Creamy sweet banana pudding is the best dessert to bring for a party! It steals the show with its light banana flavor, thick pudding, and crunchy vanilla cookies.
This classic dessert is perfect any time of the year. Whether you are serving it in a trifle, in individual jars or in a casserole dish, no one can resist it’s delicious flavors. Be sure to check out our Banana Pudding Poke Cake too!
Homemade Banana Pudding
I have a soft spot in my heart for homemade banana pudding. It’s one of my very favorite desserts. It’s requires simple ingredients, comes together pretty quick, and the flavor is addicting! I could eat that silky smooth pudding all day long.
One of the best things about banana pudding is the way you serve it.
You can layer it in a trifle dish with all it’s delicious ingredients and serve it with a big spoon. You can also serve it in individual small cups or mason jars. Then everyone gets to eat their own little serving of banana pudding. You can even serve it in a casserole dish! Or even as a Poke Cake!
No matter how you prepare it, this classic treat is bound to be a favorite with anyone who tries it.
How to make Banana Pudding
Banana pudding consists of four layers:
- Nilla Wafer cookies
- Pudding mixture
- Sliced bananas
- Whipped topping
PUDDING. Get started with making the pudding mixture first. Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy- make sure there are no clumps!
Then mix in the sweetened condensed milk, pudding mix, cold milk and vanilla. Combine everything until smooth. Fold in 8 oz. (2 cups) of whipped cream topping and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
LAYERING
- Grab your trifle dish and layer vanilla cookies around the edge on the bottom.
- Then add half the pudding mixture and spread it across the bottom of the dish.
- Top that with a layer of sliced bananas.
- Then put a layer of whipped cream on top of the bananas
- Repeat the layers in that order.
- Finish it off with vanilla cookies on top and a few bananas.
Keep it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or overnight.
Cake Version
This banana pudding recipe is similar to our banana pudding poke cake! That recipe is perfect for when you’re wanting the flavors of banana pudding but also want to eat cake. Everything you love about banana pudding in cake form!
It’s also one of the easiest dessert recipes EVER. Give both of these recipes a try- I know you will love them.
Making Ahead and storing
Can it be made ahead? Vanilla Wafer Banana pudding just gets better with time. That’s why I love this dessert. The longer it sits in the fridge, the more soft the cookies get by soaking in all the moisture from the pudding.
It tastes amazing on day two or even day three, which is why it’s a great make-ahead dessert. If you’re going to make it ahead of time, don’t put any bananas on top or they will look brown and gross the next day.
How to store banana pudding? You can leave it in the trifle dish, or whatever dish you serve it in, and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Homemade banana pudding can last 5-6 days covered in the fridge.
Are you excited to try this recipe? I hope you love it!
For more pudding recipes, check out:
- Bread Pudding
- Oreo Pudding Pie
- Slow Cooker Rice Pudding
- Banana Pudding Cheesecake
- Paradise Parfaits
- Pudding Milkshake
Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
- 1 5 oz. instant vanilla pudding mix
- 3 cups cold milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 8 oz. whipped topping thawed (or 6 cups homemade whipped cream)
- 4 bananas sliced
- 1/2 12 oz. box Vanilla Wafers
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy and with no clumps. Add sweetened condensed milk, pudding mix, cold milk, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
- Fold in 8 oz. whipped cream and mix until combined. Let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Line the bottom of a trifle dish with vanilla wafers around the edge. Add half the pudding mixture and spread across, topped with a layer of sliced bananas. Add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Nilla wafers - pudding mixture - bananas - whipped topping.
- Top with more wafers and banana slices if desired. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
As a little girl my mom would always make this for us. IT was a favorite and especially remeMber how much my dad loved it.
Why are bananas, pudding, & wafers the best combination?! Love this! I will have to make it for my dad, who loves this dessert!
I loved this recipe and so did all my family. I am not sure mine looked as good as yours but the taste was fantastic! I didn’t even have leftovers so thats a good sign!! YUMMY
My cousin in Law brought Over this dessert after my huband got out of the hOspital after major sPine surgery. It was sooooo good! I cant wait to make it again using your recipe.
It’s my favorite dessert!
It’s a good one!! Thank you!
Total time = 20 min…..but theres 1.5 hours in chill time. Id conSider that part of “total” time. 🙂
Good nonetheless.
Thank you for trying this recipe!
yum!!!
Glad you think so 🙂 Thank you!
Excellent taste and ease in making
Thank you so much for letting me know!
Making this recipe soon
Hope you like it!!
This is my second time making this recipe.The first time was for Thankgiving.we enjoyed this so much,im making it again today.each day it gets better and better.thank you
Yay!! I love to hear that! Thank you for letting me know that 🙂
You are so talented in different crafts! Maintaining a blog like this isn’t easy. I once started a blog but due to hectic schedule at work, I left it outdated. Been busy working with some website projects these days and just dropped here for break and saw this yummy recipe.
I hope you enjoy the recipe! Best of luck with your blogging efforts as well. It is very rewarding, but definitely a lot of work too. 🙂
So delicious and easy to make! I used banana pudding instead of vanilla, and whipped cream instead of cool whip. I added vanilla and sugar to the whip cream. I also used almost a whole box of vanilla wafers. Oops. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m glad that you liked the recipe! Sounds like your substitutions turned out great too.
Wonderful recipe!
Thank you!!
I followed this recipe perfectly, and the sweetened condensed milk make it too sweet, and ruined the whole recipe. We had to throw the whole thing out. Just a suggestion to omit the sweetened condensed milk.
Thanks for the feedback and for giving the recipe a try!
This is the best banana pudding I’ve ever made. And my family says it’s awesome! Thank you!
You’re welcome! So glad it was a hit with your family!
This is the best recipe hands down! My sister asked me to make this for her birthday in place of cake. It was a huge hit at the party so much so that my husband and boys are asking for me to make again and my niece wanted it for her birthday party. Who knew cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk would be in this delicious dessert. Don’t make the quick and easy recipe, makes this and you won’t look back…
This is not homemade. It’s adjusted store bought.
Doesn’t mean it’s not delicious. Just not homemade because you call it that.
Ratio for serving size is odd.. I definitely don’t need 12 servings for my girlfriend and I and anything less doesn’t even make sense..
Ratio for serving size is odd.. I definitely don’t need 12 servings for me and my girlfriend. When you adjust servings it has a really weird calculation of ingredients needed.