New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
The holidays aren’t complete without a little Southern Bread Pudding with bourbon sauce. It’s a classic dessert we serve every Christmas and in March during Mardi Gras! It seems very fancy when you’re serving it…our little secret…this simple bread pudding recipe is very easy to make!
You’ll find this decadent dessert on just about every restaurant menu in New Orleans. Some versions are very dense, while others are a little more fluffy. This recipe is fluffy, not dense and, if you don’t care for raisins, no problem! Leave ’em out!
DID YOU KNOW? Bread pudding is originally from Europe and was considered “poor man’s food”- stale bread, soaked in a seasoned milk and egg mixture then baked in a casserole dish.
Ingredients
6 cups of cubed stale white bread, (I use stale French bread), milk, half-n-half, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, butter, sugar and whiskey bourbon (not pictured)
If you’ve ever had a chance to have a bowl of Louisiana gumbo or Shrimp Etouffee at Commander’s Palace, then you’ll understand why New Orleans bread pudding is perfect after a rich savory Cajun or Creole meal! The fluffiness and sweetness offsets the rich flavors in the entree and makes for the perfect sweet treat after a delicious meal.
How to make it
This recipe relies on steam and oven heat to bake it to a nice golden brown.
- Get two casserole dishes; one for the bread pudding and a larger one for the water bath; butter the smaller dish and set these aside
- Slice dried bread into 1/2 “inch cubes and set aside
- In a small bowl, combine half-n-half (or heavy cream), sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and raisins (optional)
- Add the dry bread and soak for one hour; after the bread has soaked for an hour, heat oven to 350°F
- Transfer to buttered baking dish, bake and make the sauce
Ingredients for Bourbon Sauce
See Recipe Notes in the Recipe Card below for a “no booze” Vanilla sauce
Butter, sugar, eggs, a pinch of salt and whiskey or bourbon (or rum, if you prefer), vanilla extract.
How to make the bourbon sauce
- Use a double boiler and melt butter in a small saucepan on low heat; remove from heat and allow to cool about 10-minutes
- Combine sugar and eggs in separate bowl
- Gradually add sugar mixture to melted butter off heat – this means, remove the saucepan off the stovetop
- Once all the sugar mixture has been added to the melted butter, return the saucepan back to the double boiler and continue cooking until most of the sugar is dissolved
- When sugar is dissolved; remove from heat and allow to cool a bit
- Add whiskey and vanilla extract; stir and drizzle over the soaked bread mixture
What is bread pudding?
Bread pudding is a bread-based custard, typically with warm seasonings of cinnamon and nutmeg. It often includes currants (raisins) and is often served with warm liquor-based sauce such as whiskey sauce, bourbon sauce, or a hard sauce (caramel sauce).
What kind of bourbon whiskey to use for bread pudding sauce
You can make the sauce with any kind of bourbon whiskey – it doesn’t have to be “high-end” or fancy. We use Kentucky Straight Bourbon for this recipe because we like to have a sip while we’re making the whiskey sauce.
Tips for bread pudding
- Cut the stale bread into 1/2″ inch cubes; you’ll need 6 cups of cubed bread
- Use an 8 x 8″ baking dish (2-quart) for the pudding; you’ll need a larger dish for the hot-water bath (bain marie)
- Ovens vary, so check the center with a knife after about 40-minutes
- Place on middle rack in hot-water bath; this helps the custard set-up and keeps the top from getting too crispy
Tips for the bourbon sauce
- The sauce cooks for about 10-minutes on low heat. You have to work on super-low heat and work in increments.
- While the butter is off heat, gradually add in the sugar/egg mixture in increments, stirring well between
- After about 8-10 minutes, most of the sugar is dissolved; remove from heat and allow to cool before adding the whiskey and vanilla extract
Make ahead and reheating
You can make Southern bread pudding with bourbon sauce up to three days in advance. Store baked the pudding in the fridge tightly covered with foil or plastic wrap.
To reheat the pudding, set the oven to 300ºF, cover the dish with foil, and bake 25-minutes, until the center is warm.
To reheat the sauce, place it in a saucepan on low heat and stir until the sugars are dissolved and the whiskey sauce is smooth and warm.
If you can’t get to The Crescent City, take a few minutes to prepare this delicious bread pudding with bourbon sauce! Your friends and family will love this delicious dessert and it will become a family favorite in no time!
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- Gingerbread Bundt Cake
- Homemade Whipped Cream
- Microwave Peanut Brittle
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a rating and comment! I love to hear from you!
New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
Equipment
- 8" x 8" inch baking pan (2 quart pan)
- 9 x 13" pan to hold water
Ingredients
Bread Pudding Ingredients
- 6 cups dried bread; cut into ½" cubes , cubed; (one long skinny French baguette or 3 7-inch hoagie rolls or 1/2 a loaf of Italian bread)
- 1 tablespoon butter , to coat baking dish
- 1 cup half-n-half
- 1½ cups milk , whole (you can use 2%)
- 4 whole large eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
Bourbon Sauce Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 whole egg
- 2-3 tablespoons bourbon, whiskey or rum (See recipe notes)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Cut bread into cubes (you need about 6 cups of cubed bread total)6 cups dried bread; cut into ½" cubes
- In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, half n half, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon and raisins1 cup half-n-half, 1½ cups milk, 4 whole large eggs, 2 cups granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg, 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 cup raisins (optional)
- Pour mixture over bread; coat well; allow to rest for 1 hour (stir occasionally)
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Lightly butter an 8 x 8" baking pan and place it in a 9 x 13" pan1 tablespoon butter
- Pour soaked bread and milk mixture into 8 x 8" greased pan
- Place both pans in oven on the middle rack, uncovered; add water to the larger baking dish and bake 45-60 minutes on 350ºF until center is set (test with knife)
- While the bread pudding is baking make the sauce; melt one stick of butter in a double boiler on super low heat; Note: you do NOT want the butter to foam; once melted, remove from heat; set aside1 stick butter
- In a bowl, combine sugar and egg1 cup sugar, 1 whole egg
- Off heat, gradually add sugar/egg combination to melted butter, stirring constantly; return pan back to low heat; continue stirring; as sugar begins to dissolve, you can turn the heat up a little; when sugar is dissolved, remove pan from heat and set aside; allow to cool a little before the next step
- Stir in a tablespoon of booze and taste the sauce. If you want more booze, add it in tablespoon increments. Add vanilla extract; stir; add salt to taste2-3 tablespoons bourbon, whiskey or rum (See recipe notes), ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch salt
Notes
- If you’re making this for a big group, I recommend you double the recipe and bake it in a 9 x 13″ pan.
- If you use a 9 X 13″ pan, you’re going to need a bigger pan to put the water in…get one of those aluminum pans at the grocery store, but be careful when removing it from the oven–take the 9 x 13″ pan out first; then the aluminum pan with hot water
- 3-7″inch hoagies
- 1 skinny French baguette
- 1/2 loaf of Italian bread
- Use a double-boiler to make the sauce
- Allow the butter to cool slightly off-heat before adding the sugar/egg mixture, otherwise, the eggs will cook
- Add the sugar/egg mixture in increments, not all at once–stirring constantly
- Once all the sugar/egg mixture is combined, return the saucepan to the stove on low heat; stir, stir, stir…you’ll begin to see the sugar dissolve
- Once you see the mixture becoming less grainy, you can turn the heat up a little
- After mixture is relatively smooth and not too grainy, remove from heat; allow to cool about 10-minutes before adding the whiskey
