- September 10, 2019
- Breakfast
Low Carb Stuffed French Toast Casserole
A keto, low carb, gluten free French toast casserole, stuffed with cream cheese. This is a huge crowd pleaser for a keto friendly holiday breakfast or brunch dish.
This recipe is low carb gold y’all! If you’re a lover of my Keto Cinnamon Roll recipe or my Keto Cornbread Stuffing, then this is for you! It’s really so easy to make, works best when prepped ahead of time (takes the stress off trying to make for brunch or say a holiday morning breakfast ), and tastes like cinnamon French toast!
I truly think even the non-keto eaters would be obsessed with this (didn’t taste low carb to us at all) and hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Find the full recipe for a gluten free and keto friendly Stuffed French Toast Casserole below and read on for the tips and tricks!
“School” Supplies:
- Large Mixing Bowl
- 9×9 Inch Pan
- Small Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Baking Sheet
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
- 9×13 Inch Pan, 9″ Cast Iron Skillet, or Casserole Dish
“Class” Notes:
If you’re familiar with my recipes, you probably know my love for my Keto Corn Muffins. This recipe has truly been a game changer with transforming a lot of my previous carb bread like recipes into keto friendlier version.
I love a good savory stuffing and cornbread recipe, but I wanted to find a way to make a sweeter french toast recipe as well. I found I was easily able to modify my Keto Cornbread Stuffing and this easy Keto Cornbread Strata recipe to create the perfect stuffed french toast!
How To Make The Keto “Bread” Recipe-
You have a few options for replacing standard slices of bread in this low carb recipe. I chose to make the entire dish by scratch because I personally enjoy cooking and creating, and found it fairly simple (though it does involve some time and planning so I won’t mislead you on that).
I started by making the simple Keto Corn Muffin recipe (I just combine everything in one bowl), add a little vanilla extract, cinnamon, and low carb sweetener to the batter. This really transforms the dish overall in my opinion going from savory to sweet in no time! I bake this mixture in an 9×9 inch pan, allow it to cool a bit, and then cut it into 1″ cubes.
A standard french toast casserole, usually used older bread that’s cubed. To recreate this for my low carb version of this french toast dish, I let the cubes dry in the oven on a baking sheet (I bake mine for 60 minutes at 225 F). I prefer to do this 1-2 days ahead of time because it’s quick and easy.
Low Carb or Keto Bread Alternatives-
If you are in a bit of a hurry or you are looking for an easier option to making the keto bread for the stuffed french toast, there are a number of store bought breads out on the market these days. I know a very popular one currently is being sold at aldi or you could sub for a number of other low carb friendly breads.
If you sub out the bread for this recipe, please note that you will want to add more sweetener to the batter mixture. I do not add much sweetener, because making the toasted keto bread cubes allows me to sweeten the dough instead.
How To Assemble The Stuffed French Toast-
For this keto french toast casserole to come together, I simply combine the dried out and sweetened cornbread cubes in a bowl with the beaten eggs, cream, and a little more cinnamon. Because we sweetened the “bread” for this, no extra low carb sweetener was necessary (as I just previously noted).
Next, I assemble the egg heavy batter to transform this into french toast. Combine the eggs, heavy cream, and cinnamon together and mix well in a large bowl. Place all the dried bread cubes (store bought or homemade) into the bowl to soak in the egg mixture for at least 15 minutes. Toss them every few minutes or so to let them soak in.
Ideally, you would want the french toast cubes to soak for even longer. I actually prefer doing this the night before and mixing the cubes a few times as the liquid can sometimes just sink to the bottom. Pro Tip- Try using a shallow pan instead of a bowl if you soak over night so everything gets equally coated.
You can opt to bake this as is or stuff it like I did. I combined the softened cream cheese, vanilla extract, almond milk, and a little low carb sweetener (I like Lakanto brand) in a bowl and mix until smooth. In my casserole dish, I added half of the soaked bread mixture into the bottom of the dish, added dollops of the cream cheese mixture over the top, then added the remaining bread mixture so the filling was covered.
Finish the Low Carb Stuffed French Toast Casserole off with a delicious streusel topping. I used a pastry blender (or two forks) to create a crumble of cold butter, low carb sweetener, cinnamon, and almond flour. Stir in some chopped walnuts and cover the top of the casserole with the streusel mixture.
I baked my casserole for 30-35 minutes. The top should get lightly golden brown and the center should be cooked but soft. Cool briefly before serving with your favorite sugar free syrup or a dollop of whipped cream! The net carbs on this are fairly high in fat (low carb doesn’t always mean the healthiest and this is still a dessert/ treat after all). This is a very rich dish and a little most definitely goes a long way!
Get the full recipe below here at the bottom. Want to save this for later? Save it to Pinterest for later and be sure to share in the comments below and rate it if you try it out (I honestly would love your feedback).
Bon Appeteach,
-L
Low Carb Stuffed French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- For the French Toast "Bread":
- 3 cups Almond Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 cup Low Carb Sweetener
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese shredded
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 cup Melted Butter
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 3 Eggs
- For the Casserole:
- 6 Eggs
- 1 cup Heavy Cream or Half & Half
- 4 oz. Cream Cheese
- 2 Tbsp. Low Carb Sweetener
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 Tbsp. Almond milk or Heavy Cream
- For the Streusel Topping:
- 2 Tbsp. Almond Flour
- 2 Tbsp. Low Carb Sweetener
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp. Cold Butter
- 1/4 cup Chopped Walnuts optional
Instructions
- To make the french toast bread base (aka sweetened keto cornbread) in a bowl, combine the melted butter, sour cream, vanilla, low carb sweetener and blend together. Add the eggs and blend again with a hand mixer. Add in the almond flour and baking powder and mix until incorporated. Fold in the mozzarella cheese. Bake in a greased 8X8" pan at 350 F for 30-35 minutes. Allow it to cool and then cut it into tiny 1" squares. Place the squares on a baking sheet and bake for 60 minutes at 225 F or until dry. This works best a few days in advance to ensure the "bread" is stale enough for the casserole.
- To prep the casserole, in a blender combine the 6 eggs and the 1 cup of heavy cream. In a large mixing bowl combine the stale "bread" cubes and pour the egg mixture over the top. Fold several times to allow the egg mixture to soak into the "bread". Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to soak for at least 4 hours. This works even better if you prep this the night before. Combine the cream cheese, sweetener, vanilla, and almond milk (or heavy cream) together in a bowl and blend until smooth. Place in the fridge as well until needed for assembly the next day.
- To assemble and bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a casserole dish or 9X13" pan. Stir the bread mixture thoroughly to ensure the egg mixture was fully absorbed. Place half of the "bread" mixture in the bottom of the casserole dish. Spoon out the cream cheese mixture in dollops and place across the layer of "bread". Add the remaining "bread" mixture over the top to seal in the cream cheese layer.
- In a bowl, use a pastry blender or two forks to for them crumble by cutting in the cold butter, sweetener, cinnamon, and almond flour until it resembles cornmeal. Mix in the chopped walnuts and sprinkle the entire mixture over the top of the casserole. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is cooked. Allow it to cool briefly before serving with your favorite sugar free syrup.