These banana pudding cups are made from scratch with a rich and creamy homemade pudding and fresh whipped cream. The pudding is made with banana milk to ensure plenty of banana flavor in this no-bake southern recipe.
Banana Pudding Cups from scratch are such an easy and fun dessert to make for summer gatherings. These dessert cups are full of flavor and made with pantry staple ingredients you probably have on hand.
Banana pudding is a classic southern recipe originally made with boxed vanilla pudding, whipped cream, Nilla Wafers, and sliced bananas. These ingredients get layered up in a casserole dish, trifle dish, or individual cups and then refrigerated for a few hours so the cookies soften and the pudding thickens up.
I wanted to recreate banana pudding and avoid all the artificial flavors and fake ingredients while still making sure the pudding had plenty of banana flavor. To do this, I made a vanilla pudding from scratch with “banana milk”. Banana milk is just a ripe banana blended with milk.
The result was everything I had hoped for! A creamy, rich pudding loaded with real banana flavor and sweet vanilla. The pudding gets layered between slices of banana and Nilla Wafer cookies. Once set, you have a cool and creamy southern dessert.
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What you need to make Banana Pudding Cups from scratch
As far as equipment, you will need a mixing bowl, a large saucepan, and individual dessert cups. The dessert cups I used can be found here.
For the homemade pudding, you will need: cornstarch, salt, 1 ripe banana, whole milk, egg yolks, granulated sugar, salted butter and pure vanilla extract.
For the whipped cream, you will need: heavy cream, powdered sugar, and pure vanilla extract.
For assembling the cups, you will need: large slightly under ripe bananas and mini Nilla Wafers.
How to make Banana Pudding Cups from scratch
Start by making the pudding, I recommend making this the night before, so it has plenty of time to cool and set before assembling the cups.
In a large saucepan, whisk together the cornstarch and salt. Set aside. In a medium size bowl, use a fork to mix together the egg yolks and sugar until light and ribbony. This will take a few minutes, set aside.
Add the ripe banana and 1 cup of the milk to a blender and blend until smooth. Add the banana milk and the remaining milk to the saucepan and whisk well. Place the saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly, bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute while whisking constantly. At this point, the pudding should be very thick.
Pour about 1/3 of the pudding mixture into the egg mixture and whisk very well. This is called tempering the eggs, so they don’t scramble. In a slow stream, add the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan while whisking. Whisk until combined while bringing the pudding back to a boil.
It is crucial that you whisk the pudding constantly while it’s cooking to avoid lumpy pudding.
Once it’s boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Let the pudding cool completely, whisking occasionally before transferring to the fridge to chill for about 2 hours.
To make the whipped cream, add the heavy cream to a bowl and transfer to the freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and add the sugar and vanilla. Beat until very stiff peaks form, about 5-10 minutes.
Using a spatula, fold about 3/4 of the whipped cream into the chilled pudding until smooth, reserving some whipped cream for topping. To assemble, layer some banana slices into the bottom of a cup, add a layer of wafers on top.
Scoop some of the pudding mixture on top of the wafers and repeat the process once. Let set in the fridge for about 2 hours. Top with a dallop of whipped cream and garnish with crushed wafers and a banana slice when ready to serve.
If you make banana pudding cups from scratch, please leave a rating and comment to let me know if you loved the recipe.
Banana Pudding Cups from scratch
Equipment
- 6 individual dessert cups the ones I used are linked above
Ingredients
For the pudding
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 large banana very ripe
- 3 cups whole milk divided
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp salted butter
For the whipped cream
- 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
For assembling
- 3-4 large bananas slightly under-ripe
- 1 box mini Nilla Wafers
Instructions
- Start by making the pudding. In a large saucepan, whisk together the cornstarch and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar. Mix very well with a fork until light and ribbony, this will take a few minutes. Set aside. To a blender, add the ripe banana and 1 cup of the milk. Blend until smooth.
- Add the "banana milk" along with the remaining 2 cups of milk to the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk constantly and bring to a boil. Let boil 2 minutes while whisking. In a slow stream pour about 1/3 of the pudding into the egg mixture and whisk very well to temper the eggs.
- Slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and whisk constantly while bringing the pudding to a boil once more. Once boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and butter. Let the pudding cool completely, whisking occasionally. Once cooled, refrigerate for about 2 hours.
- To make the whipped cream, add the heavy cream to a large bowl and freeze for 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until very stiff peaks form, about 5-10 minutes.
- Fold about ¾ of the whipped cream into the chilled pudding. To assemble, place a layer of banana slices into the bottom of the cups, add a layer of Nilla Wafers then a scoop of pudding. Repeat this process once and top with a little remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, garnish with crushed wafers and more banana slices.
