This Cranberry Orange Baked French Toast Casserole is an overnight breakfast casserole that is filled with fresh cranberries and fresh orange. It is perfect for holiday mornings.
Overnight breakfast casseroles are the best! You can also try this Overnight French Toast Casserole for something more traditional, or this Baked French Toast Casserole with Apples and Raisins.
Can you tell that I’m a little bit obsessed with cranberry and orange this year? 🙂
I’m at it again, but this time I’m bringing you breakfast. I know my kids go straight for their stockings every Christmas morning. We can’t survive on that candy in our stockings, so we need a proper breakfast. But who wants to slave away on Christmas morning, especially if you’ve just spent hours opening presents?
This Cranberry Orange Baked French Toast Casserole is your answer. Not only does it take virtually zero effort on the day you are going to bake it, but it’s pretty darn delicious as well. You might we worried about how much work it takes to put the whole baked French toast together the night before, but don’t worry, you should be done in 15 minutes flat. And the cranberry and orange flavors just scream holiday to me.
Ingredients
Make sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients and amounts.
- Butter: I will typically use unsalted butter because that is what I keep on hand. But if you have salted butter, it will work for this recipe.
- Sugar: You want to use brown sugar for this recipe.
- Cranberries: I love that this recipe uses fresh cranberries, which tend to be abundant this time of year. You could also make it using frozen cranberries.
- Bread: A loaf of plain white bread works great. You can also get fancy and use French bread, or even challah or brioche. And bread that is a little dried out is best.
- Milk: Any milk or milk alternative should work well here.
- Eggs: I use large eggs.
- Orange Zest: The orange zest gives lots of orange flavor. I like to use a zester. Just make sure you only get the orange zest, and not the white underneath, because it will be bitter.
- Vanilla: The vanilla adds great flavor.
- Cinnamon: I love the little warmth that the cinnamon brings.
- Orange Extract: If you want to add lots of great orange flavor, you can add in some orange extract. This is only optional, though – you still get some great orange flavor from the orange zest.
Tips and Tricks
If you don’t want to wait overnight, you can make this a couple hours in advance and then just bake it the same day.
This casserole is a great way to use up bread that is a few days old. The older bread holds onto the custard better.
You can leave the orange zest out to keep it simply a cranberry French toast casserole.
Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator.
More Cranberry Orange Recipes
Cranberry Orange Bread
Cranberry Orange Cookies
Cranberry Orange Cheesecake
Cranberry Orange Cupcakes
Cranberry Orange Scones
Cranberry Orange Baked French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup fresh cranberries divided
- 1 1 lb loaf white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 cups milk
- 6 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract optional
- powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- Pour the melted butter evenly into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the top. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the cranberries over the top of the brown sugar. Add the cubed bread to the baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cranberries over the top.
- In a large bowl, combine the milk, eggs, orange zest, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and orange extract (if using), and beat lightly to combine. Pour the mixture evenly over the top of the bread in the baking dish. Press the bread down into the liquid mixture if needed to make sure all of the bread is soaked. Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate overnight, at least 8 hours.
- Bring the dish out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake the casserole, still covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the top is browned and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean another 15-20 minutes.
- Let the casserole sit for 10 minutes before serving. Serve topped with powdered sugar.
Carie S. says
This recipe is so easy to make for even the most novice individual. It’s a crowd pleaser every time and O.M.G. This is delicious!!! This is a perfect dish for Thanksgiving morning, Christmas morning or any morning. I love it so much that I buy cranberries during the holidays, freeze them to use year around ( trust me, you can’t find them and will want them) I promise this will be a recipe EVERYONE will be talking about!
Deborah says
I’m so glad you loved this. And yes to making it year round!
Michelle Cherrier says
02/08/21 This recipe gets TWO THUMBS up . So easy, so fluffy, so flavorful. I used leftover sliced cubed sourdough bread. I also had to substitute two big ingredients: orange juice and almond milk for the milk since I’m allergic and lactose intolerant. Then I also used sugar substitutes because I’m diabetic. While it wasn’t a low carbohydrate meal (for me) it was an absolutely delicious treat. My husband loved it too.
And by the way: THANKS for posting the web link for the egg council. I checked out their multitude of recipes and I will be trying MANY of them, as I depend on eggs for low carb protein.
Thanks so much for your efforts on our behalf – I appreciate them
Patricia Bruner says
This is a great recipe. I used a loaf of French bread. Also, I doubled the cranberries.
Jean says
I made this recipe with a leftover panetone bread. It was absolutely amazing!
Joylene says
I am planning this for Christmas morning brunch with ham and eggs. I love cranberry orange flavors! Thanks for those who posted positive results!
Chris says
This was absolutely delicious. Great combination of sweet and tart. And so so pretty!
Julie miller says
I am going to mix some orange marmalade, dried cranberries, finely chopped pecans and maple syrup in a sauce pan on the stove to serve warm on top of each peice!!! Yummy!
Tiffany Smith says
Cane across this recipe because my store didnt have any cherries for a different french toast recipe. I am so excited now that they were out. This was so good. I had family in town and everyone got seconds (including my picky kids and hubby!) This is definitely a keeper! I made it exactly as posted, no substitutions needed!
Deborah says
I’m so glad that you all loved it!
Joy W says
This recipe is a keeper! Not too sweet with the lovely tang of the cranberries. Family loved it! Made it for Thanksgiving morning and making it again for Christmas Eve brunch. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
Deborah says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and that you’ll get to enjoy it again! 🙂
Avanda says
Im making this right now for Thanksgivings brunch. Im adding little plops of cream cheese just to gooey it up a little.
Meredith says
Hi, this recipe looks fantastic! Do you think you could use dried cranberries, or at least rehydrated dried cranberries in lieu of the fresh?
Deborah says
I think you would be able to. I’d lean toward the rehydrated over the straight dried cranberries, though.
Karlee says
Made this last night for Christmas morning today! Huge hit with the family and such a great flavor.
Some adjustments I made for reference:
-Used frozen cranberries (although let them thaw for about 24 hours before)
-Used 1 cup dairy milk, and 1 cup flax milk to cut a bit of fat and calories
-Didn’t have orange extract but squeezed juice out of 1/2 of the orange after zesting the peel
-Sprinkled pumpkin seeds and flax seeds on top for a healthy boost and some green to add to the Christmas festivity
Happy holidays and New Year to all – this is truly a yummy and easy recipe! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Deborah says
I’m so glad it worked out so well for you – your substitutions sound great! Happy New Year to you!
Donna Anton says
Sounds great! Could I replace fresh cranberries with frozen?
Deborah says
I haven’t tried frozen, so I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that you could.
Brittany says
Could you sub almond milk to make dairy free?
Looks delicious!
Thanks!
Deborah says
I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that it would work!
Peggy says
i have made this twice now, it turns out perfect. Big flavor!
Deborah says
I’m so glad you love it!!
Sandy says
This is so good! I made it for Christmas morning and it’s in the fridge now to bake for tomorrow morning. I used homemade wheat bread and it came out great. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Deborah says
Yay! I’m glad it has been a hit – and the homemade bread sounds awesome!