Healthy Bread Pudding 4 Ways in 1 Dish! (Naturally sweetened, GF & Paleo options)

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One of the things I love about Healthy Bread Pudding 4 Ways in 1 Dish is you can make it with any bread to meet your needs (regular, sourdough, gluten-free or grain-free/Paleo), and it can be dairy-free or with dairy! So it suits all eating styles — yet, it’s decadent, inviting and such a fun recipe.

Versatility abounds with the “4 Ways” part of this recipe: You’ll have bread pudding to suit all your eaters’ tastes. Let them choose between the four corners of the casserole dish:

1. Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding
2. Mixed Berry Bread Pudding
3. Caramelized Banana Bread Pudding
4. or Original Vanilla
   

Original variation

Original, too, has a few variations: Leave it plain with it’s lovely vanilla scented custard, and serve simply with your preferred bread pudding topping(s).

Or, make it a fourth easy “flavor” by choosing: raisins, pecans and/or diced apples.

This Classic Bread Pudding 4 Ways is such a fun dessert to prepare and serve — fast and easy to make, and always greeted with enthusiasm!! And yes, it can definitely be served for breakfast or brunch, too!

Additional diets this recipe could include are: Keto and GAPS. I give those variations in the Recipe.

Ingredients in Healthy Bread Pudding 4 Ways in 1 Dish

The base bread pudding ingredients are:

• 1 loaf bread: sourdough, gluten-free, grain-free (for Paleo), challah or brioche, (this one for GAPS) — your choice!
• full fat creamy milk, including raw or coconut; or half heavy cream + half low carb nut milk for keto/low carb; homemade nut milk if creamy and high fat; sour cream + nut or coconut milk for GAPS
• eggs
• pure maple syrup, (For Keto: use preferred low carb sweetener or honey for GAPS)
• butter, coconut oil or preferred solid at room temp natural fat
• egg yolks — These add to the richness of the custard and should be included. (Don’t sub out.)
• real vanilla extract
• sea salt
• optional spices: cinnamon and nutmeg
• maple or coconut sugar

The topping ingredients that get added to each quadrant are, respectively:

• chocolate chips
• mixed berries, or one berry choice if preferred
• banana + a sprinkling of natural sugar
  
• (vanilla) nothing extra for the final quadrant, OR: raisins, pecans or diced apples, depending on preference
  

How to make Healthy Bread Pudding 4 Ways

1. Grease well a casserole dish slightly smaller than 9″x13″ (to allow the bread pudding to be a little deeper) [See Equipment section below for more details.]. Cut bread into 1″ cubes. Add bread to casserole dish.
2. Scatter each quadrant of the casserole dish with its flavor of ingredients: one corner, the allotted amount of chocolate chips, one corner, evenly distribute the berries, one corner tuck in banana slices over the surface and into crevices, and then sprinkle that corner with the 1 Tablespoon coconut or maple sugar, the last corner, leave plain, or add in raisins, pecans or diced apple. Set aside.
3. Add liquid ingredients, salt and optional spices to blender in this order: milk of choice (and optional cream), eggs, yolks, maple syrup, vanilla, sea salt and spices. Blend for 10 to 15 seconds, then, with motor still running, add melted butter (or coconut oil) through the door in lid.
4. Pour “custard” from blender over bread cubes. Use a spoon or fork to press all the bread pieces under the custard so they’re saturated. Set aside.
   • 
5. Preheat oven to 350°F. (While the oven preheats, the bread cubes soak up the custard. Occasionally press down on them to ensure all pieces absorb the custard.)
6. When oven is preheated, bake Bread Pudding 4 Ways 40 to 50 minutes, or until top is set and tinged with brown. Don’t over-bake; it is best with a soft, custardy center. Start checking at the 40-minute point.
7. Place on a wire rack to cool 15 to 30 minutes before serving with various topping options.

Toppings for Bread Pudding 4 Ways

In the photos on this page, you see Bread Pudding 4 Ways topped with:

• Dairy-free Vanilla Custard
• Easy Caramel Sauce (Paleo, dairy-free)
• Paleo Vanilla Ice Cream
• and maple syrup sweetened Whipped Cream 

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Healthy Bread Pudding 4 Ways in 1 Dish! (refined sugar-free)

Make Classic Bread Pudding 4 Ways in 1 Dish with any bread to meet your needs (regular, gluten-free or grain-free/Paleo), and it can be dairy-free or with dairy! So it suits all eating styles -- yet, it's decadent, inviting and such a fun recipe. The 4 Corners/Flavors of the Dish are: Chocolate Chip, Mixed Berry, Caramelized Banana and Vanilla (or add in raisins, pecans or diced apples to the final quadrant).

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: ancestral, apple, banana, berry, bread pudding, chocolate chip, dairy-free, gluten-free, healthy, paleo, pecan, raisin, refined sugar-free, traditional

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 225kcal

Author: Megan

Cost: $9

Equipment

• blender , or whisk wet ingredients together in a large bowl
• large casserole dish , Ideally use 13x7, 11x9, 11x8 or similar <-- I have this one. (9"x13" doesn't allow the bread pudding to be deep because it spreads out too much.)

Ingredients

Base bread pudding ingredients

• 1 12 oz to 16 oz loaf bread : sourdough, gluten-free, grain-free (for Paleo), challah or brioche, (this one for GAPS) — your choice!
• 2 cups milk (full fat creamy), including raw or coconut; or use half heavy cream + half low carb nut milk for keto/low carb; homemade nut milk if creamy and high fat; sour cream + nut or coconut milk for GAPS
• 4 whole eggs
• ½ cup maple syrup (Keto: use preferred low carb sweetener or honey for GAPS)
• ½ cup butter , coconut oil or preferred natural fat, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 egg yolks -- These add to the richness of the custard and should be included. Don't sub out.
• 1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt + optional spices: ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping/flavor ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons chocolate chips
• ½ cup mixed berries or one berry choice if preferred
• 1 medium to large banana
• optional: 2 Tablespoons raisins, ¼ cup pecans, or ⅓ cup diced apples
• 1 Tablespoon maple or coconut sugar

Instructions

• Grease well a casserole dish slightly smaller than 9"x13" (to allow the bread pudding to be a little deeper) [See Equipment section above for more details.]. Cut bread into 1" cubes. Add bread to casserole dish. Scatter each quadrant of the casserole dish with its flavor of ingredients: one corner, the allotted amount of chocolate chips, one corner, evenly distribute the berries, one corner tuck in banana slices over the surface and into crevices, and then sprinkle that corner with the 1 Tablespoon coconut or maple sugar, the last corner, leave plain, or add in raisins, pecans or diced apple. Set aside.
• Add liquid ingredients, salt and optional spices to blender in this order: milk of choice (and optional cream), eggs, yolks, maple syrup, vanilla, sea salt and spices. Blend for 10 to 15 seconds, then, with motor still running, add melted butter (or coconut oil) through the door in lid.
• Pour “custard” from blender over bread cubes. Use a spoon or fork to press all the bread pieces under the custard so they’re saturated. Set aside.
  
• Preheat oven to 350°F. (While the oven preheats, the bread cubes soak up the custard. Occasionally press down on them to ensure all pieces absorb the custard.)
• When oven is preheated, bake Bread Pudding 4 Ways 40 to 50 minutes, or until top is set and tinged with brown. Don’t overbake; it is best with a soft, custardy center. Start checking at the 40-minute point.
• Place on a wire rack to cool 15 to 30 minutes before serving with various topping options.
  

Nutrition

Calories: 225kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Potassium: 235mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 13g

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