Spinach Artichoke Bread Pudding

Have some leftover dinner bread in the house? A savory spinach artichoke bread pudding is a great way to use that up! Some milk, some eggs, vegetables, and cheese mixed with the bread will give you a great side dish. This isn’t a quick dish, but it’s easy to assemble and can be made ahead to be baked later.

Recently I had some leftover dinner bread in the house and was thinking of what to make with it. A wintery bread salad? Some bruschetta? Ribollita (Italian Bread Soup)? All good choices, but I decided I was in the mood for bread pudding. Since it was a rosemary bread, a sweet bread pudding wasn’t going to work for me. However, I did have all the ingredients for spinach artichoke dip, and combining bread pudding with spinach artichoke dip seemed like a tasty idea. I figured, why not? So, I pulled out a can of artichokes and grabbed some spinach out of the freezer and looked to see what cheese I had, and this bread pudding was soon in a casserole dish.

The first time I used mozzarella, since it was what was in the fridge, but that was a little bland. All the other flavors were tasty, but the cheese wasn’t bringing it. When I made it again my husband suggested brie, and that worked! One more time for photos, and here we are.

If you’re thinking ‘savory bread pudding? that’s weird,’ I would like to remind of the other name for savory bread pudding. Stuffing. Okay, stuffing, like my awesome Sausage Bread Stuffing, doesn’t usually contain milk, but rather stock of some sort. However, bread + eggs + mix-ins + liquid all baked together in the oven and we are talking something pretty similar. Something that is not just for Thanksgiving and other holidays!

While the flavors were inspired by spinach artichoke dip, don’t expect the creamy, gooeyness of that dip. This is a bread pudding and the bread is going to absorb the liquid. If it doesn’t, you end up with a soggy mess. Not good! That means you do need to balance the ingredients and not add too much liquid. However, you do get the lovely flavors of the brie along with the spinach and the artichoke and the top layer of bread gets all golden brown and crispy. And that is all good. 🙂

– Happy Eating, Annemarie

Spinach Artichoke Bread Pudding

 

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Prep/Hold time

40 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour 35 mins

 

This creamy, cheesy bread pudding full of diced artichokes and chopped spinach is the perfect way to use up that stale bread in your cupboard and turn it into a yummy, flavor-packed side dish.

Author: Just a Little Bit of Bacon

Recipe type: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp softened butter
• 6 oz stale bread, cut into 1½-inch cubes
• 4 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 14-oz can artichokes, drained and chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 8 oz brie, diced
• 1 oz parmesan, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x9 high sided casserole dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the bread, spinach, and artichokes. In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, sour cream, and eggs until well blended. Pour the egg custard into the bread mixture and toss to combine. Mix in about 6 oz of the brie and the parmesan.
3. Transfer the bread pudding to the prepared casserole dish and dot the top with the remaining pieces of brie. Cover the dish with foil and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
4. Bake covered for 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 10 minutes.

Notes

If you are making this ahead, prepare the bread pudding through step 3. It can refrigerated overnight. Allow it to come to room temperature before putting it in the oven. Note: I've found it to be helpful to use a digital thermometer to check the center of the pudding when I've gone the 'make-ahead' route just to make sure it was cooked through. The pudding should be around 160F when it's done.

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