Why I love this dairy free banana pudding
After serving thousands of orders of banana pudding during my brief stint as a Texas BBQ restaurant, it took me years to want to make it at home. But, since my two-year-old son has taken quite the liking to bananas, I knew I wanted him to try it.
There are tons of ways to make banana pudding, and just about everyone has there favorite version. Between the sweetened condensed milk, instant pudding packets and cool whip, I honestly had no clue where to start, let alone find a way to make it dairy free.
So I decided to go back to basics and make my pudding from scratch, like I did for my chocolate pudding recipe, and I was so pleased with the results.
If you haven’t made dairy free pudding before, you’ll be surprised by how simple it is, you’ll probably never reach for box mix again.
More vegan friendly recipes: Vegan oatmeal cookies / dairy free Alfredo sauce / Mushroom gravy / dairy free ricotta cheese / dairy free mac and cheese
Ingredient notes:
- Bananas – hold off on slicing these until you’re ready to assemble and/or garnish because they will brown if they’re exposed to air for too long.
- Dairy free milk – I swapped out milk for a combination of basic unsweetened dairy free milk and full fat canned coconut milk to make it a little creamier without too much coconut flavor. You can use whatever dairy free milk combination you prefer. Just make sure you start with unsweetened.
- Whipped topping – For the topping, you have several options. You can whip up some vegan heavy whipping cream or go for a prepared vegan whipped topping. We typically use a heavy whipping cream alternative because I find that they hold their shape a bit better than cocowhip or Reddi-wip.
- Wafer cookies – There aren’t a ton of dairy free wafer cookies out there, but I did find a few options:
- Kinnikinnick – gluten free, contains egg
- Whole Foods – vegan, not gluten free.
- Partake – gluten free and vegan
- Meijer’s True Goodness – vegan, contains wheat
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
How to make vegan banana pudding
Make the pudding. Combine the pudding ingredients in a large saucepan and whisk until smooth. Heat the pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the pudding thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.
Layer the ingredients. Crushed cookies, vegan pudding, bananas, repeat. Do this until you fill your cups or serving dish. Make sure the bananas are completely covered by pudding to prevent them from browning.
Chill. Cover the containers and refrigerate for a few hours, or until you’re ready to serve. Press your plastic wrap directly onto the pudding to prevent a film from forming on the pudding.
Serve with whipped topping. Remove the cups from the fridge and top with your choice of vegan whipped topping (we use this one when we want the fluffiness to last).
Frequently asked questions
Most likely, you didn’t cook your pudding long enough. You want to make sure it’s good and thick before removing it from the heat. Alternatively, if your pudding sits for too long, it can start to get watery. That’s a good sign that it’s time to toss it.
Vegan banana pudding will for about 4 days in the fridge, but the sooner your eat it, the better it will be. Just be sure to wait at least a few hours for the pudding to chill and set.
Traditional pudding mix is vegan and can be substituted in this recipe. As stated on the box, if you’re using soy milk, the pudding might not set. However, the recipe above will work with soy milk.
Bananas turn brown when they are exposed to air, so if you want to prevent that, make sure they’re completely covered by the pudding. You can also coat them in lemon juice to prevent browning.
Yes. Banana pudding should be refrigerated until you’re ready to eat it. While this vegan recipe technically doesn’t contain any ingredients that will spoil at room temperature, it’s always safest to keep food at safe temperatures, and the fridge is the best place for that.
More dairy free desserts: Sour cherry pie / Dairy free brownies / Cornflake cookies / Oreo cupcakes / Microwave fudge
Dairy Free Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened, plain dairy free milk
- ½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ box vanilla wafer cookies
- 2-3 medium bananas, sliced
- 2 cups dairy free whipped topping*
Instructions
- Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large saucepan. Whisk to combine.
- Slowly pour in the cold milk, whisking until smooth.
- Heat saucepan to medium-high and cook until the milk starts to thicken. Stir as needed to prevent lumps. Allow the pudding to cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon with a thick layer.
- Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract, and let the pudding cool to room temperature.
- Layer crushed cookies, vanilla pudding and sliced bananas. Repeat until ingredients are gone or your chosen container is full.
- Top with the banana pudding with a layer of whipped cream.
- Garnish with cookies and sliced bananas just before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
It was fun too make, but overly sweet. I wish I had followed my gut and put in less sugar than the recipe called for like I initially was going to do. Some people may have a big sweet tooth, but it overwhelmed my taste buds and I couldn’t tolerate more than 2 spoonfuls of this pudding.
I’m so sorry that the recipe was too sweet for you. Traditional banana pudding is generally pretty sweet, but I’m sure it would work just fine with less sugar.
Uh oh, I put a little extra sugar in it… I need it for my attitude maintenance, hope it’s not too much! Thx
awesome!
YES! Thank you so much for this DF version. Love that combo of DF milks. We are always looking for other ways to use up bananas (aside from banana shakes or banana bread, etc). Banana pudding from scratch has always been a favorite (& love that this recipe doesn’t call for the box stuff bleh!)
What vegan cookies did you use?
I honestly don’t remember. Sometimes we just use the dairy/gluten free ones since we aren’t technically vegan, but the vanilla wafers at whole foods are definitely vegan. Otherwise, animal crackers or golden Oreos make a great substitute!
Biscoff cookies are vegan and they crumble easily, although they are not waffers they are fairly easy to find in many places and work well with the pudding
That’s a great idea!
How much whipping cream? I want to make this but need info about that.
The recipe calls for 2 cups of vegan whipped topping.
Is heavy whipping cream separate from whip cream or is the same? I don’t see heavy whipping cream in the ingredients. I am trying to understand the recipe.
They are separate items, I will update the ingredient list and instructions. My intention was for you to be able to make your own dairy free whipped topping by following the instructions in the recipe, or you could purchase vegan whipped topping at the store and use that. If you want to make your own I would suggest using Silk Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative and following the steps in the instructions. Sorry for the confusion!
It is mushy and delicious!
I made this last minute and felt like it only took five minutes. I had some bananas that were going brown so I an extra step to caramelize and added to the pudding. It came out perfect. Thanks
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!
What ingredients are used for the vegan whipping cream?
We actually used a store bought vegan whipped topping for the recipe. This recipe was updated from its original version (from before we went dairy free), sorry for the confusion!
Hi Melissa,
I am new to your site and just love looking at your recipes. You have some great one. I noticed you use coconut milk and almond milk in some of your recipes. Can Macademia milk be used instead.
Thank you😀
It depends. Since the recipe calls for coconut milk from a can which is quite a bit thicker than nut milks, I wouldn’t swap it, but you can swap macadamia for the almond milk!