Let’s Brunch! This easy and Berry French Toast Casserole is a family favorite. Soft bakery bread soaked in a sweet cinnamon, creamy mixture with plenty of fresh berries feels like dessert for breakfast, but actually has much healthier and satiating ingredients.
Update: This post was originally published in 2022. It was updated in early 2026 with new images, modified recipe, and updated body content.
Everyone will love this French Toast
French Toast is quite the crowd pleaser. I mean what’s not to love about a sweet soft bread, slightly crisped on the outside, with fresh berries and a warm frosting on top.
But your standard, griddle French Toast recipe isn’t exactly the easiest to make for a crowd. So instead, I present to you this Berry French Toast Bake. This is a great recipe to get that same amazing French Toast without having to dip and flip each piece individually. You get eight servings of French Toast with a hands off cooking process!
What’s even better is that this is a HEALTHY French Toast Bake. It’s high in protein thanks to the cottage cheese + collagen and it has well balanced macros. I shared this recipe with six other people while testing it and the reviews speak for themselves: “this is phenomenal”, “oh my gosh I need this recipe asap”, and “this is seriously delicious”.
And if you’re looking for more sweet breakfast recipes, try out these Red Velvet Protein Pancakes, this Chicken and Waffle Casserole, these Cottage Cheese Pancakes, this Easy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, or this Churro French Toast.
Recipe Ingredients
For the French Toast:
- Bread – I used Artisano bakery bread which is sliced thick and has a super soft texture that works great for this healthy french toast bake. This would also be insane with leftover Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough.
- Berries – This French Toast Casserole is bursting with flavors thanks to fresh summer berries including strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. The berries get nice and juicy when you bake your casserole.
- Cottage Cheese + Milk – These dairy ingredients add extra protein + creates a rich creaminess.
- Egg – This will help bind everything together in our berry french toast casserole and add extra protein!
- Maple Syrup – o sweeten up our casserole.
- Protein Powder – I used Vital Proteins collagen, but any unflavored or vanilla protein powder will work.
For the frosting:
- Two Good Vanilla Yogurt – This will be the base of our frosting.
- Powdered Sugar – To sweeten things up a bit an give a fluffy texture.
- Almond Extract – A little goes a long way, but almond extract gives a fabulous fruity and only slight nutty flavor to the french toast casserole frosting.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray (collagen has a tendency to stick when baking, make sure you’re dousing the pan with spray oil!)
2. Use a serrated edge knife to slice each piece of bread into 9 cubes (3 rows & 3 columns).
3. Then, in a large mixing bowl combine: egg, milk, cottage cheese, vanilla extract, cinnamon, maple syrup and collagen. Use an immersion blender to blend the cottage cheese until no more clumps remain.
4. Add the cubed bread pieces into your greased casserole dish. Top with fresh berries. Stir the mixture together so almost all of the bread is covered in mixture (we want the berries to be mixed into the bake so if they fall, it’s okay).
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the center is completely set, fruit has wilted and bread is toasted (if you notice the top of the bread getting too crispy, cover the pan with foil for the last few minutes of bake time to prevent burning).
6. While the french toast casserole is baking, use a hand mixer to beat together “frosting” ingredients.
7. Then, drizzle it over the baked casserole and let it soak into the bread. I recommend topping with warm berries or cool whip! Enjoy!
Storage
It’s best to store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. WARNING! French toast is made out of bread…so over time, it will dry out. I recommend adding fresh or warmed berries, maple syrup, or cool whip after reheating to ensure some moisture is still there!
Another quick tip to prevent your Healthy French Toast Casserole from being too dry is to reheat it in the microwave next to a glass of water. Some steam will evaporate in the microwave and keep the bread moist.
Recipe FAQs
You can use any type of bread you’d like, however, I suggest a softer bread like challah or potato bread (as opposed to a crusty french bread) that the egg white and milk combination can seep into.
Want to make it decadent? Try this Berry French Toast Bake with croissants instead. Or use brioche like I do for this Eggnog French Toast.
Bring on all of the summer berries! I used blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. Blackberries, banana or peaches I think would also be great additions to this Healthy French Toast Casserole.
Absolutely! You can have the entire casserole prepped hours in advance or even the night before and stored in the fridge raw. This actually allows the liquid to seep into the bread more and the flavors have more time to set when you go to bake the next morning.
Serving suggestions
Enjoy this delicious recipe with some bacon or sausage, a side of Crispy Breakfast Potatoes and a Berry Smoothie or glass of OJ and I’d call that a delicious breakfast menu.
More Recipes You’ll Love
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and comment in the recipe card below. Thanks for visiting!
Berry French Toast Casserole
Equipment
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Baking Dish
- Immersion blender
Ingredients
For the casserole
- 1 loaf bread, Artisano bakery bread
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup cottage cheese, 4% small curd
- 1 cup 2% milk
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup unflavored collagen, or other protein powder of choice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ cup fresh berries
For the frosting
- 150 grams Two Good vanilla Greek yogurt, (1 single serve cup)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-4 tsp milk, for smoothness
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray (collagen has a tendency to stick when baking, make sure you’re dousing the pan with spray oil!)
- Use a serrated edge knife to slice each piece of bread into 9 cubes (3 rows & 3 columns).
- Then, in a large mixing bowl whisk together: egg, milk, cottage cheese, vanilla extract, cinnamon & maple syrup and collagen. Use an immersion blender to blend the cottage cheese until no more clumps remain.
- Add the cubed bread pieces into the greased casserole dish, then pour the egg mixture over top. Top with fresh berries. Stir the mixture together so the bread is covered in mixture and berries are evenly distributed.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center has set, fruit has wilted and bread is toasted (if you notice the top of the bread getting too crispy, cover the pan with foil for the last few minutes of bake time to prevent burning).
- While the french toast casserole is baking, use a hand mixer to beat together frosting ingredients. Add milk until a drizzle consistency is reached.
- Then, drizzle it over the baked casserole and let it soak into the bread. I recommend topping with more berries and maple syrup.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
more of our yummy Breakfast Treats…
This is SO good!! I love adding extra berries and enjoying it with a cup of coffee.
A decadent breakfast that I didn’t feel a horrible sugar crash after. LOVED IT and my whole fam did too.
Delicious! Did not have almond milk on hand, worked just as well with nonfat milk!
This bake is SO good – I’ve made this every week since TT! I ran out of almond extract but added lemon zest in the icing and it was delicious. Perfect to prep and eat throughout the week, and can sub ingredients for what you have on hand pretty easily.
This recipe was DELICIOUS! It was the perfect use for our garden berries. I hardly eat breakfast without incorporating Nutella and this was the perfect recipe to sneak some in!
I was introduced to Paige during my first TT challenge last year and this was my first recipe of hers! I have been hooked ever since. This French toast bake has become a breakfast staple for us and so easy to make!
I made this for the first time for our Christmas morning breakfast and it was such a delicious treat I keep making it weekly. Plus on the flip side it’s healthy and my kid loves it. Great recipe!
There’s no eggs listed in the ingredients list. A photo above shows probably 4 yolks, so 4 eggs?
Thanks for catching this! 5 eggs! We’ve updated the recipe card.
The recipe card has been updated to reflect the correct amount (5 eggs)! Enjoy!
Made a trial run before Mother’s Day and it delivered. Crisped up nicely for a little crunch too! Love it.