Easy Capirotada Recipe: Mexican Bread Pudding Made Vegan

This easy capirotada recipe is going to go on repeat in your home. Capirotada or Mexican bread pudding is one of the most popular Mexican desserts and typically served during Lent. It’s warm, sweet, a little savory and has both soft and crunchy textures. You’re going to love it!

How is Capirotada Made

Capirotada is made with sliced toasted bread slices (typically bolillo), sweet piloncillo syrup that’s seasoned with Mexican canela or Ceylon cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and sometimes other spices.

A variety of nuts and fruits are typically included, as are raisins and sometimes shredded coconut and colorful sprinkles.

How My Mom Makes Capirotada

My mom’s capirotada is delicious! She’s been making it since she was a young girl and that’s how they’ve been making it in my family at least a hundred years.

My mom starts with bolillo bread rolls, which are the key ingredient to Mexican bread pudding.

She told me the traditional method is to slice the bolillos then fry them in melted manteca or lard. This is so the bread is nice and toasted and won’t become soggy. But she says a healthier way is to spread butter on them and toast them on a comal or in the oven.

Mami makes the sweet syrup with just water, piloncillo, and canela. She simmers it until the piloncillo is dissolved and you have a dark golden syrup.

She then takes a baking dish and layers on lightly fried corn tortillas (like you’d fry for making enchiladas) around the bottom. Then she arranges a layer of the toasted bread and on top it and begins sprinkling in peanuts (or pecans), raisin, and either crumbled queso fresco or panela cheese.

Then she drizzles some piloncillo syrup over the ingredients, and continues to make layers until everything is used up. She bakes her capirotada for about 15 minutes.

Her easy capirotada recipe is so simple yet so incredibly delicious. I can almost taste it just thinking about it.

I make my vegan capirotada slightly different than my mom.

There Are Countless Capirotada Variations

In Mexico, it seems like every family has their own version for making bread pudding. Let me share some variations with you.

Cheese: Any of the following cheeses may be used depending on the family and region of Mexico. Cotija cheese, panela cheese, queso fresco, Oaxaca cheese, Monterey jack cheeses, Chihuaha cheese which is also known as queso Menonita. Perhaps the most surprising cheese of them all being mild cheddar cheese often used in some border states.

Nuts: Some people like to use peanuts and others pecans or almonds. There are also those that use a mix.

Fruit: Most of the capirotadas I’ve eaten don’t include fruit, other than raisins and does that qualify as fruit? But there are many people that add banana slices.

Sprinkles: Loads of people add sprinkles to their capirotada. My mom, just like me, doesn’t like sprinkles so she didn’t always include them.

The ingredients we’ve already discussed are typical of capirotada de agua or water-based capirotada. But there is also capirotada de leche which uses milk instead of water to make the syrup.

My mom has also made one called capirotada blanca which uses conchas instead of bolillos, maizena atole mixes, evaporate milk, and condensed milk. She told me that some people also call this “sopa de leche“.

Vegan Capirotada

As I previously mentioned, I make my vegan capirotada a bit different than my moms. Quite frankly, amigos, capirotada is a sweet treat that’s very easy to veganize by swapping out just one ingredient!

What Vegan Capirotada Tastes Like

Amigos, I think you’re going to really love this easy capirotada recipe.

It’s soft, sweet, a little savory from the vegan cheese, coconutty, its tender with a little bit of crisp texture from the almonds and pecans. Most surprising, you’re going to love the touch of citrus from the mandarin peel – it brings all the flavors together.

I truly hope you give my recipe a try. Do tag me on social media if you do.

How to Serve Capirotada

Traditionally capirotada is served by itselft.

However you can serve with a cup of coffee as a dessert.

If you wanted to make capirotada an even bigger sweet treat you could serve with a dollop of whipped cream, some vanilla ice cream would be an extra decadent treat if you’re into that.

How to Store Leftovers

Any leftovers can be store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Make sure the capirotada comes to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator.

How to Reheat Leftovers

You can serve leftovers either cold, at room temperature or warmed up.

To warm up you can put in the microwave for about 30 seconds or longer — just be careful not to burn yourself or over heat.

Alternatively you can reheat in the oven for 10 minutes covered with aluminum foil.

FAQ About Capirotada Bread Pudding