The BEST EVER Banana Cream Pie with no pre-made mixes and still only a handful of ingredients. The perfect, delicious pie for the holidays!
We love pies that are a mile high and full of our favorite flavors like Legendary Apple Crisp Pie and Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie.
Old Fashioned Banana Cream Pie is a family favorite made even sweeter with vanilla pudding and fresh whipped cream. This Banana Cream Pie is made with pudding, but not pudding from a box. This is homemade pudding with a creamy homemade custard. It is the perfect holiday pie (while VERY popular as an Easter Pie, this pie is also popular during Christmas as well).
Kids can help with so many steps in this recipe. With clean hands, have them help slice the bananas with a butter knife, and arrange them into the pie crust. They can also help mix the whipped cream and add it to the top. This is a terrific way to get them excited about eating bananas!
Once you’ve mastered Banana Cream Pie, try other fruity favorites like Coconut Cream Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie.
How to Make a Homemade Pudding
- Add the milk, sugar, flour, and salt to a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Once the mixture has cooked for a while you have to temper in the egg yolks before adding them to the milk mixture.
- Set the saucepan back on the stove on medium heat again and whisk until totally smooth and thickened to a pudding consistency.
- Most importantly make sure that the mixture has thickened enough before adding to containers and chilling completely before serving.
Tips for Making the BEST Banana Cream Pie
- Do not cut the bananas too early, you don’t want them to brown before serving.
- Make sure you cook your pudding enough to thicken it before cooling. Don’t wait for the cooling to help it thicken.
- Make a homemade whipped cream, the flavors are amazing. If you want something at room temperature make Homemade Cool Whip which can maintain structure at room temperature.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Banana cream pie with vanilla wafers: Use 60 wafers, processed into crumbs, and 6 tablespoons of melted butter mixed together, pressed into a pie dish and baked at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Banana cream pie graham cracker crust: Use 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs, ⅓ cup sugar and 6 tablespoons melted butter mixed together, pressed into a pie dish and baked at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Serve slices of banana cream pie with slices of freshly sliced banana, shaved chocolate if desired and of course the fresh whipped cream layer.
How to Store Banana Cream Pie
- Serve: Do not leave Banana Cream Pie at room temperature longer than 2 hours, due to the diary in the recipe. It is best to keep refrigerated until serving.
- Store: Be careful with how you store your pie because the layer of the whipped cream cannot be covered with plastic wrap. You can also store the pie with plastic wrapped pressed against the pudding layer and only top with whipped cream when you’re about to serve the dish. You can keep Banana Cream Pie in the fridge, covered loosely for 3-4 days. Do not top with banana slices until just before serving.
- Freeze: It is not recommended to freeze this Banana Cream Pie Recipe, as it will become mushy and watery when thawed.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk , room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 large egg yolks , beaten
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 deep dish pie crust , 9 inch
- 4 bananas , sliced
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the pie crust for 30 minutes then remove to cool.
- Add the milk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt to a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly.
- Keep stirring and cook for another 5-6 minutes before removing from the heat.
- Using a ¼ cup of the milk mixture which you’ve cooled in the fridge for two minutes, add the egg yolks to it and whisk to combine before adding it back into the rest of the milk mixture.
- Set the saucepan back on the stove on medium heat again and whisk for an additional 3-4 minutes until it’s totally smooth and thickened to a pudding consistency.
- Remove from the heat and add in the butter and vanilla, whisking well.
- Add the banana slices to the bottom of the pie shell, cover with the pudding and press saran wrap onto the pie gently to avoid a skin from forming on top.
- Cool the pie completely in the fridge (3-4 hours) before topping with whipped cream and additional banana slices. To make the whipped cream add the powdered sugar to the heavy cream and beat until it forms medium peaks, about 1-2 minutes with a hand mixer.
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This was surprisingly easy to make! It looks much harder than it really was. My family loved it and asked for me to make more right away. I would say thats a success. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
I simply cannot get enough of this recipe! I love the sweetness of the bananas, but it isn’t too sweet! I highly recommend this recipe. My family adores it!
This looks amazing. Oh how I love banana’s. I will try this over the weekend.
Kindly designate in your recipies which butter is used: salted or unsalted. A lot of us are on low sodium diets. Thank you!
I won’t rate this one because I’m sure it was user error. My custard did not thicken like I thought it did prior to pouring. It seemed thick enough but never set in the fridge and was watery. Not sure what I did wrong because I’m usually right on with Sabrina’s recipes. Maybe I’ll try again ?.
It sounds like it might have needed to cook longer to thicken correctly. I hope you’ll give it another try.
Can the pudding recipe be doubled? I made it recently and it was fabulous!
Sure. I’m so glad to know you love it so much!
I have made thousands of gallons of vanilla filling and never used egg yolk same with chocolate just increase a little cornstarch so I’ll just go ahead and break down my 5-gallon mix
Hello, I made this for my sister’s birthday today. It was yummy! Your directions were easy to read and I had almost all the ingredients on hand. My sister is diabetic so I had to substitute the sugar, but it was delicious. I made the mistake of using a deep dish pie pan and next time (oh yes there will be a next time!) I will increase the ingredients by 1.5. Thank you again! -Jamie
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it Jamie.
I just created my account and I’m about to attempt making this delicious banana cream pie. I just hope it turns out ok. Stay tuned!
Yay!! Thanks for signing up. I hope you enjoy it!
Just made this and it turned out AMAZING!!!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is my husband’s favorite kind of pie. I’ve tried a few different recipes and the pudding has never been quite right. This one is the winner! So delicious!
Yay!! So happy to hear, Cecily!
I just made this, and the taste is good, but as soon as I added the butter and vanilla, the pudding congealed…what did I do wrong? The buttet and vanilla was room temperature.
I’m not sure what could have been the issue. If you’d like to walk me through everything, email me at contact @ dinnerthendessert .com and we can try and trouble shoot what might have caused it.
Hi, just found your site. I am going to make your delicious looking pie tomorrow. Was just wondering if you have a recipe for a super moist carrot cake? I made some but they are very dry. Also any tips on making sure the cake is moist? Thanks Chris
I don’t have a carrot cake recipe yet. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll add it to my list. 🙂
So there isn’t flour in the ingredient list, did you mean cornstarch instead of flour when you said, “Add the milk, sugar, flour, and salt” ? Looks good, btw.
Yes, thanks for catching that!
You also say nothing about dividing milk mixture and cook in fridge in your steps and then you mention it soooo I’m lost
Sorry for the confusion. Once you make the milk mixture, cool in the fridge for 2 minutes. Take 1/4 of the cooled mixture and add egg yolks and once whisked, add back to the rest of the mixture. Heat the mixture back up until it reaches a pudding consistency.
Bring on the pies! This looks amazing!
Thanks Krista!
This pie would be great to have on hand this week!
I love a banana cream pie! This is a must make!
Yay! I hope you like it!
There’s nothing like a homemade from scratch banana cream pie! This looks so delicious!
Thanks Erin!
Wow, this is stunning! I want to try it out! This recipe really impresses! I really like! Thank you.
Thanks Mahy!
Hi, thanks for the fabulous recipe!! What if I keep in the fridge with the homemade cool whip already on the top, Will it be ok? I would like to try this instead of putting film on top and cover with whipped cream before serving. Thanks.
I would recommend leaving off the whipped topping until right before serving.
Oh my these look so fluffy and amazing!
Thanks Amanda!
A great way to use up bananas before they go bad!
For sure!