If you enjoy banana cream pie, you’ll adore this baked banana pudding. In addition to the lack of a pie crust, I believe the vanilla wafer cookies complement the fruit and custardy pudding even better. Make sure you purchase the bananas a week in advance so that their texture may be matched to that of the custard-dipped cookies. Other than that, there aren’t many ways this straightforward Southern classic can go wrong.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 10-inch pan |
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon banana liqueur (Optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon cold butter
- 3 very ripe bananas, or more to taste, sliced
- 1 ½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 (12 ounce) package miniature vanilla wafers
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- Separate eggs, placing the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and the yolks into a saucepan.
- Prepare the custard: Add sugar, salt, and 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour to the yolks. Splash in about 1/4 of the milk and start blending mixture with a whisk. Pour in remaining milk and whisk until smooth.
- Cook and stir mixture over medium heat until hot to the touch, occasionally dipping your finger in to test. Whisk constantly until custard is thick enough to form ribbons.
- Remove custard from heat and add banana liqueur, vanilla, then cold butter. Whisk until butter dissolves. Set custard aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Begin to assemble the pudding: Toss banana slices with lemon juice.
- Spread 1/4 of the custard over the bottom of a baking dish. Add a single layer of vanilla wafers. Cover with 1/2 of the bananas and spread 1/2 of the remaining custard on top. Add another layer of vanilla wafers, using slightly fewer this time. Top with remaining bananas and custard. Smooth the top and tap dish against the counter to settle the pudding.
- Make the meringue topping: Add cream of tartar to the egg whites. Beat using the whisk attachment until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Spread meringue over the pudding using a soft spatula, creating ridges for contrast.
- Bake in the preheated oven until meringue is nicely browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.
- For the traditional look, you can bake this in a clear oven-safe glass dish.
- I think this is best served cold, but suit yourself!
- Recipe adapted from Alton Brown’s famous version.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 408 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 64 g |
| Cholesterol | 102 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 272 mg |
| Sugars | 25 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Fabulously delicious with the pillowy meringue combined with the yummy custard. I think the sweetness was just right. Serving it chilled might take it down a notch. I used bourbon in place of the banana liqueur. Other than that and using just 2 bananas, followed the recipe as written. Make this one!
I am a 73-year-old guy who has owned three “coffee and dessert” shops since 1985. I made everything from scratch, including the coffee, as much as possible (I imported green coffee beans and roasted them). I feel qualified to say that this is as good a Banana Pudding recipe as I’ve ever had. With a few tweaks, it will be something I don’t say too much . . . perfect! First, I made the recipe *pretty much* as written, taking someone else’s advice and cutting the sugar back to 1/4 cup. Next time I’ll eliminate the sugar. I think the natural sugars produced by the bananas are all that is needed. 2) The recipe doesn’t say, but the pudding should be baked on the lower rack of the oven because the meringue will burn otherwise 3) Fresh bananas are DELICIOUS! Three-day old were not available, but after 24 hours, the difference can’t be told.
Chilled pudding and folded whipped heavy whipping cream to cool pudding then finished receipe as written. Best Banana pudding ever.
I used evaporated milk instead of whole milk, my husband said it was absolutely delicious.
Delicious, perfect spring dish , just made 1 little change, instead of vanilla wafers, I added hazelnut wafers.
I liked it a lot but it was a little too sweet fo r my taste.
Once again, CJ’s recipes help the novice learn! I can make pudding & meringue now…who knew? But this pie was delicious – seriously good. Thanks for the clear directions – very easy to follow & your videos always make me laugh
You know there are ALWAYS bananas that get too ripe. And sooner or later you have to either toss them or use them for something. Usually that is banana bread or some variation of banana bread. No more! I had three “over ripe” bananas, perfect for this recipe. I had to go buy some vanilla wafers (a favorite cookie around here), but other than that everything was here. It was simple to make and delicious to eat as soon as it cooled down enough to put a spoonful in my mouth! Goodbye banana bread! Hello baked pudding!
It’s a pandemic, so I didn’t have vanilla wafers this Christmas morning. I did have phyllo dough though. I pre baked about 10 buttered layers in Pyrex dish and doubled recipe. Yummy, I like it chilled.
This was the first Chef John recipe that we tried that didn’t work. The meringue fell flat and the consistency of the pudding was mushy. We followed the recipe exactly and was very disappointed with the end product.
I was concerned when assembling that there wasnt enough custard as written. I used a glass pie dish and did everything as written omitting the liquer cause that isnt something I have on hand. After being in the fridge 4-5 hours I finally got to cut it open. The custard ratio worked out great. Not saying more wouldnt have been a little better but as written it works. My wife made yummy noises when she ate it. Actual yummy noises! This was my 3yo daughter’s first banana pudding and sadly, I think this will have ruined her for any simpler version. Thats OK though cause this pudding rocks!
1st, love this recipe! It’s great! My mistake was using a baking dish that was too large for the banana slices and not having Nilla Vanilla Wafers. BUT, both of those issues turned out to be serendipitous. I used blueberries where I ran out of banana, so, about 1/3 of the dish, and I used small Madeleine’s instead of the wafers. Both rocked! In fact, my son and I actually loved the blueberry portion as much as the banana. It’s a new recipe, “Southern-Style Baked Blueberry Pudding!” In any case, this recipe is really, really good.
This recipe is spot on for how I remember eating banana pudding as a child. We love to eat it warm in our house.
This turns out perfect. I left the liqueur out both times I made it. I like the more subtle, real banana flavor. It’s good we atm
This banana pudding was so yummy. I made it after dinner tonight and we had to have a dish as soon as it came out of the oven. I started with another recipe so the sugar and flour were off just a little. I realized that it didn’t have the meringue instructions so I changed to Chef John’s. I watched his video but failed to save it to my favorites.
So elegant but easy !
Best banana pudding I’ve ever had. I didn’t have banana liquor so I substituted brandy. I also used really ripe bananas. Yummmm!
I used almond flour instead of regular flour since I had a bag of it at home. I had to add some cornstarch to thicken the pudding, likely due to the substitution. I will double the recipe next time. This made a very small amount in a little dish. I added banana extract instead of banana liqueur.
Absolutely delicious! Will make often. Didn’t have vanilla wafers, so used white bread slices. Worked well.
Such a delicious dessert with complex sweet flavors. Be careful with the meringue if its your first time like it was for me. Do the research on how to whip by hand before going into it. Other wise I recommend this dish with a dollop of ice scream.
I usually make changes in recipes but not this time, other than doubling the custard because we wanted extra. Followed the directions and my husband and I were so pleased. It was Delicious, easy to make and so pretty as well.