Pecan Bread Pudding Recipe; bread based holiday dessert with a perfect blend of buttery and sweet, and a little crunchy nutty note of pecans!
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Hi beauties! Coming at you with a pecan bread pudding recipe! If you love pecan pie, you will LOVE this recipe. If you hate pecan pie, you will love this recipe. It's really that simple.
Bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts, and I thought I'd share with you the best recipe for it. It's a great comfort food and I always look forward to it when I travel south. Normally, a simple recipe for pecan bread pudding is served over the holidays. However, you can enjoy this recipe any time of the year!
Bread pudding is one of the most irresistible desserts in the world. Warm, soft and moist with a crunchy crust on top…Does it get any better? Maybe with ice cream on top…Yes, that's better. However, if you really want to lift this creamy dessert to new heights of epic deliciousness, all you need is a healthy dose of pecans!
The key to making bread pudding is using bread that's a few days old and slightly stale. The more dense and dry the bread is, the better the bread pudding tastes. With that being said, let's jump into the recipe!
How to Make This Pecan Bread Pudding Recipe
If you've never made bread pudding before, it can seem a little intimidating. But don't worry—it's easy! Here are the steps to make your very own Bread Pudding this holiday season!
Pecan Bread Pudding Ingredients
For the Bread Pudding:
- Raisins
- Pecans (crushed)
- Stale French bread (at least one day old, cut into inch cubes)
- Eggs
- Milk
- Butter (melted)
- Bourbon Whiskey
- Vanilla Extract
- Sugar
- All Spice
- Cinnamon
For the Bourbon Sauce:
- Egg
- Butter
- Bourbon Whiskey
- Sugar
The first thing you are going to do when making this pecan bread pudding recipe is to soak the raisins. Place the raisins in a small bowl of bourbon. Cover and let them soak for 1 to 2 hours. The raisins will soak up most of the bourbon but there may be a little left at the bottom of the bowl.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, add the cubed bread. Next, slowly pour the milk of the bread. Press the bread into the milk to allow it to soak up the milk (the bread may not absorb all the milk but most of it).
In a separate small bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla, allspice, and cinnamon. Pour over the bread/milk mixture. Add the bourbon-soaked raisins and the pecans. If you have extra bourbon soaking liquid after draining the soaked raisins, you can mix some or all into the egg (if you would like a stronger bourbon taste, if not then discard this extra liquid).
Next, pour the melted butter into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. You want to coat the bottom and sides of the pan well with the butter. Then pour your bread mixture into the pan.
Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes, until the liquid has set. The pudding is done when the edges start getting a bit brown and pull away from the edge of the pan.
While the pecan bread pudding is baking, time to make the bourbon sauce! Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on low-heat. Add the sugar and egg and whisk together. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens to form a sauce texture, then remove from heat. Do not allow the mixture to simmer or the sauce will curdle. Whisk in the bourbon. Make sure you whisk the sauce again before serving it.
Serve the bread pudding right away with bourbon sauce on the side or pour directly over the pudding (more or less to preference). Leftovers can be kept for up to 5 days in the refrigerator and can be reheated in the microwave.
Tips for Perfecting Bread Pudding:
- Use stale bread. The drier the better! You want your bread to be really dry and even a little stale (if you can't find dry or stale bread, try letting a loaf sit out overnight).
- Use a sharp knife to cut the bread into cubes. This will allow them to soak up more of the custard mixture while they're cooking in the oven and make them extra delicious!
- Mix your ingredients together by hand, because using a mixer will result in a mushy texture.
- Don't overmix. You don't want to break apart those delicious little pockets of air that make up your bread pudding. Make sure everything is mixed together just enough so that all the ingredients are incorporated, but not so much that you can't see individual pieces of fruit or nuts.
- Don't use too much milk. Bread pudding isn't supposed to be wet; in fact, it should be more like a cobbler than a cake (so don't go overboard when adding milk). Just enough milk so that it's moist but still crumbly will do the trick!
- Don't skimp on the vanilla extract! It can really amp up the flavor of your bread pudding, so don't be afraid to use a little extra if you think it needs it.
So, if you love bread pudding, and you enjoy a warm, gooey dessert, then I think you'll really like this pecan bread pudding recipe that I made. It's delicious, and it's easy to make—and it should be good for at least four or five days (just saying).
More Holiday Recipes:
- RED CHRISTMAS SANGRIA RECIPE
- CINNAMON MONKEY BREAD MUFFINS RECIPE
- EASY HOMEMADE EGGNOG RECIPE
- CRANBERRY WALNUT PINWHEELS
- CANDY CANE MARTINI RECIPE
- HOLIDAY WHITE CANDY BARK RECIPE
If you have any questions about this recipe, leave it in the comment section below and I'll make sure to get back to you on it! If you make any of my recipes please tag your photos with #nikkisplate so I can see your beautiful creations! Any feedback in the comments below is greatly appreciated. I hope you have fun!
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Until next time,
PECAN BREAD PUDDING RECIPE
Ingredients
FOR THE BREAD PUDDING:
FOR THE BOURBON SAUCE:
- 1 large Egg
- ½ cup (1 stick) Butter
- ½ cup Bourbon Whiskey
- 1 cup Sugar
Instructions
Soak Raisins
- Place the raisins in a small bowl of bourbon. Cover and let them soak for 1 to 2 hours. The raisins will soak up most of the bourbon but there may be a little left at the bottom of the bowl.
Make Bread Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, add the cubed bread. Next, slowly pour the milk of the bread. Press the bread into the milk to allow it to soak up the milk (the bread may not absorb all the milk but most of it).
- In a separate small bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla, allspice, and cinnamon. Pour over the bread/milk mixture. Add the bourbon-soaked raisins and the pecans. If you have extra bourbon soaking liquid after draining the soaked raisins, you can mix some or all into the egg (if you would like a stronger bourbon taste, if not then discard this extra liquid).
- Next, pour the melted butter into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. You want to coat the bottom and sides of the pan well with the butter. Then pour your bread mixture into the pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes, until the liquid has set. The pudding is done when the edges start getting a bit brown and pull away from the edge of the pan.
For the Bourbon Sauce
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on low-heat. Add the sugar and egg and whisk together. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens to form a sauce texture, then remove from heat.
- Do not allow the mixture to simmer or the sauce will curdle. Whisk in the bourbon. Make sure you whisk the sauce again before serving it.
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