Bread Pudding Recipe: An easy old fashioned recipe is the BEST! It resembles the old-fashioned dessert recipe that we all love! It’s basic, and uses everyday ingredients and an optional 3-ingredient brown-buttered vanilla sauce to drizzle on top!
Looking for quick and easy dessert recipes to add to your Pinterest boards? Then you’ll also LOVE this peach cobbler made with Bisquick, the BEST Banana Bread, and this easy pound cake recipe!
Jump to:
- What is bread pudding?
- Ingredients
- What kind of bread is best for bread pudding?
- How to Make Stale Bread
- How to Make Bread Pudding from Scratch
- How Long to Bake Bread Pudding
- FAQ and Expert Tips:
- Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding
- What to Serve with Bread Pudding?
- Amazing Bread Pudding Vanilla Sauce
- How to Make 3-Ingredient Sauce:
- Related Recipes:
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
I’m so glad that you’re here for this bread pudding. It may just change your decadent dessert life.
But if this is your first time here, you’re going to find tons of quick and easy recipes around here!
What is bread pudding?
Well it’s not the “pudding” you’re probably thinking of. Rather it’s a recipe that uses old, stale bread, combined with a creamy custard that consists of things like sugar, butter, milk, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and then bake it all. The outside edges may have a slight crisp, while the middle is a soft, custard-like texture. SO.GOOD.
Where did Bread Pudding Come From?
I do believe bread pudding originated in New Orleans. (Or at least, New Orleans is famous for its bread pudding!)
But my grandma used to make this old-fashioned recipe and I fell in love with it fro the first moment I had it!
When I wanted to make this for the first time, I found a few good recipes for bread pudding in my old cookbooks, but they all had something that didn’t tickle my fancy. (Such as raisins – although you can add these if you like.)
So… I gathered all of the recipes up and came up with my own plan and I have to admit, using simple ingredients helped make this the BEST bread pudding!
Ingredients
Look at these easy ingredients… I mean, you probably already have all, if not almost all, of the ingredients on hand!
- 6 slices (or about 4-5 cups of broken bread pieces or cubes) of stale bread buns, french bread, rolls, donuts, challah bread, toast, or another type of bread
- 3 Tablespoons of butter 1 tablespoon + 2 Tbsp
- 4 Beaten eggs
- 2 cups milk (or feel free to try half & half or heavy cream if that’s what you have!)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
What kind of bread is best for bread pudding?
French bread is a great bread for this recipe although I’ve used leftover sandwich bread, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, and more, and it always turns out great! (Or if you have stale donuts, you may want to make this donut bread pudding recipe!)
How to Make Stale Bread
If you’re craving bread pudding, but you don’t have the leftover bread or the stale bread to use for it, no worries!
Grab some fresh bread and either pop it in the toaster for a bit, or cut in to bread cubes (about 1-inch pieces) and bake it in the oven on 350 for about 5-10 minutes. (Don’t burn it or turn it brown. You’re just removing as much moisture from it as you can.)
I love this recipe, and I really do think it’s the best because it only includes items I usually have on hand, resembles the old-fashioned recipe that we’ve all known to love, and I had it all put together and in the oven in a matter of minutes.
How to Make Bread Pudding from Scratch
- Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
- Then you’ll start by buttering your 8×8 baking dish (or 9×13 casserole dish if doubling the recipe) and breaking up the bread into about 1-inch cubes.
- Toss the bread into the buttered dish.
- Melt your remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and drizzle melted butter over bread pieces and set aside.
- Next, in a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.
I use my flat whisk for this and it makes things super easy!
(My flat whisk could quite possibly be my favorite kitchen tool in the whole wide world. I use it to whisk eggs together in this recipe, or for scrambled eggs, or even if I have a powdered mixture that needs mixed. It mixes it so well! You can see this must-have kitchen tool, along with every other “Must-Have,” kitchen tool in my post: My Favorite Kitchen Tools )
- Next, simply pour the egg mixture over the bread pieces and make sure each piece has been covered or submerged to let that bread soak up that amazing custard mixture!
Oh my… doesn’t that photo of the egg mixture just make you drool!? It does me, every stinking time I look at it.
How Long to Bake Bread Pudding
- Toss that baby in the oven and let it bake the bread mixture uncovered for 40-45 minutes at 350º.
FAQ and Expert Tips:
Just like almost any dessert, or bread that you’re baking, insert a clean knife into the center and see if it comes out clean!
Well, it’s stale bread. Not super hard, and crispy… but bread that just wouldn’t be your favorite to use to make your favorite sandwich.
The reason you want day-old or stale bread is because you’ll want the bread to soak up the batter/custard of the bread pudding mixture.
Yep! It’s actually a great idea to make some of this ahead of time in case you need a last-minute dessert idea or to take a care package to a friend in need!
Just bake it as normal, and once cooled, place in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to thaw it, place it in the refrigerator to thaw it out.
You can enjoy bread pudding cold or warm, but if you prefer it warm after freezing/thawing, gently warm it to reheat.
Absolutely! I love make-ahead meals about as much as anyone, especially when entertaining! So if you want to make this ahead of time, feel free to!
You can either mix it all together and refrigerate it overnight before baking, or bake it, let it cool, and then refrigerate.
For best results, if you have left-over bread pudding, cool it until becomes room temperature and store in an airtight container (or cover the dish with plastic wrap) for up to 5 days, in the refrigerator.
Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding
That golden-brown bread pudding will remind you of grandma’s old-fashioned recipe as soon as you pull it out of the oven.
Serve it warm alone, with ice cream, or top it with the super-easy bread pudding sauce that I tell you about below…
What to Serve with Bread Pudding?
If you’re looking for a little something extra to serve with your new, easy bread pudding recipe, you might consider:
- chocolate sauce
- caramel ice cream topping
- ice cream
- whipped cream
- candied nuts
- raisins
- dried fruit
- powdered sugar
- or this crazy-easy and delicious bread pudding sauce I whipped up for you…
Amazing Bread Pudding Vanilla Sauce
For years I shared this recipe without a sauce or a drizzle. But there have been tons of you who have made this recipe and left so many amazing reviews and comments below saying you’ve made a bourbon bread pudding, caramel sauce, or vanilla sauce, and I must say… you’ve inspired me.
So when I remade this recipe to take new photos for the blog, I decided to whip up a quick vanilla sauce to see how it would taste.
It was heavenly.
The bread pudding is great as a stand-alone, but I’m a fan of this addition now, in a BIG way!
How to Make 3-Ingredient Sauce:
You’ll need the following, everyday ingredients:
- butter (I used salted but unsalted butter works just fine!)
- brown sugar
- vanilla
It’s super easy. Grab a small saucepan, and melt (on high) 3 Tablespoons of salted butter.
Once melted, turned it down to medium heat and wait a bit to let the butter brown. (Browned butter is my JAM!)
Then, I add in a tablespoon or so of brown sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Stir to combine and remove from heat. Let rest about 1-2 minutes, use the whisk to mix up the brown sugar and butter mixture and pour on top of the cooked bread pudding.
The little chunks of brown sugar candied and let a bit of a crunch, which was the PERFECT addition to this soft texture that the bread pudding has. (You can see how it turns out with the sauce, in the image below.)
Bourbon Bread Pudding
If you love the taste of bourbon in your bread pudding, you can easily add bourbon to the vanilla sauce recipe above by adding in a tablespoon of bourbon (less or more, depending on your taste) when you add in the sugar and vanilla.
Related Recipes:
We have a major sweet tooth and are HUGE fans of bread pudding recipes so make sure you check out our chocolate bread pudding recipe, donut bread pudding, sweet potato casserole bread pudding, and banana bread pudding to see which one is your favorite! Or, you may even love trying this croissant bread pudding!
So tell me… did you make this bread pudding? Did you like it? Let me know below in the comments with the others, and give this a rating to let others know how much you love it!
📖 Recipe
The BEST Bread Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 slices stale bread (Or about 4-5 cups of broken bread pieces or cubes. Some ideas to use are: french bread, buns, rolls, donuts, challah, toast or another type of bread.)
- 3 Tablespoons of butter 1 tablespoon + 2 Tbsp
- 4 Beaten Eggs
- 2 cups Milk
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Optional Vanilla Sauce
- 3 tablespoon butter salted (but unsalted is ok too!)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and use 1 Tablespoon of butter to coat the inside of your 8 in. square baking dish.
- Break your bread (I made larger pieces, rather than crumbling it up) in to the buttered baking dish.
- Melt your remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and drizzle over bread pieces.
- In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients (don’t forget to beat your eggs first) until mixed well.
- Pour this mixture over the bread, making sure to evenly coat each piece.
- Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top of the bread pudding springs back after lightly touching it with a fork.
Optional Vanilla Sauce
- Grab a small saucepan, and melt (on high) 3 Tablespoons of salted butter.Once melted, turned it down to medium heat and wait a bit to let the butter brown.
- Then, I add in a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.Stir to combine and remove from heat. Let rest about 1-2 minutes, use the whisk to mix up the brown sugar and butter mixture and pour on top of the cooked bread pudding.The little chunks of brown sugar candied and let a bit of a crunch, which was the PERFECT addition to this soft texture that the bread pudding has.
Video
Notes
- How do you know when bread pudding is done? Just like almost any dessert, or bread that you’re baking, insert a clean knife into the center and see if it comes out clean!
- What is day-old bread?
Well, it’s stale bread. Not super hard, and crispy… but bread that just wouldn’t be your favorite to use to make your favorite egg-salad sandwich.
The reason you want day-old or stale bread is because you’ll want the bread to soak up the batter/custard of the bread pudding mixture. - Can you freeze bread pudding?
Yep! It’s actually a great idea to make some of this ahead of time in case you need a last-minute dessert idea or to take a care package to a friend in need!
Just bake it as normal, and once cooled, place in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to thaw it, place it in the refrigerator to thaw it out. - Do you eat bread pudding warm or cold? You can enjoy bread pudding cold or warm, but if you prefer it warm after freezing/thawing, gently warm it to reheat.
- Can I prepare bread pudding the night before?
Absolutely! I love make-ahead meals about as much as anyone, especially when entertaining! So if you want to make this ahead of time, feel free to!
You can either mix it all together and refrigerate it overnight before baking, or bake it, let it cool, and then refrigerate. - How to store leftovers For best results, if you have left-over bread pudding, store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Susan says
This is the closest recipe I have found to my grandmother’s bread pudding that she baked for us in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Unfortunately, her recipe died with her because she never wrote it down. She learned the art of making bread pudding and other foods during the Great Depression of the 1930’s when she was a young wife and mother and food was scarce. There wasn’t any food banks then to go to and while neighbor helped neighbor, they may have been in the same boat. Much later in life, my grandparents shared that if her parents had not given them food from their garden, they would have starved.
Colleen says
It was delicious!! I even added apple pie filling to it. 🤗 this is definitely a keeper and is joining my other recipes 😁 thank you so much!
Jessica says
Adding apple pie filling to bread pudding sounds amazing for a fall recipe!! Yum, thank you for sharing!
Cathi Stoy says
Recipe was super easy, waiting now for it to come out of the oven, Grandma asked me to add cut home grown peaches, so i did, cant wait until it comes out of thr oven!!
Jessica says
I hope you love this bread pudding recipe as much as we do!
Carolyn says
Hands down, the best, moist and flavorful, bread pudding I’ve Ever Had! Delicious!! Great Recipe.
Jessica says
This is fantastic to hear about this bread pudding! Thank you so much for sharing!
Ty says
Made it! It was good, but I would adjust some things next time. I used a day old baguette which worked well. One thing I would change is maybe 1-2 less eggs. The custard set somewhat firm at the bottom and that eggy texture really came through. Conversely, maybe dumping the bread into the mixed wet ingredients and letting it soak for a few minutes, rather than dumping it over the top, would help avoid that problem?
I would also reccomend a weight measurement on the bread, rather than volume as many different factors can go into measuring it by volume (i.e. how large/small the bread chunks are or even what type of bread you use). 4-5 cups of baguette may look different than say 4-5 cups of sliced bread. A weight measurement would help standardize it no matter what bread or how fine/coarse you cut it.
Finally, I would do slightly less sugar as this was quite sweet on its own. Maybe swap some of the milk out for condensed milk instead? Just a personal preference! Oh and dont forget the salt! This, like many other baked deserts, needs it. However, its only mentioned in the optional sauce. A pinch of salt in the actual custard goes a long way.
Crystal says
Just made this! Was looking for something to do with my stale Italian bread. Actually used a mix of a few different breads.(Hate waste) Turned out super yummy! Thank you!
Jessica says
So glad you were able to use the leftover bread for this bread pudding. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review and for sharing!
Carrie says
I just made this for the second time… the first time worked out so well when I just wanted a simple recipe to use up some 2-day-old homemade bread that had gone a bit too crunchy. This time, I had some leftover baguettes and white bread, I used the recipe again, exactly as written, and it is once again delicious. I feel so much better about using up bread that is past its prime instead of throwing it in the trash. Both times, my family of four required second helpings… that’s really not a common occurrence for us. So thank you for this recipe, looks like I will be making it for years to come.
Jessica says
Oh Carrie, this makes me so happy that you all love the bread pudding recipe too! Thank you so much for taking the time to share that you do!
Allie says
This bread pudding was amazing ! I did substitute the reg bread with cinnamon bread and didn’t add any additional cinnamon and added about 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. The vanilla sauce tasted wonderful. Let’s just say I had dessert before dinner. Lol
Jessica says
Haha! I love that you loved this bread pudding too! Aaaaaandd… I’ve totally had this before dinner before too. 🙂 Thank you for sharing and for the review!
JUDY says
I just pulled this out of the oven, and it smells wonderful! Making a blueberry slurry to eat on top, because my husband likes his fruit.
Jessica says
A blueberry topping sounds amazing to add to this bread pudding recipe!
Liz says
I had half a loaf of chocolate chip brioche that I’d bought to make French toast and decided to make this bread pudding. I followed the recipe exactly and it was wonderful. I did not add the sauce as I felt it already had the perfect amount of sweetness. I only wish that I hadn’t wasted the first half of the loaf making French toast. This was yummy. My friends loved it as well. This recipe is easy and delicious. Such a nice recipe to have on hand for those days that you just don’t know what to serve your guests for dessert.
Jessica says
This is so great to hear! Using brioche for bread pudding is a great choice! Thank you so much for sharing and for leaving a review. 🙂
Heidi says
Just made this tonight because I had a huge loaf of stale Italian bread that I forgot about!
Also, my oven is on the fritz, so anything I’m baking needs to go into my large toaster oven, so this 8 x 8 version was perfect!
I used fat free half and half with a splash of Vanilla creamer.
And I opted to put turbino sugar on top rather than the sauce.
Turned out awesome!
Thanks for the great, easy recipe!
Jessica says
I’m so glad this all worked out for you then, and that your bread pudding recipe turned out great for you!
Gloria says
Reminds me of what my mom used to cook. Delicious!
Jessica says
That’s amazing Gloria! I’m so glad you liked this bread pudding recipe too! Thank you so much for sharing.
Joanna says
I tried this recipe and it was delicious. Best bread pudding I’ve ever made
Jessica says
Amazing Joanna! Thank you so much for making this bread pudding and for taking the time to share with me that you did!
Elizabeth A Rosendale says
Delish! I had to increase the time substantially because I doubled the batch, but everyone was a fan.
Jessica says
Mmm!! A double batch of this bread pudding sounds amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
Margaret says
Instead of the sauce, I sprinkle raisins, about I cup, over the bread before you pour the egg batter over it. It gives it the sweetness of dessert.
Terry says
Made this on a whim when looking for a different dessert. Used recipie pretty much as is. Added 1/2 tsp nutmeg and used half milk and half heavy cream. Also added about third cup raisins soaked in spiced rum. (Always keep a jar going in fridge). Served cold sliced into squares with whipped cream. Had very happy guests and requests to make again Soon!
Wanda says
AMAZING
Cecelia Remedios says
This bread pudding recipe was AMAZING!!! I did add 1 teaspoon of Nutmeg and did 5 cups of bread.
I tripled the recipe and baked it in an 11×15 baking pan
I also made the sauce for the top and added a little dollop of whipped cream when I served myself a sample.
Taking it to Church. I know it will be A big HIT!!!
Jessica says
I’m so glad that you liked this bread pudding recipe too! Thank you so much for sharing and for the review!
Shannon says
It was good an so easy to make. I used left over bread that I didn’t use a lot of bread ends that my kids don’t eat, I used brown sugar with the white sugar, I also grated some apples in it and sprinkle brown sugar an cinnamon on top , it was delicious.
Jessica says
This all sounds delicious for the bread pudding, Shannon! Thank you so much for sharing!
Tyler says
The recipe turned out decent but felt lacking compared to other bread puddings I’ve made. I also prefer more of an icing than just a sugary syrup over to top.
Jessica says
Sorry you didn’t like it! People have different taste preferences for sure! 🙂
Syd says
If you made the sauce properly, it wouldn’t be a “syrup” (syrups are 50/50 sugar and water; this also has fat, which makes it more of a caramel sauce).
I’ve never had it with a sugary icing on top. That sounds like something on cinnamon rolls, but could be good.
Randy Roe says
It was very delicious! I want the recipe for a 9×13” pan please!