This chocolate chip bread pudding with orange zest is incredibly flavorful. Made with challah or brioche bread, a simple custard and chocolate chips. It’s a breakfast that makes itself in the oven with little effort from you.
I like bread puddings so much. Anything you can eat with a spoon has space in my heart and on my kitchen table. It’s also a great way to use up leftover bread, especially a sweet, rich bread like challah or brioche.
The flavors of this chocolate chip bread pudding with orange are inspired by Jaffa cakes. A classic Jaffa cake is a sponge-like biscuit, topped with orange jelly and dipped in chocolate. More unique in texture than in flavor I think, but overall Jaffa cakes are still very distinct and you can’t really compare them to anything. But I love the flavor pairing.
This recipe is like an upgraded Jaffa cake. I know you can make bread pudding with any kind of bread, but I love bread pudding with challah. Enriched bread gives it so much more flavor for zero effort and I really like that.
I love how spongey and custardy it is, full of little pools of chocolate and whiffs of orange zest.
Just like any bread pudding, this one is so simple to make. It takes lees time to make, than it takes to bake, which is always both amazing and horrible at the same time. I like effortless treats, but I hate waiting for them to bake! However, this pudding is so worth the wait.
If you love a really gooey bread pudding, you’ll see this isn’t a gooey type. It has that perfect ratio of liquid to bread and creates just the right amount of custard. That way you can slice up this pudding very nicely. If you want the gooey, sticky, eat-it-with-a-spoon type, you definitely need to add more milk and cream. But these are silly little technicalities and adjusting this to your taste shouldn’t be a problem.
Once baked, you can pair this orange chocolate chip bread pudding with either whipped cream or ice cream. Or you could make a sauce, if those are more up your alley. However, I’m a sucker for whipped cream. It’s pleasantly light compared to chocolate and citrus. Also, if you put whipped cream on warm pudding, it begins to melt and it creates a kind of cream sauce. Totally amazing! And once again so effortless.
More bread pudding recipes to explore
- Croissant bread pudding with rum (Great for Fall and winter entertaining.)
- Strawberry challah bread pudding (Uses fresh strawberries and is incredibly flavorful.)
Recipe
Orange chocolate chip bread pudding
Ingredients
- 10 oz challah bread or brioche
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 2/3 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 large eggs whisked
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
Instructions
- Slice bread into small chunks. Transfer them to a non-stick pan, set over low heat and toast bread until it’s golden and dried out. (Skip this step if you’re using stale bread.) Transfer bread to baking dish and drizzle butter over the bread. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, sugar, salt and eggs. Then stir in orange juice and zest. Pour mixture over the bread and let stand for 30 minutes (or overnight – in the fridge). Using a spoon, push down any piece of bread that is poking out of the liquid.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack placed in the center of the oven.
- Bake bread pudding for 45 minutes or until it’s puffy, light brown in color and the custard has set. (Check bread pudding every 15 minutes as it bakes. If you notice the bread is getting too dark too soon, loosely cover the top with aluminium foil and keep baking.)
- Remove bread pudding from oven, sprinkle with powdered sugar, slice and serve. I offer whipped cream on the side, for anyone that likes it.
This looks so good and so pretty, too!
Thank you Bethany! And it’s so simple to make 🙂
I think we can top it with ice creams too, that will look and taste even good.
Yes, ice cream is great!