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Overnight Sweet Potato French Toast Casserole

Day old bread cubes soaked overnight in a sweet potato egg custard and baked under a pecan streusel. A hot breakfast for a crowd with no morning work.
Cuisine American
Keyword overnight sweet potato french toast casserole
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 9 hours 10 minutes
Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

For the Casserole

  • 1 loaf day old French or Italian bread about 14 oz, cut in 1 inch cubes
  • 1 ½ cups mashed cooked sweet potato roasted and cooled
  • 8 large eggs
  • 2 cups half and half
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 3 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon fine salt

For the Streusel Topping

  • ½ cup all purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
  • 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter diced
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

The Night Before

  • Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes. If it is fresh, dry the cubes on a sheet pan at 250F for 15 minutes and cool.
  • Whisk the mashed sweet potato with the brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until completely uniform.
  • Whisk in the eggs, then the half and half and milk, until no orange streaks remain.
  • Pile the bread cubes into a buttered 9x13 inch dish and pour the custard evenly over the top.
  • Press every cube down until submerged, wait a minute, and press again. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours.

In the Morning

  • Rub the cold butter into the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon with your fingertips until it looks like coarse gravel, then stir in the pecans.
  • Take the pan out of the fridge while the oven heats to 350F. Scatter the streusel evenly over the top.
  • Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes.
  • Uncover and bake another 20 to 25 minutes, until the center puffs slightly, the top is deep golden, and a knife in the middle comes out with moist custard rather than liquid.
  • Rest 10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve with maple syrup on the side.

Notes

  • Day old bread only: fresh bread is already full of water and collapses instead of soaking up custard.
  • Soak time: 4 hours is the minimum, 8 to 12 hours is ideal, and past 24 hours the bread turns pasty.
  • Sweeter version: raise the brown sugar in the custard to ¾ cup and double the streusel.
  • Do not add more sweet potato: puree does not set the way egg does and the middle stays damp.
  • Freezing: freeze baked squares up to 2 months. Do not freeze it unbaked, as the custard weeps on thawing.