CROCKTOBER isn’t just for dinner. 🍎🍂

This Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole brings together everything good about a fall morning: warm apples, cinnamon, maple syrup and thick pieces of French toast, all made ridiculously easy in the slow cooker. It takes about 15 minutes to put together, then the slow cooker handles the rest. Make it for a lazy weekend breakfast, Sunday brunch, a holiday morning, or breakfast-for-dinner. Because sometimes cereal just isn’t going to cut it.

Katahdin Kitchen | Food • Finds • Flavor

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🍎 Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2½–3½ hours on HIGH or 5–6 hours on LOW
Servings: 6–8

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French bread or brioche, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 6 large eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
• Powdered sugar and maple syrup for serving

How to Make It

1. Prep the slow cooker.
Lightly grease the inside of a 6-quart slow cooker with butter or cooking spray.

2. Add the bread and apples.
Place half of the bread cubes in the slow cooker. Sprinkle half of the diced apples over the bread. Repeat with the remaining bread and apples.

3. Make the custard.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

4. Pour it in.
Slowly pour the egg mixture over the bread and apples, making sure everything gets evenly coated. Gently press the bread down into the mixture.

If you’re using pecans or walnuts, sprinkle them over the top.

5. Let the slow cooker work.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 2½–3½ hours or LOW for 5–6 hours, until the center is set and the edges are golden.

Slow cookers vary, because apparently even kitchen appliances have personalities, so start checking toward the early end of the cooking time.

6. Serve it warm.
Spoon into bowls or onto plates and finish with powdered sugar, warm maple syrup or a little extra cinnamon.

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🍁 Make It the Night Before

Want breakfast to require even less thought in the morning? Assemble the bread, apples and custard the night before in a separate covered container and refrigerate. In the morning, transfer the mixture to your prepared slow cooker and start cooking. It’s particularly handy for holidays when you’ve already got enough going on without standing over a stove making French toast for eight people.

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💰 Budget Bite

French toast casserole is also a good way to use bread that’s beginning to get a little stale. In fact, slightly dry bread actually works better because it absorbs more of the cinnamon custard without becoming too soggy.

You don’t need expensive apples, either. Use whatever firm apples are on sale. Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gala and Fuji all work well.

Easy Swaps

No brioche? Use French bread, challah or another sturdy bread.

No pecans? Skip them completely or use walnuts.

Want it sweeter? Add another drizzle of maple syrup when serving instead of loading the casserole with extra sugar.

Want more apple? Toss in a third diced apple.

Feeding a crowd? Serve it with scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage and fresh fruit.

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🍎 The Apple-Cinnamon Upgrade

For even more fall flavor, toss the diced apples with a little cinnamon and a teaspoon of brown sugar before layering them into the slow cooker. You can also sauté the apples for a few minutes in a little butter before adding them. It’s an extra step, so we’re not pretending it’s required. CROCKTOBER is supposed to make life easier.

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🥣 What About Leftovers?

Store leftover French toast casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days. Reheat individual portions in the microwave or warm larger portions in the oven. You can also freeze individual servings. Let them cool completely, wrap or store them in freezer-safe containers, and freeze. That gives you an easy breakfast ready for another morning.

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🛒 Katahdin Kitchen Finds

A few kitchen basics make this recipe even easier:

• A dependable 6-quart slow cooker
• Apple corer and slicer
• Good-quality ground cinnamon
• Pure maple syrup
• Airtight containers for leftovers

Those are also things you’ll use well beyond this recipe, which is our preferred kind of kitchen purchase. Nobody needs another gadget spending six years quietly judging them from the back of a cabinet.

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🍂 Welcome Back to CROCKTOBER

We’ve been filling October with easy slow-cooker meals, but the crockpot deserves a little breakfast action too. This Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole is warm, easy, inexpensive and packed with fall flavor. Put everything together, turn on the slow cooker and let breakfast mostly make itself. That’s exactly the kind of effort-to-reward ratio we appreciate around here.

Food • Finds • Flavor

🍴 Katahdin Kitchen
❤️ DOOZY DELISH | Make Life Awesome

More CROCKTOBER recipes: Explore the full collection for easy slow-cooker dinners, soups, comfort food and more.