The BEST Bread Pudding Recipe - Old Fashioned Recipe (With Video!) (2024)

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, 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!

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

Look at these easy ingredients… I mean, you probably already have all, if not almost all, of the ingredients on hand!

• 6slices(or about 4-5 cups of broken bread pieces or cubes) of stale breadbuns, french bread, rolls, donuts, challah bread, toast, or another type of bread
• 3Tablespoonsof butter1 tablespoon + 2 Tbsp
• 4Beaten eggs
• 2cupsmilk (or feel free to try half & half or heavy cream if that’s what you have!)
• 3/4cup sugar
• 1teaspoonvanilla extract
• 1teaspoonground 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 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

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
2. 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.

3. Toss the bread into the buttered dish.

4. Melt your remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and drizzle melted butter over bread pieces and set aside.

5. Next, in a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.

6. 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

7. Toss that baby in the oven and let it bake the bread mixture uncovered for 40-45 minutes at 350º.

FAQs and Expert Tips:

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 Buttery 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.

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