bake it for 15-20 minutes longer until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the pan to a cooling rack.
- Get the orange you saved and squeeze 2 tablespoons of the juice into a small dish. Add the 1 remaining tablespoon of maple syrup into this juice. Drizzle the mixture evenly over the hot French toast bake.
- Serve the French Toast Bake while it's hot! Any leftovers can be wrapped and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat portions in the microwave, or wrap the pan in foil and rewarm it in the oven.
Notes
- The overnight rest is important for this recipe, as it lets the bread soak up the batter and creates a creamy texture. Be sure to plan for this time when you get ready to make the recipe.
- If you're using fresh blueberries you can add them before the dish gets refrigerated. However, frozen blueberries should be added right before baking - otherwise they'll thaw and release juice into the dish turning everything purple!
Nutrition
Carole says
I made this for guests that were staying with us from Vermont and it was a huge success. Very easy to prepare ahead and was perfect for a morning breakfast accompanied by a fruit compote. The bread I used was brioche and the casserole held together very nicely and wasn’t too sweet even with the maple syrup. This will definitely be a repeat breakfast casserole in our house. Thanks for the recipe.
Nancy Mock says
Thank you so much Carole for trying my recipe and for this wonderful feedback. I'm so happy you and your guests enjoyed it!