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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…
Christee says
I make this every fall and am considered a hero for doing so, LOL. This dessert is decadent and easy… two adjectives that don’t usually belong together. I made no changes to the recipe which is unheard of for me (I’m always tweaking). Well done. Thank you for sharing!
Elizabeth says
Can you make this recipe ahead? Like 1 or 2 days before serving?
Michele says
Hi Elizabeth,
Yes. You can make the bread pudding ahead of time. But I recommend waiting to make the praline sauce shortly before you want to serve.
Thanks,
Michele
Sue says
Hubby loved this!!! I did add 2 more egg yolks ( he likes it custardly)and let it sit for 30 minutes before baking. Had challenge with Praline-Sauce, It was thin. I added some cornstarch/water to thicken. It did thicken in fridge overnight. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Michele says
Hi Sue,
I’m so glad that your husband loved it. I’m glad you were able to thicken the sauce. Usually if you let the praline sauce keep simmering on the stove, it will thicken up.
Thanks,
Michele
Sylvia DuCom says
Michele,
Do you pour the sauce over individual servings or pour over the entire bread pudding. I’m sure either will be good ,just wondering what you would suggest.
Michele says
Hi Sylvia,
I think that depends on the situation. If you have a small gathering, then I might pour the praline sauce over individual servings and store any leftover bread pudding separately from the praline sauce.
However, if you have a large crowd to feed, and are unlikely to have leftovers, then I would pour the praline sauce over the entire bread pudding and then serve immediately.
I hope that helps.
Thanks,
Michele
Ashley says
Hello! This looks and sounds amazing. Any suggestions for making this without nuts ( tree nuts to be exact) ?
Michele says
Hi Ashley,
You could leave the pecans out of the sauce and it will be like a caramel sauce. You could also add vanilla to the sauce when you remove it from the pan. You could also top it with powdered sugar. I hope that helps.
Michele
Denise Meneice says
Can this be made ahead, served cold or at room temperature? I work at a seniors lodge (@ 50;residents). Dessert is made by the night shift to serve at lunch.
Michele says
Hi Denise,
First of all, thank you for your work. As someone who has taken care of aging parents, I truly appreciate what you do. As far as serving the bread pudding cold or at room temperature, I have always served it warm because I think it is much better that way, especially with the praline sauce, if you were going to serve that with it. However, I suppose it could be served cold. As an alternative, you could try serving my Crustless Pumpkin Pie. For a breakfast option, you could try my Pumpkin Sheet Pan Pancakes.
Sharon N. says
Have made this pumpkin bread pudding and it was a hit at thanksgiving. Did not change anything. It was delicious and will definitely make for several years. Great recipe.
Denise Meneice says
Thanks so much for your reply. I’m definitely going to try this recipe but not for the lodge residents. I may try your others suggestions!
Shehnaz says
Any recommendation on which bread is best to use? Or, if the type of bread lends to a different texture/flavor?
Lynet Cutts says
I was actually looking for a sweet potato bread pudding recipe and ran across this. I made the recipe exactly as called for, except I used canned sweet potato instead of pumpkin. It turned out AMAZING! My family loved it. My daughter said it’s the best she’s ever eaten. We live in Louisiana. That’s saying a lot lol.
Michele says
Hi Lynet,
Thank you so much for leaving the nice comment. That is great to know that it worked using canned sweet potatoes. I may have to try that. I’m sure there are others that will try it too since you had such great success with it.
Michele
Marissa says
If I have pumpkin pie spice that is already mixed from the store how much would I need to use?
Michele says
Hi Marissa,
Use 1 Tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice! Enjoy! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Michele
Laura says
Hello! I was wondering if I could make this the night before and keep the praline sauce separate from the bread pudding and just reheat the sauce before serving. Do you think that would be fine? Any suggestions? Thank you!!
Michele says
Hi Laura,
Yes. That should work just fine. That is exactly what I would do. Let me know how you like it.
Thanks,
Michele
KP says
I just found your recipe last week and tried it today. Wow! Delicious! My husband loved it, too and said you can make this any time! Thanks for posting – even if it was several years ago. Thankful to have found it. Happy Thanksgiving!
Michele says
Hi KP,
Thanks so much for the nice comment. I’m so happy you and your husband loved it. It is a perennial favorite. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Michele
Sharon says
This is the best recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding. The praline pecan sauce is delicious on it. I have made this for several years. This recipe is a definite keeper.
Michele says
Hi Sharon,
Thank you so much. I’m so happy you like it. Thanks for the kind words. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Michele
Rory says
Hello!! I was wondering if it would work to make this the night before and bake the next day? Just let it soak overnight?
Michele says
Hi Rory,
Yes, it should work like that.
Michele
Rhonda says
Can I use Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of mixing up my own? Every store I went to were out of the Allspice.
Michele says
Hi Rhonda,
Yes you can. Use 1 tablespoon of the Pumpkin pie spice.
Michele
Annell says
My grandson loves anything pumpkin but has nut allergies, so, just before pouring sauce over add some heath bits for crunch, making it nut free.
Michele says
Hi Annell,
That’s a great tip. Thanks for sharing.
Michele