Overnight French Toast for an Easy and Delicious Breakfast the Next Morning

Overnight French toast is the perfect idea for times when you want a delicious cooked breakfast, but won’t have time in the morning.

Originally published Sep 10, 2011.

This overnight French toast can be made for the kids before they go off to school in the morning, or if you have company staying over. Or maybe you simply want to prep the night before for a lovely, yet easy breakfast or brunch the following day.

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Everyone will love this light and tasty breakfast meal; just don’t ask me why it’s called “French” toast (now I know since my pal Jill explained it so well (see below).

As an aside, you may have noticed that the publish date for this recipe is 2011. This is when I originally posted this and I believe it was my second time publishing anything on my site. For years, I’ve had this recipe “hidden” as the photos were dreadful.

I’ve finally updated the photos, but I thought it would be fun to show one of my original photos, compared to the new one. And I still have so much further to go with my photography and food styling. (Notice, I used the same plate and didn’t realize it until afterwards!)

Why is it Called French Toast?

It’s called French toast because the French are accredited with coming up with this idea on how to use stale bread, and they called it pain perdu, or lost bread. However, apparently, it goes back to Roman times! My friend, Jill, from Mad About Macarons is the one to tell you all about the original pain perdu recipe!

Make Ahead French Toast

The brilliant thing about French toast is that you can prepare it ahead of time, or if you have leftovers, freeze the pieces on a silicone sheet (once cool). Then toss the frozen French toast into freezer-proof bags so you can reheat them on a whim! Microwave, cooktop, air fryer or oven are all viable methods of reheating. 

You may also enjoy this super decadent brûlée custard bread pudding with raspberry coulis! 

 

 

 

 

Overnight French Toast

recipe by Christina Conte          serves 4

FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW

Ingredients

• eggs
• milk or half and half (for UK, half milk, half cream)
• vanilla
• stale bread 
• butter
• powdered sugar, maple syrup, fruit syrup or whatever you like to top your toast with

Directions for the Evening

The night before you want to have French toast, beat the eggs with the milk. Add a little cream or use half and half if you want to be more posh!  Don’t forget some vanilla, then whisk well.

Using stale bread is better than fresh, and you can use egg bread, brioche, croissants, panettone, a colomba, or challah, too. I used homemade bread. I cut slices and allowed it to dry for about a couple of hours before using it.

Don’t worry about the ratio of ingredients as you really can’t mess this up. Place some leftover bread in the egg mixture until it’s all soaked up on both sides.

After the egg mixture has soaked in, sprinkle a little cinnamon on both sides of each slice. The reason I do this is that you are able to control how much cinnamon is on each piece of bread. Cover and refrigerate the overnight French toast.

Directions the Following Morning

Remove the bread from the fridge at least half an hour before you want to cook it.

Over medium heat in a non-stick or cast iron pan, add a little butter, then cook the soaked bread until lightly brown on both sides. You don’t want to cook it over a high heat or the middle of the bread won’t cook thoroughly.

You can dust the overnight French toast with powdered sugar, or just eat it plain.

However you choose, just serve the French toast immediately. Do use real maple syrup–none of that fake corn syrup stuff. Or serve with a lovely fruit sauce, like this peach topping, or even this raspberry sauce which you’ll find in the recipe for these soufflè-like lemon ricotta pancakes.

How to Freeze French Toast

If you’d like to freeze your French toast, simply place the cool pieces (once cooked) onto a silicone or plastic sheet and place into the freezer. When frozen, place in a freezer bag, seal and keep frozen.

How to Reheat French Toast

You have many options to reheat French toast: you can defrost overnight in the fridge, then heat as desired (below). Or you can reheat from frozen.

1. Microwave slices until hot.
2. Reheat slices in the air fryer at 350 F for about 4 minutes (will take longer if still frozen)
3. Reheat in a non-stick pan, or cast iron skillet (with a little butter, if desired) until hot.
4. Place in a preheated oven (350 F) for about 7 minutes.

Did you make enough French toast?

I hope so!

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