Looking for the perfect make-ahead brunch dish to serve to a crowd? This Raspberry Coconut French Toast Casserole will ensure you have something fabulous to wake up to!
Anyway, when I wake up overtired and with an achy neck, there's only one thing that makes things better. And that's having a really fabulous breakfast already prepared for me (and coffee. Lots of coffee).
If that breakfast involves maple syrup, EVEN BETTER.
That's why I love french toast casseroles so much. Really, I love them for a couple different reasons: 1) make one and you have breakfast ready to go in your fridge for an entire week. It's also easy to pack a serving up in a Tupperware container and bring to work and 2) If you're throwing a brunch party, you can prep this the night before so when you wake up in the morning, all you have to do is pop it in the oven and get ready for your guests to arrive.
🥞 How to make raspberry coconut french toast
I can't stop talking about how easy this french toast casserole is to make. It's basically a handful of ingredients and comes together in no time at all. And since you can assemble it all the day before, that means it takes zero work in the morning. Zero! Unless you consider turning on and opening your oven work.
All you have to do is put your cubed bread, shredded coconut, and raspberries in a buttered casserole dish. Whisk together brown sugar, eggs, coconut milk (the refrigerated kind in the carton), and vanilla in a bowl. And pour the wet ingredients over the bread mixture.
Pop it in the fridge for at least 4 hours. But I hope you're getting more sleep than that.
🍞 What kind of bread to use?
You can use almost any kind of bread for this raspberry coconut french toast casserole, but I highly recommend using brioche. It's nice and buttery and sturdy and does a great job of soaking up the egg mixture. If not brioche, challah is also an excellent choice because it's deliciously eggy and also quite sturdy. Both breads will also get a bit crispy when baked, so that allows for your french toast casserole to have a nicely browned, crispy top.
Often, you can find different varieties of brioches and challahs at your grocery store or bakery. I once made a cinnamon french toast casserole with cinnamon swirl brioche and it was an absolute delight!
While the french toast casserole is in the fridge overnight, the bread will soak up the egg and milk mixture. In the morning, you'll sprinkle on the crumb topping and bake it. I also prepped my crumb topping the night before and simply covered the bowl in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, so everything was ready to go in the morning.
After baking, the results are an ultra custardy and flavorful raspberry coconut french toast casserole. I topped with a little extra shredded coconut and fresh raspberries for a pop of color.
You can pour a little maple syrup over the top (and I always do), but honestly, you don't even need it. This is definitely a breakfast that's on the sweet side and you might even want to balance it out with some bacon or sausage on the side (yes, that is what I call balance!)
But you can control the amount of sugar you use here. The first time I made this, I forgot my coconut was sweetened and ended up using too much additional brown sugar (Chris loved it, but it was too sweet for me!). This is supposed to be a sweet breakfast casserole, but you also don't want to overdo it first thing in the morning.
Because this raspberry coconut french toast casserole is made with shredded coconut and coconut milk (the kind on the milk cartons, not a can), it has a wonderful coconut-y flavor with a little tartness from the raspberries, which cuts the sugar quite nicely.
Whether you're looking for the perfect Mother's Day brunch recipe or you just want to eat breakfast like royalty for a week straight, prep this raspberry coconut french toast casserole right now and you'll be thanking your lucky stars in the morning!
What's your favorite prep-ahead breakfast?
If you're looking for another easy make-ahead brunch dish for a crowd, check out this Spinach, Sausage, and Cheese Strata. I also love this Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole from Tipps in the Kitchen!
📖 Recipe
Raspberry Coconut French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 loaf (about 17 oz.) brioche or challah bread sliced and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries
- ¾ cup shredded coconut, plus more for sprinkling (can use sweetened or unsweetened, but if using unsweetened, increase brown sugar to ¾ cup)
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar (use ¾ cup if using unsweetened coconut)
- 9 large eggs
- 2 ½ cups coconut milk (in a carton)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Crumb topping
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter chilled
Instructions
- Lightly spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray or brush with butter. Put bread cubes in baking dish and top with raspberries and shredded coconut.
- In a medium bow, whisk together brown sugar, eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour mixture over bread. Cover baking dish in plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 4 hours, but preferable overnight.
- In the morning, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic wrap from baking dish and sprinkle crumb topping over casserole. Place in oven for 45-55 minutes, until casserole is cooked through and no longer jiggly. If the top is browning too much, but you want inside to cook longer, cover top with tinfoil.
- Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before topping with additional coconut (if desired) and serving.
Crumb Topping
- In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, flour, and salt. Using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers, cut butter into dry mixture until small clumps form.
Notes
- You can also prepare crumb topping in advance. Just cover bowl in plastic wrap and keep in fridge.
- Please note that cook time does not include the 4+ hours french toast casserole needs to sit in fridge.
Dana DeVolk says
I can't believe how easy this was to put together, thanks for the recipe!
Denay DeGuzman says
Mmmm...this raspberry coconut French toast was super scrumptious! I'm planning on making it again for Mother's Day. 🙂
Jyothi(Jo) says
I'm a big sucker for casserole recipes. Especially breakfast casseroles. Love recipes that you can whip up really fast!
Julia says
This looks just like the perfect weekend breakfast to me! I bet the house smells amazing when it is in the oven!
Jill says
Bed Bath and Beyond seems to be over-priced on their pillows, LOL I got a great memory foam one recently on Amazon for $25.99. I'd love this french toast for breakfast - whether my neck was achy or not! Looks delicious.
Ginny says
Raspberry coconut!!! That sounds absolutely delicious. Passing this on to my sis. Her kids will go crazy over it.
Amy says
I love raspberry and with a hint of coconut I bet this is awesome!
Donna says
I used this recipe to make breakfast today. I substituted the brioche with a package of 6 almost-freezer-burned sub rolls, coconut milk with almond milk, and raspberries with blueberries because I had that stuff on hand. It turned out great! I may make this for a Father's Day brunch, using the legit recipe ingredients. One word of warning that you might want to use a bigger casserole dish than you 'think' you'll need because this puffed up like crazy (this may have been because of the inferior bread though). I now have enough French Toast casserole to last me a week or two, so I may foist this dish onto my coworkers when I return to work on Tuesday. I can't wait to try the recipe again.