Bread Pudding Recipe: An easy old fashioned recipe is the BEST, and this recipe 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, or this vanilla sauce for bread pudding, 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 for Bread Pudding
- 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
- FAQs and Expert Tips:
- Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding
- What to Serve with Bread Pudding?
- Amazing Bread Pudding Vanilla Sauce
- How to Make 3-Ingredient Brown Sugar Sauce:
- How to Make Vanilla Sauce for Bread Pudding
- 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.

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 dessert and I fell in love with it from 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 for Bread Pudding

This bread pudding is made with easy-to-find ingredients. Here are a few notes on some of the key ingredients. See the recipe card below for the measurements.
- Bread: Stale bread is best so it really soaks up the custard mixture, instead of it settling in the bottom and cooking the eggs separately.
- Butter: I’ve used salted and unsalted for this recipe and it turns out great each time.
- Milk: Feel free to try half & half or heavy cream if that’s what you have!
- Sugar: I use white granulated sugar for this but brown sugar for the optional sauce.
- Vanilla extract: If you can use pure vanilla, that’s the best. But I’ve used imitation vanilla in a pinch.
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!) Check out all the different types of bread readers have used over the years, in the comments!
How to Make Stale Bread
If you’re craving bread pudding, but 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.

- 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.

FAQs 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 buttery vanilla sauce to see how it would taste, and have also provided a creamy vanilla sauce recipe that you can top it with.
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 Brown Sugar 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.)

How to Make Vanilla Sauce for Bread Pudding
Get the creamy vanilla sauce recipe if you prefer a creamier option, instead of the buttery vanilla sauce that I’ve made above.
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 Tablepsoons
- 4 beaten eggs
- 2 cups milk
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- raisins optional
Optional Creamy Vanilla Sauce
- vanilla sauce get my vanilla sauce recipe
Optional Brown Sugar 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 Buttery Brown Sugar 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
- Which sauce to make? This bread pudding is great even without an optional sauce. However, if you want a sauce, I recommend picking one of the two, although using both may be incredible!
- 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!
- Can you freeze bread pudding? Yes! 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.
- Can I prepare bread pudding the night before? Yes! 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, store it 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.
Don says
Good stuff I put raisins with Rum over night, also put the bread in a buttery pan, let the bread soak up, and added yours, made a larger batch, but-it fit perfectly.
Jessica says
Yum!!! So happy you liked this bread pudding, thank you for sharing what you did!
Mary Jane Fortney says
Great recipe! We used to live in NOLA and I was on a quest to find the BEST bread pudding. Commanders Palace had the best IMO. Yum!
Anyways, I added two things to this recipe. I added 3/4 cup of dried cherries 🍒 ( hydrated in the butter in the microwave) and a box of vanilla pudding. Instead of making a sauce to go over it, we used Cool Whip on top before serving while warm. 🥰
Jessica says
Yum!! This sounds delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
Beverlee says
Enjoyed the pudding but only had a couple of tablespoons of the brown sugar sauce to try to drizzle. Did I miss an ingredient?
Jessica says
Hi Beverlee! The brown sugar sauce doesn’t make a lot, so I’m sure you did just fine! It’s just a little something to add to the bread pudding, rather than overpower. I hope that helps!
Kathy Forrester says
Turned out delicious
Jessica says
So happy you liked this bread pudding recipe, thank you!
JaneW says
The family loved this. I made it with leftover Italian-type rolls, 1/2 cup turbinato sugar, and for the milk used 1/2 2% milk and 1/2 heavy cream, which is what I had on hand. I omitted the sauce. The family poured evaporated milk over theirs and I topped mine with fresh blueberries. Wonderful taste and consistency.
Jessica says
Yum!! All of that sounds delicious, and thank you so much for sharing!
Steffanie says
I’ve made your recipe at least 15 times now over the past few years, so thank you so much for posting it! It’s saved in my bookmarks and will never be deleted!
I do have a question though! I’m visiting family and my mom wants me to make it with Splenda instead of sugar this time. Any idea if that will turn out as delish?
Jessica says
Hi Steffanie! Awwwww, that’s so sweet and I’m so glad!! You know, I haven’t tried that yet. I wish I had so I could help with that. I’d love to hear what you find out though if you do try it. I do seem to recall that someone has said something about using Splenda in the comments though!
Barbara Hunt says
I’ve made it with Splenda and although it’s still good it’s not as good as with sugar. But, for anyone not wanting to use sugar you’ll still have a tasty dessert.
Jessica says
Oh thank you so much for sharing this with us, Barbara! So helpful to know.
Jan H says
I just made this and it was absolutely delicious. I thought I burnt the brown sugar butter mixture too much but it was great! The brown sugar got kind of clumpy but again, ended up just fine. We did use cream instead of milk in the bread pudding and also added pecans. My husband raved about it as well.
I accidentally left the above comments about the bread pudding recipe on the vanilla sauce recipe, which I actually have not made yet. Sorry! I don’t often leave comments but this was so good and so easy that I wanted to give it 5 stars! So when I goofed up where to leave the comment I decided to leave it again in the correct spot. I used the brown butter sauce with the bread pudding. It was so very good! However, in the future I will try the vanilla sauce with it as well. The first time I made it I thought the brown sugar sauce was the one I wanted to try. I am so glad I did, but I bet the vanilla sauce will be great also. Thank you for the recipe!!!
Jessica says
Hi Jan! I’m so happy to hear this and I’m thrilled that you liked it too!! Thank you for sharing!
Robin says
Cooking time not nearly long enough.
Michelle O’Connell says
How many raisons do I put in?
Jessica says
Hi Michelle. That’s up to you really since I don’t have raisins in my recipe. I’d start with 1/2 cup though, and if you feel it needs more, you can add more!
Cm says
I made this for Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner and my family absolutely LOVED it. I made the brown butter sauce with it both times. My oldest daughter’s birthday is a week away and she said she wants this as her cake. Huge hit with my household!!!
Jessica says
Awww, that’s so sweet, thank you so much for sharing!
LQ says
I added mini chocolate chips and my kids LOVED it. Definitely keeping this recipe!
Jessica says
So glad you liked this bread pudding! Thank you!!
Wendy Brant says
Yes! delicious I made this for Christmas morning breakfast and I opted to add chopped pecans and dried cranberries, using leftover croissant bread, and reducing the sugar by half, served with melted butter and warm pure maple syrup (the reason I halved the sugar.)
Leftovers will get a bourbon sauce!
Jessica says
Oh yum!! That all sounds so delicious for this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Wendy says
yes, I actually made this for Christmas morning, breakfast adding cranberries and all Belakens serving with warm butter and maple syrup. I used croissant bread.
Susan Arroyo says
I plan on making this today for my family Christmas get together but I definitely need to make more that an 8 in pan. How many times would I have to double it for a 13×9 pan? Does it change the cooking time? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Happy holidays everyone!
Jessica says
Hi Susan! Merry Christmas! Some have doubled this recipe and used a 9×13 pan! Someone said, “Splendid recipe! Thank you for sharing. I doubled, tossed in some toasted pecans, and baked in a 9×13 glass pan. Baked likely 1 hour total, kept checking so it didn’t over brown…” I hope that’s helpful!
Bethany says
I’ve just put this in the oven and I am so excited to serve it to my partner for Christmas Eve— one question: I’m doing the brown sugar sauce. Do I pour it on individual portions or can I put it over the whole thing? Will it keep well doing that?
Jessica says
Oh good!! You can do either!
Uncle Melee says
This is my go-to bread pudding recipe now, with the brown butter/brown sugar sauce only.
I couldn’t believe my ears when my fiance said late one night that he’d never had bread pudding before. It was about 10:00 p.m. and I had all the ingredients, so I spread out some bread on a sheet pan and let it get a little toasty and made it right then. Since then I’ve been freezing loaves of French bread from the store to have on hand, and I either leave it out for a few hours or I just toast it some in the oven.
We make it every couple weeks now, he’s obsessed, and I can basically make it in my sleep at this point. I’m generally not one for following recipes, but I pretty much follow this one to the letter except that I don’t add raisins cause I’m not really a fan. 10/10, absolutely no notes.
Jessica says
This is fantastic!! I love that you love this recipe so much and you were able to make it for him!! Thank you for the sweet words too!
Ron says
I am not a cook but I had two loaves of French soft bread left from a function that was fast becoming stale. Chose this recipe for its simplicity and clear directions. Quadrupled the recipe with no trouble. Turned out great. Spouse said to save the recipe.
Jessica says
That’s amazing Ron! Thank you so much for sharing!
Shelby says
I’ve made this as the recipe calls for and just had it again but left out the cinnamon and added peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. Also made a peanut butter sauce to drizzle on top. AMAZING! Very sweet and rich but delicious. It is excellent as the base recipe but also fun to do different variations! Thank you for the recipe!
Jessica says
Oh shelby… a peanut butter bread pudding sounds incredible!! Thank you for sharing!
Ann says
I am confused….do you usually use both sauce options or do you choose just one? What is your preference?
Jessica says
Hi Ann! I usually just do one sauce but the bread pudding is so good even without a sauce! So it’s totally up to you!
Kristy Slaughter says
This is a fantastic recipe! I double it though because I enjoy it so much! Keep the recipes coming!
Jessica says
So sweet of you, Kristy! Thank you so much!