The BEST Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe You’ve Ever Had!

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Confession Time:

I have a HUGE weak spot for an old fashioned bread pudding recipe. The sweet and gooey goodness does me in. Every. Single. Time. Although I’m a health and wellness blogger and pride myself on sharing healthy and nutritious recipes, this one ain’t. So if you’re looking for a healthy version of bread pudding, keep searching, and good luck!

Although it may not pass for healthy, not even a tiny bit, it is definitely a dessert that’s worth every single loving calorie.

There is a reason it is a Thueson family favorite, and why I make this only one time a year!

So grab your stretchy pants, and let’s make this heavenly homemade bread pudding dessert. I guarantee you’ll savor and love every delicious, warm, gooey bite.

The first step is to “stale” your bread which can be done a couple of ways. You can tear up your loaf of bread into bite-size pieces or cut them into bread cubes into 1-inch cubes and lay them out on a baking sheet overnight or if you forgot to stale your bread. Or you can heat oven to 250 degrees, throw them into the oven, and let it cook for 10-15 minutes. Day-old bread works best and delivers the best results, but the other way works in a pinch.

As seen above, once the bread is nice, crusty, and stale, you can add it to a 9×13 baking dish. I recommend good french bread as you would use in a french toast recipe, but any leftover bread can work. I also gave had success with raisin bread and challah breads.

I am not faking that smile; I am super excited about this. Add your sugar, milk, eggnog, eggs, vanilla extract, and spices all together in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.

Once the ingredients are combined, pour over the dry bread and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Combine bread and egg mixture until all your lovely bread is nice and coated.

Next, in a small bowl, you’ll mix your brown sugar, pecans, and butter to make the topping that will melt and make the perfect gooey top!

Coat the top of your bread pudding with your mixture and admire how flipping good it’s starting to look. Now comes the most challenging and worst part – putting it in the oven and having to wait 35-45 minutes for it to cook. Go turn on a Hallmark movie and get lost in the latest adventures of an overworked woman who hasn’t had a chance to fall in love and happens to meet the perfect man weeks before Christmas.

During the last few minutes of baking, you can make the bread pudding sauce. Melt the butter and add sugar until well dissolved in a heavy saucepan. Then whisk in the egg quickly because if you don’t, you might end up with very sweet scrambled eggs, which would be extremely sad. Once mixed, remove from heat and add your vanilla and rum extract or real rum if you happen to have it on hand. I’m not a drinker, so I opted for the extract, which provides a nice rich buttery goodness.

Then comes the pour. Pour your sauce over your warm pudding. Come on; if you didn’t drool just a bit, then we can’t be friends. HA!

I just wanted to throw this photo out there as well, cause, come on…look at the beauty of this! Now comes my favorite part–digging in! In my humble opinion, this dessert is best served warm with a dollop of fresh whipped heavy whipping cream or vanilla ice cream. It’s also acceptable to eat cold, but trust me, warm and gooey is where it’s at.

5 from 7 votes

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Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe

The ooey gooey bread pudding of your dreams. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Dessert

Prep Time 1 day

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 12

Author Andie

Ingredients

For The Bread Pudding

• 2 cup sugar
• 5 Eggs
• 1 Cup Milk
• 1 Cup Eggnog
• 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Loaf French Bread
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Nutmeg

For the Brown Sugar Topping

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Butter 1/2 Stick
• 1 Cup Pecans Chopped

For The Sauce

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Egg Beaten
• 1/2 Cup Butter 1 Stick
• 2 Tsp Vanilla
• 1 Tsp Rum Extract

Instructions

For The Bread Pudding

1. Tear one loaf of french bread into 1-inch pieces or bite-size pieces and let stale overnight. When ready, add stale bread to a 9×13 casserole dish.

2. Mix sugar, eggs, eggnog and, milk in a large mixing bowl. Add vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

3. Pour milk mixture over bread mixture and let sit for 10-15 minutes; stir a bit to ensure bread is well coated. 

Brown Sugar Crumble

1. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar softened butter and pecans. Spread mixture over bread pudding before baking

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes 

Sauce

1.  During the last few minutes of baking, gather your sauce ingredients. Start by melting the butter, then add sugar until dissolved. Add beaten egg and whisk together quickly over medium heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla and rum extract, rum, or bourbon.

2. Pour sauce over the warm dish as it comes out of the oven. This dish tastes best served warm. To serve plate on individual dessert dishes with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, then drizzle with a bit of caramel sauce and this simple homestead recipe becomes a show stopper!

To store, keep in an airtight container or cover and refrigerate for 1-2 weeks if it lasts that long. 😆

There are quite a few steps with this recipe, so it’s time-consuming, but it is a REALLY easy recipe with simple ingredients. This classic old fashioned bread pudding recipe is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. I always get asked for the recipe whenever I bring it to Christmas parties or when I have guests over. It is truly my favorite Christmas treat and one that I look forward to the most every year. It has definitely become a Thueson family Christmas tradition.

Happy Cooking!

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