This Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake Recipe is an easy make-ahead breakfast casserole that’s a wonderful treat during the holidays or Sunday morning breakfast. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and is made with a surprise ingredient: vanilla chai tea bags! Serve with syrup, whipped cream, or fresh fruit.
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Oh, Christmas morning breakfast…you trouble me so. I love the idea of having breakfast after all the gifts are unwrapped, but the reality is that I’m so tired (after staying up late the night before wrapping said gifts), that the last thing I want to do is go into the kitchen and make breakfast. Because of this, many years we don’t have anything special for Christmas morning. Sometimes we’ve had something fun like cinnamon rolls, but usually it’s YOYO (You On Your Own)…which means cereal, leftovers from Christmas Eve, or who knows? Probably some Christmas cookies.
I know….not your Pinterest-perfect Christmas morning, right?
Of course, with just a bit of planning, I can pull off a Christmas breakfast. Actually, the key is planning AND an easy idea. To the rescue is overnight breakfast casseroles, or in this case, Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake. A recipe that you make the night before (with minimal steps), put in the fridge, and pop in the oven the next morning. And, it will take you no more than 15 minutes to prepare…awesome, right?
Say hello to the tea that gives this french toast bake awesome flavor: Bigelow Vanilla Chai Tea. Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai is one of my top favorite flavors and it’s so good in this Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake. To get enough of the Vanilla Chai flavor into this recipe, you’ll steep 6 Bigelow Vanilla Chai tea bags in 1 cup of hot water for 5 minutes.
This creates a highly concentrated Vanilla Chai that (once cooled) is stirred into an beaten egg mixture.
Cut a 1 pound loaf of French Bread into cubes and the pieces are placed into a well-buttered 9×13″ baking dish. I buy a cheap loaf that costs about $1 – $1.50 at the grocery store — I’ll even use day-old French Bread that might be marked down because it works just as well.
The Vanilla Chai and egg mixture is poured directly over the bread cubes. Do this as evenly as possible — I make sure all the pieces get egg mixture on them, so if any are dry, I’ll push them down a bit so they get moistened too. After doing this, you will cover it and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
After your French Toast Bake is in the fridge, make up the oat streusel topping and store it in the refrigerator until you need it. The next morning, pull your French Toast Bake out of the oven and sprinkle with the topping.
Bake in the oven until browned and beautiful. Let cool a bit and serve by the spoonfuls.
In our house, we have a couple different ways to top the Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake: syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream and fresh fruit. Each person makes their serving however they like. It’s a sweet breakfast, so not something we have everyday, but it’s a wonderful treat during the holidays or even as an occasional Sunday morning breakfast. It can even be served as a dessert — it’s great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Here’s the complete recipe – ready for you to print! If you aren’t ready to make this yet, be sure to pin this to your Christmas or breakfast Pinterest board.
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Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake
Description
This Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake Recipe is an easy make-ahead breakfast casserole that’s a wonderful treat during the holidays or Sunday morning breakfast. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and is made with a surprise ingredient: vanilla chai tea bags! Serve with syrup, whipped cream, or fresh fruit.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 6 Bigelow Vanilla Chai Tea Bags
- Butter (enough to generously coat bottom and side of pan)
- 1 pound French bread loaf (cut into cubes)
- 8 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Oat Streusel Topping
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 cup pecan halves (chopped)
- 1 cup oats
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into pieces)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Turn off heat and add tea bags, making sure each one comes in contact with the water. Steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags from water, allowing excess to drip off back into the pan, but do not squeeze the tea bags. Allow to cool completely.
- Generously butter the bottom and sides of an 8 1/2 x 11″ baking dish. Place bread cubes into baking dish.
- In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, salt, and the cooled tea until well blended. Pour mixture over bread evenly. If any bread does not come in contact with the egg mixture, press the bread into the mixture slightly so all pieces are moistened.
- Cover baking dish with foil or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
- In a small bowl, combine all of the oat streusel ingredients with a pastry blender or folk until all ingredients are combine and forming a course topping. Refrigerate until ready for use.
- To bake the Overnight Vanilla Chai French Toast Bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove it from the refrigerator and remove foil or plastic wrap. Sprinkle evenly with the oat streusel topping. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Serve spoonfuls with maple syrup, powdered sugar, or whipped cream. Also great with fresh fruit or even as a dessert with a scoop of ice cream.
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Toni says
How many people does it serve????
Miz Helen says
We sure have enjoyed featuring your post this past week at Full Plate Thursday! Thanks so much for sharing with us and come back real soon!
Merry Christmas
Miz Helen
Liz says
It sounds like just the thing for Christmas morning! Thank you for brining it to FF.
Miz Helen says
What a very special French Toast Bake! Hope you are enjoying your week and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday!
Miz Helen
Mila says
Wow!!! what a great idea! How was the taste? Did you feel the strong taste of tea in the ready toast bake or not? Sounds very yummy!
Shelbee on the Edge says
I love vanilla chai and I love French toast bake, so I am sure I would love this double! Pinned for later. Thanks so much for sharing at my Link Up On the Edge.
Shelbee
http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says
I love those overnight breakfasts! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!
Miz Helen says
I would just love waking up to this fantastic French Toast Bake, this is a great recipe! I really appreciate you sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday. Hope you have a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
Theresa says
Sounds Yummy! Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party! Shared.
ZEBA DURRANI says
Looks delicious for the holidays!
cookingwithauntjuju.com says
My family enjoys French toast and if it can be made the night before all the better. Your version sounds really good. Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday…
Leanna says
This is a very interesting recipe. This will be great anytime of the year. Pinning
Sharon@BlueWillowHouse says
Your French Toast bake looks and sounds yummy. It would be perfect for Christmas morning. Thank you for sharing your recipe at the Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party!
Melissa B says
This sounds delicious!
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says
Looks like a dessert! Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner link up!
Krystal Sadler says
This looks so scrumptious! And simple!! Thanks for linking up with us at Share the Wealth Sunday!
Kate @ Songs Kate Sang says
Oh, that looks amazing! I LOVE Chai!