This overnight banana french toast bake tastes just like banana bread, but without all of the hassle. Whip up this easy french toast recipe at night and bake it in the morning for a fast breakfast or brunch recipe.
This past weekend my mom came up to our house {yes, we spend a lot of time together…and I love it!}. We went to an Earth, Wind and Fire concert.
Some of you may know who this band is, many will not. All you need to know is that this song is amazing, and will be a perfect “pump-you-up” song. At least it does it for us! ??
We decided to do dinner in downtown Madison before the show and had an excellent meal. Because no concert is complete without drinks after, we headed to a new favorite bar of ours. It’s a whiskey bar, and while I don’t drink whiskey, they have great cocktails after.
I knew we were going to be hungry the next morning, but the thought of preparing anything for breakfast seemed very daunting.
Usually my go-to is granola, yogurt and fruit. But I wanted to spice things up a bit for breakfast. It had to be easy, fast, and of course delicious. This overnight banana french toast covers all of those bases.
How to make easy overnight banana french toast bake
This title may be exceedingly long, but you can probably throw this together about as fast as you can say the title. {okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but you get the point}.
First, the main ingredient in french toast: bread. I picked up an amazing 10 grain bread from our local grocery store. It was already sliced, so it made this recipe even simpler.
I would highly suggest buying a loaf from your local grocer. They likely haven’t added any strange ingredients, or tons of sugar to preserve the bread.
Next up are bananas, for that amazing banana bread flavor.
Just like when you make banana bread, use pretty ripe bananas. They’ll add the right amount of sweetness. So as much as you want to throw away those browning bananas, fight the urge and put them to good use in this overnight banana french toast bake.
Because my bread was on the thinner side, I decided to make a double-decker french toast bake.
Layer the ingredients {including some amazing honey cinnamon almonds} and pour half the traditional egg mixture over one layer and then again over the other layer.
It’s almost like making lasagna, but in a sweet and less time consuming version.
Pass the syrup!
Once you’ve layered everything up, cover and place in the fridge. Look, you’re halfway there and you only had to spend 15 minutes putting it all together.
Now you won’t be running around like a crazy person before all your guests arrive {unless you’ve saved cleaning the bathroom until the very last minute}.
Remove your dish from the fridge and let it sit out while the oven preheats. I used a glass dish, so I didn’t want to run the risk of it breaking in a hot oven. Glass and delectable banana french toast just don’t go together.
Slice up your french toast bake while it’s still warm and enjoy with a drizzle of syrup!
- 12 slices 10 grain bread
- 10 eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla cashew milk
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla
- ½ tsp. cardamom
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. allspice
- 4 small ripe bananas sliced
- ½ cup honey cinnamon almonds chopped
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Spray a 9”x 13” pan with cooking spray. Lay 6 pieces of bread in the bottom of the pan.
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In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients, except banana and almonds, and whisk until combined.
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Pour half of the mixture over the bread in the pan. Lay one layer of sliced banana and ½ of the chopped almonds over the top.
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Place one more layer of bread on top. Pour the remaining egg mixture over the top and top with remaining bananas and almonds.
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Cover the pan and place in the fridge overnight.
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Once ready to bake, set the oven to 375°F and bake for 30-32 minutes, until bread is nicely browned on top.
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Slice and enjoy with additional pure maple syrup, if desired.
