Capirotada: How to Make Mexico’s Sweet Bread Pudding

Capirotada is a time-honored sweet traditionally made in many Mexican homes toward the end of Lent. “The point of having the capirotada: We eat it on Easter Friday when we don’t eat meat,” says Naomi Rodriguez of California. ”This is a very traditional dish for Mexican people. And it’s amazing.” This is her mother’s legendary recipe, and Naomi and her sister make it in her honor every Easter.

Capirotada is sort of a bread pudding made with Mexican bolillo loaves and piloncillo, raw cane sugar. When she was growing up in East L.A., Naomi reports that her mother made this in huge portions, so there would be lots of leftovers, and their family feasted on capirotada for days. ”My mom would start preparing it for the Friday Passover and we’d keep eating it all the rest of Easter weekend. It is just so good with a cup of coffee,” Naomi says. ”Other people would put bananas and all this stuff in. And to me, it was just ugly, mushy, too sweet and too soggy. I didn’t like it. But my mom’s: Oh my God. Everyone loved her capirotada. It was just so good.” To learn how to make Abuelita Toña’s capirotada, check out our step-by-step recipe video, above.

Find more Mexican recipe from Naomi’s family here.