On your hunt for a quick and easy dessert recipe, you might have come across the good old bread pudding, and that’s for a simple reason. There’s practically no other classic, no-fail recipe that works so wonderfully as this one!
It takes just a few minutes and a handful of pantry staples to put it together, and when it is drenched in the buttery, caramel-y delicious sauce, it can quickly put you into a food coma.
Tempted enough to give the recipe a try? Scroll down and keep reading to discover everything you need to know about making it the right way.
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Ingredients For the Recipe
You’ll need two sets of ingredients to make the bread pudding.
- Bread (cut into cubes): 6 cups
- Eggs: 3
- Cream: ½ cup
- Milk: 1 cup
- Sweetened condensed milk: ¼ cup
- Brown sugar: ¼ cup
- Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
- Cinnamon: ½ tsp
- Nutmeg: A pinch
- Salt: ½ tsp
- Mixed Nuts (chopped): 1 cup
For the sauce
- Brown sugar: ½ cup
- Butter: 3 tbsps
- Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
- Milk: 2 tbsps
Kitchen Tools Needed
How to Make the Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Once you have all your ingredients and kitchen tools ready, here’s what you need to do to make the pudding from scratch.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, condensed milk, milk, vanilla essence, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Add the bread cubes next into the whisked mixture and coat the bread pieces well.
Top it with some chopped nuts.
Keep it aside for 20 minutes.
Next, preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a baking tray with butter or oil.
Place the soaked bread cubes mixture on the tray and spread them evenly.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until you see the top become toasted.
For the sauce, heat the ingredients on a pan and keep stirring continuously to form a thick sauce.
Once the bread pudding is ready, remove it from the oven. Pour the sauce over the baked pudding.
Cut a slice of the pudding and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
While you can use practically any kind of bread you prefer for this bread pudding recipe, this recipe is actually an excellent way to use up any stale bread that you might have. Brioche, challah, sourdough, or your classic French loaf can work best if you’re still confused about which specific bread to use. Got leftover hot dog buns? You can actually use them too!
White sugar is the simplest, easiest replacement for brown sugar. If you’re too keen on using processed sugar and are looking for a natural sweetener instead, maple syrup, honey, agave, and coconut sugar are your best bets. You can, of course, also choose to use
While the beauty of this classic bread pudding recipe is the fact that it uses simple ingredients, you can always go the extra mile and throw in some add-ons based on what you prefer.
Golden raisins, dried apricots, pecans, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, and chopped pistachios are all excellent additions. They can add a nice textural difference and a pop of flavor to the pudding. You can also just stick to the basics and add chocolate chips or caramel chips. 
Yes, you definitely can! If you loved how the pudding turned out, and want to whip it up for some friends or guests coming over, you can actually completely bake it up to 2 days in advance. Just remember to allow the pudding to cool down completely, cover the dish up with cling wrap or foil and then refrigerate it.
Then, when you want to serve it, just unwrap it and microwave it until it is hot all the way through.
Your leftover banana pudding can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. You can store it in the same baking dish (just cover it up with cling wrap before you do) or transfer it to an airtight container to keep it fresh and soft.
The leftovers (or batch of pudding) can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Then, before you plan to serve it, thaw it completely and then bake it once again for a few minutes in a preheated oven, or just microwave it.
Tips to Make the Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Think you’re ready to give this decadent recipe a shot? Wait up! Take note of these little tricks and hacks to ensure you get it spot on!
- If you don’t have condensed milk, you can make do with the same amount of evaporated milk instead.
- Don’t have stale bread that you could use for this recipe? Cut the bread into cubes and let them brown slightly in a preheated oven, allow them to cool down and then use them for the recipe.
- Got some berries? You can throw them into the bread pudding mixture and top the pudding with some berry sauce or a vanilla drizzle.
- To give the pudding a nice, summery flavor, add some lemon zest (or orange zest) into the pudding mix, and top it with a classic vanilla butter glaze, again with the zest.
- Don’t really want to spend all that time making the caramel sauce from scratch? You can use store-bought caramel sauce instead, or just use chocolate sauce- it’ll taste just as delicious.
Serving Ideas & Suggestions
Your fresh-out-of-the-oven bread pudding tastes best when served as is, along with some extra caramel sauce on the side of course! You can also team it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a spritz of whipped cream if you really want to go the extra mile.
This bread pudding can also be served cold, especially if you’re enjoying it on a warm summer day.
Loved how delicious and easy this bread pudding recipe was? On the lookout for some more such fun recipes to try out? Pick any of these and get started!
Easy Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pudding
- 6 cups Bread (cut into cubes)
- 3 pcs Eggs
- ½ cup Cream
- 1 cup Milk
- ¼ cup Sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ cup Brown sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla essence
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- 1 pinch Nutmeg
- ½ ts[p Salt
- 1 cup Mixed Nuts (chopped)
Ingredients for the sauce
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla essence
- 2 tbsp Milk
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, condensed milk, milk, vanilla essence, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.3 pcs Eggs, ½ cup Cream, 1 cup Milk, ¼ cup Sweetened condensed milk, ¼ cup Brown sugar, 1 tsp Vanilla essence, ½ tsp Cinnamon, 1 pinch Nutmeg, ½ ts[p Salt
- Add the bread cubes next into the whisked mixture and coat the bread pieces well.6 cups Bread
- Keep it aside for 20 minutes.
- Next, preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a baking tray with butter or oil.
- Place the soaked bread cubes mixture on the tray and spread them evenly.
- Top it with some chopped nuts.1 cup Mixed Nuts
- Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until you see the top become toasted.
- For the sauce, heat the ingredients on a pan and keep stirring continuously to form a thick sauce.½ cup Brown sugar, 3 tbsp Butter, 1 tsp Vanilla essence, 2 tbsp Milk
- Once the bread pudding is ready, remove it from the oven. Pour the sauce over the baked pudding.
- Cut a slice of the pudding and serve.
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