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Oh. My. Gosh! How can something so simple be so amazing?! Even my picky eater cleaned his plate. 🙂 I made it plain and topped only with maple syrup. Divine! Can’t wait for the leftovers!!!
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents
This post is sponsored by King’s Hawaiian. Because yummy sweet bread makes Super Easy Coconut Baked French Toast a thing-o-beauty. Check out their first ever commercial here to see people go pupule (crayyyzee!) for this bread.
Hello springy brunch goodness!
Let me rephrase that – hello springy brunch goodness that comes together with five simple ingredients! Whoa yes. I’m serious. Pretty and fluffy and lightly sweet, topped with crunchy sugar because GLITTERY.
This one screams I love you, food and I love you, Mom. And how appropriately timed because Mother’s Day! It’s soon!
Mother’s Day is one of those holidays where I look forward to going to a homey place and eating a great meal because my mom is awesome, but then I remember that me and Dad and sibs are supposed to be the ones making the great meal. Yups. And it’s Saturday night and I are T-9 hours until brunch.
Why does this always happen to me? As a youngin, I always thought I was that thing called organized. But as and adult I can see that my real thing is actually called scrambling for event preparation.
But see, this is why I love simple recipes for entertaining. Even if you’re more of a thoughtful, well-prepared, non-scrambler (teach me your ways, oh genius one) we could all use a little more time on whatever-Day morning to do a little more of a lot of things.
For example, snuggly family lovey time. This is what people with babies and dogs do, right? #perfectlife
Also a good choice – reading one more chapter in your book. Maybe a nice little morning jog around the lake. Or, I mean, a walk would probably be okay too, since it’s a holiday and everything. And/or relaxing for fifteen extra minutes on the patio in the sleet. Wait though sleet. Why is it sleeting in May? I’m ALMOST missing the Philippines heat wave oppression almost. Al-most.
Okay, a little food talk now.
This is how it all goes together. Lightly sweet and very delicious King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls are torn into bite-sized pieces –> coconut milk and vanilla and eggs are whisked together into a creamy yummy base –> the whole thing is poured together in a dish, baked, and topped with fruit for color and turbinado sugar for sparkle. One two three pretty brunch dish on your table like magic!
And now you can mentally file this photo slice under Simple Pretty Brunch and Hungry 3pm Afternoon Snack, because that’s how it went down at my house this weekend!
If you all have some creative ideas for telling your moms that you love them on Mother’s Day, I would not complain if you shared them. Gifts, food, fun things to do together… tell me all of it. And maybe you can help me leave my scrambling ways behind. Doubtful, but maybe. Enjoy this deliciously simple french toast bake!
Super Easy Coconut French Toast Bake
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
This Super Easy Coconut French Toast Bake can be made with just five ingredients! A colorful, pretty, simple brunch dish.
Ingredients
For the Coconut French Toast
- 1 package King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet 12 Pack Dinner Rolls
- 1 can regular coconut milk
- 1 cup milk
- 7 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Optional Extras for Topping
- turbinado sugar
- sliced bananas
- sliced strawberries
- flaked coconut
- maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Tear the bread into bite-sized pieces. Arrange evenly in a greased 9×13 baking dish,
- Whisk the coconut milk, milk, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. Pour the milk mixture over the bread, covering all pieces. Bake for 40-45 minutes, keeping an eye on the top and covering with foil if it starts to burn. When finished, the french toast bake will be puffy and firm (shouldn’t jiggle when you shake it back and forth).
- Optional: After everything is fully baked, top with turbinado sugar and banana slices and return to the oven uncovered for a few minutes until golden brown. Remove and let stand for 15 minutes. Top with strawberry slices for a big color pop! Pritty.
Notes
When it’s fully baked, it will be very puffy. After it rests, it will probably lose some of its puffiness and will settle to a level similar to what you see pictured.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: baked french toast, coconut french toast, french toast bake
This post is sponsored by King’s Hawaiian.
We don’t have king’s Hawaiian here in Canada unfortunately, would regular dinner rolls work to?
Regular dinner rolls will work, but the dish won’t be as sweet. If you can find honey wheat dinner rolls or buns, they’d be great!
Is there a way to not use coconut milk? Like maybe almond milk
And some source of fat?
Thank you!!
Do u use unsweetened or sweetened coconut milk? Same question for the shredded coconut.
Made this for dinner last night. Super easy and my 5 yo, 4 yo, and 16 mo old had a blast helping me make and ate scads of it! There is only one tiny, forlorn piece, left for me to comfort with my coffee this morning.
I’ve been salivating over your blog for a while and wishing I was a marvelous foodie cook. This one looked fairly hard to screw up (I’ve caused fires, blown up Pyrex dishes, and cooked things so terrible my hubby said it tasted like something a chinchilla threw up…) so I gave it a try. Thanks for a new favorite!
Hi there, his looks delish and I’d like to try making it, but as with another comment, I’m from Canada and can’t get these buns. Could you give me a measurement for how much bread you would need? In cups? Thanks
We aren’t sure on the exact measurement in cups – we’d recommend buying a 12-pack of any type of dinner roll to use in the recipe. Should be about the same amount. Hope that helps!
How many calories per serving is this?
Hi there! We don’t have the nutrition label available for this recipe, but this is the tool we use: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076. Hope that helps!
can you please tell me what size can for the coconut milk?
A “regular” size can, somewhere around 14 oz.
Hi, what a beautiful website! Thanks for sharing these lovely recipes. The presentation of this dish was stunning and it was super easy to throw together. I did find the dish bland. I would suggest adding some cinnamon, a touch of salt, and maybe a few squirts of agave to the mixture. Also, cook it a bit longer than you think – it tastes better when less “jiggly”…I threw mine back in the oven after 45 minutes for an additional 10 minutes and then it was properly set.
Loved the bananas and strawberries…and, the glitter, on top!
Thanks for your feedback Chaya!
The recipe sounds great but trying to watch the calories. Any ideas for healthier alternatives to Hawaiian bread?
How about just wheat bread? It would have a more heavy, rustic taste and texture but I think it could still be good.
I’m in Canada and don’t have these Hawaiian rolls that you rave about. Would Filipino pandesal be a good equivalent? I’m sure you’ve this while you were in the Philippines!
Love your site- your recipes are awesome. Made your ancho chilli the other night and it was a big hit! I’ll definitely be making it more often!
Thanks! Yes – pandesal could work!
We don’t have this bread in Australia. What would be a close substitute?
I think just regular sliced white bread would work, or even better if you can get more of a homemade loaf from a bakery so it’s less smooshy and little more sturdy.
Oh. My. Gosh! How can something so simple be so amazing?! Even my picky eater cleaned his plate. 🙂 I made it plain and topped only with maple syrup. Divine! Can’t wait for the leftovers!!!
Can you prepare this the night before and bake it in the morning?
Yep! I think it would turn out great that way.
Can you make this the night before? I would like to try it this weekend.
Yes!
I made this for Father’s Day. It was super easy and yummy. I think I could’ve cooked it a bit longer though. The bananas looked like mushrooms after they cooked but were still tasty!
Once again, great post and such a good read. I was so surprised to get to the end of the post and find it was you again. We have a French toast bake every Christmas for breakfast. I used to make cinnamon rolls, but I invite the whole fam and making cinnamon rolls for 30 people on Christmas Eve is not so much fun. This seems like a great variation. Thanks!
Oh mama.
Hawaiian bread baked French toast.
This is life-changing and earth-shattering for me.
This recipe is probably going to knock me right off my gluten-free pedestal.
And hubby loves Hawaiian bread, too.
Oh man, I need to buy Hawaiian bread.
I think I’m going to make this with blueberries instead.
Anti-oxidants.
And Hawaiian bread.
Sweet and delicate Hawaiian bread.
Did you notice that this recipe contains Hawaiian bread?
Oh yes! Sunday brunch is at my house this week. Yum!
We made this yesterday while camping. Subbed light brown sugar for the Raw..It was AMAZING! Thanks for the recipe. It’s definitely going into the rotation. I think I will add some pecans at the end as well!
While camping?! I’m so impressed!
“Camping” in a VERY nice Travel Trailer 😉
I made this for Mother’s Day this morning and it was a huge hit. Everyone loved the presentation and the taste was out-of-this-world incredible. Even though it wasn’t really that healthy, it felt “healthy” because it was so light and fresh-tasting. My mom loved that it had coconut milk, and the Hawaiian rolls and fruit added the perfect amount of sweetness without any extra sugar.
I ended up having to cook it for about 10 minutes more than the recipe (not a surprise since I live in high altitude) but somewhere in that time span, it went from fluffy and amazing to pancake-level flatness. I’m not sure if it was because I disturbed it when I checked it, or if I should have added another egg (I cut the recipe in half, so I used 3). My mom suggested that I could lower the cooking temperature and baked it for longer.
Despite the fact that it was flat, we devoured it and left almost no remains. Thanks for helping me make something special for my ma!
Oh bummer! Mine fluffed up quite a bit and then deflated a little bit to what you see in the picture, but I’d feel sad if yours was pancake flat! I wish I knew why! Thanks for trying it and I’m glad you were still able to enjoy it!
This was a complete fail in our kitchen. Boo! It looked so good. After double the time in the oven it still wasn’t done. Kind of disappointed. I was very surprised as all of the many other things I have baked/cooked from your site have turned out awesomely. Such is life, ya can’t win them all.
Shoot! So sorry to hear that – sounds like a few other people have needed to bake a few minutes longer as well so I’ll adjust the time.
Lovely! This looks super yum. 🙂
This is on my list to make for mother’s day brunch! Sounds fantastic.
Your photos are killing me! The strawberries are so beautiful in that picture! All I want now is french toast!
My 5 year old is basically obsessed with King’s Hawaiian rolls. I buy a little pack of them weekly & surprise him with lunch box sandwiches made with them.
Anyhow, this looks ridiculously amazing SO I shall be making it ASAP!
Hope you like it Renee! And your 5 year old! 🙂