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Homemade Banana Pudding

This cooked Southern Homemade Banana Pudding is a delicious cooked pudding custard with layers of sliced banana, Nilla wafers and whipped cream! No instant pudding used here!

A MADE-FROM-SCRATCH BANANA PUDDING

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at making a homemade banana pudding? I promise you that it is far easier than you may realize. With a few basic ingredients, you can truly make some of the best banana pudding you’ve ever eaten in your life!

Southern Cooked Banana Pudding, in individual serving bowls

SHOULD YOU USE MERINGUE OR WHIPPED CREAM?

Most of the older recipes for homemade banana pudding will almost always have meringue toppings. That’s because when the cook (that would be your Momma or Grandmomma) would have egg whites leftover from making the pudding part, she wouldn’t want to waste the egg whites. So, she’d take those egg whites and whip up a meringue for the topping. It makes complete sense and it makes good use of all the egg. So having said all that, I still prefer whipped cream. With this recipe, you’ll only be wasting one egg white. If that will help you sleep better at night. Oh, and the custardy-pudding is totally worth the little bit of effort it takes to make. Such a great flavor.

COOKED BANANA PUDDING RECIPE

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

whole milk
sugar
cornstarch
egg
egg yolk
salted butter
vanilla extract
bananas
vanilla wafers
heavy cream
powdered sugar

Nilla wafers, bananas, eggs, milk, sugar, heavy cream, vanilla

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BANANA PUDDING:

In a medium sauce pan, whisk together the milk, sugar, cornstarch, egg, and egg yolk. Once well-combined, place the pan over medium-high heat. Making this custard takes a bit of patience. You are stirring and stirring and then all of a sudden, blamm-o, it starts getting thick on ya. So that’s why you gotta stick with it while you’re making it. Whisk often to prevent lumps from forming. Cook until thick and bubbling. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, vanilla extract and whisk until butter is completely melted.

making custard with eggs, sugar and milk

In an 8-inch baking dish (2 quart) baking dish, place a layer of bananas, then top that with a layer of vanilla wafers.

layers of sliced bananas and Vanilla wafer cookies

Pour 1/2 of the custard over the wafers and spread to the edges. Repeat this process once more. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least four hours.

spreading homemade custard layer over sliced bananas and Nilla wafers in a 2-quaer casserole dish

Whip the heavy cream with the vanilla and the powdered sugar until it reaches soft peaks. Spread the whipped cream over the chilled pudding. Top with crushed vanilla wafer cookies. Keep refrigerated.

homemade whipped cream on top of vanilla custard, sliced bananas and Nilla wafers

And then if you wanna get fancy, add a slice of banana and a Nilla wafer on top.

Southern Banana Pudding servings

CRAVING MORE BANANA RECIPES?

Homemade Banana Pudding

This cooked Southern Homemade Banana Pudding is a delicious homemade pudding custard with layers of sliced banana, Nilla wafers and whipped cream!
4.92 from 12 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk, sugar, cornstarch, egg, and egg yolk.
  • Once well-combined, place the pan over medium-heat.
  • Whisk often to prevent lumps from forming.
  • Making this custard takes a bit of patience. You are stirring and stirring and then all of a sudden it starts getting thick. So that's why you need to whisk constantly.
  • Cook until thick and bubbly.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter and banana extract (or vanilla extract) and whisk until completely melted.
  • In an 8-inch (2 quart) baking dish, place a layer of bananas, then top that with a layer of vanilla wafers.
  • Pour 1/2 of the custard over the wafers and spread to the edges.
  • Repeat this process once more.
  • Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least four hours.
  • For the whipped topping:
  • Whip the heavy cream with the vanilla and the powdered sugar until it reaches soft peaks. Spread the whipped cream over the chilled pudding. Top with crushed vanilla wafer cookies.

Notes

  • Keep refrigerated.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 509kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 25g | Sodium: 236mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 41g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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Originally published: June 2011
Updated & republished: May 2019

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