Learn how to make old-fashioned bread pudding with vanilla sauce! Baked in a 9×9 pan, this easy make-ahead recipe turns stale bread into a cozy weekend brunch or weeknight dessert.
I get so many comments on my popular French toast casserole, asking, “Isn’t this just bread pudding?” While they share a similar custard base, bread pudding is sweeter, richer, and served as a true dessert with raisins. It’s also drizzled with a warm stovetop vanilla sauce that’s perfectly thickened using a cornstarch slurry.
Why Make My Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe
- Uses Everyday Pantry Staples: Made with simple ingredients like milk, eggs, cinnamon, and sugar.
- Flexible Bread Options: Whether you opt for a rich loaf like I do in my brioche French toast casserole, or you simply need to use up day-old sandwich bread, this recipe turns out delicious either way.
- Easy Customizations: If you don’t like raisins, you can omit them entirely or swap in fresh berries inspired by this blueberry French toast casserole!
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Giving the bread time to soak only makes it taste better! This recipe is written for a 9×9 pan, but you can easily double the ingredients to scale it up to a 9×13 pan to feed a crowd.
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- Bread – You can use a rich brioche loaf, challah, or French bread. But honestly, standard white sandwich bread has never let me down. Whichever bread you choose, I do recommend using stale, day-old bread that’s dried out; that said, I’ve used fresh bread in a pinch, and it turned out just fine.
- Raisins – Use dried raisins or dried cranberries. Alternatively, you can also use fresh berries. If you like a little crunch, sprinkle on some chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, or sliced almonds!
- Custard Base – For the egg custard mix, you’ll need cane sugar, light brown sugar, sea salt, ground cinnamon, whole eggs, whole milk, and vanilla extract.
- Vanilla Sauce – The stovetop vanilla sauce is thickened with a cornstarch slurry. You’ll also need salted butter, cane sugar, some salt, heavy cream and a little more vanilla extract.
How to Make Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding With Vanilla Sauce
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Before getting started, butter or grease a 9×9 baking dish. Finally, slice your bread into cubes so that everything is ready to go.
Layer the Cubed Bread Base
- Start by placing the cubed bread into your baking dish, and drizzle with the melted butter.
- Scatter the raisins evenly over the bread cubes.
Soak the Bread
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract ’til well beaten.
- Then whisk the sugar mixture into the egg mixture ’til the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour the custard evenly over the bread and raisins, and then let it soak for 15-20 minutes.
Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes. Bread pudding is done when it’s set, golden-brown on top, and it no longer jiggles when gently shaken.
Add the Vanilla Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to form a slurry. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low to medium heat
- Then whisk in the sugar, salt, and cream.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, and then whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
Cook the sauce 1 to 2 minutes more, whisking constantly ’til slightly thickened. Then remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
That’s it! It’s time to dig into your bread pudding. Plate it with vanilla sauce spooned generously over each serving.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
This tends to happen more when using fresh bread. Because it’s softer and more moist, fresh bread won’t hold up to the custard quite as well as bread that is more stale and dried out.
Yes, you can use fresh bread. The best way to do this is to dry it out on a baking sheet in the oven at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes to get the same effect as stale bread. However, I have used fresh bread without drying it many times, and my bread pudding has always turned out just fine if you don’t mind it being a little bit on the wet side.
Yes, you can make it the night before. Make it just like normal, and then let it soak overnight in the fridge before baking. Then make the vanilla sauce fresh right before serving.
Yes, it needs to be refrigerated due to the milk and egg custard base. Just cover with cling wrap or aluminum foil. When you’re ready to serve, reheat it in the oven at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes or ’til heated thru.
Yes, you can freeze it baked or unbaked. Then let it thaw overnight in fridge before reheating. Bake it according to the instructions in the recipe card below, or reheat in the oven at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes.
More Warm & Cozy Desserts You’ll Love
- Easy Old Fashioned Apple Crisp
- Mom’s Baked Custard
- Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls
- Peach Cobbler in a Cast Iron Skillet
- Dutch Oven Cherry Cobbler
Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 ounces bread cubed*
- 2 tablespoons salted butter melted
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Sauce
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Butter or grease a 9×9 baking dish.
- Place the cubed bread into the prepared baking dish, and drizzle with the melted butter.
- Scatter the raisins evenly over the bread cubes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs 'til well beaten.
- Whisk the milk and vanilla extract into the eggs.
- Then whisk the sugar mixture into the egg mixture 'til the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour the custard evenly over the bread and raisins, pressing down gently with the spatula, so the bread is submerged. Let the bread pudding soak for 15-20 minutes, so the bread has time to absorb the custard.
- Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes until set, golden on top, and the center no longer jiggles. Remove from the oven and allow to cool while you make the sauce.
Vanilla Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together the corn starch and water to form a slurry. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over low to medium heat, melt the butter.
- Then whisk in the sugar, salt, and cream.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer; then whisk in the slurry.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly, 'til the mixture has thickened. (The sauce will be quite thin, but it will thicken more as it cools.)
- Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Serve the bread pudding warm, with the vanilla sauce spooned generously over each serving.
