We love breakfast casseroles, French toast and blueberries, so this easy overnight French toast casserole with blueberries is always a welcome breakfast treat meal. (But it doesn’t have to be overnight; often, we make it, cook it and eat it that morning)!
We have a garden and are also growing blueberries. So we either have fresh blueberries on hand in season, or frozen in the freezer, year round. So if you don’t have fresh blueberries on hand when you make this recipe, frozen berries work just as well.
You can also substitute for whatever fresh or frozen berries or fruit you have on hand. Our alternate favorites are strawberries, blackberries or raspberries, or a frozen mixed berry blend we get from Costco for smoothies.
If you want to jump straight to the recipe card, here ya go, but you might need to scroll through the tips and photos too.
Gluten Free French Toast Casserole
And yes!… you can easily make this a gluten free overnight French toast casserole with blueberries. Simply substitute the wheat French bread for one of the many options today for gluten free breads, such as this GF multigrain French style baguette bread.
Overnight French Toast Casserole… or Make in the Morning!
The overnight part of this casserole is optional. You can make this the night before, or the morning of. Whenever you decide to make it, it’s quick and easy, and tastes just as delicious either way.
This overnight French toast casserole with blueberries is quick and easy, so If you have time in the morning, you can make it then. That will save you from needing to make space for it in the refrigerator.
Whenever you choose to make it, chances are this French toast casserole will likely become a fast family favorite to make both ways: overnight or that same morning.
We love how quick, easy and fun it is to make. This French toast recipe is a great kid-friendly recipe to eat and to make with the kids too. It could even become a weekly breakfast treat dish that the kids make for everyone, (depending on their age, of course)!
This blueberry French toast casserole is even good enough to enjoy as dessert. You can even ramp it up a notch further into a heavenly dessert, by adding ice cream! For this we favor vanilla, strawberry or blueberry ice creams, OR… this amazing berry mascarpone gelato we found at Whole Foods.
Advantages of Overnight French Toast Casserole With Blueberries
There are several advantages to making this French toast casserole overnight. Here are some good reasons:
- Busy morning
- Special occasions
- Friends or family visiting
- Christmas morning
- Brunch treat to take to work for co-workers
Planning and Cooking Ahead Creates Time and Space for Creative Pursuits
Imagine waking up with breakfast already made and all you need to do is pop it in the oven! There you are getting ready for the day, or savoring your favorite cuppa while catching up on reading.
Family members stroll in as the wonderfully enticing aroma fills the air. And there you are, relaxed and enjoying your morning. Perhaps you’re dedicating some morning time to an uplifting and creative outlet or goal such as journaling or doing some art for a creative start to the morning, or you’ve gone for a walk or doing yoga.
Whatever your goals that you’ve been putting off… making breakfast the night before, will set a positive rhythm for your day. No cooking and barely any clean-up to do, because you did it all the night before! 🙌🏼
And yes… it does mean getting it done the night before, and you may even be tired, but to begin to establish a rhythm of getting a jumpstart on the next day just helps make the entire day go better and is worth those extra minutes in the kitchen prepping.
Just put on your favorite music, (or show) and you’ll be done in no time!
A Crowd Pleasing Easy Breakfast Casserole
This French toast casserole recipe is also great for when you have company to feed… the aromas will draw them to the kitchen where a delicious casserole awaits.👩🏻🍳🧑🏽🍳
Of for Christmas mornings! Your overnight French toast casserole with blueberries can be cooking while the family gathers by the tree, (or coffee pot… or whatever is your tradition)!
How to Make Easy Overnight French Toast Casserole With Blueberries
Here’s the recipe if you want to get started right away. If you have any questions on any of the steps, those are laid out below.
French Bread Cubes
Slice the loaf into one inch thick slices, then stack two slices together and half and then quarter them.
TIP: Slice loaf into 1″ slices, then stack 2-3 slices to half and quarter altogether to save time.
Cream Cheese Cubes
As you can see in our photo below, not all cream cheese will cut into perfect cubes. Beyond that, the cream cheese tends to grab and stick to the knife which in turn, pulls at the cheese and distorts the nice cube shapes.
First, that’s okay. It doesn’t really matter as these will be further softened and spread slightly during the cooking anyway. The main place that matters is here… on a recipe website because the picture’s not perfect. But it’s real, and it provides us the opportunity to show you how it usually looks and then to offer ways to improve and make that better!
TIP: Freeze cream cheese 30-60 minutes before cutting if you want the cheese to be firmer for more defined cubes.
Whipping Cream
For the whipping cream step, we prefer to whip our own heavy whipping cream. However, you can take a shortcut with store bought whipping cream in the can or with cool whip.
For individual servings, spoon up a nice serving of blueberry French toast, then dollop a generous spoon of whipping cream on top. Top that with a ladle of the berry sauce.
For potlucks or larger crowds, spread the whipping cream on top of the entire French toast casserole so that the whipped cream is distributed evenly. Otherwise, it can happen that the last folks through the line no long have any whipped cream left!
Blueberry Sauce Topping
If you’re making the blueberry sauce shortly before serving, then just keep it in a warm spot until time to serve. Stovetop on an oven/stove range while the casserole is baking works well. Or if you want it hot, give it a few quick stirs on medium-low heat before serving.
How to Use the Blueberry Sauce Topping
- Make and serve immediately, ladling it over the top of each serving
- Refrigerate and reheat by stovetop or microwave when it’s time to serve
- If serving buffet style, you can place sauce in a bunsen burner sauce pan to allow people to serve up their own sauce. WARNING: For that approach, you may want to double your berry sauce recipe because some are inevitably overly generous with their dollups.
- Alternately, for feeding a crowd, it may work best to:
- spread the whipped topping over the top of the entire casserole
- follow that with the blueberry sauce and drizzle it evenly over the entire casserole
Overnight French Toast Casserole With Blueberries Recipe
Overnight Blueberry French Toast Recipe
Overnight Cream Cheese and Blueberries French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
French Toast Casserole:
- 12 slices day-old bread cut into 1″ cubes
- 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, cut into 1″ cubes
- 1-2 cups fresh blueberries or frozen
- 12 large eggs beaten, (we like to beat these in the blender on low along with the milk & extract)
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (almond also works well)
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
Blueberry Sauce:
- 1 cup maple sugar or your preferred sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1.5 tablespoons Arrowroot Powder (or cornstarch)
- 1 cup Blueberries fresh or frozen
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
Overnight Blueberry French Toast
- This blueberry French toast casserole is an easy win for any weekend or holiday breakfast or brunch. This can be made up and refrigerated the night before for cooking the next morning, or it can be made up that same morning and is equally good both ways.
- GREASE a 9×13-inch baking dish lightly. (We like to use coconut oil for this French toast casserole, but use your favorite).
- LAYER 1/2 of the bread cubes in the dish.
- TOP the 1st bread layer with all of the cream cheese cubes.
cubes. - SPRINKLE blueberries over the cream cheese.
- ADD remaining last half of the bread cubes.
- WHISK together (or blend in blender on low), the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup in a large bowl until thoroughly blended, then POUR egg mixture evenly over the bread cubes. Cover and
refrigerate overnight. (Or cook immediately, if you're not doing an overnight French toast casserole). - NEXT MORNING – (if making the overnight casserole) remove it from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- BAKE for 50-60 minutes: (30 minutes covered, then 20-30 minutes uncovered, until the center of the casserole is firm and golden brown.
- SAUCE – Prepare blueberry sauce while the casserole is cooking. In a medium saucepan, mix together the sugar, water, and cornstarch stirring constantly as the sauce comes to a boil.
- ADD blueberries into the boiling sugar water, reduce heat to low for about 10 minutes until all blueberries have opened to release their juice,
minutes. - STIR in butter and heat again before serving, (or see alternate ideas in the tips section of this article).
Easy French Toast Casserole
This French toast casserole is super easy to make and yet more delicious than you think it will be given that it uses so few ingredients. Also… let’s face it, the chunky bread cubes aren’t exactly a spectacular visual.
However, don’t let the lumpy appearance deceive you. Once it’s all decked out with fresh whipping cream and blueberry syrup topping, the crowd oohs and aahs and loves every single bite. It tastes decadently delicious, yet doesn’t contain too much sugar while still being perfectly sweet.
Not too much and not too little, but just right blend of bread, protein, dairy, fruit, and sweetness! This is a keeper recipe to use over and again with whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have on hand.
We also love egg bake casseroles and 5-ingredient cottage cheese pancakes.