Mushroom Bread Pudding Recipe (2024)

I've made this for at least 50 years. It is the breakfast of choice by the family on holidays. I've made this using (with mushrooms) ham, sausage, bacon, many different kinds of cheese, onions instead of leeks or no onions, brioche, sour dough bread, added broccoli, spinach... in other words this is a great recipe to mess around with. Keeping the bread, milk, egg ratio: it's even good with sugar and peaches.

'Ramp up the leeks' HA! I see what you did there.

Can you use all milk in this recipe, instead of the heavy cream?

this has every delectable ingredient ever invented, so how could it be anything but amazing? it IS! i think the more leeks the better, so next time i will ramp up the leeks.

I followed this recipe exactly, and would not change a thing. Trader Joe's brioche rolls from France were perfect for this. The leek flavor was superb, and although I generally overdo it on the cheese and mushroom fronts, I found the amounts as written to be perfect. Am taking it to a Thanksgiving attended by several vegetarians.

What would happen if you omitted the heavy cream altogether but kept the milk as is?

Can you prepare and freeze and then bake?How would I change the recipe if I’m going to freeze it before baking it or would I bake it and then freeze it and then simply warm up at serving time?

sorry about that! NYT Cooking starts the clock after ingredients are prepped, hence the time difference- I'm glad it was worth it!

Astonishingly delicious! Made as written except using Hawaiian bread rolls. Family raved and clamored for 2nds. Noted that it took about 2.5 hours with all of the chopping/sauteing - NOT the 1 hour listed with the recipe. Would bump up the leeks and mushroom content next go. Will make for this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Winning and forgiving recipe!

Agreed- If you want to add sage as a garnish, fry in oil first until crisp and bright green. That is how recipe should have read.

I would cook your meat first, so you can drain off the fat. This dish is rich enough without adding that extra fat to it.

I made this with gluten-free bread (Canyon Bakehouse Country White). It was great, enjoyed by all!

Made this and it was a big hit straight out of the pan. Then froze half of it (cut into squares, wrapped in plastic wrap and then put into a freezer glad bag) to use as “stuffing” a few weeks later with baked ham Christmas dinner. Let it thaw for several hours, reheated it in large saucepan with some added chicken stock until the stock was absorbed and the bread crisped up a bit. Delicious both ways!

I will use more mushrooms, maybe double and more gruyere

Made recipe as a side for this Thanksgiving. Delicious. Unanimous praise. Followed recipe as written with only change being I doubled the fresh mushrooms (combo of baby Bella, oyster, shiitake) and dried porcini -- 'cuz -- why not? I LOVE mushrooms. Used 1-day-old-sale brioche loaf from Fairway! Assembled night before as recommended. Forgot to broil. No loss. As a side, this recipe easily serves 12. Excellent reheated. Maybe cut recipe in half and serve as a main with a Boston lettuce salad

I made this first a few years ago and now my family begs it for every big family dinner. Great with shitake or any similar mushroom. The only thing I change is I double the gruyere. Carl Grunfeld

Excellent, rich, full of umami and beautiful presentation. (I did double the amount of mushrooms as suggested in previous posts.)

I made this recipe for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. I replaced the leeks with onions only because I didn’t have any on hand and used only portobellos. As others mentioned, this recipe is very adaptable. I will be adding this to my holiday repetoire.I gave it 5 stars.

Very good with challah. Skipped the porcini, used cremini and shiitake, fontina and Parmesan. Guests raved.

Excellent, just as written. Moist, savory, flavorful. I used it as an excuse to try making brioche, which turned out well, but I suspect the sourdough I usually make would also work well, especially with the addition of a bit more cream and/or butter.

Cut cream and milk to 1 c each. Fabulous with a handful of shiitakes and 3 giant king oyster mushrooms. We have some Hatch red chile salt so used 1/2 tsp of that, along with the cayenne and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Such rich flavors. Love this dish.

Really really good, not difficult either. Made exactly as written. Only thing to note is it needs longer to bake than written. I had it in the oven probably 1 and 15 minutes, with the oven turned up for the last 30 minutes, and it still wasn't quite set. I would advise leaving out of the fridge about 1 hour before baking, then 1-1.5 hours at 350.

This. Is. Amazing. All the ingredients together mesh into perfect bites. I have served this as a vegetarian main brunch course and plan to add sausage and use as a stuffing. I’ve used brioche and crescents as the bread and both breads work. I will make this dish again and again.

I made this last year and it was a hit! This year, I’m going to someone else’s house and there will be limited oven space. Can I cook this at home and serve about 3 hours later? I can prob get oven use for less than 30 to reheat if necessary. Thoughts?

Has anyone tried making this in a muffin tin? Would it still maintain its consistency?

Should the brioche rolls be stale? They’re very soft to begin with.

This is a fantastic recipe but the one hour is a total hoot. I read that NYT times recipes after all the prep is done? Who ever thought that was the way to go must have servants! Chop, chop, slice, slice.

This recipe works very well. As many other readers suggested I doubled the amount of mushrooms to one lb., and used about a cup and a half of thinly sliced leeks along with 2/3 a cup of finely minced scallions. Gruyere and parmesan are a definite must as is the cognac when deglazing the mushroom mixture. Letting the mixture refrigerate overnight definitely aids in the bread pudding turning out better.

This made a huge bread pudding. Next time will try ½ recipe with sturdier bread. Brioche rolls melted into the custard so it was much more custard than I preferred.

Great recipe but it does take longer than stated to make because of all the slicing. I recommend doubling the amount of fresh mushrooms. Soaking overnight really improves the texture.