This pumpkin French toast casserole is a perfect fall breakfast. It’s a great make-ahead option, and is perfectly spiced, soft, and has the best crunchy streusel topping.
This Pumpkin French Toast Casserole is such a great fall breakfast option. It’s made with a sweet pumpkin custard all surrounding pieces of brioche bread. It’s soft throughout with a perfect crunchy top, with extra thanks to the cinnamony pecan streusel topping.
This recipe is adapted from our brioche french toast casserole to add a delicious pumpkinny and pumpkin spice twist. It’s the perfect fall breakfast! It’s delicious topped with powdered sugar, or some fresh maple syrup!
This pumpkin french toast is a great make ahead breakfast option. It can be made in advance and stored in the fridge overnight (but at least 4 hours). Just keep the streusel topping off of the casserole until you are ready to bake it. I just keep mine in a little ziplock bag or small container.
This makes it great for a holiday breakfast, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any weekend for breakfast or brunch. How great would this be to make ahead of time on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, then enjoy this delicious pumpkin french toast casserole Thanksgiving morning. Then you don’t have to stress about breakfast, and can focus on making all the other yummy Thanksgiving dishes, like the pies, and stuffing, and the turkey!
How to make pumpkin french toast casserole?
Cut your bread into small cubes, and spread them out into a greased baking pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, cream, milk, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and salt. Pour it over the bread in the pan. Flip the pieces that don’t get custard on them to make sure that each piece gets mostly coated. Cover the pan and place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
In a small bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Cut in the cold butter with two forks or a pastry cutter until you have a nice crumble. Then stir in the pecan pieces. Put it in a small container to store in the fridge overnight if you make it the night before (if not, you can make it in the morning before baking).
Once you are ready to bake the french toast casserole bring out the french toast pan and sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of the casserole.
Bake the casserole until it’s cooked throughout and the top is nice and crunchy.
Let it set in the pan for a few minutes, then slice it up and serve it hot with powdered sugar, butter, syrup, whipped cream, etc.
How to store Leftover Pumpkin French Toast Casserole?
If you have any leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Zap individual pieces in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, until warm throughout, and serve as if it were fresh!
You can also freeze individual pieces of this amazing french toast casserole. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight, then microwave, or zap in the oven to warm it up again!
Tips for making Pumpkin French Toast Casserole:
- You can use challah, french bread, or sour dough instead of brioche.
- You can substitute the cows milk and heavy cream with almond milk, soy milk, almond creamer, a dairy free heavy cream alternative, etc.
- Remember to open your bread wrapper the day before making your french toast casserole to help it dry out. It will soak up the egg mixture even better if it’s like this.
- If you like your bread pieces to be a little less soft after baking, you can soak the bread over night in a bowl. Then when you’re ready to bake it up, carefully spoon it out of the bowl into the baking pan, leaving any of the extra liquid in the bottom of the bowl.
- You can make your streusel topping ahead of time when you first make the casserole, just keep it in a separate container, and sprinkle on top of the french toast casserole when you’re ready to bake it.
- If the streusel topping starts to get too dark place some aluminum foil over the top of the pan.
- The pecans are optional, you can leave them off if you don’t like nuts, or substitute them for walnuts too.
This pumpkin french toast casserole is the perfect breakfast option! It’s so good on it’s own, or topped with powdered sugar, caramel syrup, or pure maple syrup. Pair it with some fresh syrup, eggs, bacon or sausage, or our Blueberry Coffee Cake to make a full meal!
More pumpkin breakfast recipes:
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Pumpkin Crepes
- Pumpkin Waffles
- Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Connect with Like Mother, Like Daughter
Be sure to follow us on social media, so you never miss a single post!
Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Email
Pumpkin French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 16 oz bread (french bread, challah, brioche, etc)
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
- 1 cups milk (anything but skim milk)
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 TBS vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the Streusel Topping:
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter (cold)
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
- Grease a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray.
- Cut up your bread, or tear it into chunks, and spread it evenly into your prepared pan.
- Add the eggs, heavy cream, milk, pumpkin, sugar, vanilla cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt to a large bowl and stir them all together.
- Pour the egg custard mixture over the top of the bread evenly. Flip some of the bread pieces over if they don't get any custard on them while pouring.
- Cover the pan and place it in the fridge to chill until needed, at least 4 hours, preferably overnight (10+ hours).
For the Streusel Topping:
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Use a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut the butter into the mixture evenly, until you have small pea sized clumps.
- Stir in the pecan pieces.
- Cover in an airtight container, or ziplock bag, and place in the fridge until you're ready to bake, unless using immediately.
For Baking:
- When you're ready to bake it, remove the pan from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Break the crumble into small pieces, if you made it ahead of time. If not, make the streusel topping now.
- Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of the french toast casserole.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the casserole is cooked through and no longer soggy. (You can test it with a toothpick to make sure that comes out dry).
- Let cool for a few minutes, then slice up and serve.
- Top individual portions with powdered sugar, butter, and syrup as desired.
Mary-Jo says
I made the pumpkin French Toast for the October pumpkin challenge for my bed & breakfast guests. They said it’s a keeper!
Aimee says
Oh my gosh, this makes me so happy! I’m so glad they loved it!