Leftover Donut Bread Pudding (Fast And Easy Recipe)
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This Leftover Donut Bread pudding takes your uneaten glazed donuts and turns them into a delicious dessert. You can even freeze leftover donuts until you have enough to make this yummy dessert.
Leftover Donut Bread Pudding: A Frugal Recipe
Leftover donuts have never tasted this good. The original version of this Leftover Donut Bread Pudding recipe was posted on my first blog – Frugalista Farm Life. I am definitely channeling our Grandma K when I make this dish. Our grandma was the queen of frugal living. A child of the Depression, she did not waste ANYTHING!
Grandma’s frugal gene was passed to me – her youngest grandchild – a quality that I am proud of even if my family gives me a hard time about it. I now live in our grandparent’s house on our family’s farm. Many of the plates, bowls and baking dishes (like the one below) were our grandma’s and I still love using them when cooking for my family.
Ingredient List for Doughnut Bread Pudding
Have you ever had this thought? What can I do with leftover cinnamon donuts? Or maybe this one. What can I do with leftover Krispy Kreme doughnuts? If the answer is yes, then you and I are on the same page. As it turns out, this bread pudding recipe using stale donuts is so good that I buy extra donuts just so that I have some stale ones at the end of the week to make this sweet treat.
- Yeast Donuts (leftover works best such as stale Krispy Kreme Doughnuts) – Whenever I have leftover stale donuts like Krispy Kreme’s or Papa John’s bread sticks or even biscuits, I cut them up in small pieces and throw them in a resealable bag and toss the bag in the freezer. Then, when I have about 6 cups, I make this delicious bread pudding. The glazed donuts make it sweet enough that you don’t even need a sauce or glaze.
- Butter
- Eggs
- Milk (whole milk, 2%, or heavy cream)
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
How to make Bread Pudding with Donuts
Step by Step Instructions
- Prep your baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add donuts to baking dish and pour melted butter over them and lightly mix.
- Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl then pour liquid mixture over donuts.
- Let sit for 5 minutes and then cover with foil.
- Bake for 25 minutes and then remove foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Full recipe and ingredient amounts for stale donut bread pudding can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.Â
Recipe Variations
- Add chopped nuts such as pecans or walnuts.
- Use brown sugar instead of white sugar.
- Raisins are a classic addition.
- To make it extra rich, stir in chocolate chips.
- Serve with a drizzle of caramel sauce or chocolate sauce.
- Replace ground cinnamon with ground nutmeg.
- Serve with a rum sauce.
- It’s so rich, serve with vanilla ice cream.
What can I do with leftover donuts?
A leftover donut might be a rare occasion at your house, but it does happen from time to time. If your donuts have gotten stale and beyond repair, then try this tip straight from our Depression-Era grandma. Store the donuts in an airtight bag or container in the freezer.
Once you’ve got enough leftovers to equal approximately 6 cups, then you are all set to make bread pudding from stale donuts.
The best part is that it could be leftover yeast donuts, leftover cinnamon donuts, leftover jelly donuts – you get the picture, right? Use whatever you have on hand to make a decadent bread pudding recipe.
If your donuts are extra sugary to begin with, then you could even reduce or omit the added sugar in the bread pudding. It will still be great!
Recipe FAQs
- Store up leftover donuts as you acquire them in a resealable bag in the freezer. Once you have around 6 cups, you’ll be ready to make this recipe.
- Stale donut bread pudding is versatile – use leftover cinnamon doughnuts, Krispy Kreme donuts, yeast donuts, jelly donuts, jam filled donuts, and even plain breadsticks.
- The texture of the bread pudding will be affected by a couple different things:
- The smaller the chunks of donuts, the softer the bread pudding will be.
- The longer you soak the stale donuts, the softer the bread pudding will be.
- I’ve made this bread pudding a 100 different ways with varying ingredients, and it never looks the exact same but it’s always amazing.
- The cooking time could vary. The bread pudding is ready when it begins to brown around the edges and pulls away from the pan. It also begins to puff up in the oven.
- Check out our Amazon store to find our favorite pantry essentials and kitchen gadgets.
Our Favorite Dessert Recipes
We love desserts that are made in one dish and are meant to share. Whether they are topped with whipped cream, ice cream or served as is, these sweet treats are always a hit.
- Crock Pot Peach Cobbler
- Peach Batter Cake
- Blackberry Batter Cake
- Cherry Crisp
- Grandma’s Easy Apple Crisp
- Yellow Cake Mix Gooey Bars
- Grandma’s Rhubarb Streusel Dessert
- Mint Chocolate Bread Pudding
Old Fashioned Pudding Recipes
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Pudding
Can you make bread pudding with donuts?
Yes, donuts make an extra delectable bread pudding. It works best when the donuts are stale, so next time you have a dried up, dry donut left in the box, put it in the freezer to make bread pudding.
Leftover Donut Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 6 cups stale glazed donuts, cut into chunks
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted
- 4 eggs slightly beaten
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray either an 8 x 8-inch baking dish or 1 quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add donut chunks to dish; pour melted butter over top and lightly mix.
- Mix together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla; pour on top of donuts.
- Allow donuts to soak up wet mixture for 5 minutes, making sure all donut chunks have soaked up some of the milk mixture.
- Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 25 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Store up leftover donuts as you acquire them in a zip lock bag in the freezer. Once you have around 6 cups, you’ll be ready to make this recipe.
- Stale donut bread pudding is versatile—use leftover cinnamon doughnuts, Krispy Kreme donuts, yeast donuts, jelly donuts, jam filled donuts, and even plain breadsticks.Â
- The texture of the bread pudding will be affected by a couple different things:
- The smaller the chunks of donuts, the softer the bread pudding will be.
- The longer you soak the stale donuts, the softer the bread pudding will be.
- I’ve made this bread pudding a 100 different ways with varying ingredients, and it never looks the exact same but it’s always amazing.
- The cooking time could vary. The bread pudding is ready when it begins to brown around the edges and pulls away from the pan. It also begins to puff up in the oven.Â
Linking up to Meal Plan Monday.
Looks like a great recipe. I’m giving it a 4 from just reading this. Will make it today as I got a dozen day old donuts from the foodbank. I was raised by my depression era grandmother and I try my best not to waste anything. Bless you for this post.
Thanks Susan! Hope you enjoy it.
I don’t know why people rate a recipe they haven’t made. This is five stars! The the spices and liquid measure is spot on! I made mine with cider donuts. A perfect all around recipe for savory or sweet!
You had us at cider donuts…Yum! Thanks for the kind words and we are so glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is awesome. I received a box of very decadent donuts. I couldn’t eat them so I threw them into the freezer. I followed this recipe, omitting the sugar and vanilla, as they had plenty of frosting and fillings, making them very sweet. Made an individual size, put it into the microwave for my husband to taste test. Delicious! Going to bring this with a candle to a friend celebrating a birthday tomorrow. Thank you!
What a great idea – individual sized portions! Thank you so much for sharing.
I just made this and it is incredible. I broke up my doughnut pieces a bit more than the picture and I like the texture. Though it might be too sweet with adding more sugar but it was perfect.
Haley, thanks and so glad you enjoyed it! Appreciate the feedback.
I made this recipe except i substituted day old cinnamon rolls for the donuts. Turned out great!
That is a great idea. Glad you enjoyed it!
Finally emptied the freezer of stale doughnuts i got from work. Read your recipe and put it in a crock for a couple of hours. Unlike all the recipes I didn’t add sugar. Doughnuts too sweet as lready. Thanks, I’m having it with bkst. Love leftovers.
Sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing.
I made it with 6 leftover doughnuts (roughly3-4days old too) with half of the rest of recipes. It was so delicious and fantastic!! Thank you for the recipe!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting us know.
Amazing! I hate throwing food away. Had some leftover donuts and hoped I could find a good recipe. This one is great…tasty and easy (even for the culinary challenged like me)! My husband loved it as well and I will definitely be making this again
Yay, so glad you enjoyed it.
Made this tonight with day old Krispy Kreme’s and a cinnamon cream cheese glaze. So delicious! Thanks for sharing.
That glaze sounds amazing!! Thanks for letting us know you loved it.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe I put a Twist to it I took some raisins soaked them in just a little bit of rum and layered the raisins as I was layering my doughnut baked according to what you said I did leave out the sugar cuz I felt it would be a little too sweet it was amazing.
This is the best recipe ever! We used our leftover stale Krispy Kreme donuts and this gave them a whole new life. There are similar recipes but this one had the least eggs and came out tasting like a perfect bread pudding consistency. Thank you so much for what is sure to be a holiday tradition!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!!
These donuts look delicious!
This was SO GOOD! So easy and simple and uses all ingredients I have on hand at all times! I omitted the cinnamon because I used cinnamon swirl donuts and it came out amazing! Will definitely be keeping this to use again! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Did you use the full amount of sugar and cinnamon when using these
My husband loved it I made mine with stale cake donuts and used Almond milk It’s easy and delicious thanks
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I applaud your frugality. I too am that person in my family and take lots of abuse for it. Like u it gives me great pleasure. Thanks for the fantastic recipes!
I made this last night, using a mixture of mini powdered donuts and Munchkins. I omitted the sugar and added a can of apple pie filling. It took a good 30 extra minutes to cook (probably because of the apple pie filling, maybe because of the 9×12 glass dish I used instead of your suggested dish or maybe because the types of donuts I used weren’t the best for the recipe). I let it sit until it was cool enough to cover and place in the fridge overnight. Then, I divided it into indidivual breakfast containers to freeze, saving one for this morning’s breakfast. Delicious. I’ll definitely try it again with different donuts, maybe another 1/2 cup or so even… and maybe a different pie filling.
Made it and was great! I put in brown sugar instead of white, only 2 Tb ,,,made my krispy kremes with copycat recipe and thought I had someone to share with, but they are gone for 2 weeks..Never waste a thing and love making bread puddings. So glad to hear there are other people who hate to throw out food. HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!
Brown sugar sounds like a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
My moms side had the family reunion last weekend, I was out of town but just arrived at my parents house for my dads side this weekend. Mom has THE BIGGEST box I have ever seen on her table, of WEEK OLD donuts. I have a big family, but someone thought EIGHT DOZEN donuts were needed. And we don’t throw anything away so mom brought them home. Warmed up they’re still a bit palatable but, let me tell you, some are darn stiff.
Bread pudding isn’t really a thing up where I live in Alberta, but I had it in a Vegas breakfast buffet and was sold. The Golden Nugget even had copies of the recipe to give out, it was that good. My brain connected the two and out came the google. There are a lot of bread pudding recipes using donuts but your frugal grandma is what reeled me in. Everyone else wants day old donuts…ma’am, I WANT the day old donuts. A week old though? Oh we are gonna try this. Grandma says so!
Made it this morning. Yep, 10 out of 10. Used half the sugar because we had glazed donuts, and everyone who tried it asked for the recipe. Everyone who heard about it wants the link to try when they have leftovers because GENIUS and less food waste. Will be making again!
I had five Walmart donuts that were about a week old & two cinnamon rolls leftover so I used them too.Made this today and it was wonderful & so easy & my husband loves bread pudding.
Sounds yummy!
My family and I asolutely love this recipe. Already made it twice within 2 weeks, and froze some for quick nd easy desserts for lazy days.
The only thing I did different the second time is lessen the cinnamon to 1/2 tsp instead of 1 tsp since we have toddlers .
Thank you for this recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for sharing.
Made this recipe this morning. There is one negative. I can’t stop digging into the dish. Must hide it from myself🙂
That is a problem, right? Glad you enjoyed it!
worked great, saved my week old donuts!
Thank you for posting this great recipe! The bread pudding turned out fantastic. I used day old apple fritters and substituted half and half for the milk. I also let the mixture soak longer, about an hour. What a perfect way to use old doughnuts!
Just made it with left over apple fritters. It was a hit!! Thank you!!
Yum!