Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe (2024)

Bread Pudding is my all-time favorite dessert and this recipe is made even more indulgent by using croissants for the base and making an easy homemade vanilla sauce that lasts for weeks in the fridge – so you can indulge over and over!

When we were in Montreal, Ella and I became obsessed with all-butter croissants.

Our favourite croissants are from a little bakery, Au Kouign-Amann, which doesn’t have debit and isn’t really close to anything of interest to us(other than some other awesome restaurants), but we still made the trip out to the Metro Royale Station several times throughout our week-long vacation to buy those perfect, flaky croissants.

Yes, they are that good.

(If you’re heading to Montreal, check out our top 10 Family-friendly Restaurants here.)

Now that we’re back home, Ella always selects croissants as one of her three special choices at the grocery store. (And I’m still trying to perfect my homemade croissant recipe… but let’s face it – our standards are now super high so I’m not sure I’ll ever get there!)

Very rarely, we don’t eat them all before they go stale, but recently we had a few leftover that were a bit too hard to eat, but rather than let them go to waste, Ella and I whipped up this croissant bread pudding recipe for an indulgent & easy breakfast.

(I also included our recipe for a healthier, refined sugar free version.)

Kids can tear up the croissants – they don’t need to be perfectly cut – and cracking the eggs and whisking the bread pudding mixture are always favorite jobs.

The end result is an indulgent, crunchy and soft, sweet yet filling dessert that also doubles as an indulgent brunch recipe!

If you want to skip the warm vanilla sauce, you can use maple syrup – but you will not be sorry if you take the time to make the sauce. And, as a bonus, it lasts forever in the fridge and you can use it on plain french toast, in lattes, on fruit, or on other desserts like brownies or crumbles. It is so delicious and versatile!

Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe

All you need for this kid-friendly croissant bread pudding recipe are ingredients you likely already have on hand:

• 4-5 croissants
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 cups milk or half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Homemade Vanilla Sauce:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (35%)
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla

Alternatively, this is my “healthier” version with no refined sugar:

• 3 croissants
• 2 T butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup coconut or raw sugar (brown sugar would also work)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• OPT: nuts or dried fruit

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How to Make Croissant Bread Pudding

Preheat oven to 300F

Grease a small oven-safe casserole dish.

Chop up croissants and place in dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, milk, and salt until combined.

Pour egg mixture over croissants, covering completely.

Bake until pudding has puffed up and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40-50 minutes.

While the bread pudding is in the final stretch of cooking, combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Spoon warm pudding into individual dessert dishes; serve with sauce.

Pin this easy bread pudding recipe with homemade vanilla sauce:

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Check out our other Breakfast Recipes here: