New Orleans bread pudding is custard-soaked French bread baked into a tall pillow with raisins and a soft top, then drowned in warm bourbon-butter sauce. Pure Creole-restaurant comfort.
Bread pudding entered Creole cooking via French and English colonial households; the New Orleans version codified in the 19th century around the city's plentiful day-old French bread (the Leidenheimer loaf in particular). Commander's Palace and Galatoire's both ran versions through the late 1800s; the bourbon-sauce form became standard mid-20th-century. Boucherie's chef Nathanial Zimet made the unusual Krispy Kreme bread pudding (built on glazed doughnuts) a city talking point in the 2000s; Atchafalaya's brunch service plates a classic French-bread version under bourbon sauce. The dish is as much a Sunday-supper home staple as a restaurant signature.
3 editor picks for Bread pudding in New Orleans, ranked by editorial score. All New Orleans signature dishes · Bread pudding across every city.
Commander's Palace ★ 4.8
garden-district · 1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
Commander's Palace in New Orleans is the 1893 Garden District grande dame on Washington Avenue, the Brennan family flag with turtle soup, jacket-required.
Boucherie ★ 4.2
carrollton-riverbend · 8115 Jeannette St, New Orleans, LA 70118
Boucherie in New Orleans is Nathanial Zimet's Carrollton tasting-menu room, a former food truck turned Southern-modern five-course degustation.
Atchafalaya ★ 4.0
garden-district · 901 Louisiana Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115
Atchafalaya in New Orleans is the Louisiana Avenue Creole room on the edge of the Garden District, known for a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar and the duck.