Something about summertime approaching makes me want to incorporate fresh berries into as many meals as possible. Blueberries are one of my favorites since they’re perfectly pop-able, packed with antioxidants, incredibly delicious and beautifully blue. After a quick wash, they’re ready to eat and I love throwing them into a cup of Greek yogurt or a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. But sometimes I want something a little more fun for breakfast!
When I’m in the mood for a breakfast that feels a little more special – the kind of breakfast you want to whip up for a celebratory brunch or a lazy Sunday morning at home with your family – a breakfast casserole is hard to beat.
This blueberry breakfast casserole is inspired by indulgent French toast casseroles I’ve loved at family parties for years but it’s quite a bit healthier and not overwhelmingly sweet. Plus, it’s a little more unique since the base of this casserole is a combination of frozen gluten-free blueberry and ancient grains waffles.
I used Van’s gluten-free blueberry and ancient grains waffles which are certified gluten free, but tasty enough for the whole family to enjoy. (They also provide 23g nutrient-dense whole grains and 6g fiber!) Rather than toasting them up and topping them with syrup, I broke the frozen waffles into pieces before pouring a mixture of eggs, almond milk and cinnamon overtop and sprinkling everything with fresh blueberries. And I did all of this the night before I wanted to bake the casserole. It’s a great dish to prep ahead of time and quickly pull out of the fridge to bake for brunch when you have people coming over and don’t want to feel frazzled or rushed the morning everyone is set to arrive.
Oh and this one also makes a fantastic breakfast-for-dinner recipe if you’re looking to change things up a bit. (Yes, I’m speaking from experience on that one!)
This recipe is both gluten-free and dairy-free but still full of the delicious flavor you would expect from a blueberry French toast casserole. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did in our house!
Blueberry Breakfast Casserole
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: breakfast, recipes
Description
This blueberry breakfast casserole is both gluten-free and dairy-free and a delicious twist on French toast casserole. Slightly sweet and bursting with fresh blueberry flavor, the casserole is prepped the night before for an easy dish you can throw in the oven in the morning and enjoy for a celebratory brunch or lazy Sunday morning breakfast. Thank you so much to Van’s for teaming up with me to share this recipe!
Ingredients
- 6 Van’s gluten-free frozen blueberry waffles
- 3 Van’s gluten-free frozen ancient grains waffles
- 2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups liquid egg whites
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Break frozen waffles up into large pieces and sprinkle on the bottom of a 9×9 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
- Whisk eggs and egg whites together and combine with almond milk, cinnamon and maple syrup. Pour over waffles and sprinkle with fresh blueberries.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350. Bake uncovered for approximately 60-75 minutes or until middle is cooked through. (A knife should come out clean.)
- Top with a drizzle of maple syrup or fresh berries and enjoy!
Notes
If you prefer a different berry to blueberries, feel free to swap the blueberries for raspberries, blackberries or strawberries! Adding chopped pecans or walnuts to the casserole is also fantastic if you prefer the addition of a nutty crunch.
Question of the Day
- What is your favorite way to incorporate berries into your breakfast?
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Disclaimer: This blog post is sponsored by Van’s. I truly hope you enjoy the recipe and thank you sincerely for your support surrounding sponsored posts. I really appreciate it!
Van’s waffles are available at grocery stores, mass merchandisers and natural food retailers nationwide. To find Van’s waffles in a store near you visit their store locator. You may also enter a giveaway for a $100 gift card, $25 in Van’s coupons and a cute lunch set by clicking here. Good luck!
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OH yummmm this looks amazing!!
🙂 Thank you, Kaitlin!!
I may be in the minority here but I thought I’d share. I know you are trying to increase your “evergreen” content to make this a sustainable career but I find myself always skipping over your recipes and workout pins to only read your weekend posts etc
Thank you for your feedback, Meredith. I receive such a mixed bag of feedback from people — some really only want food/fitness, others want personal and others want baby-related stuff. I know I can’t write blog posts everyone will love everyday, but I really, really am trying to include a variety of content in this space and have personal stuff along with food and fitness every week. I will absolutely take your comment to heart and continue to share personal posts but sometimes those are harder for me to do on a day-to-day basis from a time standpoint since I now have to work ahead to keep up with blogging with a baby in the mix and that doesn’t really allow me to blog “in real time” like I used to. I appreciate you reading my blog and will try to include more personal posts in with the rest moving forward!
For what it’s worth, I agree with Meredith. I’ve read your blog daily for years and it seems that lately the number of “evergreen” posts seems to outweigh posts with actual content. I doubt this is your intent but it comes across sometimes like you care more about pinterest clicks than engaging a regular readership. Maybe if you incorporate more of your daily life into the evergreen posts it could help strike a good balance.
Also please don’t take the above negatively – it is meant solely as constructive criticism from a long time reader and fan of your blog.
OMG I love this recipe Julie!! It looks so delicious! I usually love incorporating berries into my morning oatmeal, but this is a total game-changer. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Julie, this looks delicious!!! I love that it’s lighter than the average breakfast casserole, too. I’m totally making it for dinner…my boys will be in heaven!
We had it for dinner two weeks ago and it was great!!! It almost felt like a treat/dessert or something since we rarely have dinners on the sweeter side. Hope you and your boys love it!
Does this bake reheat well like if you made it ahead of time for the week? Looks really good–maybe a nice break from my typical baked oatmeal!
Yes! It’s great the next day, too!
This looks so good, Julie! I love changing up a breakfast food item into another kind of breakfast dish. It looks like a great make-ahead too, for guests! Summer berry season is the best 🙂
This looks delicious! I’m actually attending a friend’s brunch this Sunday and didn’t know what I should bring. This might be the perfect step!
Totally with you on incorporating berries where ever possible. Next week on the blog, I already have my berry-related recipe ready to go, too. Although I’ve been sticking with blackberries lately for whatever reason. But hey, all berries are delicious and nutritious, right?!
Thanks for sharing!
XO, Jessica
http://www.semisweettooth.com
I just tried Van’s waffles for the first time this morning topped with blueberries! They are yummy!
FYI– Van’s waffles are BOGO at Publix this week! 🙂
Totally making this this weekend!!
Update: just made this. It’s wonderful!!!
So glad to hear it!!
Ok I NEED to finally give those waffles a try. I’ve heard so many great things!
This looks delicious. Have you had it reheated? Wondering how it tastes as leftovers!
Also does anyone know if there’s a substitute for liquid egg whites?
It’s great the next day! I’m also a weirdo and even liked it cold! 🙂 As for the liquid egg whites, you can use the equivalent amount of regular egg whites or regular eggs if you prefer! If you’re looking for an egg-free substitution, I’m not quite sure but if you find something, please let me know, as I’d love to try it out, too!
Looks yummy! I will be trying this- I feel like it could also be great with a mix of bread ends and waffles too.
Small typo- I think you mean “break” in the instructions, not “brake.”
Ah! That’s embarrassing! Oops. Just updated the post with the correct spelling. Thanks, Zoe!
I love blueberry waffles, I’ll definitely be trying this for a weekend treat!
This looks like a great thing to make for my toddler to have for breakfasts. He loves blueberry pancakes and this is a nice twist. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This looks amazing! You always have the best recipes. 🙂
Thank you, Rachel! I appreciate that very much! <3
Yum!! My fiance will love this….also picturing this casserole with Pumpkin Spice waffles for fall <3
I love your recipes! I can’t wait to make this for the bf and I. He LOVES Van’s blueberry waffles and we’re big time blueberry fans over here.
This looks delicious! And pretty simple to make too which I love. I love adding in berries to my yogurt or oatmeal:)
This casserole looks amazing! I love blueberries – by far one of my favorite foods – so I’m always excited when summer hits and they’re back in season. I made a batch of whole wheat blueberry muffins on Monday night that I’ve been enjoying for breakfast all week.
what a clever recipe! my husband eats 2 vans blueberry waffles every morning with breakfast. I think I’ll try prepping this tonight for tomorrow’s breakfast instead 🙂 thanks for the idea!
This looks heavenly!!
This will be perfect for our next family weekend! I have a niece and nephew that are gluten intolerant and I always make a gluten free option for breakfast. It’s crazy how excited the kids are that someone besides their moms makes the effort for them to have a special meal.
These look amazing, Julie! I love how you threw in waffles to a typical french toast/breakfast casserole bake. And blueberries are my favorite!
This looks delicious! My family is not gluten free but we love Van’s waffles because of their lack of weird ingredients! I will be trying this one for sure!
This looks delicious. I wish I was creative enough to come up with original, original recipes. We were actually listening to a podcast this morning where Giada Delaurentis (spelling?) was talking about how she got her start in the food industry and it was so interesting! I realize that’s random…but it’s at least related to food! And for incorporating fruit into recipes…that rarely happens anymore since just about all I have time for in the morning is a quick bowl of oatmeal!
oh wow!!! this looks delish!! I love berries especially when I can find them on sale. 🙂
This breakfast casserole looks incredible! How could you not like eggs, blueberries, waffles topped with syrup! I can’t wait to try this out for memorial day weekend!
I cannot wait to try this Julie! Thank you so much for sharing! I love and appreciate your mix of posts! I’ve used tons of your recipes and workouts and love that each week your blog brings me inspiration!
Thank you so much, Annie <3 <3 I really appreciate it!
I love adding blueberries to oatmeal and smoothies and put them on top of rice cakes with almond butter. This is a great recipe. Van’s waffles are so quick and easy and a great gluten free option.
This looks so good!! Just want to comment and say that while I hear what others are saying about enjoying reading personal posts more, I do really like the recipes and evergreen content too for later reference. If you post a recipe I don’t read it right away like I would a personal post, but in a week or two if I’m planning my grocery trip I’ll think “Hmmm I think Julie posted a breakfast recipe recently” and go back and find it. So I love both for different reasons! I’m really looking forward to your new recipe index too!
I really appreciate you taking the time to leave this comment, Jessi. It made me smile last night right before I went to bed when I checked in again and I needed that after a long day. Thank you very, very much! <3
If I made this ahead of time would you go ahead and bake then freeze? Or make them freeze and bake when read to eat?
I haven’t tried freezing it (I just prep everything the night before baking), but if I was going to go that route, I’d definitely bake it first and then reheat in the oven when I was ready to eat!
So with this one you do not toast the waffles first, correct? I’ve made the strata with Van’s waffles a couple times and LOVED it so I’m looking forward to trying this!
I’m so glad you liked the strata!!! And yes, there’s no need to toast the waffles! Just break them up when they’re already frozen!
I was literally just thinking what the heck I was going to do with the massive container of blueberries I bought last night. I am totally making this for breakfast tomorrow morning! I may have to add in some strawberries from the other massive container I bought.
Don’t go to the grocery store hungry, people.
Gahhhhh, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, ERRY BERRY. I cannot wait to eat them more in the summer! 😀 This casserole looks DEEEEEElicious!
Are you supposed to cook it covered or uncovered? It does not specify and we cooked it uncovered and it’s still completely liquidy in the middle 🙁
Uncovered! Definitely keep cooking if it’s still liquidy in the middle. Oven temperatures can vary a bit, but it should definitely set in the middle when it’s done. I hope this helps!!
I have been OBSESSING over blueberries for the last two weeks. This breakfast casserole looks super good and I love that it is such an inventive way to use waffles.
Made this delicious recipe for my in laws. My mother in law has cilia’s disease so it was a perfect for her. I served it with a fruit salad (mango, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries). I forgot to prep it the night before and it still turned out great. Loved the crunch of the waffles on the surface and the soft soufflé texture inside.
YAY!!! So glad to hear it!! 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
This looks so delicious! I am going to make it for my nephews this weekend. You would recommend other fruit as well, perhaps peaches or strawberries? Thank you for sharing!
I cooked this recipe this morning and had huge issues with the eggs setting, even though it was in the oven probably 2 hours by then. Do you think that it was too much almond milk and needed more eggs? I used Kashi blueberry waffles instead of Vans but I don’t think that should have mattered. I know egg casseroles are usually hard to screw up but this one perplexes me.
Oh no! I wonder if the waffles made a difference? The Van’s waffles are a bit thicker than the Kashi ones. I’m so sorry it didn’t work well for you!
I made this tonight for dinner and it failed. I followed the directions, and took it out when the knife came out clean, but the entire inside isn’t set at all? Like it falls apart and it’s very eggy/gooey/wet. Not like your pictures. And the outside is almost too done? It was in the oven for 70 minutes.
Looks sooo delicious I can’t wait to make! lovely idea for something different for breakfast.
Waffles make any morning just a little bit easier! This is such a great idea, Julie!
Hi Julie what is the casserole consistency supposed to be like? Ours came out very mushy and while tasted good the texture was a bit strange for us. Thanks!