Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Pan de Muerto
The soft, orange-and-anise scented sweet bread of Dia de los Muertos, shaped with a skull and crossed bones of dough and dusted in sugar, baked to eat and to place on the ofrenda.
Mexican · medium · serves 8
prep 40 min · cook 30 min
~366 cal · 9g protein · 50g carbs · 15g fat · 2g fiber · 8g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pan de muerto, bread of the dead, is the centrepiece of every Dia de los Muertos table and altar. A round enriched loaf scented with orange and anise, it is topped with a small ball for the skull and strips of dough laid across it as bones, then brushed with butter and rolled in sugar. Families bake it in the days around November 1 and 2 to share with the living and to set on the ofrenda, where its scent is said to help guide returning souls home.
The dough is a close cousin of brioche, soft and pillowy from eggs and butter, but its flavour is unmistakably Mexican: fresh orange zest and, most traditionally, a little , with whole anise steeped in the milk for a gentle, floral warmth. Some regions dust it with plain white sugar, others with pink or with cinnamon sugar.
Bake it the morning of your gathering if you can, or make the dough ahead and cold- it overnight so you can shape and bake fresh loaves without rushing.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- 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 8
120 ml whole milk
1 tbsp anise seeds
7 g (1 packet) active dry yeast
440 g plain flour
50 g, plus extra to finish granulated sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
3 eggs
115 g unsalted butter, softened, plus more for brushing
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp (or fresh orange juice)
Instructions
1
Warm the milk gently, stir in the anise seeds and steep 5 minutes, then strain out the seeds. Stir the yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar into the warm milk and let it foam, about 10 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Steeping whole anise in the milk gives a rounder flavour than adding it dry.
2
Whisk the eggs, orange zest, orange blossom water and remaining sugar into the yeast milk, then add the flour and salt and stir to a shaggy dough.
3
Work in the softened butter a little at a time, kneading until the dough is smooth, soft and slightly tacky, 6 to 8 minutes. Cover and rise until doubled, about 2 hours (or cold-proof overnight).
4
Punch down. Pinch off a little dough for decorations, shape the rest into a smooth round on a lined tray. Roll thin ropes, pinching ridges for bones, and a small ball for the skull; brush the loaf with water and press them on.
5
Cover and rise 45 to 60 minutes until puffy. Bake at 175C for 25 to 30 minutes until deep golden. Brush warm with melted butter and roll or sprinkle generously in sugar.
Mexican Dia de los Muertos tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Puebla. Puebla is a cradle of Mexican cuisine and the ancestral home of mole poblano and chiles en nogada. The famous convent tales, of nuns improvising mole for a visiting archbishop, are legends: food historians read mole as a slow evolution from the pre-Hispanic chile-and-seed sauces the Nahuatl called molli, enriched over centuries with ingredients the Spanish brought. Colonial convents and Indigenous cooks together made a baroque, deeply layered regional table.
🗺️
Mexico. Mexican cuisine is UNESCO-recognized and older than any border, built on the ancient trinity of corn, beans, and chiles plus tomatoes, cacao, and a vast world of moles and salsas. From tacos to slow-cooked barbacoa, it layers Indigenous Mesoamerican roots with Spanish influence.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mexico
Cochinita PibilPork marinated blaze-orange in achiote and sour orange, wrapped in banana leaves and roasted until it shreds itself.
EnfrijoladasCorn tortillas bathed in silky black-bean sauce, folded and finished with cheese, crema, and onion.
BirriaJalisco’s chile-marinated slow braise, served as a rich consomé with tortillas, or griddled into dripping quesabirria tacos.
Browse all Mexico recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Whisk.
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 Mexico meal
Mole PoblanoDinner
HorchataDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pan de Muerto?
The soft, orange-and-anise scented sweet bread of Dia de los Muertos, shaped with a skull and crossed bones of dough and dusted in sugar, baked to eat and to place on the ofrenda.
Where does Pan de Muerto come from?
Pan de Muerto is a Mexican dish from Puebla, Mexico.
Can Pan de Muerto be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pan de Muerto 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 Pan de Muerto 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 Pan de Muerto take to make?
About 70 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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