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Create a traditional, spiced figgy pudding right in your crockpot—packed with vibrant dried fruits, warm spices, and a hint of brandy and rum, this dessert is a show-stopping holiday classic.
Other holiday desserts we love to make are Slow Cooker Gingerbread Cake, and Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie.
Table of Contents
Figgy pudding is a classic holiday dessert, packed with dried fruits, spices, and a splash of brandy for extra festive flavor. Using a crockpot makes it so much easier—no need for constant monitoring, just let it slowly cook to perfection for a rich, moist pudding everyone will love.
This dessert is filled with holiday flavors. Figgy pudding is fruity and dense. The rum and brandy give it a warming, spice flavor and the texture is like a crumbly fruit cake.
Recipe Ingredients
Yes, figgy pudding has quite a few ingredients. Lots of dried fruit (and fresh fruit), nuts, spiced rum and brandy. It of course has the usual cake dry ingredients, plus a unique addition; breadcrumbs! Breadcrumbs help hold figgy pudding together and give it that classic dense texture, soaking up all the flavors from the fruit and spices. {The full recipe is in the recipe card below the images}.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Rehydrate the fruits. In a medium sized bowl, combine the dates, apricots, currents, raisins, cranberries, lemon zest, orange zest, orange juice, brandy, and rum.
- Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least 8 hours.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, dark brown sugar, beef suet, flour, almonds, all spice, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and apple and stir to coat. Set aside.
- Mix the wet. To the hydrated fruit mix, add your eggs and almond extract mixing to combine. Mix the wet into the dry. Add your hydrated fruit mixture to the breadcrumb mixture and stir.
- Prepare your dish. Use butter to grease the bottom and sides of a 1 liter putting basin. Fill and cover. Place the mixture into the buttered pudding basin and smooth over the top with a spoon or spatula. Place a layer of parchment over the pudding, top it with foil and form to the basin to create a tight fitted foil top.
- Prepare a water bath and cook. Place a small plate into your crockpot to avoid direct heat touching the pudding basin and place the basin on top of the plate. Fill the crockpot with enough water to come halfway up the basin. Don’t get water into the pudding! Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Plate and serve. Once cooked, it will be firm. Flip it onto a plate and serve. (Note: the pudding basin will be very hot, use oven mitts!)
How to Serve
- While figgy pudding is amazing all on its own, its flavor can be enhanced by a few additions. Here are a few ideas.
- Pour brandy sauce on top and let it absorb into the figgy pudding.
- Add a large dollop of whipped cream on top.
- Place your figgy pudding on a plate coated with custard sauce.
- Add a scoop of ice cream on the side.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
- Drizzle with caramel sauce and or nuts.
Recipe FAQs
Any leftover figgy pudding can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. To reheat your figgy pudding you can place individual servings on a microwave safe plate and heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. To keep your pudding moist, cover it with a damp paper towel before microwaving.
For this recipe, I used a 1-liter basin. Measurements for the basin are 6.5 inches wide, 4 inches high. If you don’t have a pudding basin, you could also use any heat safe dish that will accommodate your pudding and fit in the basin.
A pudding basin is a glass or ceramic bowl specifically made for steaming puddings. You can use any dome shaped heat safe cooking dish/bowl. Make sure that it is heat safe so the bowl doesn’t crack in the crockpot.
No, not all the alcohol will cook out. If you want to make this dish without alcohol, you can replace it with apple juice/cider or extra orange juice. This will ensure that the pudding still has the moisture that it needs but is safe to eat for anyone that doesn’t want alcohol.
Other Holiday Recipes
- Slow Cooker Gingerbread Lattes
- Slow Cooker Grinch Hot Chocolate
- Slow Cooker Christmas Candy
- Slow Cooker Christmas Jam
Slow Cooker Figgy Pudding
Ingredients
- salted butter to grease the pudding basin
- 8 dates, pitted and chopped
- ½ cup dried apricots, diced
- ¼ cup currents
- ⅓ cup golden raisins
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- zest of 1 lemon
- zest of 1 orange
- juice of 1 orange, 4-5 Tablespoons
- ¼ cup brandy
- ¼ cup spiced rum
- 2 cups dry breadcrumbs
- 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
- 4 ounces vegetable shortening
- ¼ cup all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 3 Tbsp. almonds, chopped
- 1 ½ tsp. allspice
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 granny smith apple, (peeled, cored and diced)
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Rehydrate the fruits. In a medium sized bowl, combine the dates, apricots, currents, raisins, cranberries, lemon zest, orange zest, orange juice, brandy, and rum. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least 8 hours.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, dark brown sugar, shortening, flour, almonds, all spice, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and apple and stir to coat. Set aside.
- Mix the wet. To the hydrated fruit mix, add your eggs and almond extract, mixing to combine.
- Mix the wet into the dry. Add your hydrated fruit mixture to the breadcrumb mixture and stir.
- Prepare your dish. Use butter to grease the bottom and sides of a 1 liter pudding basin.
- Fill and cover. Place the mixture into the buttered pudding basin and smooth over the top with a spoon or spatula. Place a layer of parchment over the pudding, top it with foil and form to the basin to create a tight fitted foil top.
- Prepare a water bath and cook. Place a small plate into your crockpot to avoid direct heat touching the pudding basin and place the basin on top of the plate. Fill the crockpot with enough water to come halfway up the basin. Don’t get water into the pudding! Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. (Note: check the water level and add water periodically to maintain the halfway mark. Don’t leave the lid to the crockpot open long, just crack it enough to add water and close it tight again.)
- Plate and serve. Once cooked, it will be firm. Flip it onto a plate and serve. (Note: the pudding basin will be very hot, use oven mitts!)
Sarah’s Notes
Any leftover figgy pudding can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. To reheat your figgy pudding you can place individual servings on a microwave safe plate and heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. To keep your pudding moist, cover it with a damp paper towel before microwaving. Should I eat figgy pudding warm or cold?
Figgy pudding is best when eaten right after cooking and warm. If you leave it in the pudding pot it will take quite a while to cool to room temperature, so you don’t have to eat your figgy pudding right away to enjoy it warm. If you need to, you can always microwave individual portions before eating. What can I serve this with?
While figgy pudding is amazing all on its own, its flavor can be enhanced by a few additions.
- Pour brandy sauce on top and let it absorb into the figgy pudding.
- Add a large dollop of whipped cream on top.
- Place your figgy pudding on a plate coated with custard sauce.
- Add a scoop of ice cream on the side.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
- Drizzle with caramel sauce and or nuts.
A pudding basin is a glass or ceramic bowl specifically made for steaming puddings. You can use any dome shaped heat safe cooking dish/bowl. Make sure that it is heat safe so the bowl doesn’t crack in the crockpot. What is another variation I can make?
This is a crockpot version but figgy pudding is traditionally steamed in the oven. If this is something you would like to try instead of using the crockpot you can. Follow the directions to assemble and place your pudding basin into a large pan with high sides (like a roasting pan) and fill halfway with water. Place into an oven preheated to 350°F for 2 hours or until the pudding is firm and you start to see it pull away from the edges of the pudding basin. Make sure to check halfway through the cooking time to see if you need to add more water to the pan. You want to maintain at least 2 inches of water throughout the cooking process. Does the alcohol cook out?
No, not all the alcohol will cook out. If you want to make this dish without alcohol, you can replace it with apple juice/cider or extra orange juice. This will ensure that the pudding still has the moisture that it needs but is safe to eat for anyone that doesn’t want alcohol. Can I make this ahead of time and freeze it?
Figgy pudding is a great dessert to make ahead and freeze. Allow the pudding to cool completely on the counter. When it’s cool, wrap it in plastic wrap or foil and place it into a resealable bag to prevent freezer burn. You can freeze your figgy pudding for up to a year. When you’re ready to eat it, defrost in the refrigerator. To reheat, set your oven to 300°F and place the figgy pudding (wrapped in foil) into the oven for 45 minutes. Add an additional 10 minutes if heating from frozen. What size pudding basin did you use?
For this recipe, I used a 1-liter basin. Measurements for the basin are 6.5 inches wide, 4 inches high. If you don’t have a pudding basin, you could also use any heat safe dish that will accommodate your pudding and fit in the basin.
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
That…..is a LOT of ingredients….and I don’t think dried fruits are as cheap as they used to be :-/
I wonder if figgy pudding was the precursor to the modern-day (and much-maligned) fruitcake LOL!