Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Homemade Caramel
Pumpkin Bread Pudding drizzled with Homemade Caramel sauce is a flavorful, rich, and decadent weekend breakfast and brunch! It’s spiced with pumpkin spice and cinnamon, which goes perfectly with pumpkin and caramel. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or just a generous topping of caramel.
If you’re loving the sound of this recipe, try my Brioche Pumpkin Bread Pudding and Apple Pie Bread Pudding!
Table of Contents
If you’re looking for fall flavored heaven, congratulations! You’ve found it. Pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice come together in this bread pudding recipe to create the best warm autumnal flavor that always makes me feel so warm and cozy.
Little cubes of hearty Italian bread are soaked and baked in the very best pumpkin custard mixture. Heavy cream, brown sugar, pumpkin spice and more make each bite better than the last. It’s a sweet, creamy, thick, moist pumpkin bread pudding that couldn’t be easier to make. Absolute perfection! (It’s even better than the classic pumpkin bread.)
You know what would possibly make this bread pudding even better, is some homemade caramel sauce drizzled on top. It’s still delicious all by itself, but why not take it over the top. And don’t worry, the caramel is a total breeze to whip up.
Ingredient Notes
Bread – Italian bread is my favorite to use. Keep in mind that the bread needs to be stale, so it’ll need to be prepped ahead of time. (You can stale it quickly if needed – instructions below.) 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.
Dairy – You’ll need both whole milk and heavy whipping cream for this bread pudding recipe. I don’t recommend substituting either ingredient with something else. That’s what will create the best thick and creamy custard.
Eggs – use large eggs for this recipe.
Brown Sugar – you can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, the difference is amount of molasses added.
Pumpkin Pie Spice – Use the classic pumpkin pie spices, this mix usually contains ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground allspice, and ground nutmeg.
Pumpkin Puree – It’s important to note that pumpkin puree is NOT the same as pumpkin pie filling. Look for cans of 100% pure pumpkin, with no other ingredients. If you like to use homemade ingredients, consider making homemade pumpkin puree.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Stale the Bread Quickly
If you forgot to cut the bread ahead of time to let it get stale, don’t worry! There is a way to stale the bread quickly (you will only need 2 hours).
Preheat the oven 200°. Cut bread into ½-inch cubes and spread them out on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Make sure to spread the bread in one even layer, so you may need to use two baking sheets.
Place the trays in the oven and let them harden for about 2 hours.
How to Make Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Let the bread get stale. Cut bread into half inch cubes and spread them out on a baking sheet. Leave the bread for about 1 day to get nice and stale.
Before you get started, preheat the oven to 375°F and rub a 9×13 baking dish with butter to grease it or spray it with non-stick spray.
Make the pumpkin custard mixture. Whisk together the whole milk, heavy cream, melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, vanilla extract and pumpkin puree until combined (1).
Pour it. Spread stale bread in the prepared baking dish. Pour the mixture all over the bread cubes (2) and stir to coat. Gently press down to make sure the bread really gets soaked with the mixture (3).
Baking. Bake bread pudding for 30 minutes and then cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil. Then, bake another 15-20 minutes until baked through.
PRO TIP: to make sure the bread pudding is baked through, you can check the internal temperature in the center of bread pudding and aim for 170°F-175°F.
How to Make Homemade Caramel
Start with sugar. Preheat a heavy-bottom sauce pot over medium heat. Spread the sugar in the pot evenly (1).
Brown it. When the sugar begins to melt, start stirring it with a wooden spoon (2) (so you don’t scratch your pot). Keep stirring as the sugar melts and starts to brown (3, 4).
Add butter. When the sugar reaches a deep brown color (350°F), add the butter and stir constantly (5). When the butter is all melted, you will notice that it gets thicker and looks more like caramel (6).
Make it creamy. Take off the heat. Slowly, add heavy cream (7) while stirring (8). When the mixture is all smooth, let it stand until cools and settles.
Tips for the Best Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Use stale bread. If you use fresh, soft bread, it’ll turn mushy when soaked in the pumpkin mixture. If possible, cut your bread into small pieces and let it dry out on your countertop for 24 hours prior to using it.
- Press it. Once you’ve poured the pumpkin mixture on top of the stale bread in the casserole dish, you’ll want to stir it to coat all the bread and then gently press down on it. This helps make sure that the mixture is actually being absorbed by the bread and not just sitting around it.
- Don’t let the top burn. This happens often with bread pudding recipes! You can avoid a darkened top by loosely tenting the pan with aluminum foil about halfway through bake time.
- When making homemade caramel, do not walk away! This recipes goes fast and needs quite a bit of stirring.
Recipe FAQs
My first test is always to 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 might feel a little squishy. If it starts to feel firm and yields when you gently press into it, it is fully cooked. You can also check the internal temperature using an instant digital thermometer in the center of the bread pudding and aim for 170°F-175°F.
This pumpkin bread pudding recipe is perfect for large family gatherings and holidays! 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, a 9×9 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. You can use a meat thermometer to check for doneness (170-175°F).
Originally, recipes like French toast and bread pudding were created for stale, old bread as a way to use it up and not waste it. Stale bread soaks in egg and milk mixture and becomes soft and moist after baking. If you use fresh bread, the liquid will start to break down the fresh bread and the result will actually be mushy.
Make Ahead Recommendation
Make Thanksgiving day easier by prepping this dessert/brunch ahead of time! Assemble the whole thing in the baking dish, but instead of baking, cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap and keep it stored in the refrigerator. It can be prepared like this the night before or even 1 day before.
The next day, just unwrap the plastic wrap and let the pumpkin bread pudding sit on the counter while the oven is preheating. Bake as instructed. It may need a few extra minutes since you’re baking it from cold, but it’ll still be pretty perfect!
PRO TIP: Don’t prep this bread pudding more than 1 day ahead of time or the bread will get mushy and you are working with raw eggs.
Storing Instructions
You can easily store pumpkin bread pudding in the same dish you baked it in. Make sure to cover it airtight with plastic wrap, aluminum foil, beeswax cover or use a baking dish that comes with a lid. Store it for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
To reheat, simply cut off a slice and microwave just until heated through. If you need to reheat the whole thing, do it in the oven at 350°F. Brush or sprinkle the top of the baked bread pudding with some milk, cover it with aluminum foil, and reheat for about 15-20 minutes just until heated through.
More Bread Pudding Recipes To Try
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Homemade Caramel Recipe
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bread Pudding:
- 1 lb Italian bread loaf
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- 15 oz can pumpkin puree
- 5 eggs large
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Homemade Caramel Sauce:
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
To Stale The Bread:*
- About 24 hours before making the bread pudding:Cut bread into ½ inch cubes (use serrated bread knife to cut easier) and spread it out on a large baking sheet (or two). Leave it out to get stale for about a day.PRO TIP: put the loaf of bread into the refrigerator for a couple hours before cutting, it's easier to cut cold bread.
Bread Pudding:
- Preheat the oven to 375° and grease a 9×13 casserole baking dish with some butter all over the bottom and up the sides (you can also use cooking spray).
- Spread stale bread in the baking dish evenly.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, milk, heavy whipping cream, pumpkin puree, melted butter, vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Whisk until all is smooth and combined evenly.
- Pour pumpkin eggs mixture over the bread cubes evenly, making sure to pour it evenly all over. Stir and press down all over the bread so that it all gets soaked.
- Bake bread pudding for 30 minutes and then cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil. Bake another 15-20 minutes until baked through. PRO TIP: to make sure the bread pudding is baked through, you can check the internal temperature in the center of bread pudding and aim for 170°F-175°F.
Homemade Caramel:
- Do not walk away while making the caramel. Keep an close eye on the sugar.
- Preheat a heavy-bottom sauce pot over medium heat. Spread the sugar in the pot evenly. (No need to stir yet.)
- When the sugar begins to melt, start stirring with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring as the sugar melts and starts to turn brown.
- When the sugar reached deep brown color (350 degrees F), add the butter and stir constantly.
- When the butter is all melted, you will notice that it gets thicker and looks more like caramel. Take off the heat.
- Slowly, add heavy cream while stirring. When the mixture is all smooth, let it stand until cools and settles.
- Drizzle what you wish over the cooked bread pudding and save the rest for addling to individual portions. (Keep leftover caramel refrigerated in a jar.)
Notes
- *Forgot to leave out the bread? Make stake bread fast: Preheat oven to 200°. Cut bread slices into small cubes that are about 1/2-inch in size. Spread bread in two large, rimmed baking sheets in one even layer and place the trays in the oven. Let them bake and harden for about 2 hours. Take them out and you can prepare the stuffing right away.
- Need To Make Less? 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.
- Storing: you can easily store bread pudding in the same dish you baked it in. Make sure to cover it air-tight with plastic wrap or use a baking dish that comes with a lid. Store it for 3-4 days in the refrigerator! To reheat, simply cut off a slice and microwave just until heated through.
- Make it salted! Sprinkle some flaky or coarse salt on top of the bread pudding after you drizzle the caramel to make it salted caramel flavor.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook for Smiles in October, 2013.
Categories:
Brunch Recipes, Christmas Baking Recipes, Dessert Recipes, Fall Recipes, Pumpkin Recipes, Seasonal Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Yum!
Oh my goodness…I want this right now. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
I’m still LOVING all the pumpkin recipes! This sounds so tasty!
Oooh… Yum! Love that you made this with Kings Hawaiian rolls and everything is better with pumpkin! But then you add the caramel sauce, you’re killing me girl! 🙂 Pinning. Great recipe!
:):) I’d be killing you if I put it on front of you!! I’m just mildly torturing you with pictures 😀
haha.. you crack me up. Torture away! 🙂
I have been CRAVING bread pudding lately and this looks to die for, Lyuba!!
Thanks so much, Cathy!!
I love to eat bread pudding! This looks great with the pumpkin added to it!
Thank you, Nancy!!
I love how you made this creative dish…love pumpkin so much!! Love caramel, just as much. (I’ll have to head over to get her recipe for that!) (=
Thank you so much, Gina!