This Mile High Banana Pudding Pie is for the ultimate banana pudding lover! One flakey, buttery pie crust holds layers of rich vanilla pudding cream, fresh bananas, and soft, crumbly Nilla Wafers. It’s actually pretty easy to make with a few shortcuts I’m happy to share with you.
The first shortcut is to start with a store-bought pie crust. I really like the Marie Calendar’s frozen pie crust. I do like to make my own homemade crusts occasionally, but when it comes to blind baking an empty pie shell to fill, I don’t always have very good luck. Since I don’t always want to mess with pie weights, a store-bought frozen pie crust is a nice convenience I’ll take advantage of from time to time.
Another shortcut that brings lots of vanilla flavor to this pie is instant vanilla pudding mix. This Mile High Banana Pudding Pie recipe is inspired by the famous Magnolia Banana Pudding recipe. Mixing ice cold water, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla pudding mix is almost too easy to believe! After that mixture has firmed up in the fridge, you just whip up heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold it all together.
With our pie crust baked and cooled, and the vanilla pudding cream all ready to go, we start layering it all in with fresh banana and Nilla Wafers. It looks really pretty with those wafers scalloping along the edges of the pie. Save the last layer of those exposed banana slices and crushed Nilla Wafers for just before serving, so they won’t turn brown.
Another note about browning bananas, the inside layer won’t brown as quickly because the air is blocked out by layers of cream, but it’s still a good idea to plan on serving this pie 4-12 hours after it’s made.
In order to make the pie hold its shape once it’s cut, I did alter the original Magnolia Banana Pudding recipe so that it would be a bit firmer. It worked out really well! But don’t worry about getting those slices out cleanly too much – it tastes so incredibly delicious no one will care what it looks like!
See those layers of Nilla Wafers and banana trying to peep through that cream? So heavenly, my friends. I do hope you get the chance to make this recipe. It’s so impressive looking and easy to put together.
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Mile High Banana Pudding Pie
- Prep Time: 5 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
My Mile High Banana Pudding Pie has one flakey, buttery pie crust with layers of rich vanilla pudding, banana slices, and soft Nilla Wafers!
Ingredients
- 1 Baked Pie Shell (store-bought or homemade)
- 1 cup very cold water
- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 3.4 ounce box instant vanilla pudding
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
- 11 ounce box Nilla Wafers (reserve some to crush for garnish)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk cold water and sweetened condensed milk together until smooth. Pour in dry instant vanilla pudding mix and whisk together until no lumps remain. Refrigerate at least one hour or until firmly set.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the vanilla pudding mixture and the whipped cream together until combined.
- Fill the bottom of the baked and cooled pie crust with about one inch of the vanilla pudding cream mixture. Top with sliced bananas. Add another layer of pudding so that it is level with the top of the pie crust.
- Top with Nilla Wafer cookies, overlapping the outer layer of cookies on top of the pie crust rim.
- Add another layer of the vanilla pudding mixture, reserving about 1 cup for the final layer. Add another smaller layer of Nilla Wafers.
- Add the remaining vanilla pudding cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve (between 4-12 hours).
- Just before serving, garnish with sliced bananas and crushed Nilla Wafers.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serving
- Calories: 766
- Sugar: 61g
- Sodium: 398mg
- Fat: 41g
- Saturated Fat: 22g
- Unsaturated Fat: 16.5g
- Trans Fat: 0.8g
- Carbohydrates: 92g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 11g
- Cholesterol: 91mg
Teresa says
You stole my recipe. Been selling this pie for awhile now. Always has rave reviews.
Susie says
I made this pie with my 3 year old granddaughter, it was a breeze! Super delicious! I had my doubts about it holding it’s shape, but it cut beautifully. Thank you for a great recipe!
Alice Bello says
It was great. I have also tried it with graham cracker pie crust. My family did not complain about nothing, they wanted more.
Sam Martin says
Love this recipe, easy to follow and easy to make. Longest wait time is the pudding but that’s no hardship. I switched the crust for a biscoff kind and people can’t get enough of it. Thank for sharing this!