The Chef & Pauper household is not big on waste (food or otherwise), friends. That’s why I always save leftover hotdog and hamburger buns in my freezer!

Now, thawing them and actually using them for hamburgers or hot dogs isn’t ideal. I could go into how freezing and thawing causes structural changes to the bread from the ice that forms from the moisture within it, and discuss how that affects texture and taste, but that would be incredibly boring.
Instead, I like to use my leftover frozen bread for a dessert that actually works better with stale bread…Bread Pudding!
That’s right. We’re going to make one of my favorite depression-era desserts with items you probably already have on hand.
Let’s make some easy bread pudding!
First, gather your ingredients.
You can see I’m using two hotdog buns, two hamburger buns, and the butt end of a random loaf of bread, so just adjust ingredients to have the same approximate bread-to-everything else ratio.
It’s not an exact science, so don’t worry if you’re short an egg or a little low on milk here.

For this recipe, you’re going to need:
- 4-5 day-old buns or thawed buns from your freezer.
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3-4 eggs, beaten (I’ve found that either works fine)
- 2 cups milk
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Let’s get baking!
First, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Then (after aggressively washing your hands), break the buns into small pieces into an 8-inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over ’em.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

I recommend serving this delightful dish warm with a scoop of ice cream!

Easy Bread Pudding from Leftover Buns

An Easy (raisin-free) Bread Pudding Recipe that makes good use of leftover frozen hot dog or hamburger buns!
Ingredients
- 4 day-old buns or thawed buns from your freezer.
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3 eggs, beatenĀ
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over bread.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

This is so delicious! I got tired of throwing out old hamburger and hot dog buns and found this. I made it tonight and let me tell you, it is super easy and super delicious! I added raisins and used reduced sugar almond milk. YUM!
Oh, I can’t wait to try this!!!!
This is great. We always have the leftover couple of buns when we are tired of Brats or hamburgers
Raisins or cranberries, or any other dried or candied fruit is a really good addition to bread pudding. Also some Cardamom (just a little) in with the cinnamon and nutmeg…
I absolutely love bread pudding! I want to eat some right now!
I love bread pudding. I like a nice hard sauce with mine, rum maybe.
I always felt so guilty throwing away the leftover buns and end pieces. So I make them into breadcrumbs, but you can only use so much of breadcrumbs….. Now I can make them into a delicious dessert! What a “think outside of the box” idea.
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Yum! I’m thinking breakfast!!