Mushroom Bread Pudding is a perfect option for a comforting, flavorful, and decadent weekend breakfast or brunch. This savory bread pudding is loaded with sautéed mushrooms, shallots, leeks, and garlic, and is flavored with earthy notes of rosemary and thyme. This comforting savory bread pudding tastes like the best mushroom soup!
Mushroom Bread Pudding
This mushroom bread pudding recipe is here just in time for holiday family gatherings! This is a family favorite breakfast recipe in my household. In fact, many members of my family have just started referencing this savory bread pudding as a “more comforting mushroom soup,” because it tastes just like mushroom soup… But with all the comforts of bread pudding!
If you’ve never had a savory bread pudding before, it’s time to change that with this easy to make recipe. The perfect medley of savory ingredients meld together with the bread to create a rich flavor palate that will keep you craving this bread pudding all year long, not just around the holiday season! Between the herbs, cheese, mushrooms, shallots (and so much more), it’s hard to deny yourself a second serving of this breakfast casserole.
Beyond just the beautiful savory flavor, the consistency of the bread pudding is truly enough to make your mouth water on all its own. If you’re a fan of traditionally sweet bread puddings, you’re going to love sinking your teeth into each perfect bite of this mushroom bread pudding! It’s just as moist, dense, and hearty as all of your other favorite bread pudding recipes.
Ingredients in Mushroom Bread Pudding
- Bread – I like to use an Italian loaf or French baguette. You can also use rustic country white bread or challah. Whichever bread you choose, be sure to get it from the bakery section of your store, as it will make a much tastier bread pudding.
- Olive Oil – Extra virgin will yield the most flavor.
- Shallots – Shallots has a delicately sweet flavor that go so well with all of the savory ingredients here! In a pinch though, a Vidalia onion is an adequate substitute.
- Leeks – You can either use two small leeks or one large one.
- Garlic – Fresh garlic is always best, and if you’d like to use a few extra cloves, go for it.
- Mushrooms – I like to use a combination of sliced baby bella and shiitake mushrooms for the best variety of texture and flavor.
- Butter – Unsalted works best for this recipe.
- Sherry – sherry pairs wonderfully with earthy flavor of mushrooms.
- Eggs
- Heavy Whipping Cream – To create the most decadent consistency, this ingredient shouldn’t be substituted.
- Vegetable Stock – You can make your own homemade Vegetable Stock for the best flavor!
- Herbs – Dried rosemary and thyme add the most delicious herbaceous notes to this bread pudding.
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Cheese – Sharp white cheddar cheese is the best, and be sure to freshly grate it yourself to the best results.
How to Make Mushroom Bread Pudding
Start off by chopping the bread into half inch cubes. Then, prepare a baking dish and set it aside as the oven preheats and you prepare the other ingredients.
Sauté the shallots and leeks first until they’re softened, then add the pressed garlic and cook until fragrant. Once fragrant, toss in the mushrooms and season with a pinch of salt. Stir the mushrooms until cooked, then add the butter.
Remove the pan from the heat and make a small well in the center of the pan, where you’ll then add the sherry. Place back on the heat and let simmer. Stir to coat the mushrooms, then remove from the heat once more.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, stock, and seasonings together.
Next, spread the bread evenly in the prepared dish. Then spread the mushroom mixture over the bread, followed by the freshly grated cheese, which will then be topped off by the egg mixture.
Press on the bread gently to help it absorb the eggs mixture. To help even further with this soaking process, allow the bread pudding to sit on the counter for about 10 minutes prior to baking.
Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes, then let cool, and enjoy!
Can I make it ahead of time?
Yes, you sure can! Just put the whole thing together in the baking dish, then cover it airtight with plastic wrap and pop it in the refrigerator. Make it the night before or even up to one day before. With that in mind, don’t prep it any more than 1 day before you plan on serving it.
To bake it the next day, take the baking dish out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter while the oven is preheating. Remove all the plastic wrap and bake as instructed. You may need to add about 5 minutes to the cooking time since you are baking the pudding cold, but it should still be good as new.
Can I make less?
This recipe is perfect for large family gatherings! However, if you don’t need that much bread pudding, you can easily half the recipe and use a 2-2.5 quart baking dish, or even an 8×8 dish. The baking time won’t be affected because you are using a smaller dish, since the thickness of the bread pudding is still the same.
How do I know when mushroom bread pudding is done?
You can always touch the middle of the pudding and see how jiggly it is. If the middle hasn’t baked through yet, it will be quite jiggly and it even might feel a little squishy. If it starts to feel firm and yields when you gently press into it, it is fully cooked. I also like to check the internal temperature in the center of bread pudding and aim for 170°F-175°F.
Don’t Miss Other Bread Pudding Recipes!
Ham Leek and Cheese Bread Pudding – Savory bread pudding made with ham, leeks, and dill flavored Havarti cheese.
Savory Tomato Basil Bread Pudding – This delicious savory bread pudding is loaded with tomatoes and fresh basil.
Bananas Foster Bread Pudding – Rich, scrumptious bread pudding dessert made with wonderful bananas foster flavors.
Apple Pie Bread Pudding – Comforting apple bread pudding made with easy homemade apple pie filling.
Mushroom Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 14 oz Italian loaf or challah, or rustic white bread
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 shallots sliced
- 2 small leeks or 1 large, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves pressed
- 1 lb baby bella mushrooms sliced
- 10 oz shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup sherry
- 8 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1/2 tsp dried crushed rosemary
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/3-1 tsp salt to taste
- 1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper to taste
- 8 oz sharp white cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
About 24 hours before making bread pudding:
- Cut bread into ½ inch cubes and spread it out on a large baking sheet. Leave it out to get stale for about a day.
Cooking mushrooms:
- Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a 9×13 casserole baking dish with butter all over the bottom and up the sides.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat and add oil. Sauté shallots and leeks until softened and start to brown and then add pressed garlic. Sauté just until garlic is fragrant.
- Add sliced mushrooms and season them with a little bit of salt. (Not too much because egg mixture already has salt.)
- Cook mushrooms, stirring from time to time, until completely cooked. Add butter, let it melt, and stir it in with mushrooms.
- Take the pan off heat, make a little well in the center of mushrooms and add sherry. Place the pan back on the stove and let it simmer for a minute or so. Stir mushrooms to coat and take off heat.
- White eggs, heavy whipping cream, stock, and seasoning together and set aside.
Cooking bread pudding:
- Spread stale bread in the prepared baking dish evenly.
- Spread cooked mushroom mixture over the bread and nestle some in between bread cubes.
- Spread grated cheddar cheese over the top and evenly pour the egg mixture all over.
- Gently press on the bread to help it soak up the mixture. Let everything sit on the counter about 10-15 minute before baking.
- Bake bread pudding for 40-45 minutes. (If the top is browning too fast, you can cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil half way through or so.)
Notes
Nutrition
Barbara Zuleski says
Simply wonderful, this has become a family favorite
Pat says
Yum!