Homemade Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafers
Cooked custard is what separates this banana pudding from the instant-mix kind. Sugar, flour and salt get whisked in a saucepan, then four egg yolks and three cups of whole milk, and the mixture cooks over medium heat, with constant stirring, until it coats the back of a spoon. Butter and vanilla go in off the heat. It takes about ten minutes at the stove and tastes noticeably richer and more like real vanilla.
Assembly is all layers. In a 9×13 dish or a trifle bowl, a third of the vanilla wafers go down first, then half the sliced bananas, then half the warm pudding, and the sequence repeats, finishing with a last layer of wafers on top. The dish then needs at least four hours in the fridge, or overnight. During that time the wafers soften into something close to cake and the custard sets. Whipped cream sweetened with a little powdered sugar is spread over the top just before serving.
Keep stirring the custard the whole time it cooks, reaching into the corners of the pan, or the bottom can scorch and turn lumpy. It may look loose when it comes off the heat; it firms up as it chills. Choose bananas that are ripe but still firm, since very soft ones turn mushy in the layers. An overnight rest is my strong preference here, because the wafers end up perfectly soft.
Explore more crowd-pleasing sweets among my dessert ideas.
PrintHomemade Banana Pudding
A from-scratch vanilla custard layered with vanilla wafers and ripe bananas, chilled and finished with sweetened whipped cream.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 (11 oz) box vanilla wafers
- 4 - 5 ripe bananas, sliced
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk the sugar, flour and salt. Add the egg yolks and milk and whisk until smooth.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Let cool slightly.
- In a 9×13 dish or a trifle bowl, layer one third of the vanilla wafers, half of the banana slices and half of the pudding. Repeat the layers.
- Top with the remaining wafers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Before serving, whip the cream with the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form and spread it over the pudding.
Notes
Ripe but firm bananas hold their shape best. The pudding thickens further as it chills, so do not worry if it looks thin at first. Two (3.4 oz) packages of instant vanilla pudding can stand in for the homemade custard as a shortcut.
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