This bread and butter pudding recipe uses 8 slices of slightly stale bread, a bit of butter and an easy vanilla custard, and somehow ends up being the coziest pudding I know. You get these crunchy sugary bits on top and soft wobbly custard down underneath. Soak it half an hour, bake it 35 to 40 minutes, eat it warm and that’s honestly the whole thing.
It’s the old-school way of using up the ends of the loaf that nobody wants, and I’ve never once heard anyone moan about leftovers when they turn into this. Cold night, not much in the cupboard? If you’ve got bread, a few eggs and some milk you’ve got pudding.
Bread and Butter Pudding at a Glance
- Prep: 15 minutes-ish (then it sits and soaks for half an hour)
- Bake: 180°C, or 160°C if yours is fan-forced (350°F), for 35-40 min
- Serves: 6 (or 4 if they’re anything like my lot)
- Dish: 2 litres, roughly 20 x 28 cm or 8 x 11 inch
- Difficulty: easy, I promise
- Make ahead: you can assemble it up to 12 hours early
Jump to: Why it works · Ingredients · Best bread · Step by step · Scaling chart · What’s new · Fixes · Variations · Serving · Storage · FAQ
Why This Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe Works
The really good ones have two textures, and loads of recipes only get you one of them. Underneath you want it soft, custardy, a little like baked crème caramel. On top? Bits of bread sticking up so they toast and the sugar goes all crackly.
So how do you get both? Stale bread is the first thing, it soaks up the custard and doesn’t fall apart. Next, patience. Half an hour of sitting so the custard soaks right through, because a dry chunk of bread in the middle is just sad. Last thing is milk and cream together. All milk can turn a bit rubbery, the cream stops that.
Fun fact, it’s ancient. One of the first recipes printed with this name is in Eliza Smith’s The Compleat Housewife back in 1728 (the history of bread and butter pudding on Wikipedia has more on it) and it’s buttered bread, dried fruit and a nutmeg custard. Almost 300 years on and we’re making it more or less the same way. Love that.
Ingredients for Old-Fashioned Bread and Butter Pudding
Nothing fancy at all. I’d bet most of it’s in your kitchen already.
Bread, obviously, about 8 slices of white that’s gone a bit stale. Butter that’s been sitting out so it spreads. A handful of sultanas, or raisins, nobody’s checking. The custard’s just eggs, full-cream milk, cream, caster sugar, a splash of vanilla, some lemon zest and a grate of nutmeg. And a spoon or two of crunchy demerara or raw sugar for the very top.
The exact amounts, in grams and cups, are all in the recipe card further down, so you don’t have to scroll back and forth.
Out of something? Swaps, and what they’ll do:
| Ingredient | Swap | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Cream | All milk (500 ml) | Lighter, slightly firmer custard; still good |
| Full-cream milk | Light milk | Less rich; add 1 extra egg yolk to help it set |
| Caster sugar | Light brown sugar | Caramel flavour, darker colour |
| Sultanas | Chopped dried apricots or dark chocolate chunks | Tangier or richer; no change to timing |
| Butter | Marmalade or jam on the bread | Fruitier, stickier top |
| Dairy milk and cream | Oat milk + coconut cream | No dairy, slight coconut vibe |
Which Bread Makes the Best Bread and Butter Pudding?
Honestly? Plain old white sandwich bread, a day past its best. Still my favourite, no contest. Dry enough to soak, soft enough to sort of melt. Brioche or croissants? Richer, a bit fancy-cafe. Sourdough? Chewier, slightly tangy, which some people really like.
Only got a fresh loaf? Doesn’t matter much, just dry the slices out in a 150°C (300°F) oven for 10 minutes or so first, otherwise the whole thing goes soggy rather than custardy. The one thing I’d avoid is seeded or wholemeal bread, those flavours sort of argue with the vanilla.
How to Make Bread and Butter Pudding (Easy Steps)
Never made custard before? Then this is a great one to start on, because you’re not standing at the stove stirring a pan and praying it doesn’t scramble.
- Butter everything. Grease the dish. Butter your slices on one side only, then slice each one corner to corner so you’ve got triangles.
- Layer it up. Butter side up, overlap them like roof tiles. Sultanas go between the layers as you build it, because any on top will just burn.
- Custard. Eggs and caster sugar in a jug, whisk. Then in goes the milk, cream, vanilla, lemon zest and half your nutmeg, whisk again.
- Pour and wait. Pour that slowly over the bread, squash the slices down a little with a spatula and then just walk away for 30 minutes.
- Top and bake. Get the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) or 350°F, scatter the demerara and the rest of the nutmeg over the top and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes.
- Check it. You’re after puffy and golden with crunchy edges, and when you jiggle the dish just the centre should move a little. Then it’s done. Leave it 10 minutes (I know, hard) before you serve it.
If you’re the type who likes to be certain, egg dishes like this are cooked once the middle hits 71°C (160°F), according to the FoodSafety.gov safe temperature chart. A cheap instant-read thermometer takes all the guessing out of it.
And if you want the custard really silky, sit the dish inside a roasting tin and pour hot water in until it comes about halfway up. Everything cooks more gently that way and the edges don’t go rubbery, you’ll just need 5 to 10 extra minutes.
Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
- 8 slices day-old white bread (about 300 g)
- 50 g soft unsalted butter (3 1/2 tbsp), plus extra for the dish
- 75 g sultanas or raisins (1/2 cup)
- 3 large eggs
- 75 g caster sugar (1/3 cup)
- 300 ml full-cream milk (1 1/4 cups)
- 200 ml thickened, double or heavy cream (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 lemon finely grated zest only
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg divided
- 2 tbsp demerara or raw sugar (25 g)
Equipment
- 2-litre baking dish (about 20 x 28 cm / 8 x 11 inch)
- Whisk
Method
- Grease a 2-litre baking dish with butter. Butter one side of each bread slice, then cut each slice into 2 triangles.
- Arrange the triangles butter side up, slightly overlapping like roof tiles, tucking the sultanas between the layers so none sit on top.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs and caster sugar until smooth, then whisk in the milk, cream, vanilla, lemon zest and half the nutmeg.
- Pour the custard slowly over the bread, pressing the slices down gently with a spatula. Leave to soak for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) / 350°F. Sprinkle the demerara sugar and remaining nutmeg over the top.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, until puffed and golden with crisp edges and only a slight wobble in the centre (71°C / 160°F inside).
- Rest for 10 minutes, then serve warm with pouring custard, cream or vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition
Notes
- Use day-old bread. If your bread is fresh, dry the slices at 150°C (300°F) for about 10 minutes first.
- No cream? Use 500 ml full-cream milk and add 1 extra egg yolk.
- Make ahead: assemble, cover and chill up to 12 hours; bake from the fridge, adding about 10 minutes.
- Leftovers keep 3-4 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. Reheat until steaming hot.
- Nutrition is an estimate.
Private Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Scaling Chart: Dish Size, Custard and Bake Time
Cooking for two, or feeding the whole family at Christmas? The rule of thumb I use is about 1 egg to every 170 ml of liquid, and then the dish size and timing below.
| Feeds | Dish size | Bread | Eggs | Milk + cream | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 or 4 | 1 litre | 4 slices | 2 | 150 + 100 ml | 30-35 min |
| 6 | 2 litres | 8 slices | 3 | 300 + 200 ml | 35-40 min |
| 10 to 12 | 3.5 litres (9×13 in) | 14-16 slices | 5 | 550 + 350 ml | 40-45 min |
(Sugar: 40, 75 or 130 g, small to big.) Oh and a deep dish is slower than a shallow one every time, so go by the wobble.
Why Is Bread and Butter Pudding Trending?
Funny how a pudding this old suddenly ends up everywhere. On 27 October 2026 Google Trends showed Aussie searches for “bread and butter pudding recipe” up roughly 900% in a single day, which made it one of the fastest climbers of all the recipe searches over there.
Bakers seem to be having a play with it too. Pastry chef Sophie Bamford put up a single-slab version that bakes more like French toast on 25 October 2026, where she brushes the top with nutmeg butter for extra crispy edges and cooks the leftover custard into a sauce to pour over.
Then there’s panettone, which a lot of people swear by after Christmas. In January 2026, baker Stroma Sinclair wrote this lovely piece on using leftover panettone instead of bread (plus chocolate and hot cross bun versions). Bookmark that for the week after Christmas.
Soggy, Rubbery or Dry? Quick Fixes
If yours didn’t turn out, it’s pretty much always one of three things (the bread, the soak or the oven), so here’s what I’d change next time round.
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Soggy, wet middle | Fresh bread or underbaked | Use stale bread; bake until only a slight wobble |
| Rubbery or holey custard | Oven too hot or overbaked | Bake at 160°C fan; use a water bath |
| Dry bread on top | No soaking time | Soak 30 minutes and press the slices down |
| Burnt sultanas | Fruit left on the top layer | Tuck fruit between the layers |
| Bland flavour | Not enough sugar or vanilla | Add lemon zest, nutmeg and a pinch of salt |
5 Ways to Change Up Your Bread and Butter Pudding
Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding
Brioche instead of bread, 300 g of it sliced, and only 50 g sugar in the custard since brioche is sweet already. Ridiculously soft. Pour a bit of cream over and you’re done.
Chocolate Croissant Pudding
Rip 5 or 6 stale croissants into chunks and scatter 75 g of dark chocolate through instead of the sultanas. Croissants are lighter than bread so check it at 30 minutes, it’ll probably want 30 to 35.
Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding
Once the bread’s buttered, spread a thin layer of orange marmalade over it too, and use orange zest instead of lemon in the custard. A bit bitter, a bit sticky, and about as British as it gets.
Hot Cross Bun Pudding
Cut 6 hot cross buns in half and leave out the sultanas and nutmeg (the buns already have fruit and spice in them). It’s the best thing to do with the ones nobody ate at Easter.
Easy Bread and Butter Pudding Without Cream
Go with 500 ml of full-cream milk and 3 eggs plus 1 extra yolk. It’s lighter and cheaper but still sets up fine, and it’s pretty much what a lot of our grandmothers would’ve made anyway.
What to Serve with Bread and Butter Pudding
I know custard on custard sounds like overkill, but warm pouring custard really is the proper British way to eat it. In Australia people go for a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a jug of cold pouring cream just as often, and a handful of berries on the side helps with all that richness.
Having a pudding night? It sits really nicely next to a crunchy apple crumble with oats. And if you’re into old-fashioned baked puddings in general, give this New England Indian pudding a go, it’s kind of a cornmeal cousin of this one.
How to Store and Reheat Bread and Butter Pudding
Once it’s cooled down, cover the leftovers and get them into the fridge within 2 hours of baking. They’ll last 3 or 4 days in there (that’s in line with the FoodSafety.gov cold storage chart for leftovers).
Reheating’s easy: 60 to 90 seconds in the microwave for a bowl, or foil over the dish and about 20 minutes at 160°C (325°F). Either way, make sure it’s steaming in the middle, and a little splash of milk keeps it from drying out.
You can freeze it for up to 2 months too. Wrap portions up tight, thaw them overnight in the fridge and then reheat. The custard’s slightly softer after freezing but it still tastes great.
Bread and Butter Pudding FAQ
Why is my bread and butter pudding soggy?
Nine times out of ten? Fresh bread, or you pulled it out too soon. Fresh slices go to mush instead of soaking the custard up, and a middle that’s underdone just stays runny. Fix? Stale bread, don’t cut the 30-minute soak short, and leave it in till just the middle wobbles a touch (around 71°C or 160°F if you’re poking a thermometer in).
Should you soak bread and butter pudding before baking?
Yes, always. It’s the bit people skip and then wonder why there’s dry bread on top. Half an hour lets the custard get everywhere so it puffs up nice and even. Leaving it longer’s fine too, up to 12 hours in the fridge with something over it.
Can you make bread and butter pudding without cream?
Yep, loads of the old recipes never had cream in them anyway. Go 500 ml of full-cream milk and add an extra yolk to help it set. It comes out lighter and a little firmer and it’s still really nice.
What temperature should bread and butter pudding be cooked at?
Mine goes in at 180°C (160 fan, 350°F) for somewhere between 35 and 40 minutes, in a 2-litre dish. If you’re not in a hurry, turn it down a bit and stand the dish in hot water, it makes the custard even smoother. Out it comes once it’s puffy and golden with hardly any wobble.
Is bread and butter pudding the same as bread pudding?
Nope, cousins really. This one’s buttered slices layered in custard, crispy on top. Then there’s British bread pudding, the bakery stuff, which is this dense spiced slab of soaked, mashed-up bread you’d eat cold in a square with your cuppa.
Can you make bread and butter pudding the day before?
Sure. You can build it, cover it and leave it in the fridge overnight (no more than 12 hours), then bake it cold and add 10-ish minutes. Or bake the lot, chill it, and heat up a bowl whenever you feel like it. Fresh and hot is still the dream though.
My Last Tip: Leave the Corners Sticking Up
Layering the bread? Let a few corners poke up out of the custard on purpose. Those are the crunchy sugary buttery bits people literally fight over, so be generous.
Made it? I’d love a star rating on the card, and drop a comment telling me which bread you went with. Maybe pin it too, for the next cold night. Still got stale bread kicking around after? Make it into this vanilla cinnamon French toast for breakfast tomorrow.
