This delicious Apple Challah French Toast Casserole is easy to make for breakfast, brunch or even as an apple dessert. It can even be an overnight breakfast casserole if you prepare it the night before and bake in the morning.
This Apple Challah French Toast Casserole is simply AMAZING! We love casseroles for breakfast like our Easy Breakfast Scramble and Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Quiche, but if you’re looking for something sweet, then you simply must give this easy French toast casserole a try!
Plus, it doesn’t have to be limited to breakfast! Actually, my family loves breakfast food for supper. And since it is so sweet and delicious it makes a great apple dessert casserole too.
This dish is loaded with deliciousness! Using challah bread, apples, and cinnamon, this yummy casserole is a family pleaser.
And, did I mention the wonderful aroma while it is baking?! It makes the whole house smell great (way better than any candle).
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⭐ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ⭐
Easy to Make – Basically all you have to do is mix your ingredients together and bake. Anyone can make it!
Simple Ingredients – All the ingredients can be found in your local grocery store. If youre not able to find challah bread in your area we have some ideas for substitutions below.
Make Ahead – You make up the casserole ahead of time and store in the refrigerator to pop in the oven the next morning for a hot breakfast.
🧾 Ingredients Needed
I’ve made notes below on some of the ingredients needed. Look them over as I offer substitutions where possible.
- Challah Bread – We choose challah because the enriched dough with eggs and oil adds a lot of flavor. See the FAQs below for other possible options.
- Apples – Granny Smith and Honeycrisp Apples give that nice green/red color combo, have a great sweet/tart balance and hold up in the high heat of baking.
- Milk – We opted for 2% cow’s milk. You can use unsweetened non-dairy milk in its place.
- Granulated Sugar – We use white granulated sugar (You can opt for light brown sugar if you like.)
- Pure Vanilla Extract – You’ll get better flavor from pure extract vs. imitation vanilla.
📌 Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list with quantities and step-by-step instructions!
🥖 Substitutions:
is our favorite option since the enriched dough with eggs and oil adds a lot of flavor. is a good substitute. It’s very similar to challah except that it uses butter instead of oil. You can also substitute with , but you’ll get a different taste and texture.
🥣 How to Make
Now that we’ve covered all the ingredients, let’s move on to making the casserole!
STEP 1: Toss together apples and challah in a 9×13 casserole dish prepared with nonstick cooking spray.
STEP 2: In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
STEP 3: Pour mixture evenly over the apples and challah. Cover and refrigerate to allow the bread to soak for at least an hour or overnight.
STEP 4: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for 60 minutes or until the eggs are completely set.
⭐ Pro Tips ⭐
- Use Day-Old Bread: Freshly baked bread is more soft and fluffy which means it can fall apart in the egg/milk mixture. If your bread is fresh from the store you can cut it in thick slices and toast very lightly before slicing.
- Dice Evenly: Try to cut your apple chunks and your challah cubes into relatively uniform pieces for more even cooking.
- Cover All Your Bread: After pouring your egg/milk mixture over the apples and bread, make sure all the bread is covered! Any bread that isn’t covered will dry out during baking.
- Serve Warm: This breakfast casserole is much more delicious when served warm from the oven.
- Make Ahead: To make as an overnight breakfast casserole, before bed mix all the ingredients together in the casserole dish, cover and store in the refrigerator. In the morning, just bake as directed.
📝 Recipe FAQs
We like to combine the colors of green Granny Smith Apples and red Honeycrisp Apples, which are also apples that are great for baking because they have a great sweet/tart balance and hold up in high heat. Two other options are Braeburn and Jonagold.
It’s super easy to mix up this casserole the night before and save time in the morning. After mixing all the ingredients together, cover and store in the refrigerator. In the morning, just bake as directed.
At breakfast you can top your casserole with syrup, honey or fruit preserves. You can also sprinkle the top with . For dessert we like to top it with vanilla ice cream or cinnamon ice cream. Caramel sauce also makes a delicious topping.
❄️ Storage and Freezer Instructions
To Store: Cover the casserole dish with its lid or with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in a warm oven or microwave.
To Freeze: You can freeze this French toast casserole! Prepare the casserole in a freezer-safe baking dish up to the point of baking. Then securely wrap your dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Remove from freezer and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking.
🍂 More Fall Breakfast Recipes
- Pumpkin Butterscotch Pancakes23 Minutes
- Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls Recipe – From Scratch!5 Hours 25 Minutes
- Cheese, Bacon and Potato Breakfast Casserole Recipe1 Hours
- Mini Apple Muffins Recipe22 Minutes
If you tried this Apple Challah French Toast Recipe or any other recipe on my site, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it turned out in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing your about your results and thoughts!
📖 Recipe
Apple Challah French Toast Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ loaf challah bread cubed
- 5 eggs
- ¾ cups milk
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large apples cored and diced
Instructions
- Prepare a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the bread and apples in the casserole dish. Toss together.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Pour evenly over the casserole.
- Cover and refrigerate to allow the bread to soak for at least an hour or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for 60 minutes or until the eggs are completely set.
- Serve warm with honey or maple syrup.
Notes
Nutrition
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Anita C says
This looks delicious. I love that it’s easy to make and limited ingredients. I make challah french toast every Sunday. I can change it up with this receipe