There is nothing better than a warm, hearty breakfast, especially as the cooler temperatures are rolling in! Pecan French Toast has the substance to keep you full until your next meal.

If you love a warm breakfast, try my Breakfast Tater Tot Casserole or Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole. All these warm breakfasts are easy to prepare and change up the breakfast routine into something a little more substantial and special.

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Stack of Baked Pecan French Toast

How to Make Pecan French Toast

To make Baked Pecan French Toast, there is no chilling overnight. It is ready to serve in a matter of minutes! The only time you will chill the bread and egg mixture is while you are preparing the pecan mixture. The timing works out great, and after you bake the french toast in the oven, it is ready to be served!

To make the french toast, whisk together the eggs, whipping cream, brown sugar and vanilla until the sugar has dissolved. Set that aside while you cut the bread into cubes. I used French bread, but I have other bread options below. Pour one cup of the egg mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 inch greased baking dish. Add the cubed bread, followed by pouring the rest of the egg mixture over the bread. Cover it and set it in the refrigerator while you prepare the pecan mixture.

Stirring ingredients for Baked Pecan French Toast

How to Make the Pecan Mixture

While the french toast is chilling in the refrigerator, take out a medium saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup, bringing it to a boil before simmering about a minute. Finally, add the toasted pecans, mix well and pour this over the french toast you had waiting. Mix it all up and bake the dish for about 30 minutes at 350°F (which your oven is already set at if you have toasted the pecans). Serve warm, and for an added sweetness, top your portion with some more maple syrup. Be ready to lick your lips to get all the flavor of this breakfast!

How to Toast Pecans

For this recipe, as well as my Butter Pecan Fudge, I toasted pecans ahead of time. It is really easy, and they are great to snack on, so make a few extra for yourself. They are also great over ice cream, so maybe triple the recipe! Anyway, heat the oven to 350°F and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with two sheets of parchment paper, crisscrossed. Simply bake the pecans for 7-10 minutes and they are ready to go! Just don’t eat them all before you use them in this Baked Pecan French Toast Recipe!

Serving one piece of Baked Pecan French Toast from a casserole dish

What is the Best Bread for French Toast?

As I stated, I used a loaf of french bread for this Baked Pecan French Toast Recipe. You don’t have to choose french bread, but I recommend an unsliced loaf of bread anytime you make french toast. That way, you can cut the pieces to your desired thickness. Also, choose a sturdy bread! You don’t want the bread to get mushy while setting in the egg mixture. In addition, pick a bread you enjoy to eat! A few loaves of bread I would use are:

  • Brioche
  • Challah
  • Pullman loaf

How Do You Make French Toast Not Soggy?

This is a great question! It just so happens that THIS recipe will never be soggy because of the size of the dish, the height of the ingredients, and the method. Most baked french toast recipes will require overnight chilling so that the bread can soak up every last bit of the egg and moisture… but this recipe doesn’t! The filling just covers all of the bread and it bakes into a perfect casserole that is done from top to bottom.

One piece of Baked Pecan French Toast on a plate

More Breakfast Recipes

5 from 11 votes

Pecan French Toast

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
This is ready in 30 minutes! No chilling or special tools needed and the perfect way to start the day!

Ingredients

PECAN FRENCH TOAST

  • 6 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1½ cups (180g) heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 loaf (12 ounces) French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

PECAN MIXTURE

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • ¾ cup (150g) brown sugar, firmly packed
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • ¾ cup toasted pecans, chopped

Topping

  • ½ cup maple syrup

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.

PECAN FRENCH TOAST

  • Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
  • Whisk the eggs, whipping cream, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until the brown sugar has dissolved.
  • Pour 1 cup of the egg mixture into the greased baking dish.
  • Add the cubed bread to the egg mixture in the baking dish.
  • Pour the remaining egg mixture evenly over the bread.
  • Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

PECAN MIXTURE

  • Over medium heat, melt the butter in a saucepan.
  • Mix in the brown sugar and maple syrup, stirring until smooth.
  • Bring the syrup mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  • Add the toasted pecans to the syrup mixture, and spoon the maple pecan syrup over the chilled french toast and mix it all together.
  • Bake the casserole for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • Top with maple syrup.

Did you make this recipe?

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Looking for other Delicious Breakfast Recipes?

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. I like cinnamon, so I added a sprinkle after cooking and before the maple syrup. Besides cinnamon helps balance or metabolize the sugar at a more level rate.

  2. Delicious!!! I cut the custard ingredients in half bc I was using a half loaf of stale white bread and it wasn’t a lot . BUT I used the full amount called for in the pecan topping. First time making a French toast casserole and we loved it! I picked this one bc of the maple syrup ingredient. This will be my go-to recipe. Thank you!

  3. Tried this for the first time today and it was fabulous. I made a few errors (totally my fault) but it still worked. I added extra 2 eggs and less cream. *when toasting the pecans, make sure to only toast them 5 min as I burnt a whole batch and had to throw them out because I left them in a few minutes longer than I should have. It was a huge hit for Sunday brunch today.

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