Strawberry banana pudding is a refreshing, classic comfort food. It’s a perfect treat to serve when your hot, sticky, exhausted family walks in the door.
It should be made ahead of time, in the morning of a day that will be full of activity.
Why Strawberry Banana Pudding Works
The strawberries in this recipe give boring banana pudding a cheery exterior and brighten banana pudding’s flavor, making it more alive and fresh. Tip: You can swap the strawberries for any fresh berries for the same effect.
As a bonus, you can get kids in your family involved by having them break up vanilla wafers to put in the bottoms of the ramekins that you use.
The homemade pudding I use is based on a recipe on Hilah Cooking that I modified it to give it more of a vanilla punch.
What You’ll Need to Make This Banana Pudding Recipe
India Tree Vanilla Sugar, 3 lb
I used vanilla sugar to make my vanilla pudding more intensely vanilla.
Premium Madagascar Vanilla Beans 1/4 lb (26-30 beans) JR Mushrooms Brand
Although you can purchase vanilla sugar, you can also easily make your own by placing granulated sugar and a few vanilla beans in a sealed container for a few weeks. Vanilla beans can be expensive; I recommend purchasing them online – you’ll save a ton of money. These beans are incredibly fresh and my mailbox has never smelled as good as the day the beans arrived.
Kinnikinnick Vanilla Wafer Cookies 6.3 Ounces (Pack of 3)
The only gluten in this recipe comes from its vanilla wafers. If you use these vanilla wafers instead, this strawberry banana pudding will be gluten-free!
Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer
This is not a product that I use, but this banana slicer has the funniest reviews of any Amazon product I’ve ever seen. Go read them!
How Do You Make Strawberry Banana Pudding?
Start by either making pudding (see my recipe below) or using a store-bought one.
Line the bottoms of ramekins with vanilla wafers. I use my homemade vanilla wafers as the base of my strawberry banana pudding.
Top the wafers with vanilla pudding.
On top of the pudding layer, add a layer of sliced bananas and strawberries.
Finally, whip up some topping (made with whipped cream, sugar, cream cheese, and sweetened condensed milk) and put a nice dollop on top.
Refrigerate for at least one hour to give the pudding time to soften the vanilla wafers.
Strawberry Banana Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
Strawberry Banana Pudding Ingredients
- 1/3 cup vanilla sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 cups milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 12 vanilla wafers I recommend my homemade vanilla wafers.
- 2 ripe bananas cut into slices
- 8 strawberries cut into small pieces
Whipped Topping Ingredients
- 6 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
Strawberry Banana Pudding Directions
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine the vanilla sugar, cornstarch, and milk. Whisk thoroughly until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the egg yolks and whisk again to combine.
- Add the butter.
- Stir constantly until the mixture just begins to bubble.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer another 2 minutes or until it has the consistency of porridge, stirring constantly to keep the pudding from getting lumpy.
- Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and set aside to cool.
- Line the bottoms of ramekins with vanilla wafers. You may need to break them to get them to fit well and that's OK - no one will know or care.
- Evenly distribute cooled pudding over wafers in each ramekin.
- Top the pudding with a layer of bananas.
- Top the bananas with strawberries.
Whipped Topping Directions
- Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
- Mix in sugar.
- In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.
- Gently fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream.
- Dollop whipped topping over strawberry banana pudding.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour prior to serving.
Adding strawberries to banana pudding is such a great idea! I love the reviews on the slicer- lmao :)
This is gonna be sooo good! Trying it tomorrow!
This is a great recipe, really good. I use regular sugar and vanilla wafers. I also layer it in a big bowl.