Banana Cream Pie

A perfect Banana Cream Pie has homemade vanilla pudding, studded with fresh banana, topped with silky whipped cream and tucked inside of a vanilla wafer and walnut crust. It turns this pie into a cross between a banana cream pie and banana pudding, and it's exactly what you should be eating right now.

Banana Pudding Pie

When you are in need of some comfort food, head to the fridge and the pantry and get to baking! This Banana Cream Pie is just what is called for when you are feeling like being wrapped up in the security of something delicious. And truly, it's not that hard to make either. Yes, there are three components to put together--the crust, the pudding and the whipped cream--but the end result is worth the effort!

Definitely don’t take any shortcuts on this one because homemade vanilla pudding is worlds away from anything you can get out of a box. The pudding is so silky and is studded with fresh bananas with piles of whipped cream and more fresh bananas--and it’s simply amazing.

So, let's get to making it, shall we? The text below offers tons of tips and helpful notes, or you can scroll to the bottom to grab the recipe and get started!

Pie Crust Options

There are a few crust options for this pie. My first choice for this is a Vanilla Wafer and Nut Crumb Crust. It's so delicious and makes this pie taste like a cross between banana cream pie and banana pudding. Plus, choosing a crumb crust option will make this pie easier to make!

A Pâte Sucrée is a just sweet pie crust that is very stable and also a great choice for this pie. If you are looking for a really neat slice, choose this one.

A final option is to make it in a Graham Cracker Crumb Crust. It's a classic and will fit in nicely here.

Need this to be gluten-free? Make this basic gluten-free butter pie crust. Just be sure to fully blind bake the crust.

How to Make the Vanilla Pudding

The vanilla pudding is the backbone of this recipe! And, if you’ve never made homemade pudding before, let me tell you that it is really simple and so delicious. The pudding is made in one pot and doesn’t require any tempering of the eggs. You start by whisking together the sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks and then, add in the milk.

The whole mixture is cooked over medium heat, while you alternate between whisking and using a rubber spatula to scrape up any thickened bits from the bottom. What makes this work is that the egg yolks are slowly heated with all of the ingredients at once so they don’t scramble. The added cornstarch helps to stabilize the egg yolk mixture too, in addition to thickening the pudding. Once you’ve cooked the pudding, strain it, and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract.

A few tips on making the pudding:

1. Be sure to have a rubber spatula and a whisk handy. I use both to make sure the the mixture cooks evenly. I swap between using them while I’m cooking the pudding to be certain I’m getting all the mixture out of the crevices of the pot, while whisking to ensure a consistent cook.
2. Don’t walk away from the pudding. It takes no more than 10 minutes to cook. Also, it’s super important to stir almost constantly in the beginning when you are cooking to ensure no egg yolks get stuck to the bottom of the pot and scramble.
3. Strain the pudding to get rid of any small bits of cooked eggs you might have. It makes the final pudding so smooth.
4. Be sure to put the cooked pudding directly into the prepared pie crust. It will set pretty firm; therefore, you want to make sure the pudding does so inside of the pie crust instead of in a bowl. If you whisk it after it’s been cooled, it has the potential to break down some of the structure of the pudding. That will make serving the pie difficult because the pudding could be loose.

Assembling the Pie

Once the pudding is made, the bananas will be immediately folded into the warm pudding mixture and placed directly in the pie crust.

Then, the pie has to cool. It must be cooled completely before topping it with whipped cream.

Once it has chilled, go ahead and get creative when topping it with whipped cream! You can just place it on top, or you can pipe it or swirl it on! You can also decorate with additional bananas, just be sure to only place them on right before serving, as they will brown quickly.

More cream pie recipes:

• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Triple Coconut Cream Pie
• Strawberry Cream Pie
• Butterscotch Cream Pie

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