Ready for a delicious way to make using leftovers interesting? Cornbread pudding with bacon is a sweet and savory recipe that is perfect as a simple weeknight dinner or side dish.
Best of all, you can easily make this meal by using up leftover cornbread from your holiday meals.

What’s your take on the show “Chopped?”
My husband thinks it’s totally unrealistic.
I disagree.
He doesn’t believe that chefs would have to figure out how to pull together meals with seemingly random ingredients. But I believe that it’s a great way for people to see how leftovers can be turned into something new.
Take, for example, one night when our meal planning regime was off kilter, and we were completely unprepared for dinner.
All we had in our refrigerator was stale cornbread, eggs, leftover bacon, and leftover shredded cheese.
My husband would look at it and say “There’s nothing here. Let’s order pizza.”
I, however, looked at all those leftovers and said “dinner tonight is going to be awesome!”
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The cornbread was tossed into our favorite casserole dish. And then I pulled together a quick custard with some leftover whipping cream, eggs, milk, and cheese.
A little bit of brown sugar didn’t hurt either. But you can leave that out if you want your bread pudding to be more savory, or if the cornbread you’re using is on the sweeter side.
But that’s how cornbread pudding with bacon was born.
And it was awesome. I highly recommend you try it for yourself.
Get Creative
- Consider adding jalapeños, chives, or bell peppers for some extra flavor.
- Don’t have bacon? Chop up some leftover dinner or lunchmeat ham and use that instead.
- Or try adding chopped up chorizo. Spicy sausage would be amazing in this dish!
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Cornbread Pudding with Bacon
Ready for a delicious way to make using leftovers interesting? Cornbread pudding with bacon is a sweet and savory recipe perfect as an easy dinner or side dish.
Ingredients
- 1 C stale corn bread, cubed
- 4 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 C heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/4 C milk
- 8 strips cooked bacon, broken into large chunks
- 1/4 C dark brown sugar
- 2/3 C shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a glass pan with cooking spray
- Layer cubed cornbread in bottom of the pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk, cream, and sugar. Gently add in the bacon and the cheese.
- Pour custard mixture over cornbread, ensuring that all the bread is covered. If you need to, you can gently press the cornbread into the liquid.
- Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Notes
- Consider adding jalapeños, chives, or bell peppers for some extra flavor.
- Don't have bacon? Chop up some leftover dinner or lunchmeat ham and use that instead.
- Or try adding chopped up chorizo. Spicy sausage would be amazing in this dish!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 478Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 277mgSodium: 679mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 0gSugar: 9gProtein: 19g
__________________________________ The nutrition information provided above is estimated using an automated calculation system. Actual nutrition will vary depending on brand and measurements used in your recipe. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutrition information for any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information using the actual ingredients you used in your recipe.
Now It’s Your Turn
I admit, cornbread pudding with bacon may not be made from ingredients as random as an episode of Chopped. But it was still better than ordering pizza.
Next time you think you don’t have much in your pantry or refrigerator, try to look at everything a little differently and see if you can come up with something amazing too!
jenna says
This sounds really good, I love to see what I can create without going to the store, I think it’s fun and often you wind up with a new recipe like you did! Will try!
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says
Oh Leslie – this sounds amazing! I pinned it to try sometime in October and then I read chorizo in it – Great! Now I’m going to have to make it twice!! LOL – Shared on Facebook too! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!
prajaavani says
Nice post
candy says
Wonderful way to use up cornbread. Love this idea. Found you on Blogger’s Pit Stop Link Party.
Becky Ellis says
I agree with you about Chopped, one of my favorite foodie TV programs. Love your recipe…bacon is my favorite “food group”! Thank you for sharing on Fiesta Friday!
Maria | passion fruit, paws and peonies says
This sounds so amazing! Love the combination of bacon and corn! xx
Jann Olson says
This sounds delicious! I have a neighbor that participated in the grandma episode of chopped. It really is just what they show. She said it was a lot of pressure. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Colleen - Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck says
Now I just need some leftover cornbread! This looks amazing!
miz Helen says
We will love your cornbread pudding it looks so good! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday and have a great week!
Miz Helen
Julie @ Back To My Southern Roots says
This look amazing. I would love some of this! Pinning! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friday!
Nicki Parrish says
This recipe looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing at Totally Terrific Tuesday!
Jodie Fitz says
LOVE creative leftover ideas! Thanks for sharing at Reader Tip Tuesday – looking forward to seeing you at this week’s party: https://www.jodiefitz.com/2018/10/02/reader-tip-tuesday-weeks-craft-recipe-party-14-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2/
Sandra Garth says
Kudos for thinking outside the box, this looks delicious! Thank you for sharing with us at Celebrate Your Story and have a great weekend.
Kippi says
Yum, I wish I was as creative as you with leftovers. I would have ordered the pizza and missed out on this great dish. Thank you for sharing.
Kim says
What if you don’t have cream? Can you use milk?
Leslie says
Sure! You should be able to combine 1/4 cup melted butter (let it cool down a bit first) with 3/4 cup milk as a substitute. The bread pudding won’t be exactly the same consistency, but it will get you most of the way there.
Marcy Westland says
I made some sourdough corn bread the other day and it turned out a little too sour for my liking so I let it go stale and searched online for something to do with it. I came across this recipe and made it with the ingredients listed, with a few little tweaks. My husband isn’t a huge cheddar fan so I used Monterey Jack cheese instead. I tripled the amount of dark brown sugar (to try and overcome the sourness of the sourdough cornbread), and I have to say it turned out freaking amazing! My husband was giddy eating it. He ate way more than he normally does and already asked me to make it again. Thank you for the recipe. It gets an 11 out of 10 in this house!!
Kit Wilkinson says
Can I put this together the night before and pop it in the oven in the morning?
Randi says
1 cup of cubed cornbread? That doesn’t seem like much. Especially with the egg and milk/cream ratio? Is that correct?