If you love making homemade yeast bread, it helps to have some good bread pudding recipes to use up the leftovers. Or maybe you just need ways to use the last of the white bread. Whatever the case, here's a "new" bread pudding made with crushed pineapple. I put "new" in quotations because it's actually a vintage recipe from Del Monte called Menehune Pineapple Bread.
What Does Menehune Mean?
But first, the name! What does Menehune mean? I like this word and am pleased to have learned something new in 2026 already. In Hawaiian folklore, Menehune were mythical little night workers who built things while everyone else slept. By morning, their work was done and they were gone without a trace. Menehune pineapple bread pudding, also referred to as just "pineapple bread", comes together easily and bakes while you're doing other things.
Why I Like This Recipe
I've tried a few different pineapple bread pudding recipes this week and like this one for a few reasons. First, the butter is melted, so there's no need to pull out a mixer for creaming. Also, it calls for undrained crushed pineapple, so you get more of a pineapple flavor from the juice. And this recipe does not call for milk -- just eggs, sugar, butter, a little flour, pineapple and bread. It's heavier on eggs than some recipes so it's a little stiffer, but not particularly egg-y tasting. The photo below shows it unbaked. I also put two kinds of bread in it to see if one worked better.
Best Type of Bread to Use
Brioche gives you a really soft crumb, as does plain white bread. Believe or not, sourdough tastes really good here and gives the bread pudding some chewiness, which may or may not be desirable depending on your personal taste. The photo above is an unbaked pineapple bread pudding where I mixed leftover white potato bread and sourdough.
Small Batch Version
The recipe serves 6 to 8, but if you want to make a smaller batch it halves and even quarters perfectly. I've been making half batches in a 6-inch square dish. You could make Menehune Pineapple Bread Pudding in just about any size dish, scaling accordingly, but you'll need to adjust the baking time. The shallower the dish, the sooner it will be done.
What to Serve Pineapple Bread Pudding With
The obvious choice is a big dollop of whipped cream or whipped topping, but I recommend taking it a step further and drizzling on some caramel sundae syrup. Topping with sweetened coconut flakes toward the end of the bake would work too. There are so many things you can do with this!
Recipe
Menehune Pineapple Bread Pudding
Equipment
- 1 one and half quart or two quart baking dish
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons salted butter (56 grams)
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- 2 tablespoons flour (16 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ¾ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 15 ½ oz crushed pineapple in its own juice
- 4-6 oz soft white bread, cut into cubes (they can be small or large) (170 grams)
Accompaniments
- 1 cup sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping
- ½ cup store bought or homemade caramel sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 1 ½ quart casserole dish or an 8-inch square dish (usually about 2 quarts)
- Melt the butter gently in a saucepan or low setting of the microwave and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together, then whisk in the sugar, flour and vanilla extract.
- Whisk in the melted butter and the pineapple, then stir in the bread cubes.
- Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or up to an hour if using a deeper dish.
- Let stand for about 20 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature. You can also let cool, chill and serve cold.
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