Publised on 20/10/2023. Last Updated on 22/10/2024 by Richard
My creamy homemade vegan banana pudding, made with just a handful of ingredients. Delicious, dairy free and completely vegan.
A stunningly creamy vegan banana pudding - such a classic simple dessert, made completely dairy free, egg free and entirely plant based. Made with the perfect whipped delicious vegan vanilla pudding, layered with vegan vanilla wafers and fresh, sliced banana. It's like a delicious alternative to a classic trifle!
Did you love my vegan tiramisu recipe? This is another easy no-bake dessert, ideal for an assembly over delicious treat. Perhaps you're catering a big party. Perhaps you're in need of an easy family dessert! Vegan banana pudding is your dessert!
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🧈 Vegan Banana Pudding Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make my vegan banana pudding. Unless you're using store-bought vegan alternatives (which is 100% totally fine too!) you'll need to whip up a batch of my vegan whipped cream and my vegan vanilla wafers. Don't forget - full recipe is at the bottom of the page!
- Cornstarch
- Plant milk (unsweetened and unflavoured)
- Vanilla extract
- Caster sugar (aka superfine sugar)
- Vegan butter
- Vegan whipping cream (use my recipe or store-bought)
- Sweetened condensed coconut milk
- Vegan vanilla wafers (use my recipe or store-bought)
- Bananas (peeled and sliced)
🔀 Ingredient Substitutions
Here are my recommendations for any subs and swaps you may want to make!
Plant Milk - Soy milk works best for this recipe, but feel free to sub this for any plant milk.
Caster sugar - Don't worry if you cant get hold of caster (aka superfine) sugar. Just use regular granulated sugar instead.
Vegan Butter - This can be replaced with vegan double cream or with deodorised coconut oil.
Sweetened condensed coconut milk - This can be replaced with any brand of vegan condensed milk. Carnation now make a vegan alternative which also works great.
🍰 Making Vegan Banana Pudding
You're just a few steps away from the perfect vegan banana pudding! Here's how! Don't forget, I always include the full recipe at the bottom of the page. This is just a little step by step breakdown for you! Enjoy!
1. Make the custard! This is the base of our pudding. It's similar to my vegan custard recipe but sets when refrigerated. This helps to create a silky smooth banana pudding layer in this dessert. Be sure to cover the top with plastic wrap when chilling to avoid the dreaded custard skin!
2. Whip the cream. We're obviously using vegan cream. This serves two purposes. 1. To add lift to our vegan custard and 2. To serve as a topping to our vegan banana pudding!
3. Around half of the whipped vegan cream gets added to the vegan custard along with some condensed coconut milk, while the rest becomes the topping.
4. Now we just need to layer up the vegan banana pudding! Start with a layer of pudding, then vanilla wafers, then banana. Repeat until everything has been used up then top with the remaining whipped cream. Crumble a few wafers on top and bingo!
🍌 Serving and Storage Suggestions
Vegan banana pudding can be made ahead by up to 3 days. In fact, The texture of the vanilla wafers improves dramatically over the first 48 hours, so I'd consider leaving it to sit for at least a day before serving. It should be covered and stored in the fridge.
You can also make the vegan vanilla wafers up to a week in advance. Be sure to store in an airtight container to stop them from going soggy!
🤷♀️ Vegan Banana Pudding FAQs
A: Banana pudding is a classic US dessert, made from layers of whipped banana pudding, vanilla wafers and sliced banana. It's similar to a layered trifle except with banana instead of strawberries.
A: custard tends to be thickened using eggs, whereas pudding uses starches like cornstarch. Traditionally neither are vegan, but this recipe is a vegan version of the classic banana pudding.
Vegan Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon cornstarch
- 450 ml plant milk unsweetened and unflavoured
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50 g caster sugar aka superfine sugar
- 50 g vegan butter
- 250 ml vegan whipping cream use my recipe or store-bought
- 210 g sweetened condensed coconut milk
- 1 batch vegan vanilla wafers use my recipe or store-bought
- 4 bananas peeled and sliced
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cornstarch and 50ml of the plant milk. Once smooth, add the remaining plant milk, vanilla extract and caster sugar.4 tablespoon cornstarch, 450 ml plant milk, 3 teaspoon vanilla extract, 50 g caster sugar
- Place over medium low heat and stir constantly until the custard thickens.
- Remove the pan from the heat then immediately add the vegan butter. Stir vigorously until fully melted and incorporated into the custard.50 g vegan butter
- Transfer the custard to a shallow dish or tray and cover with plastic wrap so the wrap sits directly on the surface of the custard. Cool to room temperature then transfer to the fridge for at least one hour.
- Once the custard has chilled, place the vegan whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Alternatively place in a bowl if using hand-held electric beaters.250 ml vegan whipping cream
- Whip to the stiff peaks stage then transfer to a separate large bowl.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer, place the sweetened condensed coconut milk and the custard and whisk together on medium speed until combined.210 g sweetened condensed coconut milk
- Take 2 cups (around 450ml) of the whipped vegan cream and whisk into the custard mixture until combined into a light fluffy “pudding”.
- In a 2.5 litre bowl or trifle dish, layer the pudding, vanilla wafers and banana (in that order) until you’ve used everything up except for 2-3 vanilla wafers.1 batch vegan vanilla wafers, 4 bananas
- Place in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.
- Right before serving, top the vegan banana pudding with the remaining vegan whipped cream and crumble over the reserved vanilla wafers. Serve and enjoy.
Myisha
OMG! I can't wait to serve this to my father tomorrow! The pudding, you'd never know it's vegan! Cannot wait for Dad to try this thank you so it's absolutely delicious and well worth the work of making the cookies and that silky pudding
Kathleen
Wow!!!!! I’m a pretty terrible chef but have been determined to figure out a vegan banana pudding recipe. I really was skeptical in the process but after 24hrs in the fridge I swear this could have come from a bakery direct. My only mistake was making it too sweet by using store bought vegan whipped cream and sweetened soy milk just based on available to me ingredients. Def want to redo with the proper ingredients and perfect the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this one!!! Brought a lot of joy.