Southern Bread Pudding Recipe With Sauce
This southern bread pudding recipe with sauce is an easy recipe that has been a family favorite for generations. The bread pudding is a creamy, sweet, and decadent dessert that only requires a few everyday ingredients.
The Perfect Dessert

Southern bread pudding is the perfect dessert and a classic recipe. It’s so easy to make, and it’s so rich that a little bit will go a long way with this sweet treat.
The classic dessert is made up of a handful of simple ingredients, including Hawaiian rolls that we all love, butter, pecans, and a few more pantry items.
The sweet sauce is buttery and flavorful for a taste we all crave, and this delicious dessert delivers.

Ingredients For Southern Bread Pudding
Bread Pudding Sauce
- White granulated sugar
- Butter
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
Bread Pudding
- Hawaiian rolls
- White granulated sugar
- Eggs, beaten
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Brown sugar
- Butter softened
- Pecans
Full printable recipe with measurements and instructions listed at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Watch How To Make Southern Bread Pudding With Sauce
How To Make The Easy Bread Pudding Recipe
- Start by cutting up the rolls into smaller pieces and leave them out overnight to get stale. (I usually put a paper towel loosely over the pieces).
- The next day, grease a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish and add the bread to the dish.
- In a medium bowl, add the sugar, eggs, milk, and three teaspoons of vanilla extract and mix.
- Pour the mixture over the stale bread and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
- In another bowl, add the brown sugar, softened butter, and pecans and mix.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar mix over the bread and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.
- Once the bread is finished baking, start the sauce by adding the white sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract to a medium saucepan.
- Cook on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the sauce over the warm bread pudding and serve.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Bread Pudding

Take the Hawaiian rolls out of the plastic container.

Slice the Hawaiian rolls into smaller pieces and place into a container to sit overnight. The rolls will get stale as they sit. Place a paper towel over the rolls.

After 24 hours and when you are ready to make the bread pudding, add the eggs to a bowl and beat.

Next, add the white sugar to the bowl and mix.

Pour the milk into the bowl and mix.
For this recipe, I used two-percent milk, but if you want it to taste a little richer, you can use whole milk or heavy cream instead.

Add the vanilla extract to the bowl and mix well.

Pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to soak it up.
Brown Sugar Topping

In another bowl, add the softened butter and brown sugar.

Next, add the chopped pecans and mix the three ingredients.

Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the top of the bread.

Bake the bread pudding for 35 to 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown around the edges.

Butter Sauce

Start the sauce by adding an egg to a measuring cup and beat.

Add the white sugar to the bowl.

Pour the melted butter into the mixing bowl.
I always make sure the butter is not hot before pouring it in or that I have mixed the egg with the sugar because the hot butter will cook the egg. Then you will have pieces of cooked egg, which is not fun.
So make sure your butter cools off a little before adding it.

Add your sauce to a small saucepan and cook on medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring often.

Pour the sauce over the bread pudding.
I just go to town and pour the sauce all over. Once you get the sauce on, it’s ready to serve.

This is a simple bread pudding recipe and one I know you will love.
You can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side for an additional sweet flavor.
How To Store Leftover Bread Pudding
Store the bread pudding in an airtight container or cover it with plastic wrap and keep it refrigerated.
What Kind Of Bread Can I Use For Bread Pudding?
There are several choices when it comes to choosing bread for bread pudding. For this recipe, I used Hawaiian bread.
You simply need to cut the bread into bread cubes and let it sit on the counter for about 24 hours to let it get stale.
Here are some more options:
- French bread
- Challah bread
- White bread
- Raisin bread
- Donuts (Donut bread pudding recipe is amazing)
Optional Ingredients
- Pecans
- Raisins
- Bananas
- Caramel
- Baked apples
Can I Use Fresh Bread?
Yes, you can use fresh bread for bread pudding. But you will need to slice it and toast it first. The bread will soak up the milk mixture if toasted and dried out.
How Do You Make Bourbon Sauce?
You can add bourbon to the sauce recipe. Just add two to three tablespoons of bourbon to the recipe before cooking.
More Delicious Desserts:
- Coffee cake without sour cream
- Buttermilk pecan pie
- Butter pecan pie recipe
- Easy pecan tart recipe
- Easy Christmas fudge recipe
- Triple chocolate brownie cream pie from South Your Mouth
- How to make homemade banana pudding
Southern Bread Pudding Recipe With Sauce
Be sure to get the recipe below for bread pudding. It’s comfort food at its finest and a great way to serve something elegant after dinner.


In the last 8 days, between my husband and myself we have prepared 5 pans of this fabulous dessert! My husband made 3 with his team at a local men’s “gourmet” dinner club (been around for over 30 years) – with rave reviews from all 24 guys. Today we made 2 for Birthday gifts (minus a little kept back for the cooks). Only slight adjustment was made due to our love of brown sugar – so we replaced 30% of white sugar with brown sugar. Thank you for such a great recipe!
We sure have enjoyed featuring your awesome post. Thanks so much for sharing it with us on Full Plate Thursday, 631. Hope you are having a great week and come back to see us soon!
Miz Helen
Oh my goodness! Made this tonight for my small group at church, home now with 5 requests for recipe ! Followed exactly as stated no changes, best bread pudding ever !
You just made my day! Thank you! I am so glad you all loved it! I was a total piggy with it. 😉
I don’t see what temperature to cook at?
Yikes! Sorry about that. It’s 350 degrees. I went in and corrected it in the recipe card. Thanks for pointing that out.
What size baking dish do you bake it in?
Hi Theresa, I added that into the recipe card. Thank you for pointing it out. It bakes in a 9×13-inch baking dish.
I can’t get Hawaiian Rolls here in UK. Could you suggest an alternative please as I’d love to try this recipe. Thank you.
Hi Louise,
It’s more of a sweet roll. I am not sure of an alternative. I googled it and found you could try a sweet brioche roll. Here’s a recipe to make it at home if you’d like to. https://www.bakedbyanintrovert.com/the-best-hawaiian-sweet-rolls/
Hope that helps!
If you’re making a small portion, like half of the recipe, how many eggs to I put?
Hi Rhonnie, I would use three eggs for the bread pudding and one egg for the sauce. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Can you leave the pecans out of the topping? R, is there a substitute for the pecans?
Hi Alana, you can leave them out if you don’t want to add them. You can always add walnuts or almonds if you like those. But they are not required for the recipe. Hope you love it!
I made this today and it’s good but if i ever make it again id cut down on the sugar, way to sweet!
Hi Irene,
Glad you liked it! You can definitely make it with less sugar. 🙂
It truly looks delicious but way too much sugar and fat. Is there a way to slim down this recipe?
Hi Ann,
I haven’t tried it with less sugar, but you could probably just cut some of it out. Let me know how it turns out if you decide to do that!
The recipe works great! In addition to raisins, add some Craisins (dried cranberries) or even some dried cherries. Both work great as a additional flavor to the raisins.
Such great additions! I love dried cranberries.
This is really really sweet. I followed recipie to a T and I’m always a fan of sweets but this is a LOT. Overall, it’s pretty good. I feel I should have baked longer because sugar crumble was sort of gritty still, but still tasty with ice cream 🙂
Hi Jennifer,
It’s definitely a sweet treat! Glad you liked it!
Julie, I follow a lot of cooks online, but your recipes are by far the easiest and tastiest!
Thanks for all you share.
NJP
Thank you so much! That’s so sweet of you!!
Very sweet. Did not care for the middle layer of pecans, butter and brown sugar. It was too grainy and detracted from comfort food idea. Loved the texture of the bread pudding however. Next time will decrease sugar to 1 1/2 cups and put pecans in the sauce that goes on afterwards when the pudding comes out of the oven. Forgo the middle layer altogether other than the pecans.
Hi Deb,
Thanks for the review and sounds like another great way to make the dish. Glad you liked the bread pudding!