Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)
Sweet, warmly spiced, and deliciously cheesy, my family’s Capirotada recipe is easily one of my favorite things to eat. (In fact, I love it so much that it was in my very first Muy Bueno cookbook!) This simple, 7-ingredient Mexican bread pudding is especially popular during Lent and Christmas.
What is Capirotada?
Capirotada is a Mexican bread pudding made with cinnamon, piloncillo, cloves, raisins, butter-toasted bread, and melted cheese. Yes, you read that right…cheese in your sweet bread pudding. Don’t knock it till you try it! Have you ever tasted apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese? This is sort of like that. It’s all about the contrast of sweet and salty.
Mexican capirotada has been around since the 1400’s, so it has some serious staying power. And as with most authentic Mexican foods, and especially with a dish as historied as capirotada mexicana, there are thousands of family recipes, each unique.
Among the many different capirotada recipes and variations I’ve seen and tried — some include milk (capirotada de leche) or sweetened condensed milk (capirotada con lechera).
Others include peanuts or almonds, bananas, coconut, and even sprinkles. My family’s recipe does not include any of that. It’s a simple capirotada de piloncillo.
As a kid, I remember working in our family’s neighborhood store (Soza’s Grocery), where friends and neighbors would bring me samples of their unique delicious Mexican dessert recipes. I’d politely try their capirotada recipes as they stood there waiting for my reaction. It was…awkward.
I couldn’t possibly tell them I didn’t like their version. Besides that, my mother would have killed me if I uttered an unkind word to one of our neighbors or customers! Instead I just stood there and thanked them.
My opinion hasn’t changed much since back then. I love our simple family capirotada recipe because it is comforting and nostalgic. That said, feel free to experiment with the add-ins you and your family like, using this recipe as your springboard.
Why is Capirotada Eaten During Lent?
Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the solemn, 40-day (excluding Sundays) season that precedes Easter. On Ash Wednesday and all Fridays throughout Lent, many Catholics and Mexican families fast and abstain from eating meat.
The most popular food we eat during Lent is capirotada, which is steeped in religious symbolism. Many Mexican and Mexican-American families view this dish as a reminder of the suffering of Christ on the cross. The ingredients in this recipe carry a rich and symbolic representation.
Classic capirotada ingredients are associated with Jesus on the cross. The bread is for the Body of Christ, the piloncillo syrup is his blood, the cloves represent the nails on the cross, the cinnamon sticks symbolize the wooden cross, and the melted cheese is a representation of the Holy Shroud.
If you’re searching for a fun twist on the classic dessert, my tres leches capirotada recipe and many more recipe ideas to enjoy during Lent are in my latest cookbook, Fiestas, which is a fantastic cookbook for all our beloved holidays.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Capirotada
- It’s a deliciously economical dessert, and is an excellent way to use up stale bread!
- For many Mexican families, this bread pudding is incredibly nostalgic — it’s a wonderful reminder of our roots.
- It’s made with just 7 (!!!) simple ingredients, most of which are pantry staples.
Ingredients & Substitutions
The complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions can be found in the printable recipe card below.
- Bolillo Rolls: These classic Mexican rolls are easily found at Latin supermarkets or panaderias (bakeries) and are used to make these veggie tortas and molletes mexicanos, both of which are perfect for Lent! You are welcome to use any other lightly crusty bread like French bread.
- Water: For making the cinnamon-clove simple syrup.
- Piloncillo: This traditional, minimally refined cane sugar adds a certain caramelly deliciousness. It’s commonly found in Mexican grocery stores, but if you can’t find it, here’s where you can buy it online. In a pinch, packed dark brown sugar is a good substitute.
- Cinnamon Sticks: If possible, try to find Mexican cinnamon (a.k.a. canela). The flavor is much milder or less spicy than the more ubiquitous Ceylon/cassia cinnamon, and there are lovely floral undertones. If not, “true” cinnamon will do the job.
- Whole Cloves: Cloves have a lovely warmth. Note that we’re talking about cloves the spice, not garlic cloves!
- Shredded Cheese: I like the contrast of flavors of salty Longhorn cheddar or Colby with the sweetness of the capirotada. If you like a mild cheese, use queso Oaxaca, queso fresco, or shredded Monterey jack cheese. It comes down to personal preference and what you love, and what you are used to.
- Raisins: Raisins are an integral part of my childhood memory of what capiratada tastes like, but you’re welcome to use the dried fruits of your choice.
- Butter: Buttering the bread before toasting adds a lovely richness. You can use butter spray for a lighter version.
How to Make Capirotada the Muy Bueno Way
Step 1: Dry Out Bread. Cut rolls in ½ inch thick slices and butter both sides, layer on a baking sheet and bake for 3 minutes on each side, until lightly toasted and dry.
Step 2: Make Piloncillo Syrup. Combine water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, and cloves in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, creating a thin syrup. Simmer syrup uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep, covered for 2 hours. Pour through a strainer and discard cinnamon sticks and cloves. Set syrup aside.
Step 3: Assemble. Spray baking dish with non-stick spray, layer ingredients in the following order: a third of the toasted bread, third of the raisins, third of the cheese, and 1 1/2 cups syrup evenly over cheese.
Wait 15 minutes and layer another third of the bread, raisins, cheese, and 1 1/2 cups syrup evenly over cheese. Let soak for another 15 minutes, and again top with the remaining bread, raisins, cheese, and syrup evenly over bread. Before baking let set for another 15 minutes.
Step 4: Bake. Cover the dish with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with nonstick spray and bake 40 minutes, uncover and bake until cheese is golden brown about 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve warm.
Watch the instructional video for our heavenly capirotada family recipe. Try very hard not to eat the entire dish of capirotada at one sitting. ¡Sabroso!
Serving Suggestions
For brunch, nothing beats the savory satisfaction of red or green chilaquiles, perfectly complemented by a side of bread pudding for dessert, accompanied by a steaming cup of café de olla.
Having a slice after lunch? I won’t tell. Make sure to pack some of my tuna patties with citrusy avocado mango salsa or a sandwich made with my mom’s best tuna salad. For dinner, try my veracruz fish soup or espuageti verde for a meal the whole family will love.
Topping Options
- Sprinkles: It might sound a little unusual, but it adds a delightful pop of color and a satisfying crunch.
- Fruits: Feel free to add the fruits of your choice, such as banana, prunes, mangos, coconut, and tomato.
- Nuts: Add almonds, peanuts, pecans, or pepitas to give the bread pudding a nutty crunch.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Don’t rush the step-by-step soak. If you’re familiar with tres leches cake or other bread pudding or bread-based casserole recipes, you know the key to getting that custardy, soft texture is letting the dried bread soak up all the flavorful goodness!
- Don’t over-bake your Mexican bread pudding or the bread will be dry. Unlike a French-style bread pudding made with an egg custard base, this capirotada is made with fat-free, water-based simple syrup, so you don’t have as much of a window of error.
- Let the pudding cool slightly before serving. Warm capirotada? DELICIOUS! Straight-out-of-the-oven-scalding-hot-capirotada? With the melty cheese in there, it’s basically the culinary equivalent of napalm. Unless you want the whole roof of your mouth to slough off, give it 10 minutes of patience.
- Capirotada can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. I personally prefer warm, but do what calls to you!
- If your baking dish is too shallow, place a parchment-lined baking sheet underneath it to catch any potential drips.
Storage & Heating Instructions
- Feel free to prepare your capirotada up to a day ahead without baking it. It will keep in a well-covered container in the fridge for 24 hours.
- Once baked, capirotadas should be allowed to cool to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container or freezer-friendly container. It should keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Leftovers can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
- To reheat and serve capirotada, you can gently warm refrigerated or thawed capirotada, covered, in the oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can use the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both my mom and grandma used the most simple ingredients to make this old world and traditional dish, so that’s the way I’ve written the recipe below — with no coconut. As humans, we are such creatures of habit, and any capirotada that doesn’t taste like our simple family recipe just doesn’t do it for me. This basic, coconut-free version is sometimes referred to as capirotada michoacana.
It sure is! Well, at least this particular kind is. Another, more savory version of capirotada was popular in Spain in the 1300’s. The Spanish bread pudding by the same name was more what I’d consider a strata — a savory breakfast-y bread pudding featuring eggs, broth, cheese, garlic, herbs, and meat, particularly chicken and other poultry.
The conquistadors brought this recipe with them (along with Catholicism) to Latin America, and the old world methods collided with new traditions and ingredients. For example, the Aztecs had a dish that used anise tea to soak stale bread — so using a piloncillo and cinnamon-clove syrup replaced the savory broth used by the Spanish. And then, as the recipe spread, more and more families began to put their own unique Mexican spin on it.
At its most basic, Mexican capirotada is a sweet bread pudding that features crusty bread, warming cinnamon and cloves, and shredded cheese. Our family also uses raisins, but some recipes call for different dried fruit, nuts, or other inclusions like chocolate or sprinkles.
While this recipe for capirotada usually only comes out for Lent in our house, it’s also a delicious and celebratory Mexican dessert that is very popular during the Christmas holiday, but can be eaten all year round!
I personally think capirotada is best served warm (but I think that’s true of ALL bread puddings), but it’s also quite tasty at room temp.
While the word is now synonymous with Mexican bread pudding, its etymology has religious roots. Capirotada comes from the Spanish word “capirote,” which refers to the tall pointy hats worn during some Catholic ceremonies.
It sounds like “cah-PEE-row-TA-da.”
Nope, your family just uses a different name than mine does. In our house, migas are a savory breakfast dish. But many of my readers have told me they grew up calling capirotada-style bread pudding “migas,” which roughly translates to “crumbs or leftovers.” Since we make capirotada with stale or leftover bread, who am I to say you’re wrong??
Much like other global dessert traditions, there are quite a few different types of Mexican pudding. There’s rice-based arroz con leche (and, while you’re at it, my horchata rice pudding and pumpkin rice pudding) and this bread-based pudding (which I also make in adorable mini capirotada muffin form). I’d also argue that flan recipes (like my Mexican coffee flan, tres leches pumpkin flan and magic chocoflan cake) would be under the umbrella of “Mexican puddings.”
Enjoying This Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)? Try These, Too:
- Capirotada (Bread Pudding) Muffins
- Mexican Style Baked French Toast Casserole
- Bourbon Bread Pudding with Harvest Berry Sauce
- Cinnamon Horchata Rice Pudding
- Mexican Pumpkin Rice Pudding
- Arroz con Leche (Mexican Rice Pudding)
- Mexican Chocolate and Avocado Pudding
If you have tried this capirotada recipe, please leave me with a star rating and comment below! I’d also love to hear your special family memories with this classic dish! If you’d like more recipes delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up for my email newsletter.
Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)
Ingredients
- 4 bolillo rolls or French rolls
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 12 ounces piloncillo or 1½ cups packed dark brown sugar
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 6 whole cloves
- 3 cups shredded cheese, Longhorn Cheddar, Colby, or cheese of your choice
- 1 cup raisins
- 4 tablespoons butter or spray butter
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut rolls in ½ inch slices and butter both sides, layer on a baking sheet and bake for 3 minutes on each side, until lightly toasted and dry. Remove and cool.
- Combine water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, and cloves in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, creating a syrup. Simmer syrup uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep, covered for 2 hours. Pour through a strainer and discard cinnamon sticks and cloves. Set syrup aside.
- Spray 8 x 10 ½” baking dish with non-stick spray, layer ingredients in the following order: a third of the toasted bread, third of the raisins, third of the cheese, and 1 1/2 cups syrup evenly over cheese. Wait 15 minutes and layer another third of the bread, raisins, cheese, and 1 1/2 cups syrup evenly over cheese. Let soak for another 15 minutes, and again top with the remaining bread, raisins, cheese, and syrup evenly over bread. Before baking let set for another 15 minutes.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with nonstick spray and bake 40 minutes, uncover and bake until cheese is golden brown about 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to prepare your capirotada up to a day ahead without baking it. It will keep in a well-covered container in the fridge for 24 hours.
- Once baked, capirotadas should be allowed to cool to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container or freezer-friendly container. It should keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Leftovers can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
- To reheat and serve capirotada, you can gently warm refrigerated or thawed capirotada, covered,
- Don’t rush the step-by-step soak. If you’re familiar with tres leches cake or other bread pudding or bread-based casserole recipes, you know the key to getting that custardy, soft texture is letting the dried bread soak up all the flavorful goodness!
- Don’t over-bake your Mexican bread pudding or the bread will be dry. Unlike a French-style bread pudding made with an egg custard base, this capirotada is made with fat-free, water-based simple syrup, so you don’t have as much of a window of error.
- Let the pudding cool slightly before serving. Warm capirotada? DELICIOUS! Straight-out-of-the-oven-scalding-hot-capirotada? With the melty cheese in there, it’s basically the culinary equivalent of napalm. Unless you want the whole roof of your mouth to slough off, give it 10 minutes of patience.
- Capirotada can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. I personally prefer warm, but do what calls to you!
- If your baking dish is too shallow, place a parchment-lined baking sheet underneath it to catch any potential drips.
Originally published: March 2011. This recipe is also published in the Muy Bueno cookbook.
331 Comments on “Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)”
We are having guests from Mexico over Easter and I thought it would be nice to make a traditional Easter dish for dinner. I have never had Capirotada but thought I would try to make it. I read through the recipe but didn’t see where you use the 4 Tbsp of butter. Do you mix it in the syrup?
The butter is used to spread on sliced bolillos before baking. Hope that helps. Have fun and send me some 🙂
I love your website it so reminds me of summers in Mexico when my mom and I would visit my abuelita. My mom passed away 3 years ago and looking back my only regret is I didn’t pay more attention in the kitchen. Lucky my Tia is still here (80yrs young) and I am learning all I can. I now practice dishes and she gives me feedback. This recipe is just like both my moms and my Tia’s. Making right now and Can’t wait to share with her.
Instead of shredding the cheese, my mom “chunks” it with a knife into irregular pieces of approximately the same size. The bread pudding is not so homogeneous that way.
Loved the recipe! I live in Spring just north of Houston but originally ( 2yrs old) from the state of Chihuahua. My family makes capirotada exactly this way. My family makes a dish call migas but instead of bread they use sopaipillas. And it is delicious also. My sister for a quick breakfast she cuts up squares of corn tortillas & fries them with scrambles eggs & this is really good too.
After reading your recipe , I think perhaps my parents recipe was short cut version. The syrup was water, raises, cinnamon and white sugar. Bread, cheddar cheese, . Very simple, but muy bueno! We started saving and refrigerating the bread ends, bread crust left over from making party sandwiches, from Fall to Lent for our capidotarda! But egar to try your recipe . We never shredded the cheese but had it sliced in the market. Capidotarda can be a dessert or meal! Lots of protein from cheese , carbs, and fruit . Thank you.
My mom taught me how to make capirotada and the basic recipe is very similar to yours, however, we use a different cheese and have more ingredients.
Instead of the cheddar or colby cheese, we use queso panela or queso canasta. The additional ingredients are bananas, apples, pecans, peanuts, shredded coconut and baking sprinkles although I think this is more for decoration than for flavor. The bananas and apples are sliced and everything is layered as your recipes states.
@ROSALINA SALAZAR Do you mean capriotada is called sopa? Growing up, sopa always meant the poor stew we made with ground beef and whatever little odds and ends we found in the kitchen toward the lean end of the month. My grandmother use to joke “Your little friend is going to eat with us? No problem, I’ll just put more water in the sopa.”
@MuyBueno Migas (my family is from Corpus Christi) always meant fried tortilla with eggs scrambled in. Like juevos rancherso without all the fancy stuff on them. I understood the literal meaning of the word to mean “crumbs.” Are you saying that some people call capirotada ‘migas’ too or am I completely misunderstanding?
I just made it and it may be a family Sunday funday bring thanks cause I member this as a child when my dad was a live…
Thank you Christopher. Truly appreciate the sweet comment. Thank you! We are happy our recipe reminded you of such fond memories.
I’m so happy to have found your website! I currently live in Germany and miss daily my mother’s dishes and the freshness of Mexican food.
I love capirotada, mi Abuelita y mi Tia used to make a delicious capirotada but I never got around to learning the recipe. I cannot wait to try this out.
Do you have any suggestions to substitute the piloncillo? I have yet to find a store where I can buy Mexican ingredients… though my mom does a good job of spoiling me every now and then with a couple of things 🙂
PS Its amazing that there are so many people on this page who come from Texas, I come from El Campo, about an hour south of Houston.
Also I noticed on your descriptions that you also live in Germany Veronica. That is just a wonderful coincidence. I would love to know where you get your ingredients from. I have been trying to find some Masa to no avail. I found a couple of corn flour substitutes that were just not right. I also found Maseca on Amazon but got a response that they were no longer keeping it in stock. I miss corn tortillas!
So yummy! I made it as written except my bread was cubed instead of sliced. The resting inbetween layers is important; the bread soaks up the syrup like a sponge and you end up with a nice, creamy sweet middle. I was surprised at how domed and puffy it got in the oven despite having no eggs! 🙂
So glad to hear you loved it. My mouth is watering just reading your comment 😉
Hello and Happy Easter. I’ll first say I’d bet that since this sweet/savory bread is popular at Lent, it’s probably a happy treat for some during this Christian holiday too ; D. I am an African American so I made this for the first time yesterday. I have two questions because I probably could have had it turn out much better. Would 8 bolillo rolls sometimes be necessary instead of 4? Maybe in mainstream American stores they are a little smaller, because there was too much flavoring syrup for the bread to absorb. A puddle was in the pan, and the bread was kind of soggy after I baked it. I also wanted to know if the syrup was supposed to be thin and watery. I followed every instruction down to using piloncillo from Wal Mart. I used cloves and cinnamon sticks too. It was more like aromatic water than thick sticky syrup though. Was something missed by me you think? Anyway I still appreciate your sharing this special recipe with the world, and it was still a joy to try it. I just want to know if anything better could be done if I made it again. Thanks and take care.
Hi Sierra,
Sooooo sorry for my delay. Thanks so much for trying out this recipe and leaving us your feedback. The amount of bolillos is up to your preference. If your baking dish is bigger then more bread might be needed. Also, the syrup is supposed to be a thin aromatic liquid. It doesn’t thicken up but it is important to let each layer soak up the liquid for best results. I hope you have fun making it again and making it an annual tradition.
Thank you and keep in touch.
Thank you so much for the receipe. I would also like the receipe for Tortitas de camaron’ My Mother would also fix these during lent as well as nopalitos con camaron. My great-granfather was a miner in Globe,Arizona and his family came from Zacatecas Fresnillo. con carino Isabel
Finally! I have been craving and searching and asking people for a receipe for Capriotada. After searching so many reciepes I found yours to be the best one. This is exactly how my mama used to make it. Same ingredients. She passed away, and I never got the receipe, I just always knew we were going to have this come Lent. I have tried others but they just were not as good as I remember and had ingredients, well I just found weird. This is the simple way…. I am so glad I found this. I’m originally from Arizona, and would get the Capriotada like you have here then I moved to New Mexico and I can’t find it like this. Thank you! Thank you! I have printed your receipe and can’t wait to make it! Happy Easter to your family!
I’m actually eating some capirotada right now. My abuelita makes hers for lent as well. I still can’t get past the cheese though. I can only eat the cheese when the dish comes right out of the oven, yet once it cools, the cheese cools and becomes too hard for me to like (I end up pushing the cheese to the side in order to eat the deliciousness of bread and syrup).
Thank you so much for printing this recipe, I was born in Texas, and remember my aunts making it this way. When I moved to AZ my husband’s family made it but no cheese and filled with nuts, apples, bananas and it tasted soooo different than what I was use to, I can’t wait to try this version.
Marti Olson: We live in Amboy, IL. I wracked my brain to come up with a substitute for colaciones. It finally dawned on me that the wedding mints is exactly the same taste as colaciones. We can get colaciones from Mexico. All I have to do is ask either of my two sisters to get them for me and they will. They live in the Rio Grande Valley on this side of the border (USA). But I bought a huge bag and froze the rest.
We can get piloncillo in IL, no problem. I use raisins and bananas, peanuts or pecans, various kinds of cheeses, but definitely Spanish import Manchego.
I wish I would of learned how my grandmother made capirotada. I found your receipe last year. I made it and had my mom taste it and she said it was delicious. She just asked me if I was going to make it again, I’m back for your receipe. Thank you all for brining it on line for us that showed of held on to our hispanic tradition. God Bless 🙂
That is so sweet Katherine! Big abrazo to you and your mom. Take care!
This is just like my mother used to make, I can’t wait to make it!
I too, grew up with this traditional treat. However through the years I have mixed and match recipes from friends using there families version. I have managed to come up with some very tastey variations. Although his one recipe in paricular was not a mix & match, it remains to be my all time favorite. It was given to me by my neighbor in California. Apparently this was her families version. She added hard boiled eggs crumbled, chopped green onion, and cilantro(Coriander) seeds that were coated in a hardened icing.( I have never been able to find them anywhere anymore) so I just use the dried cilantro seeds to accomplish the flavor. The egg & onion are added as part of the layers, raisins, chopped walnuts, cheese etc. After all has been baked, and the cheese nicely melted, the combinaion of all the ingredience comes to life! The smell and taste are just heavenly! As strange as this version might sound, it has actually been the one I have had more requests for! Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it! Yummy!
Does anyone know where I can get some colaciones? My mom used to put them in her capirotada when I was a child. I live in Thornton, CO I tried to get some from Corona Real, but they were always out and now I don’t even see them there anymore. Please help!! 🙂 Thanks!
Howdy Coloradoan 😉 I live in HIghlands Ranch!!!
I’m sorry I do not know where they sell colaciones. Have you tried Liborio Market in Commerce City? Although I think they may closed down. You might have some luck at some stores on Federal. Best of luck.
Hope to meet you in Denver this Friday for our book signing 😉
Yvette
OMG I HAVE TO TRY THIS RECIPE!!!
My usual recipe comes from my mom who uses bread that hasn’t been used as a way to “use” it before the bread goes bad. It has everything in it except the cheese, the syrup, cloves, raisins, etc. The cinnamon and cloves as well as nutmeg is powdered, and raisins could be put in it but she usually doesn’t do that. She has taught me this recipe for years but with my family ties to Mexico I want to mix things up and make something different. That is why I love coming across websites like these that educate me “la huella” haha yeah cause I’m so white it ain’t funny :p
Great website! Keep up the good work, I’ll be checking in often checking out the other stuff you gals have on here! 🙂
I am so excited to find this recipe, It brought tears to my eyes. My gandmother died when I was 11 yrs old, this recipe is the way I remember her making it. 27 yrs later I am so happy to have found this so I can make it for my children. Thank you so much.
Oh yeah, I was reading, I saw one person say that they used to call it migas also. How funny…. she used to tell us it was ormigas.. little ants (the raisins) we used to laugh so much, but it was delicious
Cute…my mom used to call them migas too…
I love this recipe, my grandmother made this for all the time. She used to tell us in spanish what it was but our spanish was terrible so we just called it bread pudding with cheese… It was the best thing in the world! Thank you for having it…
You are welcome!
I love this recipe, this was handed down by my grandmother I just can’t believe I found it so fast. My grandma would make this for us all the time it’s so delicious. Thank you for bringing it back