Chocolate Croissant French Toast Casserole

This Chocolate Croissant French Toast Casserole is about to become your absolute favorite French Toast of all time. We’ve taken French toast to the next level by making it with Croissants instead of your traditional Brioche or Challah Bread. The flaky and buttery croissants create the perfect base for a decadent cream cheese custard to be poured on top. Little pockets of chocolate chips dispersed throughout add the finishing touch that really make this dish shine. It’s cozy, indulgent and shh, we won’t tell anyone if you enjoy a piece for dessert after dinner, too.

A simple to make breakfast casserole that impresses and is absolutely delicious should not be hard to find. This one is made in a blender, no whisks, spoons or knives required. You really could make this with limited kitchen equipment.

It’s also so versatile. Don’t like semi sweet chocolate? Switch it for white or dark chocolate instead. Prefer a thicker, richer, custard? Use heavy cream or whole milk.

When summertime is around the corner and you just want a make ahead breakfast that can be ready for you to enjoy on the weekends, you can always come back to this recipe. You always have the ingredients for the custard on hand already, just need to add croissants to your next grocery delivery order!

Prefer something citrusy for summer? You’ve got to try my Orange Vanilla Brioche French Toast Casserole. Just as delicious, but extra light and with the flavors of summer!

If you’re more of a meats, eggs and cheese breakfast person, you might enjoy my McGriddle Overnight Casserole. All the good things of a McGriddle in one easy to make dish!

Why You Should Make This Chocolate Croissant French Toast Casserole

• It’s incredibly easy to make. All you need is a blender!

• It’s perfect for every holiday, or just a cozy weekend at home. Think Christmas morning, Mother’s Day, a birthday tradition… a Chocolate Croissant French Toast Casserole just fits the bill!

• It’s not overly sweet. You can use the chocolate you prefer to manage the sweetness. And the tartness from the cream cheese cuts the sweetness of the sugar in the dish.

Ingredients to make this recipe:

• Croissants – you want these to be a few days old! My favorite way to always have them on hand is to buy a big Costco sized box. I store them it in two gallon sized Ziplock bags and toss them in the freezer. Now I always have what I need on hand. I don’t thaw them out. I use them from frozen.

• Cream cheese– chocolate & cream cheese is an underrated combo! It sounds odd but it’s delicious! The cream cheese cuts the sweetness in the dish and balances it perfectly.

• Sugar – regular granulated sugar will do for this dish.

• Eggs– You just need 3 large eggs

• Vanilla– measure this with your heart. Take my measurements as the minimum amount. I just pour what I feel looks good, but do 2 tsp at least ;)

• Milk– For this recipe, I used 2% milk. Keeps it light and airy. If you prefer a more decadent custard, check out the ingredient alternatives below!

• Chocolate Chips– I think semi sweet work perfectly here!

Ingredient substitutions and additions:

• Croissants: you can try all different kinds for different flavor profiles. I personally love an almond croissant French toast with chocolate chips throughout!

• Swap the sugar for pure maple syrup. Gives it a classic French toast flavor! Brown sugar doesn’t work as well here though!

• Heavy cream or whole milk instead of 2% milk. If you want a thicker, richer and more decadent custard, definitely swap out the milk. It’ll make the biggest difference.

• Use your favorite chocolate! I like a balanced semi-sweet. But if you prefer a sweeter variety, go with milk chocolate. If you want a stronger chocolate taste with less sweetness, choose your favorite dark chocolate.

Recipe Instructions Step by Step

Grease the baking dish: take your 9×9 baking dish and grease it with cooking spray, or better yet, some softened butter!

Tear Croissants and add chocolate: Tear up your croissants into bite sized pieces and top with chocolate chips

Blend wet ingredients: To your blender, add the softened cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla and milk. Blend until creamy.

Pour into dish and chill: take your custard and pour it right over the croissants and chocolate chips. Use a spoon to press the croissants down to make sure they’re getting soaked. Top with a few more chocolate chips if you’d like and then cover and refrigerate.

Refrigeration period: You can refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes, but ideally you’d do a few hours or even overnight. This is a great make ahead dish!

Preheat oven and bake: When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While the oven preheats, take out the French Toast and let it sit at room temperature. When it’s ready, pop it in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the center is set and the custard isn’t jiggly.

Serve: Let it sit for 5-10 minutes then slice and serve!

A few tips:

• Use room temperature ingredients: room temperature cream cheese, milk and eggs blend so much more easily and create the most creamy custard.
• When in doubt, add more croissants. The dish may seem full, but croissants are mostly air, so once you pour the custard, they will deflate a bit. I always stuff in a few extra croissant pieces to fill in all the gaps!
• Chill as long as you can: ideally you’d make this the day before so it sits in your fridge and those croissants have a chance to absorb all that delicious custard before baking.
• Use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips. If you have the time, buy a bar of chocolate and chop that up instead of using chocolate chips. When it bakes, it creates the most beautiful (and delicious!) pools of chocolate.

Serving Suggestions:

• Make a batch of fresh whipped cream and add some chopped strawberries for an elevated, delicious touch to your Chocolate Croissant French Toast Casserole.

• To make it a dessert, you could also make a chocolate ganache to drizzle over the top

• Make them in individual dishes for the cutest presentation. You could even pop them out of the dishes before serving!

How to Store:

• If you have leftovers, store in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the fridge.

• You can reheat one portion at a time in the microwave. I suggest laying a slightly damp paper towel over the top so as not to dry it out when it heats up.