Butter Pecan French Toast Breakfast Casserole
Your family will fall in love with this Overnight Butter Pecan French Toast Breakfast Casserole recipe. It’s perfect for Christmas morning breakfast. You can assemble it the night before and wake up to a warm, custardy, french toast casserole with pockets of brown suger-y, crunchy, buttery bits nestled in between the lovely velvety bread pieces.
Great Breakfast for Large Groups
You’ll want to try the large group French Toast Breakfast Casserole for a Crowd recipe next time you’re cooking breakfast for 50 or more. Your family reunion or girls camp will rave. Made and assembled the night before, it requires minimal effort in the morning and is met with maximum excitement hot out of the oven. The slices are much smaller than the recipe for 12, but if you serve several other items, they’ll be perfect.
What do you think? Doesn’t this look good.
I got the idea for this from a local restaurant. We went there with friends for dinner and they served the most amazing Butter Pecan Bread Pudding. It was light and fluffy, with marvelous surprise chunks of crunchy brown sugar coated pecans nestled in between the bread. It was so good we went back the next week. And this time I was served a dense gummy lump of sodden bread with minimal pecans with absolutely no crunchy suger-y coating. Sigh. Since we generally conclude we can get better meals at home, I was faced with the challenge of recreating it. I think you’ll be blown away with the results. So much for that restaurant.
What would you serve with this?
I just recently served this for our Church Christmas Breakfast. Here’s the menu with links to the other items.
Mini Sweet Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
Mixed Fruit Salad with an Orange Vanilla Glaze
Mini Ham & Cheese Sliders
French Toast Casserole with Brown Sugar Pecan Streusel Topping
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Family Size
This may just be the best French Toast Casserole you'll ever have. The bread is sweet, but not too sweet and the crunchy butter pecan topping really takes it to the next level. You'll enjoy it with, and without, syrup.
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter , softened
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar , packed
- 1/2 cup pecans , chopped
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 (16 – 20 ounce) loaf Italian bread , cut into 1-inch slices then torn into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 8 large eggs
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
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Slice the bread in 1 inch slices. Tear each slice into 1 inch pieces. Put the pieces of bread in the pan in an even layer. Let sit out on the counter, uncovered.
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Combine all ingredients for Praline Topping in a medium bowl, blend well, cover and set aside.
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Night before serving:
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Using 1 tablespoon butter, grease a 9" x 13" pan or deep 2-quart casserole.
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In a large bowl, combine 8 eggs, 3 cups heavy cream, 1 cup milk, 5 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon salt. Beat with a whisk until blended. Pour mixture over the bread slices. Using a wide flat spatula, mix by gently lifting and rearranging the bread pieces, making sure pieces all are covered evenly.
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When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread, pressing most of it into the spaces between the bread pieces. Bake about 40 minutes, or until puffed and lightly golden. Custard should be set, but still slightly wet.
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Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.
Large Group
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter , softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar , packed
- 1 cup pecans , chopped
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 (16 – 20 ounce) loaves Italian bread , cut into 1-inch slices then torn into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 16 large eggs
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 cups milk
- 6 cups heavy cream
- 4 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ - 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 21” x 13” x 3.5” Disposable Aluminum Pan Full Size Steam Table Pan
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Slice the bread in 1inch slices. Tear each slice into 1 inch pieces. Put the pieces of bread in the pan in an even layer. Let sit out on the counter, uncovered.
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Combine all ingredients for Praline Topping in a medium bowl, blend well and set aside.
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Night before serving:
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Using 1 tablespoon butter, grease a 21” x 13” x 3.5” disposable aluminum pan.
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In a large bowl, combine 16 eggs, 2 cups milk, 6 cups cream, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 4 teaspoons vanilla, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat with a whisk until blended. Pour mixture over the bread slices. Using a wide flat spatula, mix by gently lifting and rearranging the bread pieces, making sure pieces all are covered evenly.
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When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread, pressing most of it into the spaces between the bread pieces. Bake about 45 - 55 minutes, or until puffed and lightly golden. Custard should be set, but still slightly wet.
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Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.
Looking for more fantastic Breakfasts for a Crowd?
There are many excellent choices on my Breakfast for a Crowd page here. It’s got a wide selection of large group breakfast recipes. Including this one:
Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole for a Crowd
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Here’s some other fantastic recipes if you’re cooking breakfast.
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Made this French toast casserole for our church breakfast and got RAVE reviews. Many requests for the recipe, as well. It was an easy, cheap and delicious way to feed a crowd. We served it with frozen hash brown patties, thick sliced bacon and a fruit salad. There was a consensus that we should make it again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’ll be adding more casseroles for a group soon. Stay tuned…
If I need to cook two at a time in one oven, should I adjust the temp? And what does that do to the total cooking time? Will it double?
I haven’t tried it, but if I were going to try it, I’d keep the temperature the same and plan on 50% more cooking time. They hold very well, so give yourself an extra hour to be safe, check frequently to see if they are done (knife inserted should come out without much liquid on it) and slightly undercooked is better than overcooked. Then I’d cover with foil to keep warm until ready to serve. Hope that helps!
the students (high schoolers) are going to love this tater tot casserole. Thank you for doing all the hard work on expanding the recipe for me.
You’re most welcome!