In Photos: How To Make Homemade Banana Pudding
This recipe has 4 simple components:
- Vanilla Pudding
- Vanilla Wafers
- Whipped Cream
- Bananas
If you want to be a total superstar, you can make your own vanilla wafers. I’ve got a great recipe for those here: Homemade Vanilla Wafers.
But for what you see in these pics and video, I used store-bought vanilla wafers, and whipped cream is pretty basic, so mostly I’m going to focus on the pudding component.)
I have a homemade vanilla pudding recipe here, but for the best banana pudding, I wanted to incorporate some eggs for added richness and that signature buttery yellow color. So I’ve created a sort of hybrid between that vanilla pudding and this pastry cream recipe.
It was perfection! I can’t recommend it highly enough. The flavor is truly off-the-charts, rich and creamy, with heaps and heaps of sweet, fragrant real vanilla. You’ll fall in love, pinky promise!
Step 1: Make Pudding Base
Start by whisking sugar, cornstarch, and salt together, just to get them combined.
Next, whisk in the eggs. You’ll have a stiff mixture that should be well blended, but you will notice the grittiness of the sugar. Don’t worry, it will melt and smooth out in the next few steps!
Step 2: Cook
In a small pot, heat milk, cream, and the pod and seeds from a whole vanilla bean.
If you’ve never split and scraped out a vanilla bean before, you can watch how that’s done in the video on this no-churn ice cream post.
Vanilla beans are pretty easy to get. They’re usually sold in the regular grocery store, right in the baking aisle near the spices and extracts. Or you can do like me and just order them online. Here’s the source I use: Vanilla Products USA Bourbon Madagascar Vanilla Beans.
Allow this liquid to get hot and steamy, then pour a little bit over the egg/sugar mixture and whisk it in. This will gently heat the eggs so that they don’t scramble. Whisk in the hot liquid in a few additions, until the side of the bowl feels very warm to the touch.
Then pour it all back into the pot and set it over low heat to cook some more.
When the custard comes to a slow bubble, you should notice that it thickens up quite a lot. It will become even thicker as it cools back down!
Immediately pour it through a fine-mesh sieve and into a heat-safe bowl, to get out any lumps.
Whisk in the vanilla extract and butter, press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding (to prevent a skin from forming) and pop it into the fridge to chill.
Step 3: Assemble
You can really do this however you like, there’s no wrong way!
But of course I have an opinion on the matter, lol! So here’s how I like it to go and then I will explain why:
- Vanilla Wafers
- Pudding
- Bananas
- Whipped Cream
- Vanilla Wafers
- Pudding
- Bananas
- Whipped Cream
- Crushed-up Cookie Garnish
And now here’s why:
First of all, I like the cookies on the bottom because then they remain a little more firm, at least initially. If they had something wet underneath and on top, they’d get very soft. Of course, this is what happens in the second layer of cookies and it’s fantastic! But for the bottom layer, it’s nice if they still have a bit of bite to them.
Second, I want the sliced bananas to be completely surrounded and sort of “air tight,” to prevent browning/discoloration. Once a banana is peeled and exposed to air, it’s going to turn color. It’s just a matter of time. But the less exposure to air, the longer that will take. And I feel like tucking it in between the pudding and the whipped cream, which will both sort of puddle around and in between all the nooks and crannies, surrounding the bananas and preventing air exposure, that will buy you some more time.
And last of all, you want to end with whipped cream because it’s just so prettyyyyyy! I mean, just look at those puffy billows! Like a soft cloud on a summer day!