New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

Whiskey sauce drizzled over bread pudding in fluted glass bowl

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5 from 11 votes

New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

A Louisiana Classic! Homemade bread pudding with a flavorful custard served with warm whiskey bourbon sauce

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Time to soak bread1

Total Time2 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French, Irish

Servings: servings

Calories: 687kcal

Author: Anecia Hero

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 raisins
1 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" pan
1 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 aside
1 stick butter
In a bowl, combine sugar and egg
1 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 taste
2-3 tablespoons bourbon, whiskey or rum (See recipe notes), ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch salt

Notes

Serving/Portions:

This recipe makes a full 8 x 8" (2 quart) pan of bread pudding; the number of servings depends upon the size spoon you use. I used a standard serving spoon (not a teaspoon) and got anywhere from 12 - 16 servings.

Pan Size:

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

Bread:

You'll need 6 cups of cubed bread. This is equivalent to:

3-7"inch hoagies
1 skinny French baguette
1/2 loaf of Italian bread

Make the cubes small--bite size-about 1/2"inch

If the bread isn't dried, the result will be a very dense (mushy) bread pudding; for best results, dry the bread by leaving it out on the counter for a few days or, if time isn't on your side, cut the bread into small cubes, place in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake at 250 - 300°F for 20-40 minutes on the middle oven rack.

Milk/Cream:

This recipe calls for milk (whole) and half-n-half. If you only have 2% milk, use that. If you don't have half-n-half, use heavy cream in the same proportion as the half-n-half.

Bourbon Sauce:

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

Don't want liquor in sauce? No problem!

If you don't want liquor in your sauce, just omit it and make a Vanilla sauce by substituting the booze with vanilla extract. Add it in small increments until it tastes how you want it to taste.

Nutrition