Description
This Pumpkin French Toast Casserole is the ultimate make-ahead fall breakfast! With warm pumpkin spices, custardy bread, and a crispy pecan crumb topping, it’s like having pumpkin pie for breakfast. Perfect for holidays and weekend brunches.
Ingredients
Bread & Custard:
- 1 loaf (12–14 oz) sturdy bread (French, sourdough, or challah), cubed and slightly stale
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- ¾ cup brown sugar (light or dark, packed)
- 2½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 6 large eggs
- 2â…“ cups whole milk
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Crumb Topping:
- â…“ cup packed light brown sugar
- â…“ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ¾ cup roughly chopped pecans
To Serve:
- Pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Get your bread ready (do this first!): Cut your bread into chunky 1-inch pieces and spread them out on a baking sheet. Let them sit out for a few hours or even overnight—they need to get a little stale so they don’t turn to mush. If you’re in a hurry, toss them in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes.
- Whisk up the magic: Grab a big bowl and whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Don’t worry if it looks a little lumpy at first—keep whisking until it’s smooth.
- Put it all together: Butter up your 9×13 dish real good and dump in those bread cubes. Pour that gorgeous pumpkin mixture right over everything, making sure to get into all the corners. Cover it tight and stick it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, but overnight is way better.
- Make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in those cold butter pieces with a pastry cutter (or just mash it with two forks) until you get little pea-sized crumbs. Stir in the pecans and pop it in the fridge.
- Bake it up: Heat your oven to 350°F. Pull out the casserole, remove the cover, and sprinkle all that crumb topping over the top. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered, then tent it with foil and bake another 25-35 minutes until the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan.
- Don’t skip this part: Let it sit for 5 minutes before you cut into it. I know it’s torture, but this lets everything set up properly so you get clean slices instead of a soggy mess.
Notes
The stale bread thing is real: I used to think this was just fancy baker nonsense, but fresh bread really does turn to complete mush. Give it time to dry out or you’ll be sorry.
Keep that butter freezing cold when you make the crumb topping—I stick mine in the freezer for 10 minutes before cutting it in
Don’t panic if the center jiggles a little when you pull it out—it’ll keep cooking as it sits and will be perfect
Make double the crumb topping and freeze half for next time. Future you will thank present you.
Test with a butter knife near the center—it should come out mostly clean with just a few moist crumbs
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45-55 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice (1/12 of casserole)
- Calories: 285
- Sugar: 22g
- Sodium: 245mg
- Fat: 12g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 8g
- Cholesterol: 108mg