Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe (2024)

Who doesn’t love a great Old Fashioned Bread Pudding recipe? No other dessert makes me feel as homey as bread pudding and this one is amazing!

Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe

Enjoy this guest post from Hilary! Want to guest post on LHL? See here for details.

When I was starting to create my first home, I moved eight hours away from my family. Every time I would get homesick, I made bread pudding. I spent several weekend evenings cubing up loaves of cheap white bread and trying to bake up the familiar taste of home.

I still love bread pudding after much has changed since those nights in my apartment. Through the years, I’ve learned how to make the perfect bread pudding. I don’t make it as often as I did, but I enjoy a much better-tasting bread pudding when I do.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned along the way that will help you make a delicious bread pudding from the start.

Choosing bread for your pudding

The key to a good bread pudding is choosing a good bread. I like to use a loaf of homemade bread, but specialty bread, like cinnamon swirl, is good too. Be sure you choose a yeast bread – a quick bread won’t work for this recipe.

It helps if the bread you use for this homemade bread pudding is stale. If your bread is still fresh, you can simply toast it a little in the oven. After it’s toasted (or stale), cube the bread and set them aside.

What’s a water bath?

For this recipe, we’re going to be using a water bath. This process is used in baking to prevent some foods from cracking or as in this case, becoming rubbery.

Make sure you choose a baking dish for your bread pudding that will fit inside of another dish.

Creating a water bath is an easy process. Nestle your baking dish inside a larger dish, then carefully pour water into the outside baking dish. Being careful not to spill, place the two dishes in your oven and bake according to the directions. Be especially careful when taking the hot dishes out of the oven when the baking is finished to prevent splashing that can burn you.

Choosing add-ins

Bread pudding is tasty just with good bread and cinnamon sugar. But add-ins can create a fantastic taste. Here are some delicious add ins you could try:

• Chocolate chips
• Raisins
• Toffee Chips
• Walnuts
• Banana slices
• Berries
• Chopped Apples

Now that we’ve got some of the basics out of the way, let’s get started baking!

Ingredients in Old-Fashioned Homemade Bread Pudding

• Butter. You can use salted or unsalted but if you used salted you can leave out the salt in the rest of the recipe. A vegan buttery spread would work in place of regular butter if needed.
• Milk. This works best with a whole milk (even cream!) but you can also use a milk alternative for a dairy free version.
• Eggs. These are essential and help keep everything together!
• Sugar. Regular white sugar is needed for this recipe. I haven’t tried it with any alternatives.
• Vanilla extract. This can be Homemade Vanilla Extract or store bought.
• Cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves. These are your needed spices for this recipe.
• Cubed bread. This can be homemade or store-bought but a good hearty bread is necessary!

Instructions for How to Make Bread Pudding

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease a casserole dish. (Remember to choose one that will sit down inside of another one for the water bath baking process.)

Heat 2¼ cups milk and ¼ cup butter over medium heat to get started.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 eggs, ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a sprinkle of nutmeg and cloves.

Cube the loaf of bread and arrange it in a casserole dish. Stir in the egg mixture, then pour the warm milk mixture over the bread cubes.

Place the casserole dish inside of a larger dish and pour water into the larger dish to create a water bath.

Carefully place the two dishes into the oven and bake for 40 minutes.

Extra Frugal Tip: You know I’m always looking for ways to make the most with what I have and save money, so I wanted to pass on this frugal tip! You can save your unused bread and bread heels to use in this recipe! Just pop them in the freezer and save them until you’ve collected the equivalent of a loaf (about 6 cups) and pull them out to make a delicious (and frugal!) bread pudding!

More Old Fashioned Recipes

• Mom’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
• Old Fashioned Cheese Squares Recipe
• Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe
• Old Fashioned Potato Salad Recipe
• Old Fashioned Scalloped Potatoes
• Recipe for Chicken Pot Pie
• Homemade Muffin Mix Recipe

Have you made bread pudding before? What food brings you the taste of home?

Guest Post from HilaryBernstein. Hilary is a Christ follower, wife, mama and writer who believes homemaking should be simple … not stressful. She writes about creating a happy, healthy home at HilaryBernstein.com. Hilary is also the author of several healthy living eBooks.

This Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe was originally posted on Little House Living in November 2015. It has been updated as of September 2023.