Do you ever have one of those recipes where you just really wow yourself? This is one of those for me. It’s not often that I shock myself like this either. It started out as a plain old attempt to clean out my fridge. I had stale sourdough bread, leftover bacon, and a couple broccoli crowns. I couldn’t stand looking at them anymore so I had to find a way to get rid of them all at once.
I pondered croutons, but that would have solved only one of the problems. Then it came to me. I love bread pudding, so why not attempt a savory bread pudding instead of sweet. The broccoli was an afterthought because I wanted a way to squeeze in some veggies without just having them on the side like always.
Let me tell you, this sucker was AHHHHHmazingly good! As in, how could this possibly be only 300 calories good. I even double and triple checked everything to make sure I hadn’t added wrong. Nope, it’s right. Using a mix of whole eggs and egg whites as well as the almond milk really helps keep this recipe in check. Comfort food without the huge calorie impact. Can’t beat that. I even had a slice the next two days for leftovers.
Bacon and Broccoli Bread Pudding 
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 2 1/2 cups (200g) broccoli florets
- 4 large eggs
- 6 egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 8 oz (228g) sourdough bread, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
- 4 slices bacon, cooked
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the garlic, red pepper and broccoli in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 5 minutes until the broccoli is cooked. In a bowl, mix the eggs, egg whites and almond milk.
Once the broccoli is done, add the broccoli to the egg mixture. Dump in the bread chunks and toss to mix. Pour the bread mixture into a 1.5 quart baking dish. Crumble the bacon over top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until cooked thoroughly and golden on top.
Makes 4 servings at approximately 296 calories – 20g protein, 30g carbs, and 8g fat.
I have a thing when cooking where I try to not dirty up more dishes than necessary. You just have to wash them afterwards and who wants to do that. So, I microwaved my broccoli in the 1.5 quart baking dish that I used to bake the pudding. I just nuked it, tossed it in the bowl with the eggs and bread, and poured it right back into the dish.
The pudding puffed up as it cooked so when I took it out, it was this huge golden mound of deliciousness. I let it cool for a little bit before slicing it into 4 mega sized pieces. I think it would be great with shredded cheese over the top or a few shakes of parmesan too. This is pretty easy to make vegetarian friendly by just leaving off the bacon. Boom, and done.
I may have to “accidentally” leave out another loaf of bread so I can give this another try. 😉
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