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This Old Fashioned Pumpkin Bread Pudding is more than just a rich, creamy, holiday treat; it’s an absolute game-changer for your Thanksgiving dessert table.
This recipe has been shared thousands of times by readers who make it year after year.
They love its combination of spiced pumpkin custard filling and a sweet, crunchy, and sticky pecan praline topping.
Table of Contents
- What Is Pumpkin Bread Pudding?
- How I Created This Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Thanksgiving Dessert
- Important Ingredients for Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding
- How To Make Pumpkin Bread Pudding With Praline Sauce
- Pro Tips for Perfect Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Recipe Variations
- More Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Desserts
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Recipe
- Reviews
What Is Pumpkin Bread Pudding?
At its heart, this classic Southern dessert transforms day-old bread into a rich, pumpkin custard soaked holiday treat. Unlike traditional bread pudding that relies on a basic vanilla base, this recipe infuses warm pumpkin puree and autumn spices directly into the cream mixture so that every single bite is bursting with festive pumpkin flavor.
How I Created This Recipe
Traditionally, our Thanksgiving dinner includes the classics – Roast Turkey with gravy, Apple Walnut Cranberry Salad, Green Bean Casserole, and our classic Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows, and Chess Pie.
However, back in 2013 my husband announced that he was tired of pumpkin pie. Shocked, I went on a mission to create, before the holidays, an alternate pumpkin Thanksgiving dessert that he would love.
After an epic failure of a pumpkin cake roll recipe, I decided to try an easy yet impressive variation of a bread pudding recipe I remembered.
I added pumpkin puree and a warm blend of pumpkin pie spice to the custard, poured it over challah bread, and topped it with pecans and a rich praline sauce. The result was heavenly – even my pumpkin-hating husband loved it. Now it’s a permanent favorite on our Thanksgiving dessert table.
Below is the original photo that went viral on Facebook and Pinterest when this recipe was first published. Many of you may recognize it.
Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Thanksgiving Dessert
- Ultimate Make-Ahead Convenience: This is an incredible make ahead Thanksgiving dessert! You can fully assemble and bake the bread pudding a day in advance, storing in the refrigerator until your holiday dinner.
- Better Than Pumpkin Pie: It offers all the same warm, comforting flavors of classic pumpkin spice but features a much richer texture contrast thanks to the crunchy, sticky pecan praline topping.
- Budget-Friendly Pantry Ingredients: Despite looking highly impressive and gourmet, this recipe is perfect for the budget-conscious because it relies on staple baking ingredients like eggs, sugar, butter, and day-old bread that you likely already have on hand.
Important Ingredients for Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding
To guarantee the absolute best texture and flavor, pay close attention to these key recipe ingredients before you start baking.
- The Bread: Use a sturdy, dense, day-old bread like Challah, Brioche, French, or Italian bread. Soft sandwich bread will disintegrate into mush whereas a rich egg bread like Challah holds its shape beautifully while soaking up the pumpkin cream custard.
- Pumpkin Puree: Be sure to use 100% pure pumpkin puree, not pre-spiced pumpkin pie filling so you can fully control the rich autumn flavor and sugar balance.
- Pecans and Praline Sauce: Toasted pecans add that essential, satisfying crunch that cuts through the pumpkin bread base.
How To Make Pumpkin Bread Pudding With Praline Sauce
Making this holiday favorite is incredibly straight forward and doesn’t require any complicated pastry skill.
Step 1: Prep the Bread: Tear or cube the day old bread into small, bite-sized pieces and scatter them evenly into a greased 9×13 baking dish. They don’t have to be cubed, just roughly about the same size.
Step 2: Make the Pumpkin Custard: In a large bowl, thoroughly combine your heavy cream, half-and-half, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and the homemade pumpkin spice blend.
Step 3: Soak: Slowly pour the vibrant pumpkin custard over the bread pieces, ensuring every piece is covered with custard. You can spoon any extra custard in the dish over any pieces of bread that may have been missed.
Step 4: Bake: Bake pumpkin bread pudding casserole at 350°F for about an hour.
Step 5: Make the Praline Sauce: Simmer your butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and toasted pecans on the stovetop to create the thick, gooey praline sauce to pour over the top of the baked bread pudding before serving.
Pro Tips for Perfect Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Type of Bread: Use Brioche, Challah, croissants, or other type of bread that has a dense crumb, and sturdy structure that can absorb the pumpkin custard without turning to mush.
- Day Old Bread: For the best results and texture, it’s important to use day old bread that can withstand the heavy custard and praline sauce without losing its structure.
- Pumpkin Puree: Ensure you are using pumpkin puree and not a pre-spiced pumpkin pie filling. This allows you to better control the flavor, sweetness, and texture of the custard, and avoid it from being too sweet and overly spiced.
- Cover Thoroughly: Ensure that every piece of bread is covered in the pumpkin custard to avoid dried out bread without any pumpkin flavor.
- Make Ahead Bread Pudding: You can tear up the bread and make the custard and bake the bread pudding, except the praline sauce, the day before.
- Pecan Praline Sauce: Pour the praline sauce over the bread pudding just before serving and serve warm.
Recipe Variations
- Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce: Switch out the praline topping for a quick caramel or bourbon sauce if you prefer a smoother, nut-free finish.
- Swap Out The Bread: While challah or brioche is our favorite, leftover croissants work beautifully to soak up the pumpkin custard.
More Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Desserts
- Pumpkin Pecan Pie: A flaky pie crust filled with a creamy pumpkin spiced custard filling and pecan topping.
- Pecan Pie Cobbler with Cake Mix: This dessert is a gooey, buttery, nutty mashup of a pecan pie and a pecan cobbler.
- Texas Pecan Pie: A pecan pie with a gooey, caramel-like pie filling topped with crunchy Texas pecans.
- Pumpkin Empanadas: These empanadas de calabaza are hand-held pies with creamy pumpkin filling and a golden brown crust.
- Pumpkin Fluff: This dreamy, creamy, no-bake pumpkin dessert dip makes an incredibly easy make ahead party dip or Thanksgiving dessert.
- Pumpkin Flan: This pumpkin dessert consists of a creamy pumpkin custard dessert covered din a caramel sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Absolutely! You can bake bread pudding (without the praline topping) up to 24 hours ahead and refrigerate until to cover with the praline sauce and bake. Make the praline sauce shortly before cooking and pour over the top of the bread pudding just before serving.
Challah and Brioche are the best choices because their rich, sturdy texture soaks up the pumpkin beautifully without getting soggy.
While fresh works, canned pumpkin provides a highly consistent moisture level and texture that makes the pumpkin custard rich, and perfectly spiced and creamy every time.
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Recipe
Pumpkin Praline Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- 1 pound loaf day old Bread (French, Italian, or Challah), torn into small pieces
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Half and Half
- 1 15-ounce can Pumpkin Puree
- 1-1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 3 tablespoon Melted Butter
- 4 Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice *
Praline Sauce
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Chopped Toasted Pecans
Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Ground Allspice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and place torn pieces of bread in the dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, half and half, pumpkin, sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Slowly pour the batter over the bread pieces in the baking dish. Be sure to cover all the bread pieces.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for about 1 hour.
- While the bread pudding is baking, make the praline sauce. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar; bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low, and stir pecans into the cream mixture. Simmer until the sauce thickens, for about 5 minutes.
- Pour over bread pudding to serve.
Video
For more desserts, see below. Check out Flavor Mosaic for recipe ideas for Thanksgiving sides dishes.
Check out these recipe ideas to round out your Complete Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
For another pumpkin recipe idea, try this Pumpkin Maple Coffee Cake from Life Tastes Good.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using this link, at no additional cost to you.
Hi, I’m Michele Feuerborn, a home cook with 25+ years experience, and former AllRecipes Allstar, creating bold & easy Southern, Mexican, Tex-Mex, and Instant Pot recipes. Featured in publications like Parade and BuzzFeed. Read More…
Jennifer says
My husband would FLIP OUT if I made him this! Thanks for sharing!
Michelle says
If your not going to eat this all in one sitting should you pour praline sauce over the whole pan or just as you serve?
Michele says
If you are not going to eat it all at once, instead of pouring it over individual servings, I would pour the praline sauce over the top of the whole thing. Either way, it is delicious.
Amanda says
I made this for my co-workers and it was THE best bread pudding that I have ever had! So indulgent and sinful, but amazing! So glad I found this recipe on Pinterest!
Michele says
Thank you so much Amanda for sharing that with us. I’m so happy you and your coworkers loved it. It is certainly a family favorite of ours. Have a great weekend!
Courtney says
I am looking forward to making this tomorrow for a dinner party that I am attending. If I make it at home and then take it with me, it will be sitting for at least a couple of hours before we get around to eating dessert. Would it be better if I take the bread pudding and praline sauce separate, then reheat the praline sauce and pour it over the baked bread right before serving it? I have never made bread pudding before, and I just want it to be warm and yummy and fresh. Thanks for any advice you can give!
Michele says
Hi Courtney,
It is your preference. This dish can be served either hot or cold. You could add the praline sauce on at home and refrigerate it. However, if you prefer to serve it hot (like in the photo) I would recommend keeping the praline sauce separate and heating it up and pouring over the bread pudding just before serving. I hope you enjoy it!
Michele says
If possible, you could make the praline sauce just before serving as well. But that may not be possible.
Courtney says
Thanks so much! I think I will try making the sauce at home and just keeping them separate. Then I will heat it when we are ready for dessert and pour it over the top. Can’t wait!
Michele says
I hope you like it. Let me know how it goes.
Courtney says
I forgot to respond back but this was a huge hit at our party! So much so that my husband has requested it for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It was so easy and will be such a nice change of pace from the typical pies we usually have (of course, we will have some of those, too!) Thanks again for the great recipe and your help with my questions the first time around! I ended up making the sauce when it was time for dessert and serving it hot on top of the bread pudding and it was perfect! Happy Thanksgiving!
Michele says
Courtney, thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know how it went. I’m thrilled that your husband and your family liked it. It is a nice change of pace. (We have pies also at Thanksgiving.) Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Jodie in MN says
I have been thinking about making a pumpkin bread pudding and this looks wonderful! But, I was trying to figure out if there was a way to add in some apples. What do you think?? Found you on Pinterest, by the way 🙂
Michele says
Hi Jodie, I’m so happy you found this recipe. Isn’t Pinterest wonderful? Are you thinking of adding apples instead of pumpkin? You could probably do that. Or did you want to add apples on top? I have not tried adding apples to the pumpkin recipe because it is amazing as it is. However, if you are looking for an Apple Bread pudding, I would recommend trying my Cinnamon Apple Pie Bread Pudding. https://flavormosaic.com/cinnamon-apple-pie-bread-pudding/
Jodie in MN says
I was thinking of mixing the apples in with the pumpkin somehow… I’ll take a look at your cinnamon apple pie bread pudding too. We have an abundance of apples this year and I’ve frozen several pints of pumpkin too. Love them both and love new recipes to use them in!
Annette says
This looks delicious. I was looking for a gluten free recipe – have you made this with GF bread, and if so, what bread would you recommend? Also, previous bread puddings I have made require a water bath for the baking pan. Does this work well without the water bath? Thank you.
Michele says
Hi Annette, I generally don’t cook gluten free so I’m not the best person to help you with that. Maybe someone else will comment on which GF bread they use. This recipe worked very well without a water bath. I have only used water baths for cheesecakes and not for the bread puddings I make. This is a firmer bread pudding than some others that are more liquid-y (is that a word?).
Ludwig Rivera says
I really confused what mean ” half and half”. Can you tell more about it???
Michele says
Hi, Half and Half is made up of half milk and half heavy cream. So if it calls for 1 cup half and half, you can use 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk. In this recipe, you can use heavy cream or milk, whichever you have on hand.
Ashley says
Hi michele, I’m very excited to try your bread pudding recipe I’ve done thanksgiving for the past six years since i moved out of my parents so i really love trying new recipes so I’m not making the same thing over again… anyways I wanted to ask you if i could make the recipe up until the step of baking in the morning of thanksgiving and leave it in the fridge until the afternoon time. Also when making the sauce do you melt the butter first and then add the other ingredients or is there a specific order to it?
Michele says
Hi Ashley, I’m so happy you are going to try my recipe. Yes. You can certainly let the pudding refrigerate for several hours before baking. You may want to add a little more heavy cream, (or half and half or milk) because the bread will have a longer time to soak up the liquid. With regard to the sauce, melt the butter first and then add the ingredients in the order listed.
Candice says
Made this today & added pecans & cranberries to the base bread pudding then halved the praline sauce to try & cut some calories. Wow, I’m not a pumpkin fan but this was fantastic & so easy!!! Going to take some over to the neighbors to share before I eat anymore lol Thanks so much for sharing Michelle 🙂
Michele says
Thank you Candice! I’m so happy you liked it! It is a holiday favorite at our house.
rosemarie johnson says
i can not wait to make this , need to go to the market to get some things but i will try it t.y. can you send it to my e-mail .
Michele says
Hi Rosemarie, I hope you like it. Just visit the blog for the recipe, or sign up to receive my recipes in your email.
Billie Owens says
Hi, I’m thinking of making this to sell at a Christmas bazaar. Do you think it could be made ahead of time and frozen? Thanks!
Michele says
Hi Billie, I have never tried freezing it. However, I have read that cooked bread pudding can be frozen. However, I would recommend keeping the praline sauce separate. You could make the praline sauce and pour into little jars and sell separately if you wanted, with instructions to reheat the sauce and pour over the bread pudding just prior to serving.
Mary says
I think this is the best dessert I’ve ever made. Thank you for sharing!!!
Michele says
Thank you so much! You just made my day. I’m so happy you liked it. Be sure to check out some of the other recipes on my website and if you like them, sign up to receive new recipes by email. http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=flavormosaic2
rebecca hogan says
made this for our thanksgiving meal this weekend and was delish!! thank you for the recipe!!
Michele says
Hi Rebecca, I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know. Have a wonderful day!
Nini says
Do you think this recipe could be made in a bundt cake pan? Thanks!
Michele says
Hi, I have never tried making this bread pudding in a bundt pan. I imagine it could be done, but you will likely need to watch it carefully as that would likely affect the bake time. I can’t provide specific baking instructions on it since I have not tested it in a bundt pan.