Don’t let those extra muffins go to waste! Whether they are getting stale or are starting to crumble, leftover muffins make amazing bread pudding.
Growing up there was a great debate in my house – should bread pudding have raisins or not?
The debate was between my big sister and me. As an Analytical Eater, I L-O-V-E chunks in my food. Bread pudding without a contrasting texture was too boring.
But my sister wanted nothing to do with raisins!
My poor mother. She never knew who to please. I’m sure we had it both ways many times.
In the end the bigger conundrum in my mind was why we didn’t get bread pudding more often!
What is Bread Pudding?
Bread pudding is sort of a misleading name. It’s not really pudding like we know it. No creamy chocolate dessert here. It’s more of a custard made with chunks of bread…or muffins!
You mix bread or muffins with eggs, milk, and some type of sweetener. When baked it creates a cake-like breakfast or dessert with a custard feel to it. The more eggs and milk you add, the more custard you get.
Why do Muffins Fall Apart?
How many ways can you mess up a batch of muffins? Far too many!
Muffins mishaps can be caused by too much or too little of a lot of things:
- too little moisture (milk, water, or fruit/veggie purees) (crumble)
- too few eggs (fall apart)
- too many eggs (won’t fully bake)
- not enough baking powder (stay flat)
- no binder (gluten, psyllium husk, flax seeds, gelatin) (fall apart)
- overbeating (chewy)
Who knew something as simple as a muffin could cause such trouble?! But it happens to the best of us.
Sometimes it’s not even a bad batch of muffins that causes problems, but a lack of paying attention to them.
Normally when I bake muffins I use them for a couple breakfasts and freeze the rest to have later. But sometimes I get busy. And the muffins just sit there, staring at me for a week.
Or once in a while there is that batch of muffins that didn’t turn out quite right. That happens more than I care to admit with gluten-free baking! They are crumbly and messy and you just want to toss them. Don’t!
Use them to make muffin bread pudding!
Leftover Muffin Bread Pudding
Traditional bread pudding is made with chunks of bread. But it’s just as easy to make it with leftover muffins.
Bread pudding with muffins is simple to prepare. Just crumble the muffins (if they aren’t a big mess already!), mix them with eggs, milk, and sweetener, and bake! You can assemble a delicious dessert or breakfast in minutes.
The next time you have a few leftover muffins turn them into something new.
It’s fun because you get a variety of flavors depending on the muffins. I have tried flavors like orange raisin and blueberry. These double raspberry chocolate chip muffins would make amazing bread pudding! If your muffins are kind of bland you can add extra fruit or dried fruit to the bread pudding to boost the flavor without adding refined sugar.
Easy Bread Pudding for One or For a Crowd
You can make leftover muffin bread pudding with a whole batch or just a few muffins. Enjoy it as a breakfast or dessert. I like to pour milk on top, like baked oatmeal.
I have fond memories of my mom serving bread pudding when I was a child. It was one of my favorite treats. But I don’t take the time to make it often these days. When I do, though, it’s usually using leftover muffins (these allergen-free blueberry muffins are perfect for making bread pudding!)
Kid-Friendly Bread Pudding with Muffins
My kids are very proficient in the kitchen thanks to the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse. My oldest is actually the muffin maker around here. Most of the time they turn out well. But once in a while we have a muffin flop. It’s part of the learning process.
Then all the kids can chip in to make leftover muffin bread pudding. The little one can have fun breaking or cutting muffins into chunks. While the older kids can practice cracking eggs, measuring ingredients and oven safety. Plus they get a delicious reward at the end. Muffin mistakes never tasted so good.
Not sure what to do with leftover muffins? Turn them into bread pudding – a delicious breakfast or dessert the whole family will love.
- Leftover muffins
- 2 eggs for every 4 medium-size muffins
- 1/2 cup milk for every 4 muffins
- 2 - 3 Tbsp. organic cane sugar, sucanat or coconut sugar (depends on the sweetness of the muffins) for every 4 muffins
- optional: fresh fruit, frozen fruit or dried fruit
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Grease a baking dish.
- Add the eggs, milk and sugar (and fruit) to the baking dish. Beat with a fork.
- Crumble the muffins and add to the dish. Push the muffin pieces down to get fully coated. If there is not enough moisture add extra milk.
- Adjust sweetness to taste.
- Bake for about 1 hour, until golden on top and baked through.
- Serve plain or with milk, yogurt or ice cream.
- Serve warm or room temperature.
Thanks! I bought muffins and didn’t look at the best before date of my second package and they were already dried out. I was so bummed cause they’re the big ones from Costco. I’m gonna try this out to save them
Sounds like they’ll make great bread pudding!
i just bought some of those too and the coffee cake muffins good for couple days were already dry
I have the big muffins from Costco.. is it considered medium sized??
I’ve never had Costco muffins, so I can’t say. Assume they are medium. If the mixture feels too dry, add more egg.
AWESOME!
My batch didn’t come out quite right due to distraction but reminded me of the bread pudding my aunt would make…..
My daughter suggested the same….
And now I found this.
So excited to try this for my breakfast tomorrow!
I hope it turns out! We love using leftover muffins for bread pudding. So good.
I’ve never made or eaten bread pudding. But I made muffins for a bake sale and they stuck to the paper. Glad I checked. So I am maki g bread pudding. I figured why not if it dont sell it will get tossed but at least I tried
Well, I hope you enjoy your first bread pudding! It’s a great way to put muffin mess ups to good use 🙂
I’ve had muffins stick to the papers, too.
I bought the silicone muffin cups and love how nice the muffins bake in those.
Something to ask for at Christmas or birthday.
We’re making muffin bread pudding tomorrow!
We use a Silpat muffin pan. Nothing ever sticks. It even works better the my silicone muffin cups.
Can I use this recipe for muffins made that have too much baking soda? I don’t want to throw them away
Sure!
I think you would still be stuck with a bitter baking soda taste.
Will this remove the baking soda flavor?
Hard to say. You’ll just have to give it a try. Might depend just how much baking soda you used. But I bet it’ll taste great.
I used GF flour mix and it made moist muffins AND apple bread!! So much for 1:1 use in recipes. I think I will make bread pudding. Perhaps after toasting small pieces of the undercooked muffins/bread? Maybe less milk and eggs too. We will see!
Ok I stumbled on here I made chocolate muffins and measured too much flour so I am going on a limb and trying this recipe I used 6 eggs 2 cups of milk chocolate and sugar. Hope I haven’t wasted more ingredients but if I have lesson learned
baked a batch of Chocolate chip cinnamon muffins and over baked them. Just added fresh raspberries to the bread pudding mix added a few choc chips on top and popped them in the oven. Can’t wait to try them!
Sounds delicious!
I made a batch of peach cobbler muffins that were too dry. I made this bread pudding using them and some fresh ripe peaches. It’s in the oven now and I wish you could smell it! I can’t wait for it to be done!!
Oooh, that sounds amazing! We just got fresh peaches here. I should make bread pudding with some of them 🙂
Same thing happened when I made peach cobbler muffins. Made 24 so I was really wondering now if it’s the recipe that is wrong. Hopefully I can make something out of them.
I underbaked some mini-pumpkin breads. Would these be good for bread pudding?
Absolutely, Cathy! And I bet they would make delicious bread pudding with some pumpkin spice added. Yum.
this is exactly what I’m doing – pumpkin muffins that were just mush in the middle! too much ingredients to waste so here goes weekend breakfast.
I hope it turns out well!
Do you think it would work if I just used egg yolks? I have 4 leftover and have been wanting to make this muffin bread pudding.
I think so. It will probably be rich and creamy!
I have 4 large muffins (going to count them as 8 regular muffins)- does this freeze well. Plan on making and freezing for a future weekend. Are there any tips to make the freezing or thaw/reheat better/easier?
Thank you!
I don’t think I’ve ever frozen it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! Just be sure to reheat it a bit before serving.
I just used this recipe and made some tweaks and man, is it delicious. I had a package of plain English muffins in the freezer that I had forgotten about. Took 4 out to thaw. I ended up using 3 but I had to add a third egg and 2 T of milk. I also added chopped walnuts and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. It baked in 50 minutes. Topped with whipped cream and some of the syrup from the cherries. Really delicious!
That sounds delicious, Megan!
Forgot to add sugar my pumpkin muffins. Going to make a batch of pumpkin
Bread pudding. Thanks for thr ratios
Sounds delicious, Ivy!
What do you mean by “medium ” size muffins in the recipe? Are you talking about reg. size muffins?? As in,12 to a batch? Thx!
Yes. Just average size that you’d make in a muffin pan.
I made some chocolate chip zucchini muffins but forget to put the sugar in the batter. Needless to say they were bland. So I found your recipe and made it with those muffins. Delicious! Thanks for helping me salvage my no-sugar muffins.
I’m glad it turned out! Bread pudding saves the day 🙂
I made a batch of dry muffins. I was happy to see the recipe for bread pudding which I have never had. Oops I had the timer on, heard it ring but didn’t take the pan out due to distraction. 15 minutes later I remembered. Looks a bit crisp so I wouldn’t call it pudding. I’ll give try anyways.
Pudding is sort of a misnomer. Bread pudding is similar to French toast.
I think it’s called pudding as in what British people call many desserts. Figgy pudding is much the same. Going to try this today with some overbaked banana muffins and coconut milk, wish me luck!
Good luck! It sounds delicious.
I will definitely try upping my zucchini muffins. Made them yesterday to take to a friend but I always taste my food and boy am I glad I did! I followed the recipe but only had olive oils (I used evoo) and they are not tasty to my liking. I will attempt paring it up with sweet and tart *fruits and hope they work.
*Chocolate chips and frozen cranberries…
1. There is no such thing as leftover muffins
2. There is such thing as disaster muffins ie gluten free muffins that didn’t rise and wouldn’t come out of the pan without breaking
3. This is the perfect solution 😀
I used some spare semi-sweet regular and maza flour muffins and a few ends off a brioche loaf. I added some cocoa powder, sour cream, chocolate syrup, Chocolate chips, added an extra egg, used 1/4 cup of sugar, and a splash of triple sec. Turned out like a brownie bread pudding. The chunks of brioche didn’t break down as much as the muffins, so it added a taste and texture surprise. Good stuff, I look forward to working with variations of this. It’s really quite forgiving on exactness for baking. THX…
Sounds good!
Could this be made in the slow cooker instead of the oven?
I haven’t tried it, but I bet it would work!
I have made this 3 times. Absolutely delicious hot or cold. I add craisins and pour some cream on it. I found it is better to mix it up in a bowl and the put in the buttered pan as it sticks otherwise. Enjoy
Great tip, Janet! Glad you enjoy muffin bread pudding.
I forgot to add sugar to my muffins. Will it work to make bread pudding?
Absolutely! You may need to add a touch more sweetener when you make it.
Just did that and added some blueberries too. Yay I was able to use my muffins
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy it.