Easy Banana Bread Pudding
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A simple bread pudding made with Greek yogurt and egg custard soaked bread sweetened with brown sugar and naturally sweet bananas.
This Simple Banana Bread Pudding Recipe has been perfected!
If you’re a regular reader around here, you might recall that in 2015, I failed miserably at a Bananas Foster bread pudding recipe. It was going so perfectly, but I just had too much moisture going on and it was a big huge soppy mess.
The top layer was so good, but under that? Awful. Bananas Foster soup. Not as delicious as you would hope from the sounds of it.
I vowed to try again, but where I think I went completely wrong was too many components (there was a brown sugar rum sauce) and flavors going together without ever actually trying to make a simple bread pudding first. Baby steps, right?
So that’s where we are today: starting small and simple and just sticking to bananas. Let’s master the method first and then get fancy with the ingredients.
Easy Banana Bread Pudding ingredients
Bread pudding: another one of those things that sounds weird but is really quite tasty. Obviously, bread is a major component; but that bread is held together with a sweet creamy custard. It’s baked to perfection into a sturdy-yet-very-moist, you-can-still-cut-into-it type of dessert.
And the best part?
My banana bread pudding isn’t super sweet, so you can totally eat it for breakfast and not feel like you’re making a meal choice that will ruin your day. You’ll sweeten naturally with some mashed ripe bananas and my favorite way to bring rich sweetness to baked goods: a bit of brown sugar.
You’re also going to use Greek yogurt (along with milk and eggs) for the custard in this bread pudding. Whenever I can get some extra protein into my life, I choose it. More great choices!
When it comes to bread pudding, many people like to whip it up as a way to utilize stale bread. While you’re more than welcome to use stale bread (see notes in the recipe for adjustments), I actually used fresh bread for this bread pudding, and it still turned out fantastically.
WHAT’S THE BEST BREAD TO USE FOR BREAD PUDDING?
My bread of choice was eureka!® Organic Bread, because it is absolutely jam-packed with flavor and wholesome goodness. As a texture lover, I prefer bread with “things in it,” much like I prefer crunchy peanut butter to creamy, chunky brownies over basic ones, and homemade granola with chewy bits of tropical paradise.
With eureka!® Organic Bread, I got the best of both worlds: choosing a wholesome ingredient without compromising taste or wow-factor.
Look at all that texture on the crust and in the bread itself!!
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How to Make Banana Bread Pudding
You’ll need 10 slices of bread. Feel free to spread the rest of the loaf with peanut butter, jam, jelly, lemon curd, butter, anything and everything to get it in your belly. That bread is a texture lover’s dream!
Once your bread is soaked in custard and baked to perfection, you now have the choice of eating it warm or cold. Personally, we prefer it cold, but in a bowl, warmed up with a little extra splash of milk sounds like a perfect nightcap, especially on a cool summer night. Or with ice cream! Or more sliced bananas!
What is Banana Bread Pudding?
This banana bread pudding is just the perfect mix between something like monkey bread and an actual pudding. Moist and flavorful bites of banana custard sweetened bread, scattered with crunchy toasted pecans and spiced with cinnamon.
And those bites with toasted bread pieces on top? Those ones are my favorite!
I think we’ve perfected a basic bread pudding. Take that, 2015!
Easy Banana Bread Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 slices eureka!® Organic Bread cut into cubes (approximately 10 cups)
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk any*
- 3 very ripe bananas 2 mashed and 1 sliced
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 7×11 (or similar size) casserole dish lightly with non-stick spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss together the bread cubes and chopped pecans (reserve a couple Tablespoons or so for sprinkling on top, if desired). Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, milk, the 2 mashed bananas, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt until completely combined. Pour mixture over bread cubes and stir gently until all of the bread is covered.
- Pour coated bread into prepared dish and top with reserved chopped pecans (if you saved them) and banana slices. Bake for 33-35 minutes until top and edges just start to brown or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving, or cool completely and chill in the refrigerator to serve cold. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly, up to 5 days. To serve warm leftovers, reheat individual servings in the microwave.
Notes
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
My favorite bread pudding recipe is a bourbon bread pudding…omg AMAZING. This looks so good though!!!
Marina, that sounds delightful.
Sometimes, Betty just does know best!!
Cinnamon roll bread pudding <3 but this looks like it might be my new fav
Ohhh, that sounds so good! Made with actual cinnamon rolls?! That sounds like a dream.
I’m just going to drop a link to my favorite bread pudding and then tiptoe quietly out of the room, because if someone mentioned bourbon in my presence while I was 38 weeks pregnant, I would have told them exactly where to shove that bottle…
http://www.bunsenburnerbakery.com/2016/01/chocolate-bourbon-soft-pretzel-bread.html
Loveeeeee this.
My favorite bread pudding recipe is my mother’s homemade one with her secret ingredients.
Secret ingredients?! I love that!
I like my bread pudding like a twist on apple pie. I go with diced apples, pecans, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and maple syrup.
I have never had bread pudding before but your recipe looks really good.
cshell090869 at aol dot com
My Grandmother made bread pudding with cinnamon and raisins. It had a melted sugar like topping. I haven’t had it in years.
Yours might be my new favorite because I adore bananas, but I’ve always liked a recipe called Bread Pudding with Praline Sauce. It has pecans mixed in a sauce of butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar that is poured on top of the pudding.
I love cinnamon raisin bread pudding. thanks for the chance truckredford(at)Gmail(dot)com
My recipe for bread pudding is made with bread, butter, cream, eggs, cinnamon and raisins.
I like traditional bread pudding with plenty of raisins. Yum!
I am sad to have to admit this, but I’ve never had bread pudding!! This looks AMAZING tho’, so I’m going to say that your recipe is my favorite! I have got to try this 🙂
I have never made bread pudding, so no favorite kind. I would use the bread to make croutons for salads.
jslbrown2009 at aol dot com
My Grandmother made a basic bread pudding that was really good. I think it had bread, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and a few other ingredients. I never made though, but thinking now I should! 🙂
I don’t have a favorite(not a big fan of bread pudding) but this recipe does look good.
Eggnog bread pudding, my fave!
Oooooh, great idea!!
My favorite is Pecan Pie Bread Pudding
JenniferAnne74 @ aol.com
I have never had bread pudding but this recipe sounds delicious!
I don’t have a recipe, but I love bread pudding that has a delicious vanilla bean flavor!
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 at gmail dot com
Vanilla bean makes everything better!