MAGNOLIA BAKERY BANANA PUDDING RECIPE

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Quick, easy & delicious, Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding Recipe has layers and layers of creamy banana pudding, crispy vanilla wafers, fresh and flavorful banana slices. The flavor and texture are unparalleled.

Magnolia Bakery Famous Banana Pudding is always a hit at a cookout or potluck. This easy banana pudding can be whipped up in just 10 minutes!

Magnolia bakery banana pudding

MAGNOLIA BAKERY BANANA PUDDING

Banana Pudding is much like avocado in regards to the length of time that both are perfectly ripe and ready to eat. The optimal time to eat Banana Pudding is about 30 minutes in my opinion. A banana pudding needs to sit long enough that the vanilla wafers get soft, yet still have crunch and by no means are the wafers soggy. 😉

Banana Pudding Recipe

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding Recipe is an easy, no-cook banana pudding recipe. It’s much like a no-cook cheesecake except the ‘crust’ is vanilla wafer cookies.

With the help of cream cheese and instant pudding, this pudding is wonderfully creamy and rich.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR MAGNOLIA BAKERY FAMOUS BANANA PUDDING

  • Cream cheese
  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • Whole milk or heavy cream
  • Bananas
  • Pudding mix
  • Sugar
  • Vanilla extract
  • Vanilla wafers
Banana Pudding Recipe

TIPS FOR THE BEST BANANA PUDDING

  1. Especially important, have your cream cheese at room temperature before you begin mixing the recipe together. It will blend much easier with the other ingredients and won’t have lumps if you’ll start with it at room temperature.
  2. I used full-fat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla wafers in my recipe. It is luscious and rich and tasted wonderful. However, this is one recipe that you can use low-fat cream cheese, fat-free (or low-fat) sweetened condensed milk, and/or reduced-fat vanilla wafers. You’ll save fat and calories. These changes don’t affect the flavor and texture.
  3. You can use homemade whipped cream in the recipe or take the shortcut version and use Cool Whip brand whipped cream. However, homemade is much better.
  4. If instant pudding isn’t available in your area, there really isn’t a substitution. In that case, you can make cooked vanilla pudding, allow it to cool, then continue with the recipe. See notes below for Cooked Vanilla Pudding recipe. It won’t be exactly like Joanna Gaines Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding Recipe but it will be close.
  5. For banana pudding, I like firm bananas that have no spots on the skins.
  6. Finally, all joking aside, I recommend eating this within a few hours of making it. I don’t prefer it the next day after the bananas become mushy.
famous banana pudding

HOW TO PREVENT BANANAS FROM TURNING BROWN

Bananas, apples, pears, and other fruits turn brown after cutting because polyphenols, a natural chemical in them, turn into ‘melanin’ when exposed to oxygen. Melanin is an iron-containing compound that gives the fruit a brown color.

First, choose bananas that have a green stem. They will brown slower. 

You can slow down the browning process by adding citrus juice to bananas, or any fruit that browns. Lime, lemon, orange, and even pineapple juice will slow fruit from browning. The only issue with juice is it does alter the flavor slightly. For this reason, it’s best to brush or spray on citrus instead of soaking the bananas in it.

Water as well as club soda (NOT tonic) helps slow the browning process. Be sure to drain well before adding to your pudding.

Finally, store banana slices/banana pudding in an air-tight container to limit oxygen exposure.

YOU’LL LOVE THESE RECIPES TOO!

  1. Banana Pudding Dessert Dip
  2. No-Bake Banana Pudding Twinkie Cake
  3. Red Velvet Banana Pudding
  4. Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Eclair Banana Pudding
  5. Bailey’s Banana Smoothie
  6. Best Banana Pudding Pound Cake with Amaretto Liqueur
  7. Skinny Bailey’s Banana Smoothie
  8. Best Toffee Banana Layer Cake
  9. Orange Banana Weight-loss Smoothie
  10. You can also find great recipes here 
Magnolia bakery banana pudding

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding Recipe

Quick, easy & delicious, Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding Recipe is always a hit at a cookout or potluck. This easy banana pudding can be whipped up in just 10 minutes!
Author: Paula
4.77 from 43 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 minute
chilling time: 1 hour
Servings: 14 servings

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream OR whole milk
  • 3.4 ounce package vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 3 large bananas with green stem (see note), sliced
  • 3 cups heavy whipping cream
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 11 ounce package Nabisco Nilla Wafers regular or reduced fat

Instructions

For the Whipped Cream

  • In a bowl of a stand mixer combine heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract. 
  • Beat on high until soft peaks form. Spoon the whipped cream into a separate bowl. 
  • Clean out the bowl of the stand mixer to make the pudding mixture.

For the Pudding

  • In the cleaned bowl, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth.
  • Add the condensed milk, whole milk and vanilla pudding mix. Beat on high for 2 minutes. 
  • By hand, fold in half the whipped cream mixture that you mixed in the first step.
    *If you made vanilla pudding from scratch, you will fold it in here with the whipped cream. 

Assemble

  • In a trifle dish, mason jar, or individual glasses lay a single layer of wafers on the bottom. 
  • Spoon pudding on top, and then add another layer of vanilla wafers. Add sliced bananas, and then spread the remaining pudding mixture and top with a few more wafers and banana slices.
  • Top with whipped cream and refrigerate 1 hour up to 24 hours. 
  • *If instant vanilla pudding is not available in your area, make homemade cooked vanilla pudding and fold it into the recipe above. Recipe in notes below.

Notes

Cooked Vanilla Pudding Recipe

 
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon butter
 

Instructions

  • In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat milk until bubbles form at the edges.
  •  In a bowl, combine sugarcornstarch, and salt. Pour into hot milk, a little at a time, stirring to dissolve. 
  • Continue to cook and stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Do not boil. 
  • Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and butter. Chill before adding to the mixture above. See note under “For the Pudding”

Nutrition

Calories: 517kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 249mg | Potassium: 312mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 1090IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Please take a moment to comment letting me know how you liked it & consider giving it a 5 star rating. I love hearing from you!
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16 Comments

  1. I’m assuming you use the 3 c heavy whipping cream or whole milk for the pudding mixture & not the whipped cream?

    1. First you’ll whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until the heavy cream is fluffy and has stiff peaks… then you beat the cream cheese with the condensed milk, whole milk and vanilla pudding mix. Next you combine the second mixture with 1/2 of the whipped cream mixture. (The remaining whipped cream mixture goes on top.)

  2. 5 stars
    What a delicious change of pace! These were some of the best nachos I’ve ever had. My family gobbled them down quickly.

  3. 5 stars
    I have made many different banana pudding recipes and this is by far the very best. The cream cheese and sweetened milk makes all the difference. Yummy!!

  4. 5 stars
    The best banana pudding recipe I’ve ran across in awhile. It’s very delicious. Thank you so much for this gem.

  5. 5 stars
    This is my favorite dessert and I get it and give it to people from there. It tastes just like my grandmother’s, except possibly better. (Sorry Mamaw). Otherwise, yum.

  6. 5 stars
    This recipe is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. My son who is a HUGE fan of Magnolia’s banana pudding said it tastes just like it!

  7. This recipe looks great but I do want to note that “Magnolia Bakery” is a New York City standby (opened in 1996) famous for banana pudding and cupcakes. That’s probably the reason that the Waco bakery under the Magnolia brand is called “Silos Baking Company.”

    1. 5 stars
      Hi Paula! Thanks for sharing the recipe! I look forward to trying others you have posted too, all look amazing!
      I see that others have already mentioned this in the comments of this recipes post and that this goes back to 2018, hopefully you are alerted of new comments regardless if the aging original post. I love Joanna Gaines and companies, but I feel it’s only right to remove their association from this post.
      How does that expression go? Give credit as credit is due… (something of that sort, but everyone know what mean)
      Check out the Magnolia Bakery of New York website, they will even ship a tub of the pudding if one is too busy to make it at home! h

  8. 5 stars
    Thank you, Paula! For the clear, detailed, intelligent additional comments. Unlike the frustrating recipes too often proudly, ignorantly and uselessly offered, yours are encouraging. Many of us live in remote parts of the world, without recourse to pre-prepared or unusual ingredients.

    1. I try to remember that and give alternatives, sometimes I forget. That’s one of the surprising things I’ve learned from blogging is so many ingredients are widely available. Always message me if I forget something or you have a question.

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