Butternut Squash Baked Challah French Toast

Looking for delicious baked French toast? This baked challah French toast is insanely yummy and provides 10 grams of protein per serving.

Butternut squash in French toast? Yes, please! This healthier oven-baked French toast is made with challah, an egg bread that is wonderfully moist and chewy.

Read on to find out how to make this baked challah French toast for your own friends and family. It’s an overnight French toast, meaning you’ll let it sit in the fridge overnight and then pop it into the oven once it’s ready to be baked!

Ingredients

You’ll need a few ingredients to make this baked challah French toast:

Challah bread: This is the main ingredient of this baked French toast. Challah is an egg bread and is absolutely delicious.

If you’ve never tried challah bread, it’s one of the tastiest breads out there. I grew up eating it during the Jewish holidays with my family. It’s not exactly like French bread or brioche. Because it has a base of egg, I think it’s even tastier!

If you follow a gluten-free diet, you can substitute in gluten-free challah.

Eggs and egg whites: These help bind all the ingredients together and add protein to the breakfast.

Pureed butternut squash: I love baking with butternut squash, as it adds so many vitamins and minerals––as well as fiber.

The butternut squash puree adds so many vitamins and minerals to the dish––as well as filling fiber. I like to use a canned butternut squash to make the recipe even easier to whip together.

Milk: When you let the French toast sit overnight, the challah will sop up the milk. If you follow a dairy-free diet, you can sub the milk for unsweetened almond milk.

he egg-milk mixture is a must for getting creaminess in the French toast.

Vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg: What would a baked challah French toast be without lots of warming spices?

You’ll find that the brown-sugar-cinnamon mixture adds a delicious sweetness to the overnight French toast.

Pecans: These add crunch, as well as healthy fats, protein, and fiber.

Raisins: These add additional sweetness and cut down the use of sugar in the recipe. I love cooking with raisins because they add sop up the moisture of the liquid and they’re wonderfully chewy!

Step-by-step instructions

If you love French toast, you’re not alone. But maybe you want a special version that will really wow your friends and family. This butternut squash French toast is just that.

To make this breakfast recipe, you’ll need to grease a baking dish with cooking spray. Then, you’ll slice a loaf of challah bread into one-inch pieces and place it in the baking tray.

Then, you’ll mix together the eggs, egg whites, butternut squash, milk, vanilla extract, brown sugar, spices,

pecans, and raisins.

Stir until well combined.

Next, you simply pour the mixture over the bread.

Cover with saran wrap. You’ll leave it covered in the fridge overnight.

This recipe is on the healthier side of things because it contains less sugar and saturated fat than many French toast recipes out there.

Then, when you’re ready to bake your French toast, simply top it with more pecans, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit, and bake for about 30 minutes!

To me, the overnight French toast is plenty sweet on its own. But if you’d like, you can drizzle it with pure maple syrup.

Recipe FAQ

More butternut squash recipes

To me, nothing screams fall more than butternut squash. To help you fill your quota of the seasonal find, here are more delicious recipes to try!

• Easy Vegan Stuffed Butternut Squash from Wow, It’s Veggie?!
• Air Fryer Honey Cinnamon Butternut Squash from Everyday Family Cooking
• Butternut Squash Soup with Marsala, Bacon, and Thyme from Erica’s Recipes
• Easy Roasted Butternut Squash from my own kitchen
• Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce from By the Forkful
• Root Veggie Mash with Butternut Squash from the Reid Homestead
• Tapioca Cheese Bread Bites with Butternut Squash from Twists and Zests
• Butternut Squash Side Dish with Pomegranate Vinaigrette from my own kitchen
• Gluten-Free Butternut Squash Bread from Fearless Dining
• Creamy Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese from Curry Trail
• Butternut Squash Gnocchi from Chisel & Fork
• Veggie Butternut Squash Brownies from Mommy Wonders
• Butternut Squash Curry with Chickpeas from Veggie Fun Kitchen
• Smoky Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup from Strength & Sunshine
• Butternut Stuffed Shells with Sage Cream Sauce from Backyard Bohemian
• Butternut Squash Casserole from Lemons and Zest
• Hasselback Roasted Butternut Squash with Baked Brie from Marathons & Motivation
• Roasted Chickpea and Butternut Squash Tacos from Laura Fuentes, author of Clean Treats for Everyone
• Baked Chickpeas with Butternut Squash from Babaganosh
• Butternut Squash Pasta with Walnuts and Parmesan from Cultured Table
• Instant Pot Butternut Squash with Black Bean Stew from Profusion Curry
• Roasted Butternut Squash and Kale Salad from Alena Menko
• Vegan Butternut Squash Risotto from A Sweet Alternative
• Autumn Salad with Butternut Squash from The Rising Spoon
• Roasted Chicken, Butternut Squash, and Onion Soup from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Butternut Squash Chili from Wholesome Family Living
• Butternut Squash Parmesan Biscuits from Fannetastic Foods
• Baked Butternut Squash Fritters from The Clever Meal
• Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad from Flavor the Moments
• Crockpot Butternut Squash Oatmeal from Amanda’s Cookin
• Butternut Squash Lentil Soup from Baby Savers
• Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry from Coffee.Fit.Kitchen
• Butternut Squash Latke Recipe from Eating Richly
• Homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli from A Food Lover’s Kitchen
• Butternut Squash Lasagna from A Life of Happenstance
• Butternut Squash Bruschetta from Tikkido
• Butternut Squash Mole Nachos from Le Petit Eats
• Butternut Squash Chowder from Sula and Spice
• Butternut Squash Apple Soup from Julie Kay Andrews, RD, co-author of The 28-Day DASH Diet Weight Loss Program
• Healthy Butternut Squash Kale Muffins from Squirrels of a Feather
• Easy Butternut Squash Souffle from Two Pink Peonies
• Butternut Squash Hummus from India from Indiana
• Rosemary Roasted Butternut Squash from The Spice Train
• Thanksgiving Stuffing with Cranberries, Sage, and Butternut Squash from Handmade in the Heartland
• Steel Cut Oat Risotto with Herbs and Autumn Squash from Cara Harbstreet, RD, author of Healthy Eating for Life
• Savory Butternut Squash Walnut Flatbread from Melissa Altman-Traub, RD
• Wild Rice & Butternut Casserole from Not Entirely Average
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash from Happy Kitchen
• Butternut Squash Noodles with Spinach and Mushrooms from Tasting Page
• Butternut Squash Muffins from Recipes from a Pantry

Sources

• Wow, It’s Veggie?! 
• Everyday Family Cooking     
• Erica’s Recipes   
• By the Forkful 
• Reid Homestead
• Twists and Zests
• Fearless Dining
• Curry Trail
• Chisel & Fork
• Mommy Wonders
• Veggie Fun Kitchen
• Strength & Sunshine
• Backyard Bohemian
• Lemons and Zest
• Marathons & Motivation
• Laura Fuentes, author of Clean Treats for Everyone   
• Babaganosh
• Cultured Table 
• Profusion Curry
• Alena Menko
• A Sweet Alternative
• The Rising Spoon
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Wholesome Family Living
• Fannetastic Foods
• The Clever Meal
• Flavor the Moments
• Amanda’s Cookin
• Baby Savers
• Coffee.Fit.Kitchen
• Eating Richly
• A Food Lover’s Kitchen
• A Life of Happenstance
• Tikkido
• Le Petit Eats
• Sula and Spice
• Julie Kay Andrews, RD, co-author of The 28-Day DASH Diet Weight Loss Program
• Squirrels of a Feather
• Two Pink Peonies
• India from Indiana
• The Spice Train
• Handmade in the Heartland
• Cara Harbstreet, RD, author of Healthy Eating for Life
• Melissa Altman-Traub, RD
• Not Entirely Average
• Happy Kitchen
• Tasting Page
• Recipes from a Pantry