Blueberry French Toast Casserole Recipe
This blueberry french toast casserole recipe is a perfect breakfast for a special occasion or just a lovely brunch. It’s light and scrumptious while still being filling.
I mean, who doesn’t like french toast? And good breakfast casseroles are nothing to sneeze at either. Put them together, and it’s incredible stuff! Add to that some superpower berries (yes, I said superpower), and you’ve got yourself an amazing breakfast for a special occasion, or just a normal day of the week. Either way, you’re going to love this. And if you don’t think you can handle 12 servings, make it anyway. You can nosh on it all week and stick the leftovers in the freezer!
And don’t worry, if blueberries are out of season for you, frozen blueberries will work too! Of course, fresh berries are always best. But in a pinch, you can still have your blueberry french toast and eat it too!
Can You Make This Blueberry French Toast Casserole Ahead Of Time?
You can! And there are two ways.
- Prep now, bake later – You can easily prep this a day or two ahead of time by doing everything but actually baking it. (Just don’t prep more than 2 days ahead.) Then just bake it in the morning and serve as usual.
- Prep and bake now, serve later – You can fully make this entire recipe and keep it in the fridge for up to three days. However, you will want to time it so that you eat it no later than the third day. 3 days in the fridge is the limit on this one.
French Toast Casserole Variations
There are many variations for French toast casserole. Most of them revolve around fruit. But there are other options as well. Here are some ideas:
- Change the berries – Try strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries. Even cranberries will work here!
- Change the fruit completely – Try peaches, apples, or even mangos.
- Change the extracts – There are so many extracts available! Everything from mint (mint chocolate chip french toast, anyone?) to maple, almond, lemon, and orange. Get creative!
- Change the spices – While cinnamon is a standard spice in french toast, it doesn’t have to be. Try cardamom, nutmeg, or allspice.
What To Serve With Blueberry French Toast Casserole
This dish does pretty well on its own. But if you want to serve something with it, you could try:
- healthy bacon or sausage
- a side of scrambled eggs
- a separate bowl of fruit or fruit salad
- a smoothie
For garnish, try a pat of butter while the casserole is still hot, sprinkle some desiccated coconut over the top, or even sprinkle a bit of fresh lemon juice over the top, or enjoy this with a dollop of cream cheese or homemade blueberry sauce.
Recipe Extras
- Try sprinkling a bit of fresh lemon zest over this at serving.
- You can play around with the bread for different flavors. Try whole wheat sourdough bread or french bread for example. Some people enjoy using Challah, but I haven’t found one that’s made with whole wheat, so I’ve never tried it.
- One thing to remember is that this is best made with day-old bread. Don’t use fresh-baked bread for this. It won’t turn out as well.
Dietary Options
This is pretty adjustable to most dietary needs. Here’s how to make adjustments.
Dairy-Free
This recipe uses almond milk, or you can use any non-dairy milk you prefer.
Gluten-Free
Use good quality, gluten-free bread.
Egg-Free
While I haven’t tried these, you could use either a vegan egg substitute or try a flax egg.
Sugar-Free
While there are naturally occurring sugars in the recipe ingredients here, you do not have to add excess if you prefer not to. Simply omit the honey, and serve this with mashed bananas as a “sauce” to sweeten things up, or enjoy as is with just the blueberries for sweetness.
Low-Carb Or Keto
While this wouldn’t be considered “clean eating”, you could make a low-carb bread to use here, and then use a low-carb sweetener. Everything else would be perfectly fine on a low-carb eating plan.
Vegan
Use maple syrup instead of honey and use a vegan egg substitute or flax egg.
About The Ingredients
(Print recipe from recipe card below.)
Whole grain bread – Use a clean, whole grain bread with no added sugar. If you can find an unsliced loaf, that’s best. But in a pinch, a sliced loaf will work too. Your bread cubes will just be smaller.
Egg whites (or whole eggs) – Use egg whites to cut down on fat content, or whole eggs to cut down on sodium content.
Unsweetened almond milk – You can use regular dairy milk or other non-dairy milk as well. Use the milk you usually drink.
Honey – You can also use maple syrup, but the finished dish won’t taste as sweet.
Pure vanilla extract – Use real vanilla extract, not vanilla flavoring. Vanilla extract is made with real ingredients while vanilla flavoring is made with synthetic ingredients.
Almond extract – Here again, use real extract. Not flavoring.
Ground cinnamon – Make sure there is no sugar mixed in. You just want cinnamon.
Blueberries – fresh or frozen. But if you use frozen, make sure there is no sugar added.
How To Make Blueberry French Toast Casserole
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg whites, almond milk, honey, extracts, and cinnamon. Whisk well.
Oil a baking dish (about 9 x 13), and fill it with the bread.
Mix in the blueberries., then pour the egg mixture over the bread and allow it to sit for at least 30 minutes, mixing once or twice to be sure all parts of the bread are moistened.
Bake the casserole for about 45 minutes or until there is no longer any liquid between the bread. Cool a bit and serve.
Can You Freeze French Toast Casserole?
Absolutely! It freezes quite well! Make sure you pack it up in an air-tight, freezer-safe container though. If packaged properly, you can freeze french toast casserole for up to two months.
Can French Toast Soak Overnight?
Absolutely! This is an easy-prep breakfast you can make the night before. Let it soak overnight and bake it first thing in the morning!
Recipe Supplies
More Healthy French Toast Recipes
- Coconut French Toast
- French Toast Strips
- Apple French Toast Casserole
- Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole
- Eggnog French Toast Casserole
Blueberry French Toast Casserole Recipe Card + Video
Blueberry French Toast Casserole Recipe
CLICK TO WATCH THIS RECIPE IN ACTION!
Equipment
- Casserole pan
Ingredients
- 6 cups cubed, whole grain bread
- 8 large egg whites (or 4 whole eggs)
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup honey (or maple syrup, though it won’t be as sweet)
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. almond extract
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen works too as do other berries)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg whites, almond milk, honey, extracts and cinnamon. Whisk well.
- Oil a baking dish (about 9 x 13), and fill it with the bread.
- Mix in the blueberries., then pour the liquid mixture over the bread and allow it to sit for at least 30 minutes, mixing once or twice to be sure all parts of the bread are moistened.
- Bake the casserole for about 45 minutes or until there is no longer any liquid between the bread. Cool a bit and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe from the Gracious Pantry® archives, originally posted 9/18/12.
My bread is soaking in the eggs right now and can’t wait to try it because it smells delicious!
Awesome! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Making the Apple French Toast Casserole right now, this will be my second recipe that I am trying & I have to say…I’m hooked! Greatful that I have come across your website & facebook page! Thank you The Gracious Pantry!
I made this, this morning, I prepared it last night so I could just pop it in the oven this morning. It was so yummy! I used real maple syrup in place of the honey, because I am out of honey. I used Food for Life brand ezekiel bread. Turned out great! Thank you for all you do! I hope you have a great Christmas 🙂
Can I use whole eggs not just whites?
Sure.
I’m not sure if it’s been answered, but do you use real egg whites or liquid egg whites?
I use real egg whites.
If you can have dairy, use regular milk and vanilla extract instead.
If I want to make this with the egg yolks would I need to decrease the number of eggs?
I would use 1 whole egg for every 2 egg whites. I apply that theory to all of my recipes.
To make this vegan is there any substitute for the egg whites? This looks amazing btw
I’m not sure. The egg white sort of holds it all together. Not sure what a good substitute would be. I’ll try to research it.
I found this on Pinterest and I decided to make it this morning. My house smells so freakin good right now…. Thank you for this post 🙂
Loved this recipe and my 6 & 8 year old tried it with vanilla ice-cream. Great recipe and easy to put together. Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Greetings from Norway!
Glad you enjoyed it!
question: what bread did you use for this recipe? i get 100% whole wheat bread that is a store brand. it’s not exactly “french toast bread” as it’s not nearly as thick..is that okay?
Sure! You can use whatever bread you like. I used the Pain Miche bread (I believe that’s the correct name) from Trader Joe’s.
Can you use gluten free bread for this recipe?
Sure!
Could leftovers from this be frozen?
Sure!
Just saw this shared on Facebook. Looks great. Is the honey the processed kind or raw honey?
Either one will work. Raw is obviously the better choice though…
Just started trying to eat clean and this was one of the first recipes I made. It is amazing. I used TJs pain bread. Thanks for your site. Can’t wait to make more things!
Jen – That’s wonderful!
I made this tonight and it was a big hit! Thank you for sharing it with the “masses.”
Pamela – My pleasure! 🙂
What if you have a child that is allergic to all nuts. What can you use instead of Almond milk?
Nicole – Regular milk will work fine. Any type of milk should work.
I don’t have blueberrys on hand, would strawberries work?
Krystal – You could try it, but I would use frozen. I doubt fresh strawberries would hold up well. Worth a shot!
If I left the blueberries out of the recipe do you think it would still turn out okay? I want to make this for a brunch I am hosting and not everyone likes blueberries. I was going to put a bowl of mixed berries on the side instead.
Ally – Sure! That should work fine. Enjoy!
Stumbled across this yummy looking recipe this morning and I can’t wait to make it this weekend! I’ve already passed this recipe along to my friends and family. 🙂 How much would you say 6 cups of cubed bread equates to? Half a loaf?
My husband and I are big fans of your recipes. Thank you for sharing them with us!
Blessings,
Lisa
Lisa – It’s hard to say as it depends greatly on the loaf.