Gluten-Free Overnight French Toast Casserole

This delicious Gluten-Free Overnight French Toast Casserole is a sure-fire way to impress your guests for holiday brunch or weekend breakfast. This recipe is made with a simple yet unique method - a caramelized brown sugar base and a gluten-free sourdough.

Prepare the ingredients the night before, then toss the casserole in the oven in the morning for a simple breakfast or brunch that won't disappoint.

Keys to Making a Good Gluten-Free French Toast Casserole: 

Dry or Stale Your Bread

Gluten-free bread is more absorbent than gluten-containing bread. Therefore, it is important to use dry bread so that the moisture is drawn out before adding more moisture. Starting with too moist of bread can lead to a soggy casserole. 

Toast your GF bread in the oven for about 8-10 minutes at 300 degrees, or leave out for 8-12 hours to stale. 

Use Thick Slice Bread

For the same reason we want to use stale bread, we also want to use thick slices of bread. Since gluten-free bread is more absorbent of moisture, its also more fragile. Thick slices keep the structure. 

Choose Good Gluten-Free Bread

This is a french toast casserole after all - the main ingredient is bread! You'll want to use a higher quality, well-rounded gluten-free loaf. We are using a gluten-free sourdough from Bread SRSLY. This bread is made with wholesome GF flour blend and a fermentation process that makes it flavorful and soft. 

What Makes This Recipe Stand Out 

This recipe is rather simple just with a few tweaks to the method for simplicity and added flavor. Unlike other classic french toast casserole recipes, we are using a leaner custard and an easier prep - but all with a similar flavor profile. 

Caramelized Brown Sugar Base

The signature to this gluten-free french toast casserole is the caramelized brown sugar base. Rather than mix sugar with the eggs, we add it with butter to the bottom of the baking dish, creating a caramelized, almost sticky-toffee layer that becomes the top when you serve it flipped. This creates a deeper sweetness, providing a much-needed contrast to a maple syrup topping. 

Make-Ahead or Overnight

This recipe uses a make-ahead or overnight method. Make ahead and refrigerate at least 4 hours before cooking to let the bread absorb the flavors of the mixture. This makes for the best french toast. 

Use Full Slices of Bread Rather Than Bread Cubes

We're using full bread slices rather than chopped bread cubes. Why? Granted, our Classic Bread SRSLY Loaf is smaller in size, but this actually serves as a benefit because it adds more structure to the bake. Once soaked in the mixture and baked for 30 minutes, the casserole becomes soft and gooey enough to scoop out of the dish, similar to a thick bread pudding. 

Plus, you can save time on the chopping here!

Leaner Custard

Our custard is more like an egg mixture. We skip on the heavy cream and sugar and stick to eggs, milk, and spices. Using a leaner mixture such as this one is not only less ingredients and prep work, but is also far more tolerable in terms of sweetness and density. This is more of your everyday breakfast treat rather than only one you save for the holidays. 

 

Active time: 20 min; Total time: 5-13 hours
Serves: 8
Author: Team SRSLY Runner Katie Matthews 

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Per 1/8 serving

Calories: 290
Total Fat: 13.3g
Total Carbohydrate: 35g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Total Sugars: 22g
Protein: 8.3g

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 tbsp butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed, or sweetener of your choice
  • Bread SRSLY classic or seeded sourdough, cut into thick slices
  • 8 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 cup milk, or dairy free substitute
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp cinnamon, ground
  • 1/4 tsp ginger, ground
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • Maple syrup and/or powdered sugar for topping

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a small bowl, combine melted butter and brown sugar. Pour into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
  2. Arrange slices of bread in the baking dish in two layers.
  3. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a bowl and pour evenly over bread slices.
  4. Sprinkle chopped pecans over bread slices.
  5. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.
  6. Remove the baking dish from the refrigerator and let sit on the counter for around 10 minutes while preheating the oven to 350°F.
  7. Bake for 30-35 minutes. If the top starts browning too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes or so of cooking.
  8. Once the top is golden, remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Slice into pieces, and serve with maple syrup and/or powdered sugar, if desired.

 


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