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Salted Caramel Bread Pudding is a decadent dessert made with brioche or challah bread, half-n-half, eggs, butter, and brown sugar topped with a silky smooth salted caramel sauce.
Bring on all the salted caramel! There’s something so comforting about a warm bowl of bread pudding. This popular dessert came about many, many years ago when bakers had to figure out what to do with the crusty day-old bread. They decided that soaking the bread in milk and eggs and baking it make a decadent, melt-in-your-mouth pudding-like texture. This Salted Caramel Bread Pudding takes it a step further and is drizzled with a homemade salted caramel sauce. Oh my goodness!
So how do you make this sweet Salted Caramel Bread Pudding?
Start with brioche or challah bread. What is brioche or challah bread? Brioche is a pastry of French origin that is similar to a highly enriched bread, and whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. Challah bread is very similar except it uses oil instead of butter and more eggs. Both types of bread work beautifully in this salted caramel bread pudding. You can even use french bread but you may need a tad more butter and sugar.
Soak brioche or challah bread in half-n-half, eggs, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. You may substitute whole milk for half-n-half if needed. This is baked until golden brown.
Make an easy salted caramel sauce. This salted caramel sauce uses butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and sea salt. This is drizzled all over the warm caramel bread pudding when you are ready to serve it. You may even top with freshly whipped cream.
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Salted Caramel Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Bread Pudding:
- 8 - 10 cups Brioche or Challah Bread cut into 2-inch cubes
- 4 cups Half-n-Half may substitute whole milk
- 5 Eggs slightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons Vanilla
- 12 Tablespoons Butter 3/4 cup, Melted
- 1 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup Sugar
Caramel Sauce:
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 t. Sea Salt Flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put bread pieces in large mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together half-n-half, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Pour egg-milk all over the bread, tossing it gently. Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking pan.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, remove from heat and add brown sugar and sugar and whisk until glossy smooth. Pour butter-brown sugar mixture all over bread pudding and toss gently.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to allow the bread time to soak up the liquid. Remove from the refrigerator and bake for 45-55 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 - 15 minutes or until the bread pudding is golden brown. Set the pudding aside while you prepare the salted caramel sauce.
- To make the salted caramel sauce:
- Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar and whisk until smooth. Stir in heavy cream and sea salt flakes until smooth.
- Pour glaze over caramel bread pudding. Serve warm.
- May top with fresh whipped cream.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing Sunday! Enjoy this heavenly and decadent Salted Caramel Bread Pudding with the family. Happy Baking! xo
Hello,
I’ve made bread pudding before but it was always with stale bread. Do I use stale brioche bread for this recipe as well or would you use fresh brioche?
Do you recommend light brown sugar or dark brown sugar? Also, salted vs. unsalted butter? Finally, please move the preheat instruction further down the list if we have to put the pudding in the fridge for an hour.
The recipe doesn’t say to let the bread and custard mixture sit. The first time I made it I let it sit for several hours, it turned out great. This time I was in more of hurry and since the recipe doesn’t call for time to soak up the mixture I thought it would be fine. It was awful. Chunks of bread and scrambled eggs. Yuck!!! I would definitely recommend letting this sit for a few hours in the fridge before baking.
Read entire directions. again.
Can you make this in individual ramekin dishes? If so, can you please provide details of how to convert the recipe. Thank you.
Thank you thank you. I made it for my child Avion but gluten free, vegan, and sugar free. It was sooo delicious. i plan to make it for my husband Benedict when he comes home from his professional golf tournament in Canada!
This is an amazing recipe (as always!)! I did not make the caramel sauce, but made a brandy butter sauce instead that was phenomenal.
I recently found out my body cannot handle gluten. How do you convert a recipe to gluten free
My first time making bread pudding and this turned out so delicious; I will be making it again! Thank you for the recipe:)
WOW. This was absolutely amazing. Even the younger ones that said “Eewwww what’s bread pudding “ like it was the worst thing in the world and us grown ups were weird , LOVED it !!
Tastes great – thank you for the recipe. I added 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon the second time I made it and liked it even better. Do you recommend using salted or unsalted butter for this recipe? I’ve used both each time I made it, but am curious of what you specifically use.
My phone glitched. lol I used gluten free bread and almond milk instead of half and half since my daughter is lactose intolerant. I’m sure this Is going to be delicious! I’m baking it right now
Soo excited about this recipe. I’m in the midst of baking but it right now. I modified it by using gluten free bread and almond mil instead I fb while milk or half a s half dince my daughter’s I said lactose intolerant. I’m sure that bus is going to do delicious!