Who doesn’t adore an easy yet indulgent recipe, right? Enter our Blueberry French Toast Bake—a true game-changer! If you’re a fan of French toast but dread the hands-on prep, then this simple recipe is about to become your new best friend.
But here’s the best part: you can whip up this masterpiece ahead of time! Come Sunday brunch, all you’ve gotta do is toss it in the oven, and voila! You’re well on your way to a scrumptious breakfast without breaking a sweat. Easy peasy, right?
Table of Contents
What is a French toast bake?
We have been making French toast bakes for years. It is our hack to making at-home brunch taste as good as going out to a restaurant. Typically, making French toast is pretty time consuming. You have to dip each slice of toast in egg wash, then pan-fry the slices individually.
With our French toast bake, you can egg wash all your slices and assemble them in advance. In fact, we find that this process makes our French toast more flavorful since it gets to soak in the egg wash overnight. All you need is a baking dish and about 20 minutes to prep.
Then when you are getting ready to serve up breakfast, turn on your oven and pop your baking dish in for about 45 minutes! It is the perfect way to be present in the morning, while still delivering a drool-worthy brekkie!
How to make blueberry French toast bake
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk, vanilla and sugar. Mix everything until it is thoroughly combined.
- Separately, combine mascarpone, ricotta cheese and powdered sugar using a whisk.
- Gently fold the blueberries into the mascarpone mixture.
- Take the sliced challah bread and spread the blueberry mascarpone mixture in between slices. Line the slices into an oven safe baking dish, making sure there is a layer of blueberry mascarpone between each slice.
- Spread any leftover mascarpone within the gaps.
- Pour the egg wash evenly over the slices of challah bread.
- Refrigerate the assembled French toast bake to soak in the egg wash overnight. If you are in a time crunch, refrigerate and soak for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake the french toast casserole for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving!
Can I make this French toast bake gluten free?
Yes! You can totally turn this into a gluten-free French toast recipe. All you have to do is grab your favorite loaf of gluten free bread and follow our recipe as written. If you can find gluten-free challah or gluten-free brioche, those types of bread will be the best for this recipe.
The only thing you will want to check is to make sure that the granulated sugar and powdered you use is gluten-free. While sugar doesn’t naturally contain gluten, some brands package and process sugar in the same space that they process wheat flour.
This kind of cross contamination is something you want to avoid if cooking for someone with a gluten allergy or gluten intolerance. Read the label to find out if it is truly gluten-free!
Other French toast bakes you are going to love
When it comes to French toast, let’s just say we’re borderline obsessed—okay, maybe more than borderline! If you’re nodding along in agreement, then you’re in for a real treat with these French toast bakes:
- The combination of sweetened cream cheese and buttery croissants make our berry stuffed croissant French toast a crowd favorite in our home. Our kids absolutely love it! We love to serve this French toast with fresh berries and a dollop of whipped cream.
- Our berry brioche cream cheese French toast is the crossover breakfast recipe of our dreams!! The title of this dish speaks for itself. If you love cinnamon rolls this recipe is perfect for you.
- Similar to our stuffed berry french toast linked above, this apple crisp croissant French toast is another indulgent breakfast recipe we love to make. Take the flavors of a fall favorite dessert and stuff them into croissants, and you have a masterpiece!
- Lastly, we are confident our baklava French toast bake is going to blow you away. This tasty brunch recipe is inspired by the popular Mediterranean phyllo dough pastry. It is sweet and fluffy, and we love the texture from our pistachio mixture!
How to store leftover French toast
You can store any leftovers super easily. If you have leftovers, store the French toast slices in an airtight container for 3-5 days. If you are planning to eat leftover French toast the next day, you can cover the baking dish as is and leave it in the fridge. That will make for simple reheating!
Blueberry Mascarpone French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 loaf challah bread
Filling
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 4 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk, vanilla and sugar. Mix everything until it is thoroughly combined.4 large eggs, 1 cup whole milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Separately, combine mascarpone, ricotta cheese and powdered sugar using a whisk.4 ounces ricotta cheese, 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- Gently fold the blueberries into the mascarpone mixture.1 cup fresh blueberries
- Take the sliced challah bread and spread the blueberry mascarpone mixture in between slices. Line the slices into a 12×8 oven safe baking dish, making sure there is a layer of blueberry mascarpone between each slice.1 loaf challah bread
- Spread any leftover mascarpone within the gaps.
- Pour the egg wash evenly over the slices of challah bread.
- Refrigerate the assembled french toast bake to soak in the egg wash overnight. If you are in a time crunch, refrigerate and soak for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bake the french toast casserole for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving!
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can this or any of your other French toast recipes be frozen? Wanted to make and donate to a dessert/gourmet food auction.
You can freeze any of our French toast recipes that aren’t dairy heavy! Our crockpot French toast casserole it a great option. 😊
Xo,
Alia & Radwa
Would this work with brioche bread? Also, I don’t have ricotta cheese. Should I skip it? 😟
Absolutely, brioche is amazing too! If you don’t have ricotta, feel free to replace it with additional mascarpone or cream cheese. We’d love to hear about the results! xo, Alia and Radwa
THIS IS INSANE! And soo delicious! I’ve added a banana instead of blueberries and also came up wonderful. Thank you for the receipe! Love from Poland
Thank you so much, Marlena! We’re so glad you enjoyed it. 🥰
We’ll have to try it with a banana, too!
Xo,
Alia & Radwa
Made this fantastic dish for Sunday brunch. So yummy – it was a hit!
Thank you, and looking forward to making more and more and more of your recipes!!!
We’re so glad it was a hit! Thank you for trying it out, Barbara!
Xo,
Alia & Radwa
So delicious! And what a great way to eat French toast together instead of someone cooking the entire time. Flavorful and just so amazing! Will be making this as my go to breakfast or brunch parties
Prepared this for Christmas morning – oh my goodness, so delicious!!
I used classic white miche bread, because our bakery didn’t have challah bread. Also, used apples, rather than blueberries – some family members don’t like blueberries.
Sounds AMAZING! Love the substitutions!
I made this and the flavor was fantastic; however, the bread was pretty soggy. I did everything as instructed. Cooked it for an extra 15 minutes hoping that would fix the issue but it did not. Any suggestions on how to prevent this next time? Is it best to dry the bread out and use room temperature ingredients for this recipe?
Hi Jill,
You may have not used enough bread because it should have soaked in all the liquid! 🙂
Made this the night before as recommended and the 45min bake time was not long enough. The center came out super soggy! Popped it back in the over for about 15 more minutes and it came out perfect!! Absolutely delicious! All 3 kids (3.5y, 3.5y and 13m) LOVED it and asked for more! That alone is a win in my books!