Overnight Syrup-On-The-Bottom French Toast – Assemble it the night before and wake up to AMAZING French toast the next morning!! An EASY homemade syrup layer on the bottom with super SOFT challah bread on top! Great for brunches and holiday mornings!!
If you love pancakes and French toast with an abundance of syrup, this is the French toast recipe for you. I definitely love my syrup.
And I love this recipe because you assemble it the night before and so when you wake up the next day all you have to do is put it in the oven.
How To Make The Overnight Syrup-On-The-Bottom French Toast
First make the syrup by boiling together the key ingredients including dark brown sugar, butter, and milk. Definitely use dark brown sugar rather than light for a richer taste.
Pour that luscious homemade syrup into a casserole dish and then add thick slices of challah bread. Make sure you slice your challah at least 1-inch thick so that it’s hearty enough to stand up to the egg and milk mixture you pour over it.
Do not use regular bread from an average loaf of bread. It’s too thin, not hearty enough, and will disintegrate.
Then whisk together eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and slowly pour it over the challah. Cover the casserole dish with foil and refrigerate overnight, at least eight hours. That gives the egg mixture enough time to really penetrate the bread.
Ready To Bake
When you’re ready to bake the French toast, simply transfer the covered casserole dish straight into the oven. I didn’t bother preheating my oven – remember, you’re sleepy and it’s the morning, and the less steps the better.
Bake it for about 40 minutes, remove it from the oven and remove the foil, sprinkle with cinnamon-and-sugar, and bake for another 40 minutes or so, uncovered. Bake it until it’s as done as you like.
How Does It Taste
Because I nestled the challah slices in my casserole dish as you can see in the photos, the top half of the bread that was exposed to the direct oven heat was firmer and crisper, and the bottom half was soft, tender, and almost melts into the homemade syrup.
The French toast is very delicate and tender. If you like French toast that has a lot of chewiness and is very hearty, this is the opposite. Challah is a soft bread to begin with, then coat it with an egg-milk mixture on top, and rest it in syrup on the bottom, and you are in for some very soft French toast.
Before serving, I highly recommend spooning some of the syrup-on-the-bottom over the top half of the bread.
I love really saucy and syrupy French toast but if you don’t, you may be fine with it as-is, since the bottom half of the bread that was resting in syrup.
When To Serve The Overnight French Toast
This French toast is perfect lazy weekend mornings, an easy-peasy brunch since you can preassemble it, or for a special holiday breakfast celebration like Christmas or New Year’s Day.
You’ll thank yourself the next morning that all you had to do was pop it in the oven and anyone you serve it to will thank you, too.
Favorite French Toast Recipes:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana-Stuffed French Toast – A decadent twist on peanut butter and banana sandwiches!! Great for lazy weekend mornings or holiday brunches!
- Overnight Gingerbread French Toast Breakfast Bake – Easy, make-ahead French toast that’s perfect for winter weekends or Christmas morning! Easy, no-flipping-required recipe!
- Hawaiian Bread and Maple Banana Baked French Toast – Super soft Hawaiian bread with maple and bananas! So easy because it’s baked! A hit with everyone!
- Croissant French Toast – Soft, tender, and so buttery it just melts in your mouth! Fast, easy, and a breakfast worth waking up for!
- Cinnamon Sugar French Toast Sticks – Portable French toast that’s just begging to be dunked! Fast, easy, and double-dipping is totally ok!
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Overnight Syrup-On-The-Bottom French Toast
Ingredients
Syrup
- 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, 3 sticks, softened
- ⅓ cup corn syrup
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
French Toast
- 1 pound challah bread, sliced into 1-inch thick slices
- 4 large eggs
- 2 ½ cups whole milk
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon-Sugar
- 3 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Spray a 9x13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray; set aside.
- Syrup - To a medium saucepan, add the brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, milk, salt, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat; stir nearly constantly.
- Pour syrup into prepared casserole dish.
- French Toast - Arrange the bread slices in the casserole dish. I had one row of 8 full slices of bread and the row alongside it had 8 half slices of bread. Arrange the bread however you see fit to get it to fit in your dish; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the eggs and lightly beat them.
- Add the milk, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and whisk to combine.
- Very slowly and evenly pour the egg mixture over the bread slices.
- Cover casserole dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight, at least 8 hours.
- When you are ready to bake it, remove it in from the fridge, keep the foil on, place it in the oven, and turn the oven on to 350F. You don't need to first preheat the oven; just put the baking dish in the cold oven. Bake for 40 minutes, covered. Remove it from the oven and uncover it; set aside momentarily.
- Cinnamon-Sugar - To a small bowl, add the sugar, cinnamon, stir to combine, and evenly sprinkle over the French toast.
- Return casserole dish to the oven and bake for another 40 minutes, or until it is as firm and golden as desired, and serve immediately. Make sure to spoon the syrup on the bottom over the slices of French toast, as generously as desired. French toast is best warm and fresh.
- Adapted from Allrecipes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Can I use light brown sugar instead of dark brown?
Yes it will just not be quite as rich tasting since I think dark brown sugar has a richer, deeper flavor profile but will still be great.
We have prepared breakfast casseroles the night before and since we are french toast lovers so this would be right up our alley BUT………the syrup would be the only sticking point (HA). Do you have a recipe for a home made Maple Syrup to go along with it? That would make it a perfect 10 or 5 stars in this case.
So yummy! This would be perfect for a weekend morning!
Can I just say how thankful I am that you always leave the most amazing comments on my posts. I need to be better with my commenting. You are the best! All the best to you and more in 2019 👍😉😊
Sounds wonderful. The only problem with these kinds of recipes is that my family wants their breakfast as soon as they get up …. so I tend to make this kind of thing for brunch or brinner instead!
Well since I’m a food blogger and I have to take pictures when there’s daylight out, that usually means taking pictures around 1 or 2 PM and that this sort of thing ends up as our brinner, too. And we loved every bite! It’s the type of recipe that really whenever you end up eating it after it’s sat the night before, it’s going to be great.