Savory French Toast Bake with Bacon and Cheese — No need to stand at the stove to flip and babysit your French toast with this easy BAKED version!! Plenty of bacon and melted cheddar for the perfect savory, comfort-food French toast that’s great for breakfast, brunch, or brinner!!
Baked Bacon and Cheddar French Toast Recipe
I am a big fan of baked french toast because it’s so easy — no flipping and no babysitting at the stove required!
An easy comfort food french toast recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes is what you’re looking at with this baked bacon cheddar French toast.
Rather than a sweet version of french toast, this is a decadent savory version complete with cream cheese, smoked bacon, and plenty of cheddar cheese.
It’s the perfect hearty winter breakfast, or serve it for a holiday brunch, or those times when you’re feeling like breakfast-for-dinner.
Ingredients in Savory French Toast Bake
For this savory baked french toast, you’ll need:
- White bread
- Cream cheese
- Egg
- Milk
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Uncooked smoked bacon
- Cheddar cheese
- Fresh rosemary, optional
How to Make Savory French Toast Bake
If you’ve never tried french toast with bacon and cheese before, you are in for a real treat! I actually prefer making baked french toast casseroles like this because they’re so much easier than standing at the stove flipping each individual piece.
Here’s how the savory french toast casserole is made:
- Begin by spreading a thin layer of cream cheese over each slice of bread.
- Whisk together the egg, milk, salt and pepper, and then plunge each slice of bread briefly in the egg mixture.
- Arrange the bread slices in a 8×11-inch or similar-sized baking dish.
- Evenly sprinkle with cubed bacon, pressing some of it in between the bread slices.
- Evenly sprinkle with cheddar cheese, optional rosemary, and bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is lightly golden browned and the bacon is cooked through.
What’s the Best Bread for French Toast Casserole?
I used semi-stale white sandwich bread, nothing fancy at all. I find that day-old, or bread that is on the more stale side, is best for baked French toast because it stands up better to the egg-milk mixture without getting soggy.
You could also use a French baguette, French roll, or your favorite kind of bread that you have on hand.
Although I haven’t tried it, I bet something like diced Asiago cheese bagels would be so tasty. I have a sweet Baked Bagel French Toast recipe that is great for using up an excess of bagels you may have on hand. Hello, Costco two-for-one bagel sales.
What to Serve with Baked French Toast
There’s already a lot going on in this french toast casserole, but if you’d like to serve it with something here’s what I recommend:
- Fruit salad
- Scrambled eggs
- Sautéed veggies (mushrooms would be nice!)
- Kale and Tomato Frittata
- Cheesy Egg Muffins
Tips for the Best Savory French Toast Casserole
If you’re a person who likes a little sweet with your savory, drizzling a touch of honey over the final dish is a nice touch.
Although you may have fresh rosemary on hand thanks to this recipe coming at you right after Thanksgiving, if you don’t but have say fresh thyme that would be a suitable substitution.
I always have shredded cheddar cheese on hand, but if you’re looking for something a bit more gooey, using shedded mozzarella cheese will give you that ultra-melty goodness like you’d get on pizza.
Other cheeses worth a try could be Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or Colby.
Enjoy!
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Savory French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 12 slices day-old or semi-stale white bread
- ½ cup softened cream cheese, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups milk*
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 cup uncooked smoked bacon, cubed or sliced in small pieces (or your favorite bacon)
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese or cheddar cheese blend
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary finely minced, optional (fresh thyme may be substituted)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and spray an 8x11-inch or similar-sized casserole or baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
- Spread each of the 12 slices of bread evenly with cream cheese on one side of the bread. I used an averagely thick amount of cream cheese, but you can go thin or thick, depending on your preference. I find it easiest to do this on a clean countertop and just keep the bread on the counter.
- To a large bowl, add the egg, milk, salt, pepper, and whisk to combine.
- Briefly dunk each slice of bread in the milk mixture. You don't want it soaking wet or it will disintegrate. After dunking, I put each slice immediately in the prepared baking dish, with each successive sliced stacked next to it.
- Evenly sprinkle the bacon over the bread, gently nudging some bacon down in between the bread slices.
- Evenly sprinkle with the cheese, and again, gently nudge a bit of the cheese in between each slice of bread so it's not just all mounded up on top.
- Optionally, evenly sprinkle with the rosemary and bake for about 30 minutes, or until cheese has melted and is nicely golden browned in color or to your liking, and the bacon is cooked through.
- Optionally, for a sweet-and-savory flavor, evenly drizzle with honey. If you're not into sweet-and-savory flavor combos, definitely omit the honey.
- Serve immediately. French toast is best fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days and can be gently reheated.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Baked Bagel French Toast with Maple Glaze – Soft, chewy bagels make the best French toast! So easy, no flipping required, and tastes phenomenally good!
Cinnamon-Sugar Streusel Baked French Toast – The perfect breakfast! No stovetop flipping and you can make it ahead of time!
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Do you think you could make this the night before and pop it in the oven in the morning?
I don’t really think so because I think the bread would get really soggy sitting overnight and I think it’s just better to prep at the morning of.
You could try it, but if you’re serving it for a special brunch, or some thing, I would perhaps trial it ahead of time. And not on your special day.
great
These were absolutely fantastic.I made them today! No Thanksgiving here, So good! Will definitely be repeated often.
These were absolutely fantastic.I made them today! No Thanksgiving here, So good! Will definitely be repeated often.
I’ve never made a savory French toast before. I might have a problem “selling” it to my family. Can you help me out about how to serve it ? What do you serve it with? I love all your recipes and pin them all.
I would think of it like a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich – that’s what the ingredient list is (bread, bacon, egg, cheese). So I wouldn’t really feel it’s necessary to ‘serve’ it with anything else. Of course you could serve it with anything you like from fresh fruit to an omelet to whatever strikes your fancy.
Thanks for pinning my recipes!
great