---
title: "Chilean Colegial — Homemade Sweet Bread Pudding Recipe"
description: "\"Colegial\" or sweet bread pudding is a classic dessert in Chilean gastronomy—rich, economical, and easy to prepare, perfect for enjoying with the whole family."
url: https://www.chileanfoodrecipes.com/colegial-or-sweet-bread-pudding-recipe/
date: 2023-11-12
modified: 2026-06-30
author: "Carlos Uhart M."
image: https://www.chileanfoodrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Chilean-Colegial-or-Sweet-Bread-Pudding-Recipe.jpg
categories: ["Desserts"]
tags: ["Desserts"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Chilean Colegial — Homemade Sweet Bread Pudding Recipe

[Versión en Español](https://comidaschilenas.com/receta-de-colegial-o-budin-de-pan/)

![Chilean Colegial or Sweet Bread Pudding Recipe](https://www.chileanfoodrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Chilean-Colegial-or-Sweet-Bread-Pudding-Recipe.jpg)*Chilean Colegial or Sweet Bread Pudding Recipe*

Chilean colegial is a classic sweet bread pudding — soaked marraqueta rolls mixed with eggs, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, grated apple, and jam, baked in a caramelized mold for 30 minutes. One of the most beloved and economical desserts in Chilean home cooking, it transforms stale bread into a rich, moist pudding that delivers around 400 calories per serving and the warm spiced aroma that has made it a staple of Chilean school-gate street food for generations.

## How to Make Sweet Bread Pudding?

Colegial is built around one technique: soaking crumbled marraqueta rolls in milk until fully saturated, then combining with eggs, sugar, and aromatics into a smooth batter. The caramelized mold is prepared separately and must coat the entire interior surface before the batter is added. The pudding is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry — not just set on the surface but fully cooked through.

## Nutritional Information

Each serving of Chilean colegial contains approximately 400 calories, 75 g of carbohydrates, 8 g of fats, 10 g of protein, 2 g of fiber, 55 g of sugars, and 200 mg of sodium.

## Chilean Colegial Recipe

**Preparation:** 30 minutes

**Cooking:** 30 minutes

**Servings:** 6 people

### Ingredients

- 500 ml milk
- 400 g sugar (200 g for batter, 200 g for caramel)
- 100 g raisins
- 30 g jam (2 tablespoons), flavor of your choice
- 5 fresh or stale marraquetas (bread rolls)
- 4 eggs
- 2 g ground cinnamon (½ teaspoon)
- 2 ml vanilla extract (½ teaspoon)
- 1 grated apple
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

### Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, add the milk and soak the hand-crumbled marraquetas for 60 minutes until fully saturated. Add 200 g of sugar, the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and mix well. Incorporate the orange zest.
2. Mix again until you get a smooth, homogeneous mixture without whole chunks of bread. Add 2 tablespoons of jam, the raisins, and grated apple, and stir to incorporate.
3. Pour 200 g of sugar into a non-stick skillet. Heat over low heat, moving the pan constantly without stirring, until the sugar melts and turns a deep amber caramel. Immediately pour the hot caramel into the pudding mold and rotate the mold quickly to coat the entire interior surface before it sets.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) for at least 10 minutes.
5. Pour the bread mixture into the caramel-coated mold and level with gentle taps on the base. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, unmold, and cool completely.
6. Serve colegial sliced, optionally drizzled with additional jam to taste.

## Additional Tips

### Soak the marraqueta for the full 60 minutes — insufficient soaking produces a dense, dry center

The marraqueta must absorb milk until completely saturated — the bread should dissolve into the milk with minimal resistance when pressed between your fingers, with no dry interior remaining. A partial soak of 15 to 20 minutes will leave hard, undissolved bread chunks that create a dense, uneven texture in the baked pudding. The longer soak (60 minutes) is especially important if using day-old or stale marraquetas, which take longer to absorb liquid than fresh rolls.

### Coat the caramel quickly — it sets in seconds in a cold mold

Hot caramel at 160 to 180°C cools and hardens within 10 to 15 seconds of contact with a cool surface. As soon as you pour the caramel into the mold, rotate the mold immediately in all directions to distribute the liquid caramel evenly across the base and up the sides before it solidifies. If you are slow and the caramel sets unevenly, place the mold briefly over very low heat to re-melt the caramel. Work with protective gloves or a kitchen towel — the mold and caramel are extremely hot.

### Test doneness with a toothpick, not by appearance — the surface sets before the center

The surface of the colegial will appear set and lightly browned at around 20 minutes, while the center may still be completely raw. Always test with a toothpick or thin skewer inserted into the thickest part of the pudding — it should come out completely dry and clean. If it comes out with wet batter, continue baking in 5-minute increments. A properly baked colegial has a firm, sliceable texture when cooled; an under-baked one will collapse when unmolded.

| Ingredient | Substitution and result |
| --- | --- |
| Marraqueta bread | Any dense white bread (baguette, hallulla) — same soaking technique; remove hard crusts |
| Raisins | Dried cranberries or sultanas — slightly different sweetness and chewiness |
| Grated apple | Grated pear — very similar texture and mild sweetness; works identically |
| Jam | Dulce de leche or manjar — produces a richer, more caramel-forward pudding |

## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

### 1. What is the difference between colegial and budín de pan?

Colegial and budín de pan are the same preparation — two names for the same recipe. “Budín de pan” is the generic term for bread pudding used across Latin America. “Colegial” is the specifically Chilean name for this dessert, derived from the tradition of school-gate vendors who prepared and sold it outside schools. Outside Chile, you may encounter similar preparations under different names depending on the country — capirotada in Mexico, pudim de pão in Brazil — all variations of the same medieval European technique of repurposing stale bread in a sweet baked preparation.

### 2. Can I make colegial without caramel?

Yes — butter and flour the mold generously instead. The result will be a simpler pudding without the characteristic bittersweet caramel layer that coats the exterior when unmolded. Alternatively, make a jam glaze: heat 2 tablespoons of jam with 1 tablespoon of water until liquid, then brush the inside of the mold before adding the batter. The jam caramelizes slightly during baking and produces a fruity, sticky exterior on the pudding.

### 3. Can I use fresh instead of stale marraqueta?

Yes — fresh marraqueta works well and actually soaks more quickly than stale bread. The main advantage of stale bread is that it has already lost moisture, making it absorb the milk more evenly without becoming excessively wet. If using fresh marraqueta, check the mixture consistency after 30 minutes of soaking — it may be ready before the full 60 minutes if the bread is very soft. The finished pudding from fresh bread will be slightly lighter and more tender than from stale bread.

### 4. Why does colegial get its name?

Colegial got its name many decades ago because it was the favorite dessert of street vendors who set up stalls outside schools (colegios) in the morning, prepared fresh that day. The recipe was ideal for street vending: it was inexpensive (made from stale bread and pantry ingredients), easy to transport in the mold, sold by the slice, and required no refrigeration for a few hours. The association with school-gate commerce gave it the name that has stuck in Chilean popular culture ever since.

## What Is Chilean Colegial?

Chilean colegial — also known as budín de pan — is a classic baked bread pudding made by soaking marraqueta rolls in milk, mixing with eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, raisins, grated apple, and jam, then baking in a caramelized mold. It is one of the most representative home cooking desserts in Chile, valued for its economy (it was traditionally made with leftover or stale bread), its comfort food character, and the ease with which it can be adapted to available ingredients. The caramelized exterior that forms when the pudding is unmolded is its most distinctive feature — a bittersweet, lacquered shell that contrasts with the soft, moist interior.

## History of Colegial in Chile

The word “budín” derives from the French “boudin” — which originally referred to sausage but evolved in French culinary usage to describe preparations that mixed various ingredients (bread, milk, eggs, meat, or sweet fillings) and were baked or cooked in a mold. The technique of using stale bread in a sweet baked preparation has medieval European roots, where frugality in the kitchen was a necessity and bread was never wasted. Spanish colonizers brought this tradition to Chile, where it was adapted to local ingredients — particularly the marraqueta, Chile’s iconic bread roll, which became the standard base for the Chilean version.

The “colegial” name emerged in Chile during the 19th or early 20th century, when street vendors outside schools sold this budget-friendly dessert to students and parents. The pudding’s affordability and satisfying sweetness made it the ideal school-gate snack, and the association with colegios (schools) gave it the name by which it is universally known in Chile today. It remains one of the most nostalgic foods in Chilean popular culture — a dessert that virtually every Chilean over 30 associates with childhood and home cooking.

## Did You Know?

“Colegial” got its name many decades ago because it was the favorite dessert sold by merchants who set up stalls outside schools, prepared that very morning. The pudding’s enduring popularity reflects a Chilean cultural attachment to bread-based preparations — Chile has one of the highest per capita bread consumption rates in Latin America, and the creative use of marraqueta bread throughout Chilean cooking (in sopaipilla, in empanada dough fillings, in pastel de jaiba, and in colegial) reflects how deeply embedded this bread is in the national culinary identity.

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