Bake a blueberry French toast casserole with cream cheese and a cinnamon streusel topping. Quick and easy overnight breakfast recipe that tastes so amazing!
If you love blueberries and cream cheese, you are in for a treat with this blueberry cream cheese French toast casserole. Let me tell you, I think this is my favorite one yet.
Layered with sourdough bread, blueberries, cream cheese, an egg custard mixture, and a cinnamon streusel topping, it is the perfect sweet breakfast casserole for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, or just because.
Now I know all my French toast bakes so far have had pecans in them, but this one does not. There are no nuts whatsoever in this overnight blueberry French toast.
And while I use sourdough, which I get at Aldi or make homemade, you can use other types of bread, including plain old sandwich bread, Challah bread, French bread, brioche, gluten-free bread, etc. The choice is up to you.
The egg mixture combines eggs with vanilla, maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg, giving this blueberry French toast bake incredible flavor.
If you love a sweet breakfast bake you will love these other French toast recipes too, including brioche French toast casserole, my original French toast casserole recipe, and this apple cinnamon French toast bake. Of course, nothing beats a plate of classic French toast.
And if you want to use your slow cooker instead, Crock Pot French toast casserole is probably right up your alley.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE ACTUAL RECIPE CARD?
If you’d rather skip all of my cooking tips, important cooking info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the blueberry French toast casserole recipe – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card with a longer how to video.
INGREDIENTS YOU'LL NEED:
- Sourdough bread – Again, you can also use sandwich bread, challah bread, French bread, brioche bread, or even gluten-free bread.
- Fresh blueberries
- Cream cheese
- Light brown sugar
- Large eggs
- Whole Milk – Don't skimp on this and use skim milk. Use whole milk for the best results.
- Real maple syrup – the real stuff, NOT table syrup
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Salted butter
- All-purpose flour – Or a good gluten-free flour
Remember, all of the ingredient amounts you’ll need are in the printable recipe card below.
KITCHEN TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT YOU'LL NEED:
9″x13″ Baking Dish – You can also make a half batch by halving all the ingredients and putting this casserole in a 2-quart baking dish.
Cutting Board and Knife
Mixing Bowl or Large Glass Measuring Cup – I love using my Pyrex measuring cups for whisking any kind of egg mixture up, because I can pour it right from that cup. Makes it so easy.
Aluminum Foil – to cover the casserole while chilling and baking.
LET'S TALK ABOUT THE BREAD…
I mentioned a couple of times the types of bread you can use in this casserole. And yes, you can make this a gluten-free blueberry French toast casserole by using gluten-free bread.
But let's talk about the freshness of the bread.
You want the bread to be at least a day old and somewhat stale, so the bread cubes will really soak up the egg mixture. This ensures you don't have any egg mixture just sitting off to itself making a mini quiche in the middle of your casserole.
This is one reason I love to use sourdough because it's a coarse, usually dryer bread, and it really does well with soaking up all that liquid from the eggs and milk.
Of course, you can also dry the bread out a bit by opening up the bag the night before and letting it get air. Or spread the slices out on a baking sheet, and let sit in a low heat oven for just a bit to lose some of the moisture.
HOW TO MAKE BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE
Before you get started layering your recipe, go ahead and grease a 9″x13″ baking dish with cooking spray. If you're baking it now without chilling, you'll also need to preheat your oven to 350° F.
- Combine the cream cheese and brown sugar in a mixing bowl, and set aside.
- Cube the bread into small 1-inch cubes, and add 1/2 of your bread cubes to the bottom of the baking dish.
- Spoon small dollops of the cream cheese mixture onto the bread cubes until you've used it all.
- Sprinkle half the blueberries over the bread and cream cheese.
- Add the remaining bread cubes on top of the blueberries.
- Then sprinkle on the rest of the blueberries, sprinkling them evenly all over the casserole.
- In a large bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the baking dish, making sure to soak every single piece of bread.
At this point, you can either cover and chill the casserole for at least 4 to 6 hours or overnight. Or you can go ahead and mix up the streusel topping and bake it.
I prefer to refrigerate my overnight blueberry French toast because it lets everything sit and soak into the bread a little longer, bringing out all of the wonderful flavors later on when baking.
But sometimes I just want to bake it and be done. And that's ok too.
HOW TO MAKE THE STREUSEL TOPPING:
Ok, I'm just going to say this. Do NOT skip the streusel topping. This topping makes this casserole. You MUST make the topping.
Don't worry, it's super easy to make. Before you get started, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350° F.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the salted butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon with a pastry blender.
- Crumble the topping over the entire French toast casserole.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for about 50 minutes. Then uncover and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
Allow it to cool for at least 10 to 15 minutes after baking. Then slice it and serve it with powdered sugar, maple syrup, blueberry sauce/syrup, and more blueberries.
ALTERNATIVE FRUIT OPTIONS
While I use blueberries in this recipe, you could switch out the blueberries for strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, or other types of fruit.
You could even combine blueberries with other berries or maybe even peaches.
As for using frozen blueberries instead of fresh, you likely would be fine to use frozen blueberries. Be aware, though, that using frozen fruit can add more moisture to whatever recipe you're making, so your baked French toast could end up a little on the mushy side.
CAN YOU FREEZE FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE?
Yes, you can freeze a blueberry French toast casserole before or after baking. Just be sure it's either in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap and aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn.
Also, be sure to allow enough time for thawing in the refrigerator before baking. Bake time will vary, depending on whether or not your casserole was already baked before freezing.
Re-heating after freezing…
Allow time for the casserole to thaw in the fridge. Then cover with aluminum foil, and re-heat in a 350° F oven for about half an hour, or until it's warmed through.
Re-heating after refrigerating…
You can re-heat it in the oven or microwave. If you're in a hurry, it's easier and quicker to re-heat it in the microwave in 30-second intervals until it's heated through.
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Blueberry French Toast Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
Casserole:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 20 ounces sourdough bread
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Streusel Topping:
- 4 tablespoons salted butter sliced
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and brown sugar; then set aside.
- Cube the bread into small 1-inch cubes, and add 1/2 of the bread cubes to the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Spoon small dollops of the cream cheese mixture onto the bread cubes until you've used it all.
- Sprinkle half the blueberries over the bread and cream cheese.
- Add the remaining bread cubes on top of the blueberries.
- Then sprinkle on the rest of the blueberries, sprinkling them evenly all over the casserole.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the baking dish, making sure to soak every single piece of bread.
- At this point, you can either cover and chill the casserole for at least 4 to 6 hours or overnight; or you can go ahead and mix up the streusel topping and bake it.
- When you're ready to bake the casserole, remove it from the fridge, and preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Using a pastry blender, mix together the sliced butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl.
- Crumble the topping over the entire French toast casserole.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake at 350° F for about 45-50 minutes. Then uncover and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
- Allow it to cool for at least 10 to 15 minutes after baking. Then slice it and serve it with powdered sugar, maple syrup, blueberry sauce/syrup, and more blueberries.
This was divine!!! I didn’t have whole milk so I used heavy cream instead and it’s was delicious.
That’s wonderful, Johara! Thanks for giving it a try.
If I use frozen blueberries how much milk should I use to not make it mushy?
Judi, adding milk will not likely help anything. The problem with frozen blueberries is that the moisture seeps into the rest of the dish as they thaw. You’re really better off just letting the blueberries thaw before adding them to the recipe.