Banana Cream Pie

8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

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.

Banana Cream Pie slice on plate

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.

Banana Cream Pie Collage of pudding steps

How to Make a Homemade Pudding

  1. Add the milk, sugar, flour, and salt to a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.
  2. Once the mixture has cooked for a while you have to temper in the egg yolks before adding them to the milk mixture.
  3. Set the saucepan back on the stove on medium heat again and whisk until totally smooth and thickened to a pudding consistency.
  4. Most importantly make sure that the mixture has thickened enough before adding to containers and chilling completely before serving.
Banana Cream Pie Collage of assembly steps

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.
Banana Cream Pie slice on plate with fork

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make a cookie crust for Banana Cream Pie?

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.

How should I serve Banana Cream Pie?

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.
https://dinnerthendessert.com/coconut-cream-pie

Pin this recipe now to remember it later

Pin Recipe

Banana Cream Pie

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!
Yield 8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

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.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 543kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 250mg | Potassium: 369mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 1190IU | Vitamin C: 5.5mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 1mg
Banana Cream Pie Collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie Slice
Banana Cream Pie

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

Categories

Leave a comment & rating

Have you checked the FAQ section above to see if your question has already been answered? View previous questions.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. 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!

  2. 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!

  3. Kindly designate in your recipies which butter is used: salted or unsalted. A lot of us are on low sodium diets. Thank you!

  4. 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 ?.

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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!

  8. 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!

  9. 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.

    1. 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.

  10. 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

  11. 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.

      1. You also say nothing about dividing milk mixture and cook in fridge in your steps and then you mention it soooo I’m lost

        1. 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.

    1. 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.