This Best, Easy Banana Cream Pie Recipe is a delicious, homemade no bake pie made with a graham cracker crust, vanilla jell-o instant pudding, Cool Whip and bananas. The active time to make it is about 10 minutes. I've been making this for over 10 years and it's always a crowd favorite at any gathering.
Banana Cream Pie is a true classic and so easy to make. It's perfect to go at your Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert table, and is light enough to also be a great summertime dessert. I have a brother who requests this recipe for his birthday "cake" each year.
We recommend you try some of our other favorite banana recipes like Banana Cookies and Add some of our other no bake pies to your dessert table such as Banoffee Pie..
Be sure to check out our amazing list of cream pies.
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Ingredient Notes
- Vanilla Pudding - the vanilla pudding perfectly compliments and accents and highlights the banana. We recipe tested this with a few different kinds of Jell-o (cheesecake, banana) and everyone agreed that vanilla was the best. It really accented the flavor of the banana and let is shine.
- Milk - We use 2% milk and recommend 2% or whole milk. Skim milk is too watery and can alter the texture of the pie.
- Bananas - the highlight of this dish. Use fresh just-ripe bananas for best results.
How To Make Easy Banana Cream Pie
1. Thaw Cool Whip in refrigerator 4+ hours. Crush graham crackers. For a more compact crust that doesn't fall apart, food process until most of the graham crackers are in a fine crumb. I like having mostly fine crumbs, but a few larger crumbs for the best texture. Stir in melted butter then press into the bottom and up the edges of a pie plate. Slice 2 bananas and place on top of the crust.
2. Mix the COLD milk and the pudding mix together in a mixing bowl using a whisk. Whisk until thick, around 2-3 minutes. Using cold milk will yield better results than milk that has been sitting out for awhile.
3. Fold the 4 oz Cool Whip (making sure it's completely thawed) into the pudding mixture. Mix only until combined, no longer and fold gently. Pour the pudding and Cool Whip mixture on top of the bananas and crust and chill at least 3 hours, until ready to serve.
4. Decorate. I have found decorating like the picture above to be the easiest way that looks good. Toss bananas in a small amount of lemon juice. Use homemade stabilized whip cream for best results, but canned whip cream will also work. Place little mounds of whip cream all the way around, then place banana rounds between each mound.
Common Mistakes
I have made this pie so many times and often make the same mistake. On occasion, I am not patient enough to wait for the Cool Whip to thaw all the way. Often it ends up fine, but sometimes there are so many little lumps of frozen Cool Whip that I either end up over-mixing and my pie isn't as light, or there are just little lumps of Cool Whip throughout. Learn from my mistake and plan ahead/ be patient, and let the Cool Whip thaw all the way.
Top Tip
Wait to decorate the top of the pie before serving. Then toss or paint the sliced bananas with a thin layer of lemon juice to keep them from browning.
Recipe
Easy Banana Cream Pie
Equipment
- 1 pie tin
Ingredients
Graham cracker crust:
- 1 package graham crackers crushed
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter
- 3 Tablespoons sugar see note 1 below
Filling:
- 5.1 ounce package instant vanilla pudding
- 2 ¼ cups cold milk
- 4 ounce Cool Whip half of an 8 oz. container Cool Whip, thawed in the refrigerator for four hours
Other:
- 3 Bananas
- Canned whip cream for decorating if desired
Instructions
- Mix the crushed graham crackers in the bottom of the pie plate with the melted butter and sugar. Press into the bottom of the pie plate and up the sides.
- Make the vanilla pudding. Whisk the milk and pudding mix together in a bowl for 4-5 minutes until thickened. Fold half the container of cool whip into the pudding. See photos above for a great visual.
- Spread a layer of sliced banana rounds onto the crust. If not using bananas on the top of the pie for decoration, use the rest of the bananas here. Then spread pudding mixture over the top.
- Refrigerate for 3 or more hours.
- Finally, decorate the top. You can use a can of whipped cream, and the rest of the bananas, sliced. If decorating with bananas on top paint them with a light layer of lemon juice to keep from browning. The addition of Nilla Wafers is also popular. Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Graham cracker crusts don't hold together well without the addition of sugar. We prefer the slightly savory flavor of the crust made without sugar, but it does crumble a lot. Sometimes I choose flavor and crumbly (without sugar) and sometimes I choose structure and aesthetic (with sugar)
- Make sure the Cool Whip is completely thawed for best results. About 4 hours in the refrigerator or overnight will do it; if it isn't completely thawed it can be hard to mix in.
- I like to either paint the bananas with a pastry brush or toss them with a light layer of lemon juice to keep them from browning.
- You can also skip the refrigeration part of this and serve it immediately. It won't hold its structure quite as well, but it's completely doable.
- This pie can be made ahead of time and frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator for about one hour before serving. Do not thaw too long or the pie will begin to weep.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator (2 days) or in the freezer (2 months).
- Make this double layer by smoothing the extra 4 oz of Cool Whip over the top of the regular filling for a fun variation.
- We used Jell-o brand pudding and Cool Whip brand whipped topping (not sponsored). If you use other brands you may not get the same results.
- Make sure to scroll below for variations, storage information and FAQs.
Nutrition
Make Ahead and Storing Banana Cream Pie
If you want to make this pie ahead of time, we recommend freezing it and thawing for 1-2 hours before serving for the best results. If you don't want to freeze it, make it no more than 1 day in advance.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator and eat within 2 days for the best results. After 2 days, the filling starts to weep into the crust, and it's not as delicious. Leftovers can also be store in the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before eating.
Variations and Substitutions
Check out our favorite ways to switch up this recipe below. Some are easy substitutions you can make or variations to make things a little different.
- Caramel - Use our yummy homemade caramel sauce and drizzle ¼ cup on top of the bananas, then make as directed. Drizzle more caramel on top when serving.
- Double Layer - Smooth the remaining 4 oz Cool Whip over the top of the pudding for a yummy double layer version.
- Nilla Wafers - Use 1 ½ cups crushed nilla wafers instead of graham crackers for a wafer crust. Top with more nilla wafers.
- Gluten Free - make this gluten free easily! Use gluten free graham crackers instead of regular.
It can be made ahead and frozen. Freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours before eating. Eat within 12 hours of thawing for best results, as it will begin to weep into the crust, making it soggy and less desirable.
Always store in the refrigerator. For best results, eat within 3 days of eating. After 3 days the crust will start to become soggy and the filling will start to separate. It won't "go bad" for 5 or more days.
It's made of a graham cracker or traditional pie crust, vanilla pudding, bananas and whipped topping.
If your cream pie is no bake, it is likely due to using skim or 1% milk. It could also be caused by using too much milk. Try adding less milk than the box of pudding calls for to get a firmer set filling.
JC says
Easy easy easy. I needed a last minute pie, and this one was perfect. Everyone loved it too.
Nicole says
Our family loves this banana cream pie recipe with pudding. It's so fast and easy to make. Perfect for any last minute gathering.
Angel says
This is so good! Great last minute dessert! My kids devoured it. And so simple to make too! My go-to Banana Cream Pie recipe from now on!
Andrea says
Holy cow! This is super easy to make. This will definitely be a go-to when I need a dessert in a pinch. Yummy!
Tara says
We devoured this pie!! So creamy and flavorful.
Gail Montero says
Love your stunning presentation of this delicious banana cream pie! You just made my family very happy with this! They gobbled it up and the recipe was so easy and fast. Also love that it was no bake.
Katy says
This was great I used Banana Pudding the added whipped cream really gave it lightness.
Nicole says
Yum, that sounds great, we'll have to try it that way too!
Kathy says
Hello ! Looks amazing but my question is , this is a large box of “instant” pudding?
Andrea says
Yes, be sure to use instant pudding.
Jen says
Banana cream pie is one of my favorite pies. This recipe was perfect and I loved how fast it was!
Beth says
This is so easy and my family gobbled it up in one day. Thanks!
Deborah says
My husband loved it !
Nicole says
We're so glad he enjoyed it! I also have a brother who absolutely loves this recipe 🙂
Jeanette says
Thank you for this. Been googling a bunch of recipes and I made this tonight for Thanksgiving tomorrow! It's my brother's favorite and I tried one last year and it definitely didn't fire on all cylinders. This seems to be setting up nicely in the fridge and I'm super excited to see how it is. The variations I tried is that I added a couple dashes of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla to the graham cracker crust. I also used a smaller vanilla pudding and augmented it with mashed bananas vs. layering on the bottom. We'll see how it goes 🙂 But the ease of this took quite a load off today.
Andrea says
That sounds amazing! Glad you love the recipe, it's one of our favorites and it's so quick to make!