Add Sweet Potatoes To Bread Pudding To Give It A Fall Flare

Like pumpkins and pecans, sweet potatoes are true harbingers of fall that we integrate into countless recipes, from sweet pies to savory soups when the leaves begin to turn and the air grows crisp. These hearty root vegetables will provide a sugary richness and pillowy, comforting texture to upgrade your next bread pudding.

Sweet potatoes are no stranger to casserole dishes like this one topped with pecans or this marshmallow yam casserole. Roast small cubes of sweet potato at 400 degrees Fahrenheit while you prepare the other bread pudding ingredients. Then, lower the oven temperature to 350 or 375 degrees Fahrenheit most bread pudding casseroles call for, and stir the roasted sweet potatoes into the assembled bread pudding. This will add a caramelized and smoky depth of flavor along with a firmer texture and a similar form to pair with the bread cubes.

You can also boil peeled sweet potato cubes and mash them along with the liquid ingredients like cream and butter to comprise the batter you'd usually pour over the bread cubes before baking your bread pudding. Mashed sweet potatoes will thicken the custard surrounding the cubes of bread, creating an even creamier contrast to the crispy bits of exposed bread topping that toast up in the oven.

Sweet potatoes are the answer for more luxurious dessert bread puddings as much as they add a sweet complement to such savory recipes. If you're going the dessert route, mashed sweet potatoes would be the best way to create a sweet, aromatic custard. You could mash a few small sweet potatoes and add them to this custard for our Irish bread and butter pudding to pour over white sandwich bread and plump raisins.

You can give your bread pudding a richer flavor by spiking a sweet potato custard with rum, cinnamon, brown sugar, and toasted chopped pecans. Add mashed sweet potato to the blend of wet and dry ingredients in this rich bread pudding recipe, and finish it off with a decadent bourbon sauce.

For a main-course-worthy bread pudding, you can season roasted sweet potatoes with savory and smoky spices like paprika, cayenne, garlic salt, and cumin. The seasonings and smoky char will transform sweet potatoes into a great savory ingredient to mix with veggies or bits of meat and bread cubes. Cubes of sweet potatoes and sourdough, caramelized onions, zucchini rounds, mushrooms, and pancetta would be a great combination to blend with whisked eggs, parmesan, milk, and cracked black pepper.