Easy Banana Pudding Recipe
An easy homemade Banana Pudding Recipe. Rich and creamy banana pudding between layers of vanilla wafers and fresh bananas. Best of all, this pudding is a no-bake and loved by all at potlucks and parties.
If you appreciate easy, no-bake desserts like our No-Bake Cheesecake or Chocolate Lasagna, you will love this Banana Pudding.
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Banana Pudding Recipe
It’s safe to say that whenever you think of a dessert with bananas, banana pudding instantly comes to mind. Here’s why you’ll LOVE this recipe.
- No-bake – this dessert just has some assembly required but no cooking, which is so convenient
- Easy to make and a novice chef may quickly whip it up
- Beautiful – so appealing aesthetically at a potluck or party
- Loved by all – great for adults or kids
Ingredients for Banana Pudding
Just a few ingredients are needed for the banana pudding and you can have the dessert ready to serve in no time!
- Milk – You can use whatever milk you have on hand, we used whole milk.
- Vanilla pudding – You want to be sure to use INSTANT pudding that doesn’t require cooking. We used vanilla pudding but a banana flavor will work just fine.
- Vanilla extract – Homemade Vanilla adds the best flavor to the pudding.
- Sweetened condensed milk – Enhances the creaminess and sweetens the pudding.
- Vanilla wafers – we love the Nilla wafers brand, but you can use your favorite. See substitution options below.
- Heavy whipping cream – The whipped cream adds richness to the pudding.
- Powdered sugar – is added to sweeten the top layer of the pudding. You can leave it out completely.
- Bananas – The fresh banana slices are what give the pudding its amazing flavor.
How to make Banana Pudding
This no-bake dessert is that perfect treat when you need something to serve but don’t want to turn on the oven.
Prepare Pudding:
- In a large bowl, beat the cold milk with vanilla and pudding until it thickens. Beat in condensed milk.
- In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until fluffy with stiff peaks. Use a spatula to gently fold 2/3 of the whipped cream into the pudding.
- Add the powdered sugar into the remaining whipped cream and beat to combine, refrigerate until needed.
Assemble:
- Add about 1/4th of the vanilla wafers into the bottom of your trifle bowl and about 1/4th of the bananas. Spread 1/4 of the pudding over the bananas/wafers. Repeat with remaining layers.
- Add the remaining whipped cream to the center of the pudding and decorate as desired. Cover and refrigerate for two hours then serve.
Make-Ahead
For best results, Banana pudding can be made up to 24 hours ahead and leftovers should be enjoyed within 2 days of making it. If making the pudding more than two hours in advance, keep the bananas completely covered by the pudding as they will brown if you don’t. Then just add fresh slices of bananas on top when serving.
Serving Ideas
The easiest way to serve this is with a large serving spoon and just scoop out portions. You don’t have to serve the pudding in a trifle bowl. Here are some other great ideas to serve the vanilla pudding:
- In jars or mini cups – just pipe with a bag for a cleaner look!
- Casserole – Add to a baking dish, round, square or 3 qt rectangle will all work.
Variations
This pudding is so versatile and may be served in so many unique ways.
- Change the pudding: try chocolate, banana or butterscotch
- Add berries with the bananas or substitute for bananas.
- More layers – Instead of just having whipped cream on top of the pudding, double the amount of whipped cream and add layers over the banana pudding.
- Drizzle caramel over the layers.
- Add peanut butter between the layers.
Common Questions
Graham crackers, butter cookies, or even animal crackers.
Bananas will brown quickly as they are exposed to air so keep them completely covered with the pudding. Add the bananas on top right before serving, or don’t add them on top at all.
Cool whip is a great substitute for whipped cream, but it will taste a little sweeter than whipped cream.
Banana Pudding is a popular Southern dish in America. It was originally made with homemade custard but the no-cook version has become popular with modern-day home cooks.
More No-Bake Desserts
No bakes are by far the best kind of dessert. Here are some more of our favorite desserts to try:
Easy Banana Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups cold milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 (3.4 oz each) instant vanilla pudding packages
- 1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 11 oz vanilla wafers
- 4 fresh bananas
- 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the cold milk with vanilla extract and vanilla pudding until it thickens. Pour in the condensed milk and beat to combine.
- In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add about two-thirds of the whipped cream into the pudding and gently fold in with a spatula.
- Add the powdered sugar into the remaining one-third whipped cream and fold with a spatula to combine. Refrigerate until needed.
- Add about 1/4th of the vanilla wafers into the bottom of your trifle bowl and about 1/4th of the bananas.
- Spread 1/4 of the pudding over the bananas/wafers. Repeat with remaining layers until you have four layers.
- Add the reserved whipped cream over top of pudding and decorate as desired. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours before serving.
Nutrition Per Serving
Valentina Ablaev
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I was very eager to test this recipe. Banana Pudding is one of my favorite desserts. I tried making it, and it is excellent! I recently participated in a Secret Santa gift exchange, and while I put together a great gift, I recieved 24lbs of bananas. I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Hi Isaac! I’m so glad you loved it! I hope you find many more recipes here that you’ll enjoy.
So absolutely delicious! Everyone that has tried it has LOVED it! I just made it for the 4th time tonight in just the last month :). I do end up just using about 3/4 of the sweetened condensed milk, but either way it’s amazing! I found that if I put my heavy cream in the freezer for about 10 minutes, it whips up much faster. The hardest part of this recipe is keeping my kids away from it for 2+hours while it chills😅 Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Diane!!
Thank you!!! My family loved it. And it was pretty. It was so easy to make. I love Natasha’s recipes.
I’m so glad you’re loving my recipes, Eveline! Thank you for your wonderful review.
Easy, simple and fabulous dessert! Did not have any left over.
Can I make this the night prior to serving or will bananas turn brown?
Hi Honor, we have a note on that under our “Make Ahead” recipe notes. I hope that helps.
Do I have to use skim milk? Or can I use 2%? Is there a reason for using skim? Thanks
You can use whatever milk you have on hand, we used whole milk.
If you were going to double the recipe for a potluck what dish would be appropriate to use for serving?
You can for sure double this recipe without making any changes to the process but I don’t know what size pan it would fit. Let us know if you experiment.
I’ve made this and have used at 9×12 baking pan for pot lucks. Hope that helps!
This was absolutely amazing! I couldn’t find nilla wafers so I used graham crackers instead and they worked perfectly. It was easy to put together and the whole family loved it, thanks!
Great to hear that graham crackers well well too! Thanks so much for sharing, Abby.
I used sugar free instant vanilla pudding because that is what I had on hand. It was not too sweet, so I will continue to make it with the sugar free pudding. I will definitely make it again!
Great to hear that it worked! Thanks for sharing, Linda.
I have made this recipe twice already this week, and the family really loves it.
Super easy to make!
That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing.
I find it was too sweet. Maybe next time I will skip the evaporated milk or just use half of the can. Instant pudding in itself has already sugar.
So glad I came across this recipe. It had simple ingredients/instructions, compared to other banana pudding recipes, and so easy to put together even though I halved the recipe. It was a hit and I’ll definitely make it again.
Thanks, Ivonne. I’m so glad that you’re here too! I hope you’ll love the recipes that you will try.
I made this for the 4th of July and it was amazing! The flavor of the pudding and the whipped topping made the best banana pudding I’ve ever made! Thank you for another great recipe! I’ve tried dozens and have been successful each time, which says a lot for me! Thanks again!
You’re welcome, Whitney! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the great recipe! The mason jar idea was awesome! We filled a bunch and delivered them to the neighbors on the 4th of July! What a hot!
You’re welcome, Jess. So glad you enjoyed it and your neighbors hopefully did too!
LOVED IT. I was looking for a potluck dessert so I did a test run of this, exactly as written. It is fabulous. My only question is, can I extrapolate this for a large chaffing pan size by just doubling up on ingredients? Will that work – thinking about the whipping cream and I should beat that separately… thanks!
Hi Sophie! Thanks so much for the feedback. You can for sure double this recipe without making any changes to the process but I don’t know what size pan it would fit. Let us know if you experiment.
soo what if the pudding part comes out watery ? can i just add more pudding powder to thicken it or what should i add because i bought the wrong size pudding packs and was mixing it with the milk and it’s so watery the heavy whipping cream helped a little bit but i’m out of ideas ??!!
I’m very confused as to how to do the first bit of the recipe do we make the vanilla pudding separate from the 2 cups of milk?
Hi Jamie! You will not follow the instructions on the pudding package, instead you will use the powder pudding mix and make it with 2 cups of cold milk. I hope that helps clarify.
I wish I would have read the comments, I followed the pudding package since the recipe wasn’t clear on what steps to take. Hope it comes out ok.
Hi Keke! I’m sorry that happened. Step 1 in the recipe card explains the instructions to with this.
Tried this recipe as presented.. next time I’ll lessen the amount of sweetened condensed milk to maybe 2 Tbs.. to reduce sweetness and to better retain the pudding color.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
This is the best banana pudding, ever!! I’ll be making it again!
Thank you for this awesome feedback, Cassandra!
Hi Natasha!
Can I make the pudding from scratch? Rather then buying a pudding mix?
If so, how do you recommend it be done? I am assuming cornstarch, milk & sugar on stovetop?
Thankyou so Much!
Cathy x
Hello Cathy, I think that will be fine. Although I haven’t tested that to advise of the changes that needs to be made.
I made this banana pudding for dessert for a family dinner and game night yesterday. AWESOME! In my 73 years, I have never had a banana pudding this decadent. Unlike the old recipes I tried in the past, I love how EASY it was to make without cooking a custard base. The consistency remained stable in the fridge today without the watery custard and melting meringue usually resulting from baked banana puddings. The combination of the pudding mix, whole milk, condensed milk and heavy cream results in a rich high-end restaurant class dessert. Everyone raved about it; and it made such a large bowl that I even shared half with my grateful neighbors. Thank you again, Natasha, for another delicious recipe. I’m looking forward to receiving your cookbook in October!
Hello Ken, so great to hear from you and thank you for this wonderful review! I’m always happy to receive great feedback, so thanks for sharing. I hope you’ll enjoy all the recipes that you will try from us.
the recipe on my computer doesn’t give me the amount of milk or heavy cream. Help?
Hi Pam! You might try restarting your browser. It’s 2 cups of milk, 2 cups of heavy cream.
Easy to make and oh-so delicious! I omitted the sweetened condensed milk and it was perfect! Highly recommend this recipe!
Hi Reece! thank you for sharing that with us. I’m so glad you loved the recipe.
Such a yummy classic. I followed the recipe to a tee, I will probably omit the powdered sugar in top layer whipped cream, the added sweetness not needed, I don’t think. We thoroughly enjoyed hearty serving again for dessert tonight 😉
Thank you for sharing 😋. We will be trying many more of your recipes!
Have a great summer!!
Sounds good, I haven’t tested that but feel free to experiment according to your preference. Glad you enjoyed it!
Very good but too sweet. Can you use unsweetened pudding? Any other suggestion on how to cut sweetness?
Hi Janet, I have not tested using that to advise. I haven’t tested it by reducing the condensed milk but that will be an experiment.
I’m thinking to try again but this time remove the powdered sugar from the top cream layer. This may help cut some sweetness.
Would you write the recipe in Metric? I don’t get it in US measure. Thank you 😊
Hi Ninis, If you scroll down to our printable recipe card, most of our recipes have a metric conversion option on the printable recipe card. We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes, but it is taking some time to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help.
This is a famous recipe from Magnolia’s Bakery in NYC and is very delicous!
Hi Maryann! I’m glad you love it, thank you for sharing.
We love this recipe. I didnt add the condensed milk or powdered sugar. That would have been too sweet. I substituted cool whip for the heavy cream. So good!
Hi Kelly! Thanks for sharing that with us. 🙂
I made this last night and the family loved it. Great Recipe, Thanks for sharing
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Connie!
Hi
Where are the ingredients dosage listed???
You say add milk, add this add that but nowhere does it say how much.
Missing doses is pretty bad for a recipe site… Ill have to look somewhere else
Hi Siba, please scroll down to the recipe card which has all of the ingredients listed in detail.
I like my banana pudding warm. Can I use the pudding you cook instead of instant?
HI Elizabeth, I haven’t tried this as a warm pudding so I’m not able to offer advice on that. If you experiment, please let me know how it goes.
I’m making this for my inlaws this weekend. I’m wondering how far in advance I can make this?
If I make it Thursday and serve it Friday or Sat would it still be good or should I make and serve the same day?
Thanks!! Can’t wait to try this!!
Hi Katy, I have a “Make-Ahead” notes section on the recipe, I recommend referring to that for all my tips on making it ahead. I hope this helps.
Hi my wife is from Ukraine and said this super sweet dessert is definitely for Americans. I’d like to try omitting the powdered sugar and condensed milk and use sugar free pudding. Do you think it will still be good?
Hi Andy! I think it could work but I have not tested it to advise. Please let us know how it turns out if you experiment.
Your recipes are a go to for me! This one was so easy and delicious! I had some ripe bananas that I didn’t know what to do with and this was perfect! Had some to share with a neighbor and earned some brownie points with them as well! Thank you so much!
You are so welcome, Gigi! Thank you for sharing.
I took your dessert to my Church Super Bowl party. This is my first time making your dessert recipe. I went this morning the bowl was empty and cleaned. WOW! My Pastor didn’t get any of my pudding. LOL yes it was a big hit. Thanks again Lilian Meredith
Hi Lilian! That’s great to hear. I’m so glad it was a hit. Thank you for sharing.
This recipe was my first time. I doubled the recipe but omitted the Confection sugar. OMG!! my husband just had some. He said it was delicious and glad I omitted the sugar in my whipping cream. Thanks
Glad your husband enjoyed it!
I also love this recipe. The only issue I have is that the bananas turn brown after a bit. Any recommendations for how to prevent this? I tried a bit of lemon juice but it didnt seem to work. Thank you! Darla
Hi Darla! The lemon juice can help, but they will still go brown with time. Also, be sure to keep the bananas completely covered by the pudding.
Ok so I’m gathering ingredients to make this but I am unclear on exactly how many ounces of pudding mix I need. The bigger box of pudding is 1.5 Oz and the smaller box is only 1oz. The recipe says 2 boxes at 3.5oz each? Is this a typo?
Hi Bree. At our local grocery stores, instant vanilla pudding (jell-o brand) has the option of 3.4 oz packages. I use 2 of them. Be sure it says, “instant” pudding. If you cannot find them, you may need to purchase smaller packages and add them up as close as you can to 6.8 oz.
This recipe is fabulous! Thank you so much Natasha. Like another reviewer, I would give this 10 stars if I could, it is that delicious!
I do have a question…The glass bowl I used to make this is not quite the right shape and I don’t have a trifle dish.
Any idea whether this recipe will be enough to layer in a 9 x 12 oblong casserole dish? Or do you think I should use a casserole dish half of that size? Thank you again. This recipe is a keeper!
Hi Cindy! I’m so glad you love this recipe. It really is one of our favorites for potlucks and quick entertaining. I have tested this in a casserole dish, it was a 3qt rectangular. I’ll attach the link to the one i used right HERE.
I’ve never had banana pudding but my in-laws love it. I don’t have the sweetened condensed milk but I am using Cool Whip. Will it be sweet enough? Do I need to add more milk?
Thanks for your help.
Hi Rosemary! I have not tested this recipe without sweetened condensed milk. You’ll have to experiment with it.
It was delicious. A huge hit even with my homemade sweetened condensed milk. 😉
Thank you for your recipe. ❤️❤️
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Rosemary!
Hi, I made this recipe for my coworkers and they loved it. Thank you for the amazing recipe.
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing.
this looks absolutely wonderful. im planning on making it for a birthday but I was wondering if you could freeze this recipe
Hi Z, I haven’t tested freezing this myself; since it’s a pudding, I worry it will separate, and the consistency won’t be the same afterward.
I have made this recipe many times (thanks so much) and do freeze portions on occasions w no issues
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Will!
This is absolutely delicious! The pudding mixture is soft, silky and scrumptious!! I will never go back to the ‘traditional’ southern banana pudding that I grew up on. I would give this recipe 10 stars if possible, it’s that good people, TRY IT!!! Thanks for this recipe!
Love it! Thanks so much for this amazing review, we’re happy that you love this recipe!
Hi Linda, love it! Thanks so much for this amazing review, we’re happy that you like this recipe!
My new go-to banana pudding recipe! I made this for Thanksgiving and it was sooo good! I also love that it was very easy to make.
I also wanted to mention that I added a drizzle of caramel to the top to decorate and it was so good!
I bet that is so good on the bread! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Brandy! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I have never made this before, although I grew up eating at every holiday gathering until a became an adult. What do do do when your 16 ys old son asked you to make it for Thanksgiving? You MAKE it! He found this recipe, I made it yesterday, and he LOVED it
Wonderful feedback, thank you! I’m glad that your son loved this recipe a lot!
Loveeee this recipe! Although, I have a question on how to corporate the ingredients when doubling the pudding. For instance, if I’m using 4 pudding mixes how many cups of milk, how much evaporated milk and how much vanilla extract?
Hi Tatiana! Are you doubling the whole recipe or just the pudding? This recipe does not use evaporated milk, it uses heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk (I assume you meant to say that). You could follow the same instructions and just double the ingredients to make 4 packs instead of 2 packs. Still reserve some whipped cream for the top layer.
Hi! Yes ma’am, I meant condensed haha and yes, I’ll be doubling as well just wanted to be certain. Thank you lots for responding!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I was wondering if I can use this pudding recipe for banana cream pie?
Hi Gilberta, I’m honestly not sure unless I test it. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
This calls for two boxes of pudding. The directions on each box call for two cups of milk per box. Should I only use 2 cups of milk for both boxes or follow the directions and use four cups of milk for two boxes?
Hi Lexi, you are just using the pudding powder. Don’t worry about prepping it according to the package instructions. Just follow the written instructions in my recipe.
Made this last night. I didn’t have luck making the cool whip. I recommend just buying it. The rest of it turned out good but was super sweet.
I must have done something wrong. I used (4) 1.5 oz of pudding (.8 oz less than what’s called for, (2 cups) cold milk, and (1 tsp) vanilla extract and beat according to the instructions but the pudding came out very gummy. Even after I beat the condensed milk in and even after adding the whipped cream. I did use fat free pudding and fat free condensed milk because, for whatever reason, that’s all that was available. Could that have been the problem?
Hi Angela, I haven’t tried those substitutions, so I can’t speak to that. Substitutions may hinder the recipe outcome. I always suggest making a recipe as written the first time around, including the ingredients. I wish I could be more helpful!
Good but way too sweet for me. I will try less condensed milk next time though. Wonder if I could replace it with evaporated milk?
Sounds good, I haven’t tried using evap milk but let us know how it goes if you do an experiment!
I made this tonight for dessert in my new trifle bowl. OMG! What a hit! The entire family loved it. They even opened the other box of vanilla wafers and were dipping them into the pudding! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! I love all your recipes. They’re tried and true, and so easy to make!
That’s awesome! So glad it was a hit. I love how easy this is to make. 🙂
Hi. DOES this turn out too sweet? What is your honest opinion? And what would you do do lessen the sweetness if necessary? Theres seems to be a lot of reviews that say it’s too sweet!! Making it for friends and afraid of that being an issue. Thanks
Hi Elena, we believe we have found the perfect balance with this recipe. Keep in mind more ripe bananas will be sweeter and may require adjustments.
The sweetened condensed milk is DO unnecessary. Aside from that, the recipe is great. It’s just sickening sweet.
Is it suppose to be super thick? Mine turned out very thick, similar to cookie dough. This could be because i used sugar free pudding and fat free sweetened condensed milk. It tastes amazing!!!
I haven’t tried those substitutions, so I can’t speak to that, but it’s likely. Substitutions may hinder the recipe outcome. I always suggest making a recipe as written the first time around.
Can you please tell me what vanilla pudding mix is? I live in Yorkshire, England.
Hi Shirley, this would need to be confirmed, but according to Google, “In the UK, the most similar product is Angel Delight, sharing the same list of ingredients and offering the same texture and taste” I hope that helps.
You’re my go to creator for all good recommendations. This is a great recipe. I substitute one of the puddings for chocolate. The two compliments each other well. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Thank you so much for your trust, Patricia. I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
wow as a 10 year old baker you help me bake so much stuff your the #1 cooking blog your funny thell us the recipe clearly and let kids get involed, you inspired me to make up my own dishes! thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!!!
It is my pleasure to help and share these recipes. I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
Love all your recipe’s. But why does the name Valentina Ablaev come up all the time. If I make a comment to you I have always thought that you were the one responding back. Seems strange.
Hi Freya, we have 2 contributors who guest post occasionally and this is one of her recipes. We are very selective about who becomes a contributor and we trust her recipes and some of them have become some of our most popular recipes on the site. I hope you love the Banana Pudding as well.
Don’t take this the wrong way but I do think that she should have her own site. You could use her name as a contributor but I go on your site because I value everything that you post just my opinion.
She can have anyone contribute to her blog that she wishes. Valentina does have her own blog- it’s called https://valentinascorner.com/.
Natasha includes the contributor’s name after the post so readers can see whose recipe it is. There are others also.
I’m a southern girl and grew up eating banana pudding. This recipe looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it. Your recipes always turn out wonderful. Keep it up girl!! You’re the best.
Thanks, Lisa. I hope it becomes your new favorite recipe!
Love this recipe – the filling is so thick and delicious. So easy to make and everyone loved it! Thank you
Thanks for the awesome feedback, Melissa!
This recipe is a classic. It never goes out of style. Thanks for reminding me how good it is…and easy to make!
It’s my pleasure, Erin. I hope you love it!
This pudding is wonderful! It’s great on it’s on or as part of a bigger dessert. Save this recipe!
I’m so happy you loved it, Wilhelmina! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Made this for my family and boy oh boy it didnt last a day! It was sooo delicious! My 2 year old went in the fridge and ate half the pan himself!! LOL Thank you!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad it was a hit!