Eggnog French Toast Bake is an easy, make-ahead breakfast casserole that’s perfect for the holidays. It’s extra fluffy with a delicious eggnog flavor and crunchy crumble topping.
Remember how I’m pretty obsessed with eggnog??? Well this year I’m kicking off the holiday baking with this eggnog French toast bake. It’s extra fluffy with a delicious eggnog flavor and hint of nutmeg, and it’s perfect for soaking up a extra maple syrup.
What’s also so perfect about making this breakfast casserole recipe is that you can do all the prep work the night before, then pop it in the fridge. In the morning it goes in the oven to bake, so there’s minimal fuss and perfect for entertaining over Christmas.
Eggnog French Toast Bake Recipe
If you’ve never made French toast bake before, it’s super easy. You don’t have to stand over the stove flipping each piece individually, so it saves a whole lot of busy work.
- First cut the bread into little squares. I like to use brioche bread, but any type of fluffy white bread works well.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, eggnog, nutmeg & vanilla extract.
- Place the bread in a greased casserole dish, then pour the egg batter overtop.
- For the crumb topping stir together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg & melted butter. Then crumble it over top of the French toast mixture.
From here, you can either bake it immediately or cover and refrigerate overnight. It’ll take about 40-50 minutes to bake, or until the top is golden. If you feel like it’s browning too much on top but hasn’t been in the oven for long enough place a piece of aluminum foil over top to avoid over browning.
I love this eggnog French toast bake for so many reasons. It tastes like Christmas with a delicious hint of nutmeg, but it’s not overly rich like sometimes a glass of eggnog can taste. The bread soaks up the delicious flavor and has a fluffy texture that’s to die for. Then the delicious crumble topping adds sweetness and a little crunch.
If you want to save even more time, you could skip the crumble altogether, but I think it makes this French toast bake just a little extra special.
Or for more holiday breakfast ideas, try these recipes:
Eggnog French Toast Bake
Ingredients
French Toast Bake
- 1 large loaf (15oz-18oz)) white bread, brioche or French bread work well
- 5 large eggs
- 1 ¾ cups eggnog
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅓ cup butter, melted
Instructions
French Toast
- Grease a 9x13 inch/ 3-quart casserole dish. If baking immediately, preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Cut the bread into bite-sized squares and place in the casserole dish.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, eggnog, nutmeg & vanilla extract.
- More the egg mixture over the bread, giving it a little stir if needed so that the bread is lightly covered.
Crumb Topping
- Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, nutmeg & cinnamon.
- Stir in the melted butter. It should be like wet sand in consistency and form crumbles when you squeeze it in your palm.
- Crumble the topping overtop of the French toast.
Baking
- If baking immediately, place in the preheated oven and bake for 32-37 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
- If making ahead of time, cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight. When ready to bake take it out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 350F. Bake in the preheated oven for 32-37 minutes (uncovered).
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes, then cut into slices and serve with whipped cream and syrup.
Notes
Frances Webster
I made this for brunch with friends today and it was a big hit. I made a couple modifications that worked.
Add dried tart cherries
Add slivered almonds
Add 1/4 cup 1/2 & 1/2.
I made it in a Red Copper 9×13 baking pan with the divider for brownies. It made a great presentation for serving.
Leslie Fenn
I made this for Christmas Bunch- LOVED IT!!
Slight modification – added 2 cups of Eggnog and I put the topping on before putting in oven.
It is delicious and everyone (all ages) loved it.
Thank you
Lisa
I was looking for a good breakfast recipe to make every year for our new growing family on Christmas morning. Something we all like that can become a tradition. This is it, we love it! Thank you for sharing!
Fiona
Thank you so much Lisa! I hope you had a wonderful holiday
Michele
This is a great recipe! I put the topping on before baking. Big hit!
Kirsten
Scrumptious!!! I made a couple of little modifications to the recipe, but I’m sure the original recipe would still knock people’s socks off! My tweaks included adding about 1/4 cup of maple syrup and a shot of whiskey to the egg mixture, and increasing the amount of flour to 1 cup for the topping. No one got drunk, lol!, but the flavor was a bit more festive with the whiskey.
Teri
My kinda cook, this is why I always read comments. Making this for Christmas 2021.
Christine
I made this for Christmas breakfast this morning. It was awesome. I made as recipe says and we all loved it. I was a bit worried about it because I usually make egg nog french toast (my daughter insists on it). I find I’m stuck at the stove forever and I literally dread Christmas morning breakfast. So I decided to try this. I made it last night and put it in the fridge and popped it in the oven while we were opening gifts ( my daughter was a bit sceptical). She literally went back for thirds. It is so going to be our new tradition. Thanks for the recipe.
Nicole
This was Ana maxing Christmas morning casserole. Everyone loved it!!! Will definitely be making this yearly and in between!!
Kara
Excellent! Just found your recipe and made it this morning for the “pop in the oven now” version. Used French bread leftover from Christmas dinner yesterday. Crunchy outside, tender inside. Perfect texture! Just a bit too sweet for me. But now that I’m thinking about it, maybe it’s because I used a 1/2 cup *packed* brown sugar?!?! The topping consistency was like wet sand per instructions, but I must’ve over done it there! Well regardless, thanks for a delicious and easy dessert, I mean breakfast! 🙂
Lea Ann
I made this for Christmas morning 2020 and it was a hit! I did make a few tweaks like some other readers. I added a shot of orange liqueur and some maple syrup to the egg mixture which gave a subtle orange taste. I’m sure you could also add orange flavoring if you didn’t want the alcohol. And next time I think I’ll add pecans to the topping and omit the white sugar. But definitely an easy recipe and very flavorful! Thank you for sharing!
Allie
I made this recipe as exactly described here considering my oldest son cannot eat tree nuts and why make a simple recipe too frilly when it’s perfect as is? I used Southern Comfort’s Vanilla Spice Eggnog instead of regular and I served each piece with sifted powdered sugar as well as whip cream and syrup. My two young children and both my parents absolutely loved it! I will be making this every Xmas. Happy Holidays!
Nancy McLain
Added pecans to the crumble topping and chunks of cream cheese throughout. It was wonderful!