Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Belizean Bread Pudding
A dense, dark bread pudding rich with coconut, raisins, and rum, spiced and baked until firm, a Belizean classic.
Belizean · easy · serves 10
prep 20 min · cook 60 min
~839 cal · 22g protein · 143g carbs · 20g fat · 7g fiber · 52g sugars · 12g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bread pudding in Belize is a serious, dense affair, a world away from a soft custard pudding. Thrifty and delicious, it turns stale bread into a rich, sliceable cake spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and darkened with brown sugar.
The Belizean touches are in place of some of the dairy, a good handful of raisins, and a generous splash of rum. Baked long and slow, it firms into a moist, heavy slab that keeps for days and only improves.
Sold in bakeries and made at home for gatherings, it is cut into thick squares and eaten with tea or after dinner. Humble in its origins and deeply comforting, it is a Caribbean take on an old colonial thrift dish.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 10
8 cups stale bread, cubed
2 cups
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup dark rum
1 tsp each ground cinnamon and nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1
Soak the cubed bread in the coconut milk and milk until fully softened.
2
Beat in the eggs, sugar, spices, vanilla, rum, and raisins, mashing to a thick, wet mixture.
3
Pour into a greased, lined tin and bake at 350F (180C) until set and dark on top, about 1 hour.
✎ Chef’s note
Let the bread soak until no dry pieces remain, so the finished pudding is uniformly dense and moist rather than patchy.
4
Cool completely before cutting into thick squares.
Belizean bakery tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Belize City. Hudut belongs to the Garifuna towns down the coast, Dangriga and Hopkins, rather than to the city: fish poached in a coconut broth with green plantain pounded by hand in a wooden mortar until it is smooth. Fry jacks, puffed squares of fried dough, are the ordinary breakfast alongside beans and eggs.
🗺️
Belize. Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America, and its kitchens sit side by side rather than blending: Creole coconut rice, Maya corn and recado in the west, Mestizo escabeche and salbutes in the north, and Garifuna hudut in the coastal towns of Dangriga and Hopkins, fish in coconut broth with pounded plantain.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Belize
Belizean Stew ChickenChicken marinated in recado rojo, browned in caramelized sugar, and stewed dark, served with rice and beans.
Fry JacksPuffy, crisp triangles of fried dough eaten with refried beans, eggs, or jam, the golden centerpiece of a Belizean breakfast.
GarnachesCrisp fried tortillas topped with refried beans, cheese, and pickled cabbage, Belize's favorite street snack-lunch.
Browse all Belize recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Belize meal
HudutDinner
Seaweed ShakeDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Belizean Bread Pudding?
A dense, dark bread pudding rich with coconut, raisins, and rum, spiced and baked until firm, a Belizean classic.
Where does Belizean Bread Pudding come from?
Belizean Bread Pudding is a Belizean dish from Belize City, Belize.
Can Belizean Bread Pudding be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Belizean Bread Pudding recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Belizean Bread Pudding safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Belizean Bread Pudding take to make?
About 80 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 10.
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