Overnight Waffle Breakfast Casserole
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Start the morning off with a bang with this Overnight Waffle Casserole topped with a delectable brown sugar pecan sauce! Serve alongside Sheet Pan Eggs or Hamburger Hash Brown Casserole to feed a crowd!
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Overnight Waffle Breakfast Casserole with Brown Sugar Pecan Sauce
Do you have any holiday traditions? We always have ham and turkey on Thanksgiving. My Aunt Lori always makes the pumpkin pie. We watch every holiday parade on TV. And our big family meal on Christmas is breakfast!
So every Christmas morning, I pop an overnight breakfast casserole in the oven. I love for my family to wake up to the scents of vanilla, cinnamon and syrup. It is truly what Christmas morning smells like to me. This year, I am putting a twist on my typical breakfast casserole with a big pan of waffles soaked in a spiced egg and milk mixture and I am positive that this dish will be a new holiday tradition!
Now, the idea of an overnight breakfast casserole is not new. BUT. Move over bread and make way for waffles! Not just any waffles. Kellogg’s® Eggo Thick & Fluffy Original waffles! The Belgian style waffles taste just like homemade and those deep nooks and crannies are perfect to soak in the spices and vanilla for this recipe. YUM!
How to Make Overnight Breakfast Casserole with Waffles
- First, prepare the egg and milk mixture. It’s pretty standard and I use the same recipe for French toast. I love the addition of syrup in the mixture especially since I serve a brown sugar pecan sauce instead of syrup with this casserole. TIP: Use a hand mixer to blend the eggs, milk and spices. This really breaks up the eggs and clumps of cinnamon in the mixture. Game changer!
- Dip each toasted Eggo Thick & Fluffy Original waffle in the egg and milk mixture and overlap them in your baking dish. (Don’t worry if the waffles soften after you dip them. They will firm back up as they soak up the mixture and chill in the fridge.)
- Cover the dish with foil and tuck it in your refrigerator for 8 hours or better yet, overnight. When you are ready to bake the breakfast casserole, slide the foil covered pan into your oven and let it bake while you whip up that amazing brown sugar pecan sauce!
The waffles soak up all of the flavors of cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup. The edges and tops get golden brown and lightly toasted. The nooks on the surface are absolutely perfect to capture alllllllll of that glorious brown sugar pecan sauce. This is serious deliciousness, folks.
Brown Sugar Pecan Sauce
Can we talk about this sauce for a sec? While the casserole is baking, you can make the brown sugar pecan sauce on the stove top. It’s glossy thanks to a generous amount of butter, gloriously cinnamon-y and just bursting with chopped pecans. Hubba hubba!
Well, breakfast is served and I’m pretty sure that our holiday breakfasts will never be the same again thanks to this Overnight Waffle Breakfast Casserole with Brown Sugar Pecan Sauce!
More Holiday Breakfast Recipes!
- Orange & Brown Sugar Mixed Berry Salad
- Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Homemade Apple Crisp Granola
- Mini Donut Wreaths – fun for kids and oh-so-festive!
If you try this recipe, please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!
PrintOvernight Waffle Breakfast Casserole
- Total Time: 9 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
Overnight Waffle Casserole with Brown Sugar pecan Sauce is the perfect weekend breakfast recipe, and special enough for holidays like Christmas!
Ingredients
- 12 thick frozen waffles
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk or half and half
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
-
Using a toaster, toast 12 frozen waffles.
- In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer to blend eggs, milk (or half & half), vanilla extract, cinnamon, syrup and salt.
- Dip each toasted waffle into the egg mixture and layer the waffles in the baking dish. Pour the remaining egg mixture over the waffles, cover the baking dish with foil and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
- When you are ready to baking the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Leave the casserole covered with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake the waffle casserole for another 20-30 minutes until the waffles are fully baked (meaning they are not jiggly and there is no wet egg mixture) and the edges of the waffles are golden brown and toasted.
- After you remove the foil and continue baking, make the brown sugar pecan sauce: Combine the butter, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and pecans in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir frequently until the butter is melted and the brown sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to low and simmer the brown sugar pecan sauce until the waffle casserole has finished baking.
- Cut the casserole into 10 servings and drizzle with brown sugar pecan sauce.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: breakfast
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 553
- Sugar: 31.3 g
- Sodium: 401.4 mg
- Fat: 35.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 50.6 g
- Protein: 10.8 g
- Cholesterol: 209.3 mg
This recipe was originally shared November 2018 and updated October 2019.
Wow this looks so incredible!!
I really like your idea! It looks so good!
What a great idea!! This looks SO good!!
I may never use boring bread again … those waffles are PERFECT to capture all of that sauce in the little nooks & crannies 🙂
I LOVEEEE waffles! These sound amazing. Must try!!
Waffles are definitely the star here and that sauce doesn’t hurt either 😉
Had this in the oven for an HOUR AND A HALF. Still soggy☹️
Oh no, I’m so sorry! I’ve never had that happen, were there any changes you made to the written recipe?
Followed recipe exactly; casserole itself was a soggy mess, but the topping was good
This is amazing! I’ve been dreaming about it ever since making it a month ago. I’m finally making it again this weekend. I’m gonna serve it with a bowl of fresh berries and some whipped cream this time. It doesn’t need it. I’m just extra. LOL THANKS for this deliciousness. Super easy, too! BONUS!
Can I make it using homemade waffles? Or does it need to be frozen? I’m most the way through making homemade waffles, but realized since they are not frozen it may turn out too soggy…
The flavors are delicious. I had homemade protein waffles that were a little dry to start with. I used those instead of Eggo waffles. I found this to be a little extra spongy on the bottom. I think I might reduce the liquid next time I make it. I think this would be perfect for a brunch. The brown sugar topping is definitely the star.
So glad you liked it!
This is exactly what I was looking for! Something easy that I could make for a breakfast brunch. My ONLY question is, would it still be fine if I make this 2 nights ahead instead of one? The brunch is Saturday, but we have a wedding on Friday and I’d like to make it today! Thank you!