🍏🥖😍 Caramel Apple French Toast Casserole is an EASY recipe with a make-ahead overnight option, so it’s perfect for weekend or holiday brunches! Soft bread, juicy apples, and buttery streusel topping are pure DECADENT comfort food!
Apple French Toast Casserole Recipe
How does this overnight apple french toast bake taste?
In a word: amazing.
A cross between classic candy caramel apples and overnight caramel French toast casserole, it’s a decadent comfort food. The bread is soft and tender, the apples add juiciness and texture, while the streusel topping adds extra flavor. Those buttery, cinnamon-sugary little streusel nuggets pair so well with the apples. I couldn’t stop eating them. This is one dish you’ll go to bed dreaming about!
Love caramel apple flavors?
Don’t miss out on my caramel apple bars, caramel apple muffins, and caramel apple sheet pan pancakes, too!
What’s in This Apple French Toast Bake?
To make this easy french toast casserole, you’ll need:
- French bread – Do not use regular bread from an average loaf of bread. It’s too thin, not hearty enough, and will disintegrate. I used day-old French bread, but even my day-old bread was still very soft and tender, and that’s okay in this recipe.
- Apples – I used two large Gala apples that I didn’t even bother to peel (because I am lazy). But by all means, peel away if desired. Use your favorite kind of firmer apple, such as Fuji, Braeburn, or Honeycrisp. I would shy away from Red Delicious or softer apples because they’re too soft for baking and can turn mushy. I didn’t peel my apples, but you’re welcome to peel yours if desired. Make sure to dice the apples quite small so they cook through in the oven
- Eggs – I do not recommend using egg substitutes for this recipe
- Milk – Whole milk or full-fat milk will create the richest flavor and creamiest custard consistency. Or, use heavy cream
- Sugar – A combination of granulated sugar and light brown sugar sweetens both the topping and the streusel, keeping them moist and adding a delicious caramel flavor
- Vanilla extract – I always use homemade vanilla extract, but store-bought is fine. Just make sure it’s pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla
- Spices – Ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt add a delicious warm taste
- Unsalted butter – Make sure it’s cold for a crumbly streusel topping
- All-purpose flour – I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour, but imagine it would work
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Apple French Toast Casserole
This is such an easy French toast casserole recipe that you’ll never want to make it another way. You can prep it an hour before you want to bake it, or you can prep it the night before. It’s a perfect recipe for a weekend brunch or holiday gathering because it feeds a crowd, tastes decadent and complicated, but in reality, is so easy.
- To a baking dish, add cubed French bread and diced apples. Make sure you cut your bread into cubes about 1 to 1 1/2-inches. It’s okay if they look a little big at first. Remember, they will appear to ‘shrink’ as they absorb the liquid mixture. Cubes that are initially too small tend to turn mushy and disintegrate.
- Mix together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and drizzle that egg mixture over the bread and apples.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour — or up to 12 hours if making an overnight French toast casserole — before you bake for 20 minutes.
- Midway through baking, add a simple cinnamon streusel by mixing together flour, white and brown sugars, cinnamon, and drizzling in butter. C
- rumble that over the French toast, bake for another 20 minutes, drizzle with caramel or salted caramel sauce, and get ready to taste some very heavenly French toast. I’ve only made this recipe as written, but you may be able to add chopped nuts to the streusel topping, if desired. Enjoy!
What to Serve with This Apple French Toast Recipe
Caramel Apple French Toast Casserole
Equipment
- 1 Medium Bowl
Ingredients
French Toast
- 1 pound French bread, diced in 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes (I used day old)
- 3 cups apples, diced small (I used unpeeled Gala, you can peel if desired and use another variety of apple if desired)
- 8 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups milk, I prefer 2% or whole
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 to 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ to 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Streusel
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons more if needed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup caramel or salted caramel sauce, optional but recommended for serving
- maple syrup, optional for serving (not needed if using caramel)
Instructions
French Toast:
- Spray a 9×13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray, add the bread pieces, apples, and toss with your hands to mix; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the eggs, and lightly beat to break the yolks and combine.
- Add the milk, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and whisk to combine.
- Evenly drizzle the liquid mixture over the bread and apples.
- Cover pan, and place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 12 hours overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F and remove pan from the fridge while oven is preheating.
- Bake for 20 minutes and while French toast ist baking, prepare the streusel topping.
Streusel:
- To a medium bowl, add 3/4 cup flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt, and stir with fork to combine.
- Drizzle in the melted butter and mix and fluff very lightly with a fork to combine until small marbles and pebbles form. You are not ‘stirring’, you are fluffing lightly and gently. If the dough is very wet and is not fluffing into small pebbles and marbles, add 1 to 2 additional tablespoons of flour; set aside until the French toast has baked for 20 minutes.
- Pull the casserole dish from the oven, evenly sprinkle with the streusel, return to oven, and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until lightly golden browned on top.
- Optionally but recommended, before serving, evenly drizzle caramel sauce or salted caramel sauce over the top, and/or lightly drizzle maple syrup, and serve immediately. Recipe is best warm and fresh.
Notes
- French Toast adapted from Overnight Caramel French Toast Casserole.
- Streusel adapted from Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy French Toast Recipes:
Overnight Caramel French Toast Casserole – EASY, soft, tender, and decadent French toast that’s coated in caramel sauce! Assemble it the night before and wake up to an amazing breakfast or brunch that everyone will ADORE!
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great
I JUST got back from the store and am kicking myself I didn’t see this sooner (I would have picked up french bread), because I have a TON of orchard apples I need to use up. :) That said – just a note that the link for the French Toast Muffins is missing (the Bagel French Toast title, description and link appears twice, instead). :) I may have to go searching for that Muffin recipe.
https://www.averiecooks.com/baked-french-toast-muffins/
Link looks fine to me on my desktop but here you go in case https://www.averiecooks.com/baked-french-toast-muffins/ Enjoy whatever you end up making!