This easy bread pudding bake takes your favorite southern dessert, lightens it up into a healthy and quick bake you can just pop in your oven, and is healthy enough to eat for breakfast!
Bread pudding has been one of the greatest things I’ve discovered since moving to the south. How did I not know about this my whole life!? And while I love the traditional form in all its warm indulgent buttery greatness, I wanted to do what I do and make a healthier version to enjoy!
This recipe really brings to life the quote “eat dessert first” because this one you can eat for breakfast. It is made with nutritious ingredients that will energize you for the day, and is the perfect amount of sweet!
And the quality starts with the sprouted bread we use!
Why Sprouted?
In this recipe, I used Angelic Bakehouse sprouted whole grain 7-grain bread. I love the taste and the nutrition that it brings! So in case you are wondering – what are the benefits of sprouted bread? Here are just a few:
- It boosts nutrient density – when a seed is sprouted, it increases the amounts of B vitamins, folate, fiber, and essential amino acids
- It makes it easier to digest. Even for people that usually have sensitivities to gluten!
- It improves the flavor – The grains are a little sweeter once sprouted, so you get a great sweet taste without any added sugars.
And you can read more about it on their website! If you’ve never tried sprouted bread, I definitely recommend giving it a try!
Picking Your Protein Powder
For this recipe I used Bob’s Red Mill vanilla protein powder nutritional booster. For a very specific couple of reasons! First of all, it packs a whole lot more nutritional value into your meal than most protein powders will. Not only does one serving of this powder (2 scoops) provide you with 20 grams of plant based protein, it is also rich in fiber (12 grams), has probiotics and prebiotics to support gut health, is rich in iron, contains no artificial colors or flavors, AND contains 240mg of omega 3’s.
So let’s talk about those omega 3’s because that brings me to my next reason. This powder has chia seeds in it, which provides these healthy fats among other things, but also serves a particular purpose to make your icing perfect! Chia seeds are very absorbent when placed in liquids and will thicken the consistency. So what I did was as soon as I put the bread in the oven, I made my icing. Then I left it in the fridge for the 45 minutes it took for the pudding to be ready. This gave the seeds a little bit of time to slightly thicken the mixture. It worked perfectly!
How to Make Bread Pudding
This recipe actually works best with stale bread. If your bread is fresh, you can toast it in the oven at a very low heat for just a few minutes to help dry it out.
After you mix the bread with the pudding filling, let it sit for at least 30 minutes. This will allow the bread to really absorb the flavors. You can even do this step the night before!
Sweetener – I made this once with maple syrup, and once without. And I think I preferred the batch without any sweetener. But you can adjust depending on how sweet you like things.
And if you are looking for other recipes to round out your brunch, be sure to check out my egg muffins for a savory dish, my cold brew donuts for your caffeine fix in food form, and my iced matcha latte recipe for you tea drinkers!
Easy Bread Pudding Breakfast Bake
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 10×10 pan 1x
Description
This easy bread pudding bake takes your favorite southern dessert, lightens it up into a healthy and quick bake you can just pop in your oven, and is healthy enough to eat for breakfast!
Ingredients
Pudding:
- 16oz of stale bread (I used sprouted grain bread)
- 2 eggs + 1 egg white
- 1 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Icing:
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon milk of choice (almond milk or dairy milk is fine)
- 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt (or dairy-free alternative)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder
Instructions
- If your bread is not dry and stale, bake it in the oven at 250 degrees for 2-3 minutes or until the bread has dried out.
- Once bread is dry, cut into small squares (I cut each slice into 9 pieces), and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, applesauce, coconut milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and syrup if using.
- Fold bread pieces into mixture.
- Transfer bread to a baking dish (I used a 10×10 Le Creuset baking dish).
- Let this sit for about 30 minutes so bread can absorb the flavors.
- While this is sitting, preheat oven to 350F, then bake for 45 minutes.
- While baking, make the icing. Combine all icing ingredients together in a small bowl and set in fridge while bread pudding bakes to allow chia seeds to thicken the icing.
- Pour icing over pudding immediately and eat warm or let it cool first – it is great both ways!
Notes
Gluten Free Option – simple swap the sprouted bread for your favorite gluten free brand
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of pan
it really really awesome! and testy
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I used boneless chicken thighs cause we like dark meat. So smaller portions but most definitely a keeper.
it’s such a complete “brain save” for me. I literally do nothing.The texture ends up being a tad different, but not enough that my family has ever noticed. 🙂 The kids love having it cooked in baggies too because I will keep some in the fridge and it makes them much more apt to cook up something on their own. 🙂
WOW! This came out so delicious! I do the same thing, taking inspiration from a recipe and then changing it up. I had some left over roasted sweet potatoes so I just carmelized onions, browned the turkey in a pan, added some other vegetables, red thai chili paste, and a bit of lemongrass (along with everything you put in the recipe) and it came out amazingly delicious! My fiance was shocked because I put it together rather quickly and it was so yummy 🙂
Thank you for this great post. Your ketchup recipe is a staple in my kitchen! I just made another batch yesterday 🙂
I am so glad to hear that! So happy you enjoy 🙂
WOW! This came out so delicious! I do the same thing, taking inspiration from a recipe and then changing it up. I had some left over roasted sweet potatoes so I just carmelized onions, browned the turkey in a pan, added some other vegetables, red thai chili paste, and a bit of lemongrass (along with everything you put in the recipe) and it came out amazingly delicious! My fiance was shocked because I put it together rather quickly and it was so yummy 🙂
okay wow that sounds AMAZING. Can you bring me some of that 😛 I am so glad you like it and love your savory take!