This delicious vegan banana pudding is like having banana cream pie but in the form of an easy pudding! Rich, creamy and flavorsome, it's layered up with homemade vanilla wafers, easy vanilla custard, and fresh banana.
This recipe is a paid collaboration with Natures Charm, all views are my own
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Incredibly Delicious. The layers of cookies become cake-like when left sit with the rich banana slices and creamy pudding for a dessert that's decadent and comforting. Eating it is sort of like the comfort you'd get from tiramisu or bread pudding, but with a beautiful vanilla and banana flavor.
- Easy to Make. Instead of making vegan custard from scratch, this recipe uses ready-made non-dairy custard from Nature's Charm, which means no cooking and less time to whip it up!
- Perfect for Special Occasions. This banana pudding serves a crowd with enough for 10 people. It's a great make-ahead dessert. You can easily times and a half or double the recipe to feed more people, and just use a larger dish. It's great for barbecues, Thanksgiving, or anytime you have friends and family around.
- Allergy-Friendly. As well as being eggless and dairy-free, it's also made without tofu, cashews, or other nuts, and easily adapted as gluten-free.
You might also enjoy this vegan sticky toffee pudding, a British classic!
🔪 What is Banana Pudding?
Traditional banana pudding is a popular dish in Southern United States. Classic Southern banana pudding like this one by Orchids and Sweet Tea contains layers of fresh banana, nilla wafers, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream.
The classic dish usually contains eggs and dairy, so is not suitable for vegans. So here's how you can make my non-traditional vegan adaption of this delicious old-fashioned pudding.
📝 Ingredients Needed
Here's everything you need to make this non-dairy banana pudding recipe from scratch:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan vanilla wafers: I like to make them from scratch as they are pretty quick and easy. But if you're short of time or feeling lazy you can use store-bought cookies such as digestives, gingersnaps, golden Oreos, or even graham crackers. You can also swap these for vegan GF store-bought cookies if you need to make this banana pudding gluten-free. Homemade ladyfingers would also work well.
- Oat whipping cream and coconut custard: These Nature's Charm products form the base for the pudding layer.
- Vegan cream cheese: I have noticed regular cream cheese pop up as an added ingredient in a lot of banana pudding recipes so I tested it to see how it would work in a vegan version. Like with my vegan lemon tart, it adds a wonderful tangy flavor with a hint of mascarpone flavor.
- Bananas: You want to go for bananas that are bright yellow and ripe without green patches to make sure they are nice and sweet, but not overly ripe spotty bananas, as these will be too mushy.
- Tumeric: This is completely optional and adds a pop of yellow color to the pudding, which usually comes from packaged pudding mix. Don't worry, you won't taste the turmeric in the custard, whatsoever!
🥣 How To Make Vegan Banana Pudding
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
(1) Whisk the oat cream in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
(2) Whisk in the confectioner's sugar and add the vegan cream cheese and whisk again until combined.
(3) Add the coconut custard.
(4) Gently fold the custard into the whipped cream mixture using a rubber spatula.
(5) Slice the bananas into coin-sized pieces.
(6) Add them to a bowl and toss in freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Once you have all the elements prepared, assembling the banana pudding is a similar process to making biscoff tiramisu or strawberry tiramisu.
(7) Add a few tablespoons of vanilla pudding to the base of an 8X8" baking dish and top with a layer of vanilla wafers.
(8) Crush 3-4 more vanilla wafers and fill in any gaps with the crumbs.
(9) Add a layer of banana slices.
(10) Pour half of the pudding on top and smooth it out using an offset spatula.
(11) Repeat the layers once more: vanilla cookies, banana coins, and the remaining custard mixture. Chill the pudding for one hour.
(12) Top with whipped oat cream, more vegan nilla wafers, and sliced banana.
📝 Recipe Tips
Remember to save some vegan wafer cookies to garnish and crush over the top of your banana pudding.
Make individual vegan banana pudding jars by layering up the ingredients in glasses of jars. Or layer it up in a large trifle jar for a showstopping dinner party table centerpiece.
Take this vegan pudding to the next level by topping it with a layer of toasted Italian meringue.
💬 FAQs
Store it in an airtight container, or wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days. I find it best enjoyed on the first or second day.
Don't skip the lemon juice. Even though the banana slices are generally coated in custard which helps prevent browning, I always like to treat bananas with acid unless they're eaten on the same day.
The citrus juice helps to keep the bananas looking and tasting fresh as long as possible.
🍌 More Vegan Banana Desserts
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📖 Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- ½ batch vegan vanilla wafers, or graham crackers, digestives, or gingersnaps
- 4 bananas
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Custard Filling
- 400 ml oat whipping cream (chilled), or coconut whipping cream, *refrigerate overnight, Nature's Charm
- 60 g powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar/icing sugar), *see notes
- 200 g vegan cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, optional
- 400 g coconut custard, Nature's Charm
Garnish (optional)
- 1 banana
- 400 ml oat whipping cream (chilled), or coconut whipping cream, *refrigerate overnight, Nature's Charm
Instructions
- Make the vegan vanilla wafers.
- Make the custard filling: Add the can of oat whipping cream to a large mixing bowl and whisk for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Whisk in the powdered sugar, then add the vegan cream cheese and whisk again until evenly mixed. Whisk in the turmeric if using until just combined.
- Carefully fold the coconut custard into the mixture until combined. Cover and place in the fridge until ready to use.
- Prepare the bananas: Slice all of the bananas into coins and add to a bowl. Add the lemon juice to the bowl and toss them until evenly coated in the juice.
Assembly
- Add a few spoonfuls of the custard mixture to the base of an 8x8" dish. Top with a layer of vanilla wafers. Crush more vanilla wafers and use the crumbs to fill in any gaps so that you have an even layer of cookies.Add a layer of sliced bananas. Pour over half of the custard mixture, and use an offset spatula to smooth it out.Repeat these three layers once more (vanilla wafers, banana slices, and the remaining custard). Save a few of the vanilla wafers to garnish the pudding.
- Place the pudding in the fridge to chill for an hour.
Garnish
- Whip the can of oat cream and add it on top of the banana pudding with more banana slices and vanilla wafers.
Storage
- Store in the fridge covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Powdered sugar: Some white sugar is not vegan, if in doubt use organic sugar.
- Don't skip the lemon juice. This helps to keep the bananas looking and tasting fresh as long as possible and prevents browning.
- Make individual vegan banana pudding jars by layering up the ingredients in glasses of jars.
- Take this vegan pudding to the next level by topping it with a layer of toasted Italian meringue.
Nutrition
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