Instant Pot Bread Pudding is a delightful, pillowy-soft french toast bread pudding with warm cinnamon flavors and a hint of vanilla. Unlike the traditional casseroles, there is no need to soak the bread overnight in this quick and easy pressure cooker recipe that is ready in under 30 minutes!
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It doesn’t matter if it’s breakfast, brunch, or dinner your entire family will be asking for seconds. This versatile and crowd-pleasing recipe is also fun to play around with. In our house, we add toppings like butter, chocolate chips, bananas, marmalade, or maple syrup.
It all started with the French Brioche Bread that I have been eyeing at Trader Joe’s! Every time I saw it wanted to eat french toast. Finally, I bought it last week and decided to try it in my Instant Pot rather than the conventional baked recipe.
Tips
Depending on the thickness of the brioche bread, you may need more or fewer bread slices. I used Trader Joe’s brioche bread which is very thick. When you mix the bread in the liquids, there should not be too much excess liquids leftover. About ¼ -½ cup of excess liquids is fine. But if you have more, add another slice or 2 of the bread.
Steps
Here are the easy steps:
- Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, and milk (photo 1)
- Cut the french brioche slices into 1.5-inch cubes (photo 2)
- Grease a cake pan or oven-safe glass bowl (photo 3)
- Dip the cubed bread pieces in the milk custard and then line them in the cake pan (photo 4)
- Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot (photo 5)
- Cover the cake pan with a paper towel and aluminum foil and then place it on a trivet Carefully keep the trivet with the cake pan in the Instant Pot (photo 6)
- Pressure cook (hi) for 15 minutes. Allow 10 minutes of natural pressure release.
- Then carefully take out the cake pan along with the trivet and remove the aluminum foil and paper towel (photos 7 – 8)
- Cut 1 tablespoon of butter into small cubes and spread them on top of the french toast bread pudding and allow it to melt before serving (photos 9 – 10)
Optionally you can also broil the french toast in the oven after pressure cooking for a few minutes to get crispy top but we usually just dig in. Serve with maple syrup and your favorite toppings.
Topping ideas
- Spread a spoonful of salted butter on the hot pudding
- Sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top
- Add fruits – bananas or berries work well
- Nuts – love the banana walnut combination
- Kids will love chocolate chips
- Maple syrup
Serving
Serve warm with milk, orange juice, or a hot cup of ginger tea
I love this bread pudding as it can be served for brunch or dessert, two of my favorite meals. The best part is it can be made ahead so you can relax with your guests.
Here is the video that shows how to make this easy Instant Pot French Toast casserole:
Love bread puddings? Try the Instant Pot Summer Berry Pudding Recipe or Pumpkin Bread Pudding.
More breakfast & brunch recipes to try:
- Banana Bread – a great make ahead recipe that is also vegan
- Cinnamon Khari – Crispy puff pastry twists
- Zucchini bread – perfectly spiced, super moist, nutty zucchini bread
- Apple Cake – Instant Pot and Oven Recipe
- Rava Dhokla – Savory semolina cake spiced with fresh ginger and chilies
- Muthiya – Gujarati delicacy with grated bottle gourd, fresh fenugreek leaves spiced with green chilies, ginger and turmeric
- Handvo – Spiced rice and lentils cake
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Recipe
French Toast/Bread Pudding – Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 7 slices of French Brioche bread or any french bread, cut into cubes
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk whole or 2% (I used whole milk)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange marmalade optional
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional Toppings
- 1 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- maple syrup
- bananas
- chocolate chips
- nuts
- raisins
Instructions
- Lightly grease a round 7 inch cake pan with butter or oil. Cover the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil to avoid any liquid from dripping out.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, brown sugar, marmalade, vanilla and 1 tsp ground cinnamon until smooth. Note: I have also tried orange zest (from 1 orange) mixed with 1 tablespoon of honey instead of marmalade and it adds a great refreshing flavor.
- Add bread cubes to the bowl and mix gently, so that all the bread pieces are covered with liquids.
- Line up the bread pieces in the cake pan
- Cover the pan with a paper towel and then an aluminum foil on top. If you prefer to not use aluminum foil, cover the pan with a few paper towels instead. This prevents from any additional water from getting into the pan.
- Add 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot. Place the cake pan on the trivet.
- Gently put the trivet in the pot. Close Instant Pot lid with pressure valve to sealing.
- Pressure Cook for 15 mins and allow 10 minutes natural pressure release.
- Open the Instant Pot and using silicon mitts carefully take out the trivet along with the cake pan.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes. You can also broil for 5 minutes for crispy top
- Sprinkle more cinnamon and spread a tablespoon of butter cut into smaller pieces (love salted butter)
- Drizzle some maple syrup and add your favorite toppings – fruit, nuts, raisins or chocolate chips
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Cooking For The Time Challenged says
I was just looking for this kind of recipe. And, my mother is giving me her Instant Pot. I can hardly wait to try this.
Archana says
How lucky! You are going to have so much fun cooking in it. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hans Susser says
Wonderful 🙂
Archana says
Thank you Hans!
Jane says
Going to try this with some buns that I have leftover from a party! I think the kids will love it!
Archana says
Hi Jane, Yes I agree it will come out great!
Mimi says
I’ve made this twice, and it is so delicious! We found it doesn’t need butter or syrup or anything. The flavor is great as it is. We just sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon on top.
The second time I multiplied everything by one and a half, and thought 20 minutes would be enough, but ended up adding 3 minutes, then another 3 at high pressure. I’m going to play around with the time to get it perfect. Luckily, the taste is so exquisite it will be a pleasure to eat it as many times as is necessary!
Archana says
Hi Mimi! so happy to hear that you are enjoying this recipe. I agree it delicious as is. Good to hear that you also are working to perfecting this for the quantities you like. I would love to hear what your final timings are. We love adding blueberries to it.
A says
Just tried this after reading carefully and watching, and ended up with a soggy, undercooked mess. I’ve put it in the oven and am hoping it sorts itself out.
Archana says
Hi! Thank you for your feedback. I️ am so sorry that this did not work out for you in the Instant Pot. What kind of pan did you use? And hope the IP had come to pressure? Please Let me know.
A says
7″ springform pan wrapped in foil. It came to pressure, etc. The egg was still runny when it came out. I ended up spreading everything on a cookie sheet and baking it for a while, until it was no longer runny, but it was still soggy.
I’m wondering if maybe my brioche was sliced thinner than average, thus resulting in less bread used?
Archana says
I agree it must be the brioche slices. I use the ones from Trader Joes are they are very thick. I will update the recipe to mention that the bread should soak most of the liquids as you mix them in. When you put in the cake pan, there should not be too much excess liquids. Thank you again for your feedback.
Jamy Bailey says
Oh. My. Gosh. This was incredible! I have made french toast casserole in the past and they always failed. They would either be too chewey on the outside or too gooey on the inside. This came together so quickly and it was delicious. Even with my picky eaters had seconds. And that never happens! Thank you for a new favorite recipe!
Archana says
Hi Jamy! Thank you! I agree that the french toast cooks so evenly and quickly in the pressure cooker.
KALBAP says
At a weekend family get-together we had a sumptuous brunch that included this dish. It came out really good and was devoured quickly, but I was forced to bake it at 350 deg F for 40 minutes as I did not have the 7 inch insert pan at the time. Next time I will definitely “instapot” it as I think it will come out moister.
Archana says
Thank you for your feedback. I am SO glad you enjoyed it and do try it in the Instant Pot. You will love the textures.
Nadja says
Just tried this, subbed coconut milk/cream for milk and yum! I am an IP newbie so the only pans I have that fit inside are individual pizza pans. I stacked three of them with dividers in between and a paper towel on top and it worked great! They were fairly thin layers and I did run them through the broiler at the end but I was careful not to have it too soggy to begin with per your suggestion. Thanks!!
Archana says
Thank you for your detailed feedback Nadja. So happy to hear that you loved the flavors and I like your idea of using coconut milk.
Sravanthi says
Hi Archana..
I just tried your bread pudding. It came out super tasty more than what I expected. My husband and 6year old daughter loved it. Thanks you for the recipe.
Archana says
Yay! Thanks for the feedback!
Kavitha says
Hi Archana,
I love your recipes. Can i toast the bread in a conventional oven instead of IP? If i can do it in oven, how many minutes shouldshould i bake it and at what temperature? Thank you.
Archana says
Are you asking if you can bake the pudding in the oven? If so, yes, bake it for 25 to 30 mins at 350 degress or until all the liquids are absorbed.
Kavitha Nagi Reddy says
Thank you!!!
Ann says
I’m making this now but am confused. I the blog part, you say 10 mins NR. In the recipe, you have QR.
I know I won’t see an answer to this in time & I’m pretty sure I’m gonna screw this up.
Archana says
It will work both ways!!
Aarti says
Hi Archana. Thank you for your site! I’m a young mom with two little ones who has found a little time to try my hand at cooking things my mom usually makes for us – but given social distancing I don’t get at the moment! Do I need the pan for making this or can I just use the actual instant pot “pot” for this item? Thanks!
Archana says
You def need another pan to put inside the main pot for this recipe. You can use any oven proof dish or stainless steel container
Karen Miller says
I want to make this recipe (love bread pudding) but know I can’t get Brioche. Can you tell me how many ounces of Brioche you use so I can substitute French Bread?
Thanks so much for your assistance.
Archana says
I would say about 14 oz or 8 thick slices. You want to generously dip the pieces in the milk custard and have a few tablespoons left to drizzle on top.
Ilana says
I just made this in my Insta pot and it turned out beautifully. I didn’t have orange marmalade so I added a teaspoon of fresh lemon zest turned. I added a small box of raisins and that added some wonderful text her.
Anjali says
Made this today for brunch and everyone loved it! Simple recipe with very clear instructions. Thank you!