Warm and soft spice-soaked bread pudding with a deliciously sweet vanilla drizzle is a comforting treat for either breakfast or dessert.
Why this recipe works
Bread pudding is not in fact pudding, it’s a tasty dessert (or breakfast) that uses stale bread, warm spices, eggs, butter, and buttermilk that’s served with a sweet sauce on top. The sauce for this bread pudding is a creamy sweet vanilla sauce. It’s similar to a buttermilk syrup but thicker. It is a nice compliment to the traditional cinnamon and nutmeg flavors in the bread pudding.
This bread pudding recipe is a great base to add in dried fruit or nuts. Simply add about a cup of fruit or nuts evenly throughout the mixture and bake. We go back and forth between ham and cheese breakfast casserole and bread pudding for holiday mornings. It’s a comforting recipe that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Ingredients you will need
Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.
Ingredient Info and Substitution Suggestions
BREAD – We used traditional French bread, but sourdough, challah, or even raisin bread would work wonderfully. Bread pudding uses stale bread but if you only have fresh bread on hand, all you have to do is cube it and pop it into the oven to dry it out. We want to use stale bread or dried-out bread so it soaks up plenty of the cream mixture giving it more flavor and a softer texture.
CREAM – You may substitute whole milk for the buttermilk and salted butter for the unsalted butter. If you do use salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe.
SAUCE – You can substitute the vanilla sauce with caramel. Both ways are delicious!
How to Make Bread Pudding
These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. You can Jump to Recipe to get the printable version of this recipe, complete with measurements and instructions at the bottom.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13” glass baking dish and set aside.
- Whisk eggs in a large mixing bowl until they are frothy. Add the cream, butter, buttermilk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, salt, and brown sugar. Whisk to combine mixture – it will be slightly lumpy.
- Slice French bread into 1” cubes and spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
EXPERT TIP – If you do not have stale bread, cube the bread and place it on a baking sheet. Pop it in the oven at 350F for around 10-15 minutes.
- Pour the cream mixture over the bread and stir gently to distribute the ingredients evenly.
- Leave the dish to sit for 10-15 minutes until the bread has absorbed the cream mixture.
- Bake for 1 hour until the top of the bread pudding is golden brown and no wetness is visible seeping up through the top layer. The bread pudding should bounce back slightly when pressed.
- While the bread pudding is cooking, prepare the sauce.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup heavy cream, granulated sugar, and flour. Add the butter to the mixture and heat over medium until the butter melts completely and the mixture begins to simmer and thicken.
- Remove from heat and whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.
- Pour sauce over the bread pudding, slice, and serve warm.
Frequently Asked Questions & Expert Tips
Yes, you can absolutely prepare it a day ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. The longer it sits, the more the wet ingredients will soak into your bread making it even softer.
When properly stored with an air-tight lid or tightly wrapped with plastic wrap, bread pudding will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave.
Serving Suggestions
Bread pudding is a staple around the holidays. Enjoy it warm for breakfast or dessert. It can also be enjoyed at room temperature or chilled. This recipe is exceptionally easy to prepare ahead of time to be stored in the refrigerator before baking, which is always handy on Christmas morning.
Other sauce options include raisin sauce, caramel sauce, warm syrup, or lemon sauce.
More Sweet Bread and Cake Recipes
- Monkey Bread
- Crescent Danish Wreath
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Blueberry Breakfast Cake
- Chocolate Babka
- Cherry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
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Bread Pudding
IMPORTANT – There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 cups buttermilk or whole milk
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 16 oz french bread cubed, day old or dried-out in the oven
Vanilla Sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Things You’ll Need
Before You Begin
- If you do not have stale bread, cube the bread and place it on a baking sheet. Pop it in the oven at 350F for around 10-15 minutes. You don’t want to crust the bread too much, just remove the moisture from it.
- We used traditional French bread, but sourdough, challah, or even raisin bread would work wonderfully.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13” glass baking dish and set aside.
- Whisk eggs in a large mixing bowl until they are frothy. Add the cream, butter, buttermilk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, salt, and brown sugar. Whisk to combine mixture – it will be slightly lumpy.
- Slice French bread into 1” cubes and spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
- Pour the cream mixture over the bread and stir gently to distribute the ingredients evenly.
- Leave the dish to sit for 10-15 minutes until the bread has absorbed the cream mixture.
- Bake for 1 hour until the top of the bread pudding is golden brown and no wetness is visible seeping up through the top layer. The bread pudding should bounce back slightly when pressed.
- While the bread pudding is cooking, prepare the sauce.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup heavy cream, granulated sugar, and flour. Add the butter to the mixture and heat over medium until the butter melts completely and the mixture begins to simmer and thicken.
- Remove from heat and whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.
- Pour sauce over the bread pudding, slice, and serve warm.
Nutrition
Amanda Davis
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Isabel Bettencourt says
Excellent I’ve made it three times and my family begs for more
Dani says
I made this for a BBQ last weekend and got rave reviews! Thank you, this one is a keeper!