Classic Butterscotch Pudding

This homemade classic butterscotch pudding recipe is a nostalgic treat. If you think you don’t like butterscotch, it’s because you haven’t had the real deal. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how delicious this pudding is, y’all.

No boxes of mix here. We’re talking the marriage of caramelized sugar and browned butter with a dash of molasses. Real, homemade butterscotch pudding, friends!

For you die-hard butterscotch fans, you can find all of my butterscotch recipes all in one place. For ease of browsing, here are all of my custard and pudding recipes.

What Makes This Recipe So Great

If you look at a lot of recipes for butterscotch pudding, you’ll find that most have you:

• melt butter
• add brown sugar
• add the rest of the ingredients
• cook until thickened

While I have made this version before, I contend this is not real butterscotch.

The real magic happens when you cook the butter and brown sugar together until the butter browns and the sugar caramelizes.

You’ll know it’s ready when it just barely starts to smoke and smell caramelized.

It’s the magical combination of browned butter and caramelized sugar with an undercurrent of molasses that defines the flavor “butterscotch.”

And you can’t get it without cooking the butter and brown sugar together for a pretty long time.

Tasting Notes

Old-fashioned butterscotch pudding has a deep and rich flavor. It is not too sweet, and it has just a bit of a bitter edge from the caramelized sugar and the molasses.

It contains enough salt to round out the flavor, although when you taste it, you don’t think, “Hey, this pudding is salty!”

Butterscotch is the perfect blend of browned butter, caramelized sugar, a touch of molasses, and salt. Think toffee, but without any nuts in it.

If you want to explore that further, you can read my recipe for cashew toffee.

If You Need More Instruction

I am experimenting with moving the recipe card higher up in the post. You may skip straight to the recipe if you would like.

There are also some helpful sections of additional information that appear after the recipe card.

Simply click on any of these headings to go to that section. Or you may choose to simply scroll through to skim them all.

✅Ingredients and Substitutions
✅How to Make Butterscotch
✅How to Tell When Your Butterscotch is Done
✅Making the Pudding, Step by Step (with photos!)
✅What to Do with Leftover Egg Whites
✅Jenni’s Tips

Questions?

If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.

Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.

If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.

A Note About Measurements

My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.

For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.

I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.

This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.

Love This Recipe? Please Rate and Review!

How to Make Butterscotch for the Pudding

The ingredients themselves are very simple and straightfoward. Making butterscotch is really all about the technique rather than using specialty ingredients.

Ingredients

• brown sugar: since the flavor profile includes molasses, I prefer to use dark brown sugar. If all you have is light brown, you can also add an additional 2 teaspoons of molasses if you have it
• butter: I like to use unsalted since it’s easier to control the overall amount of salt when I add my own
• salt: I generally use kosher salt. Salt plays a big role in the flavor of butterscotch, so don’t skimp
• egg yolks: provides richness and is what makes this a custard rather than “just” a pudding. For a bit less richness, you can go with 2 or even 1 yolk
• cornstarch: provides thickening power and body. When using cornstarch, you have to boil it for 2 full minutes. You can substitute all purpose flour if you want. In that case, you only need to boil your mixture for about 20 seconds
• milk: I prefer whole milk, but you can also use 2%.
• vanilla extract: rounds out the flavors
• NOT PICTURED: water. I have begun adding water to the butter and brown sugar mixture to ensure the sugar dissolves completely before it starts to caramelize

A Note About the Video

The video I’ve chosen for this post is of me making butterscotch creme brulee, but the butterscotch making process is exactly the same.

Since making butterscotch is the most important part of making this pudding, please take a look so you know what to expect.

Making the Butterscotch

Keep in mind this is just one step in the process of making this recipe. But it is the most vital step.

But I’m breaking the “how to make it” part out so you can get a feel for it. Be sure to have the rest of your ingredients ready to go, because you’ll continue making the pudding after you make the butterscotch.

Time needed: about 20 minutes.

1. Melt the butter together with the dark brown sugar and salt.
2. Heat to a boil, stirring constantly. At first, it will be hard to get the butter and sugar to blend together. Then all of a sudden, it’ll be a smooth, boiling mixture. Keep cooking and stirring.
3. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the sugar caramelizes. Once your butterscotch is boiling, continue cooking. First the butter will separate out again and you think you will have messed up. But then it will come back together after a couple of minutes of cooking and stirring. Once it comes back together, that’s when you add the milk. Hopefully these photos will come in handy.

NOTE: You can lessen the chance of butter leaking out if you cook on low heat. But that takes time and we need pudding now. Plus, the butter mix back in with no problems, especially when you add the dairy.

How to Tell When Your Butterscotch Is Done

Since not everyone cooks at a high heat, not everyone’s butter will necessarily leak out, so here are some other cues to let you know when your butterscotch is ready.

Once you see/smell these signs, immediately remove your butterscotch from the heat and add the dairy.

NOTE: You can make this pudding before the color darkens, before the sugar starts to caramelize, and before it begins to smoke just a tiny bit, but the flavor will not be as intense or as deep.

To reiterate, the butterscotch making is the most important part of making this recipe.

Here’s a reader’s take on making their butterscotch for this pudding:

I pinned this recipe ages ago and finally tried it out last night. It was a success! I did experience the sugar and butter separating like you said, but I see how someone else might not see it because it’s not necessarily super obvious that it’s separated. For me it looked like the sugar and butter solids had blended together but the water in the butter had oozed out a bit and I could see it in streaks in the pot. So maybe other people wouldn’t call that “separated”. But it did definitely look “sad”! But it came back together, and the final result was very butterscotch-y and delicious! Will definitely be making this one again.

Reader and Butterscotch Lover Jem

If you’re concerned you may overshoot the mark, definitely err on the side of caution and add the milk sooner rather than later.

Once you get the hang of it, though, you’ll be able to get the depth of flavor and slight smokiness that makes butterscotch such a complex flavor.

PS I also amended the recipe to indicate when to add the salt. Thanks for that catch, Hassan. Also, I sincerely doubt you are an idiot.

Making the Pudding, Step by Step

• Mix the yolks and cornstarch together, and set aside. (Note: in the updated recipe, I call for 1 egg and 1 yolk and an optional 1-2 Tablespoons of sugar to be whisked together with the cornstarch.)

• Make the butterscotch (see the How-To above) and add the milk. Stir until smooth.

• Once the butterscotch is all melted back into the milk and it is steaming hot, temper into the eggs.
• Pour the egg mixture back into the pan and bring to a boil. Boil two minutes.
• Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the bowl with the vanilla. Stir until combined.

How to Temper Eggs

Here’s a quick how-to on tempering eggs. It’s important that you raise the temperature of eggs slowly so they don’t scramble. You can see the process in the first three images in the collage above.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Whisk eggs well.
2. Pour a little of your hot liquid into the eggs, whisking all the time until combined.
3. Continue adding about half of the hot liquid in a steady stream, whisking and whisking, until the egg mixture is hot.
4. Pour the now-hot egg mixture back into the pan while continuously stirring.
5. Continue with the rest of your recipe.

What to Do with Leftover Egg Whites

After making this pudding, you’ll have 3 whites that need a job. Here are a few ideas for using them up:

• Use them in brownie brittle or crispy chocolate cookies
• Make some Italian meringue or Swiss meringue and use it as a light and airy topping for the pudding
• Turn your meringue into Swiss buttercream (this recipe happens to be mint) or Italian buttercream and then use that to ice some cupcakes
• Make an eggwhite omelet. This recipe calls for 4 whites, so either scale down a bit or add an extra white
• Use the whites in a white cake recipe
• If you like them, consider using your 3 whites to make a small batch of macarons. This recipe needs two whites

Tips and Tricks

Get in the habit of always straining your pudding. The strainer will catch any little bits of egg or lumps of flour that may have gotten away from you.

Depending on the pudding texture you like, rich and dense or lighter and creamier, you can:

• let the pudding set up in individual bowls and then top with whipped cream (or not),
• or you can chill the pudding, whisk it smooth, and then fold whipped cream into it.

PRO TIP: When chilling the pudding, if you don’t want a skin to form on top (I’m weird and like the skin), press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding while it cools.

For double butterscotchiness, you can serve your pudding with whipped cream sweetened with a couple of spoonfuls of homemade butterscotch sauce (pictured in the photos in the post)

Butterscotch Pudding Q & A

And there you have it friends, rich and comforting butterscotch pudding. Please give it a try, and then let me know how you like it!

Thank you for spending some time with me today.

Take care, y’all.