Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding recipe is legendary, even world famous. It has the most decadent, creamy, vanilla pudding layered with Nilla wafers, and sliced bananas for the greatest banana pudding you’ve ever tasted.
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Why this Recipe Works
Top Reasons You’ll Love this Recipe:
- Super simple. I love how easy this recipe no baking or stovetop cooking required! It starts with instant pudding mix but I dare you to find a more delicious banana pudding recipe.
- Total Crowd Pleaser. Not only does everyone always rave about this pudding recipe, it makes enough to serve a crowd! It’s a perfect summertime dessert, but also great for the holidays, any potluck, or family gathering.
- The Flavor! It’s so creamy, light, mousse-like, with the perfect ratio of cakey vanilla wafers and sliced bananas.
Banana pudding is a classic southern recipe that feels very summery, but we love making it for Thanksgiving and Christmas—it’s a great holiday dessert! Although made famous in New York, it really is the best southern banana pudding recipe.
If you love classic southern recipes you should definitely check out some of our others, like our gumbo, bread pudding, Coca-Cola cake, peach cobbler, and pecan pie.
This is not a copycat recipe, it is the real deal straight from Magnolia Bakery’s cookbook! If you want to try another Magnolia recipe, try their red velvet banana pudding recipe!
What is Magnolia Bakery and why is it famous?
Magnolia Bakery is an icon in New York City! It’s been around since 1996. They first became famous during the 1990s-early 2000s cupcake craze. They are now famous for their classic American desserts, including this incredible banana pudding. They have locations all over New York City, and also have locations in Los Angeles, and Chicago.
I first had Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding when I was visiting New York years ago. I had heard all about it and being the foodie I am, knew I had to try it. I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical, but one bite and I was shoveling all doubts aside as fast as I could shovel that pudding into my mouth.
I purchased their cookbook as soon as I got home and was pretty surprised to see that their ingredients listed instant pudding mix. But don’t let it throw you, I’ve turned many doubters into believers. Trust me there is nothing instant pudding tasting about Magnolia Bakery banana pudding once you’ve got an entire can of sweetened condensed milk and three cups of whipped cream folded in!
Ingredient Notes
- Instant Pudding Mix. You’ll need one 3.4 ounce box of vanilla instant pudding mix. The authors prefer Jell-O brand, but any brand will work fine. Just make sure it is instant and not cook and serve.
- Cold Water. The water needs to be ice cold, this is mixed with the condensed milk and pudding mix to help the pudding set up.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk. You’ll need one 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk. Make sure it isn’t evaporated milk, which often sits on the shelf next to sweetened condensed milk.
- Heavy Cream. You may see it labeled as heavy cream or whipping cream, either works just fine. The cream is whipped before it is folded into the pudding mixture making it light and mousse-like.
- Sliced Bananas. Go for bananas that are slightly green, if they are too ripe the bananas will go mushy in the banana pudding.
- Nilla Wafers. Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel are the creators behind Magnolia Bakery and they specify that it should be Nabisco Nilla Wafer brand cookies. However, I’ve tested this out with generic brand vanilla wafers and they seem to work just fine.
How to Make this Recipe
- Make pudding mixture. Whisk together the ice cold water and sweetened condensed milk. Then mix in the dry pudding mix for about 2 minutes until smooth.
- Chill. Cover the pudding mixture and chill for a minimum of 3-4 hours, or overnight. The pudding should be firm.
- Whip cream. Whip the heavy cream until you have stiff peaks.
- Fold in cream. Fold whipped cream and pudding mixture together until it is smooth with no yellow streaks of pudding.
- Layer banana pudding. (Picture 5a) Layer ⅓ of the Nilla wafer cookies across the bottom of your trifle bowl, or whatever container you are layering the Magnolia banana pudding in. Then top off with ⅓ of the sliced bananas, covering it all with ⅓ of the vanilla pudding. (Picture 5b and 5c) Repeat these layers 2 more times, ending with the last ⅓ of the pudding on top.
- Chill. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 4 hours (no longer than 8).
- Garnish. Garnish is optional, but before serving I like to top off the pudding with a little extra sweetened whipped cream, a few sliced bananas, and some crushed Nilla wafer cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Magnolia Bakery recommends eating the pudding within 48 hours of assembling. I have eaten this pudding 4 days after making it and while the bananas were a little browner than is aesthetically pleasing, it still tasted great.
You can either assemble Magnolia Bakery banana pudding in a large trifle bowl, a large mixing bowl, a 9x13-inch deep dish, or you can make it in individual serving cups or bowls. Totally up to you! I have pictures in this post showing three different ways—trifle bowl, glass cups, and small white bowls.
I have to say, my favorite look has be something in a clear glass or plastic container so you can see all the beautiful layers
If you use a trifle bowl make sure it has a 4-5 quart capacity. When I make these in individual serving, I try to divide it between 12 servings evenly. You’ll have enough cookies for about 2 or so per layer, or use 3 per layers and only do two layers of pudding.
Yes, Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding recipe call for instant vanilla pudding as an ingredient. Don’t let this deter you, it is mixed with sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream for a luscious and creamy banana pudding.
Yes, Magnolia banana pudding has dairy from the sweetened condensed milk and cream.
In a small, 4 ounce cup of Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding there are 330 calories, 50 grams carbohydrates, 13 grams fat, 7 grams protein.
A large, 12 ounce cup of banana pudding, has triple that, so 1,320 calories, 150 grams carbohydrates, 39 grams fat, 21 grams protein.
Expert Tips
Name Brands or Generic Brands: Either Work
The recipe, per Magnolia Bakery’s instructions, calls specifically for Jell-O brand pudding mix and Nabisco Nilla Wafers. I’ve tried it with name brands, and generic whatever brands from the store, I have honestly not noticed a difference. You’ll still end up with delicious results!
Really Let the Pudding Set Up
It’s essential that the pudding mixture has enough time to set up. It needs 3-4 hours at least! If you don’t let it set up for long enough your whole mixture will be a little loose and watery.
Remember: you’re ignoring the instructions on the back of the pudding mix box. You are adding the pudding mix dry to the ingredients listed.
Making the Pudding in Advanced
This recipe is super simple, but it does require some time to chill at different stages. So read through the instructions ahead of time, and plan accordingly.
It takes 3-4 hours for the pudding to set up before adding in the whipped cream and then the whole thing needs to chill for at least 4 hours once assembled. You really do want to let the whole banana pudding chill so the Nilla wafers have time to get nice and cakey. If you’re thinking, but the crunch sounds good…trust me on this. It’s amazing just the way they do it.
You can easily make the pudding mixture the day before you plan to serve it or you can mix the pudding, water, and sweetened condensed milk first thing in the morning if you plan to serve it in the evening.
I typically like to mix up the pudding the day before so all I have to do whip the cream, fold it in, and assemble the layers.
Keep Your Bananas From Browning
We’ve all seen it, we’ve all been there, we’ve all picked around the brown looking banana in the fruit salad. The thing about bananas is, once they are exposed to the air they start oxidizing immediately! Oxidizing, meaning, start turning brown. It doesn’t change how they taste, but isn’t aesthetically pleasing, and we eat with our eyes first. So what can we do to help keep our bananas as fresh looking as possible?
Pick slightly green bananas.
If your bananas are already brown on the outside, then they are clearly going to be mushier and brown quicker! So pick bananas that have some green on their stems.
Limit their exposure to the air.
Like we said above, bananas start oxidizing as soon as they are exposed to the air. So don’t slice your bananas and then leave them out for hours waiting to be assembled. Slice them right before you are about to use them.
Brush them in juice.
If you brush your bananas with a little lemon juice, apple juice, or even pineapple juice, this will help keep the bananas looking fresher! That little layer of juice helps protect the bananas from the air and slows the browning process.
Wait.
If you plan on topping the banana pudding with any fresh bananas, wait until just before serving! You want the bananas to look fresh and their best.
Variations of this recipe
If you’re feeling a little wild, try making Magnolia’s banana pudding with a twist! Be warned: this is not part of the original recipe, so do not expect it to taste exactly like the original, you’re experimenting! If you’re looking for a fun variation of banana pudding, try Magnolia Bakery’s red velvet banana pudding, it’s delicious.
- Nilla Wafers—try swapping the vanilla wafer cookies here for shortbread cookies, graham crackers, gingersnaps, golden Oreos, classic Oreos, etc.
- Pudding Mix—try switching out the vanilla instant pudding mix for another flavor—chocolate, butterscotch, white chocolate, cheesecake, etc.
- Extra Mix-ins—Layer in some additional tasty treats like mini chocolate chips, candied pecans, peanut butter chips, chopped toffee bits, cut up Reese’s cups, toasted coconut, a drizzle of Nutella, caramel, or peanut butter.
Storing this Recipe
This recipe should be tightly covered and stored in the refrigerator when not being eaten.
Magnolia’s banana pudding is best eaten within 48 hours of being assembled as the bananas will start to brown and get soft. I’ve eaten this pudding 4 days after I made it and it was still delicious but the bananas were not and their peak anymore.
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Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ cups ice cold water
- 3.4 ounce box vanilla instant pudding mix
- 3 cups heavy cream plus more if your want to top off your pudding with whipped cream, see notes
- 4 cups sliced bananas about 5 large bananas
- 12 ounce box Nilla Wafers
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together your sweetened condensed milk and cold water until smooth. Then add in your pudding mix. Mix for about 2 minutes until smooth. Cover and chill for 3-4 hours or overnight. The pudding mixture should be very firm at this point.
- Whip your heavy cream on high until you have stiff peaks. Then fold your whipped cream and your pudding mixture together until smooth and there are no streaks from the pudding remaining.
- You can either layer this pudding in a large glass trifle bowl or make it in individual portions—totally up to you. For a large trifle bowl (should have a 4-5 quart capacity): layer ⅓ of the Nilla wafers across the bottom. Then layer ⅓ of the sliced bananas on top of the Nilla wafers, followed by ⅓ of the pudding mixture. Repeat this process two more times until you have used all of the Nilla wafers, bananas, and pudding mixture.
- I will then top my pudding off with a little extra whipped cream, and decorate it with a few sliced bananas and Nilla wafers I set aside. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (no longer than 8 hours). Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Judy
Can you substitute banana cream instant pudding for the vanilla?
In Fine Taste
Sure! If you prefer banana cream to vanilla, just make sure it is instant and the size is the same. You shouldn't need to make any additional changes.
- Alyssa
Maureen
Hi, how many individual cups do you think this recipe would make? I’m thinking I have to double it
In Fine Taste
It’s hard to say, it also totally depends on how big you make the individual cups. I’d say you’d at least get 15 servings out of it.
- Alyssa
Marta
This pudding was amazing! I also used banana pudding and made it with the same instructions as the vanilla. I would put a thinner layer of the vanilla pudding and then a little bit of the banana pudding in the middle and continue layering. It turned out delicious!
In Fine Taste
Sounds delicious, Marta!
Lotus
My family LOVES when it’s time for holidays or occasions because they always elect me to make this banana pudding we love!!
Samme
I have done step 1 but it will not firm up or stiffen up at all. I have left it covered in my refrigerator for 24 hours. It is just soupy.
In Fine Taste
Hi Samme,
So sorry that happened to you! Did you make sure you were using instant pudding mix? I've found that it won't set up properly if it is cook and serve pudding.
- Alyssa