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This easy Banana Pudding recipe boasts fluffy whipped topping made with vanilla pudding between luscious layers of fresh bananas and crispy vanilla wafers.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Decadent Flavors: Whether you’re craving crisp vanilla cookies, creamy pudding or sweet bananas, you’ll love this satisfying dessert.
- No Bake Recipe: Skip the oven and cook time, go straight to yum with this no bake dessert! Also try grape salad, lemon glaze, and no bake cookies.
- Impressive Dessert: With beautiful layers of pudding, fresh banana slices, and vanilla wafers, this treat is beautiful and impresses a crowd.
Simple Banana Pudding Recipe
We just started getting into making homemade pudding recipes again, and this easy southern banana pudding recipe was the first one we wanted to nail. It’s simple to make and beautiful: layers of fluffy whipped topping folded into creamy, airy pudding with crunchy nilla wafers and slices of sweet bananas nestled in between. Make this recipe once and you’ll never go back to store-bought, or any other recipe, again!
Easy Banana Pudding Ingredients
- Bananas – slightly ripe bananas are best here. Too ripe and the bananas will be difficult to slice and brown very quickly, too unripe and the bananas will taste too vegetabley.
- Instant Pudding Mix – I made this banana pudding recipe with vanilla pudding, but you can use banana pudding mix for extra banana flavor.
- Milk – 1-2% cold milk is best here.
- Vanilla
- Condensed Milk – use one 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk.
- Whipped Topping – I like using a crowd-favorite like Cool Whip, but you can use whichever suits your tastes/diet.
- Vanilla Wafers – Nilla Wafers are great, just make sure to save some to crush for topping. Or try another cookie, like whipped shortbread cookies.
How to Make Banana Pudding
How do you make banana pudding, anyway? It takes just a few steps of whisking, folding, then layering and refrigerating.
Start the Pudding
Before you get started, remember to thaw the whipped topping at room temp for 1-2 hours, until soft in the center.
Start by whisking together milk, vanilla, and instant pudding mix. Whisk until it’s thickened, then whisk in condensed milk.
Next, grab thawed whipped topping and fold it into the pudding mixture.
How to Keep the Bananas from Turning Brown in Banana Pudding
Now, it’s time to slice the bananas. If you’re not going to serve this banana pudding within 1 day, very gently fold the bananas in lemon juice and drain excess juice. If you’ll serve it tonight, skip this part.
How to Layer Banana Pudding
Using this trifle bowl, scoop about 2 heaping cups of the banana pudding whipped mixture into a single, even layer at the bottom of the bowl. Smooth with a spatula.
Next, create a single layer of nilla wafers. I like to do two to three layers of wafers to create the pretty layers you can actually see; also, feel free to tilt some of the wafers onto their sides or angled outward so you can see them from the bowl. This takes about 20-30 wafers per layer.
Then, create another layer with sliced bananas. Again, you can tilt some to the side to make your easy banana pudding pretty! Repeat all three steps until all layers are complete for a beautiful banana pudding.
Add remaining whipped topping (about 1 cup) to the very top of the homemade banana pudding, then sprinkle crushed nilla wafers over it.
How long does banana pudding last?
This easy banana pudding recipe is good for 1-3 days in the refrigerator. I like it best hours later. One day, I made it at 2pm, then enjoyed it around 10:30pm. I used half-ripe bananas. The flavor of the bananas melded deliciously into the pudding. Half of the vanilla wafers became soft like cake, while the other half were still a bit crispy. It was amazing.
Can you freeze banana pudding?
Yes, you can freeze banana pudding. Just keep in mind, freezing will result in texture changes and usually soggier results.
To freeze banana pudding, make as normal but in an airtight, freezer-friendly container, or in individual freezer-friendly cups for easier serving. Cover tightly in plastic wrap to avoid drying out the topmost layer, then with the container’s lid. Before serving, thaw overnight in the refrigerator—the bananas will be a bit mushier and browned.
Tips for Simple Banana Pudding
- Make sure you use instant pudding mix, and not regular pudding mix, which will result in a liquidy mess!
- Make sure to properly thaw your frozen whipped topping (1-2 hours at room temp). Check that it’s softened in the center before you start your pudding mixture.
- Go gently when folding the whipped topping into the pudding. Don’t mash everything together—this banana pudding recipe is meant to be fluffy, whipped, and light.
- Don’t use overly ripened bananas—they’re harder to work with when slicing into coins, and they’ll brown too quickly. I like half-ripe bananas that are still firm, but yellow on the outside.
- Make sure to truly coat layers of sliced bananas in the pudding, it’ll protect the bananas from browning too fast.
If you’ve tried this recipe, take a pic and tag us on Instagram using #beamingbaker. We can’t wait to see it! ❤️ Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter
Easy Homemade Recipes
Easy Banana Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
Banana Pudding
- 1 ¾ cups cold milk, 1-2% milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 (5.1 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 (8 oz.) containers frozen whipped topping, thawed for about 2 hours*
- 1 (11 oz.) package vanilla wafers, reserve some for garnish
- About 5 medium bananas, sliced and slightly ripe
Instructions
- Remember to place the whipped topping on the counter at room temperature for about 1-2 hours, until thawed and soft in the center.
- In a large bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla, and instant pudding mix until thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes. Whisk in condensed milk until smooth.
- Gently fold in whipped topping until well mixed. I folded in the topping in increments and took my time folding it in to maintain fluffiness.
- Each layer is about 2 heaping cups of filling (with 1 cup reserved for topping), 1.5 medium bananas, and about 20-30 wafers (see photos in post).
- In a trifle bowl, layer pudding, wafers, and banana slices. Each layer will take about 1/3 of each ingredient, with about 1 cup whipped layer reserved for topping. Reserve a few wafers for topping.
- Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve, 2-4 hours max.
- Garnish with crushed wafers and a few banana slices right before serving to prevent browning.
- ★ Last Step: If you made this recipe, leave a comment and review. It truly helps our small business keep running and it helps readers like you!
Made this right after you posted it this morning, and ate it after dinner tonight. So good!! You weren’t kidding, it really does taste amazing when it sits a bit and the nilla wafers tune into little cakes. This one is definitely a keeper!
Woohoo! I know, aren’t those softened cookies just the best? I’m super happy to hear that it was such a hit for you!