This blueberry cream cheese French toast casserole is a camping breakfast everyone will be excited to enjoy early in the morning.
This Dutch oven French toast has quickly become one of my kids’ most requested camping breakfasts, probably because it’s almost like having dessert first thing in the morning.
This recipe can also be made in a casserole dish in the oven as well, so even if you’re not going camping anytime soon, you can still enjoy this delicious breakfast.
To make this recipe even easier while you’re camping, you can prepare everything at home and store the layers in two separate ziplock bags or containers. Then, all you need to do is layer the ingredients into your Dutch oven and set it on the coals to cook.
Methods to Cook French Toast CasserolE
How to cook French toast casserole in a Dutch oven
A Dutch oven is the best way to cook this casserole while camping, because it retains the heat and acts like an oven by adding pieces of charcoal to the top and bottom.
We often don’t have a campfire going in the morning, so using charcoal to bake it makes for a fairly easy cooking method. You can also place the Dutch oven on a grate over a campfire and add campfire coals to the top, but it can be hard to achieve as even of cooking as you’ll get with charcoal.
Number of Coals Needed
A general rule of thumb when baking in a dutch oven is to use double the amount of coals on the top as the bottom. For my 12″ dutch oven, I used approximately 10 coals on bottom and 20 coals on top and cooked for about 30-45 minutes.
How to cook French toast casserole in the oven
If you’re making this recipe at home, simply layer the ingredients in a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough: I recommend using sourdough in this recipe, but you can experiment with other types of bread. Just try to buy unsliced (or thick sliced) bread so you are able to cut the bread into one inch cubes.
- Half and Half: Half and half brings richness to the dish, but you can substitute for lower fat milk if you prefer.
- Blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries both work in the recipe. Fresh blueberries will break down more while frozen blueberries will retain their shape a little better.
- Cream Cheese: Whipped cream cheese is much easier to stir and mix in the powdered sugar, but you can also use a brick of cream cheese and soften with a hand mixer.
a note from Jenny
I’m not a huge French toast fan, but the blueberries and sweet cream cheese take this dish to a whole new level. I actually look forward to this French toast!
Looking for other camping breakfast ideas? Try out this campfire frittata or these make ahead egg muffin sandwiches.
How to make Dutch Oven French Toast
In this section you’ll find a step by step tutorial of how to make this recipe with photos. The full recipe with exact measurements, steps and a printable card can be found at the bottom of the post.
Scroll through the images to see the steps –>
1. Prepare Dutch Oven
Line your dutch oven with parchment paper (or dutch oven parchment paper liners). The parchment paper makes clean up a breeze, but you can also use cooking spray or butter to coat the inside of the dutch oven.
Alternatively, if you’re making this in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. Make the French Toast
Cut bread into one inch cubes and set aside.
Beat eggs until combined and then whisk in the half and half, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Gently fold in bread cubes. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and upwards of 24 hours, or place in a ziplock back and refrigerate until ready to assemble casserole.
3. Make the Blueberry Cream Cheese
In a separate bowl, mix half and half and vanilla into whipped cream cheese. Mix powdered sugar into the cream cheese until combined. Gently fold in blueberries and set aside or place in a ziplock bag and refrigerate until ready to assemble the casserole.
4. Assemble the Casserole
Layer half of the bread cubes mixture into the bottom of the Dutch oven or casserole dish.
Spread all of blueberry cream cheese in an even layer over the top of the bread cubes.
Cover the cream cheese with the remaining bread cubes mixture.
5. Cook in a Dutch Oven
Place the dutch oven on top of 10 pieces of charcoal (evenly spaced apart or in a ring) with 20 pieces of charcoal on top of the dutch oven lid (again, evenly spaced apart or in a ring around the outside).
Charcoal numbers are based on a 12″ dutch oven. If you have a smaller dutch oven, lower the number of coals, but keep the 2:1 ratio of coals on top to coals on bottom the same.
Cook for approximately 30-45 minutes. Cooking times are approximate and will depend on air temperature and well as wind conditions.
5. Cook in the Oven
Place casserole in the preheated oven and cook for 45-55 minutes.
6. Enjoy!
Feel free to top with maple syrup, but in my opinion, you don’t even need it!
Ingredients
French Toast
- 1 loaf sourdough, French or brioche bread, (12-14 ounces)
- 8 large eggs
- 2 1/4 cups half and half
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Blueberry Cream Cheese
- 8 oz whipped cream cheese
- 1/4 cup half and half
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Line your dutch oven with parchment paper or spray the inside with cooking spray.If baking in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Cut bread into one inch cubes and set aside.
- Beat eggs until combined. Whisk in the half and half, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Gently fold in bread cubes. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and upwards of 24 hours, or place in a ziplock back and refrigerate until ready to assemble casserole at your campsite.
- In a separate bowl, mix half and half and vanilla into whipped cream cheese. Mix powdered sugar into the cream cheese until combined. Gently fold in blueberries and place in a ziplock bag and refrigerate until ready to assemble the casserole.
- Layer half of the bread cubes mixture into the bottom of the Dutch oven or casserole dish. Spread all of blueberry cream cheese in an even layer over the top of the bread cubes. Cover the cream cheese with the remaining bread cubes mixture.
- Place the dutch oven on top of 10 pieces of charcoal (evenly spaced apart or in a ring) with 20 pieces of charcoal on top of the dutch oven lid (again, evenly spaced apart or in a ring around the outside).
- Cook in the dutch oven for approximately 30-45 minutes. Cooking times are approximate and will depend on air temperature and well as wind conditions.Or, place casserole in the preheated oven and cook for 45-55 minutes.
Nutrition