Pudding from scratch is so much more delicious than the boxed version! Featuring homemade vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, and fresh whipped cream, our banana pudding recipe is the ultimate comfort dessert.
Coming up with dessert ideas for the warmer months can sometimes be tricky. You don’t want to serve something steaming hot in spring and definitely not in summer! But, you also want something that won’t fall apart on a hot day. The solution? Banana pudding, of course! This works especially well if you need a dessert to feed a crowd. It comes together in just 10 minutes, and the hardest part is simply waiting for it to chill. Bring it along to your next picnic or barbecue, and it’s sure to please.
Vanilla Wafer Substitutes
If you don’t have any vanilla wafers on hand, or if you simply don’t like them, there are a few substitutes that you can use:
- Shortbread
- Butter cookies
- Graham crackers
The key is to try to use a butter-based cookie. The buttery flavor marries perfectly with the vanilla pudding and sliced bananas!
Some recipes will require you to use an egg in the vanilla pudding. Ours doesn’t! While this dish isn’t vegan-friendly — due to the butter, whipping cream, chocolate, and heavy cream — it doesn’t contain any eggs.
The key is in the quick roux! Our recipe calls for you to heat up butter, then whisk in some cornstarch. This adds thickness and will give you the perfect pudding consistency that you’re after. Make sure not to skip this step!
This dish is best enjoyed fresh. The texture of the dessert changes completely when freezing, so we don’t recommend it. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for a few days instead!
For our homemade banana pudding recipe, we use a 9×9 casserole dish. You can use other pan shapes and designs of equivalent size. A dish that holds about 2.5-quarts will work just fine.
Bananas
The key to perfect homemade banana pudding is in the bananas! You want to use the ripest bananas you can find — they should be yellow with little brown spots on the peel. Ripe bananas are much sweeter, and the flavor goes wonderfully with the vanilla pudding and wafers.
Troubleshooting: How to Keep Bananas From Turning Brown
Some chefs find that their banana slices tend to turn an unpleasant brown color. You can avoid this by lightly brushing the fruit with a bit of citrus juice, such as lemon or lime. Be careful not to use too much, or it could affect the flavor of the dessert.
Flavor Variations
While we love leaving our banana pudding recipe as is, you can feel free to add in some more fruit! Below are some of our favorite combinations — feel free to choose one or pair several together:
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Kiwi
- Mango
