The rich pudding is made on the stovetop, poured over the bananas and wafers, topped with meringue, and then baked in the oven. Passed down from my grandmother, it is a unique take on a Southern favorite.
Helpful hint: Although it will seem like the recipe doesn't yield enough filling to coat the bananas and wafers, it's actually the perfect amount. Because the filling is warm when you pour it over the wafers/bananas and then it's further heated in the oven, if you double the filling it will be TOO MUCH hot liquid and your wafers and bananas will melt into a mush (I learned the hard way). As the recipe stands, the bananas still have some bite. Hope this helps! Thanks, Laura M.
Read Morethis is a good basic recipe...but....brown sugar does nothing for the pudding...granulated is best..also 3 egg whites make a much nicer meringue...add or decrease sugar to your likeing...cream of tartar should always be used in a meringue..
Read More Helpful hint: Although it will seem like the recipe doesn't yield enough filling to coat the bananas and wafers, it's actually the perfect amount. Because the filling is warm when you pour it over the wafers/bananas and then it's further heated in the oven, if you double the filling it will be TOO MUCH hot liquid and your wafers and bananas will melt into a mush (I learned the hard way). As the recipe stands, the bananas still have some bite. Hope this helps! Thanks, Laura M.
This recipe puts any using pre-packaged pudding mix to shame. One of my dinner guests described it as "beauty in her mouth." I did cut the sugar down to 3/4 c., which made it sweet but not excessively so. That is the only adjustment I made, and it was perfect. I made this in a pyrex pie dish, and it fit perfectly. The next time I make it, I am going to add one more egg white because the meringue is such a nice balance to the cookies, bananas and pudding. I am also going to use a piping bag or large ziplock to put the meringue on in little peaks instead of spreading it on in one layer, because it will look nicer when it is toasted. Your friends will love you for this one! Addendum: When I made this the second time, I cut the sugar to 2/3 and added an egg yolk since I wanted the extra white for the meringue. The result was much less sweet and a little custardy. For someone who doesn't love sugar as much as I do, this would be a great adaptation.
I made this for my North Carolina native in-laws since banana pudding is my father-in-law's all-time favorite deserts. He really dislikes instant pudding so this was the recipie I needed to try. He loved it!! It was a bit of work to make but they all said it was well worth it. I made it the night before and let it sit in the fridge over night to that the wafers would soften. I definitely recommend doubling the recipe at least since it will all disappear quickly! I will definitely make this again.
this is a good basic recipe...but....brown sugar does nothing for the pudding...granulated is best..also 3 egg whites make a much nicer meringue...add or decrease sugar to your likeing...cream of tartar should always be used in a meringue..
Being from the deep South I grew up with this recipe. My mother used to make it for church socials and family reunions. Except she used all white sugar. It is still the only way I make banana pudding. My family loves it. I also would suggest doubling the recipe as it does go really fast.
Laura it is so amazing how I fell across your recipe. I was calling my aunt in Louisiana to get my grandmothers old recipe for banana pudding and while she was telling me over the phone I was looking at yours. Same ingredients! We have amazing grandmothers! Nobody understands a hot banana pudding. RIP to my grandmother, but I just wanted to share that great minds think alike! Happy Thanksgiving!
The recipe for the pudding was aweful! I even made it twice to make sure I didn't make a mistake. It was way too sweet and had a horrible consistency. I endeed up using the best vanilla pudding recipe & it saved the day.
Five generations of cooks can't all be wrong. We use granulated sugar and that's the only difference made. The pudding is rich, very rich. Until it has cooled, it will be soupy but not after the wafers absorb the liquid. If it's too sweet, cut back on the sugar. Brings back a lot of memories of church picnics and Sunday desserts! Thanks for sharing.
Followed recipe exactly... it didn't turn out so well. The pudding was soupy and it was sickeningly sweet. I will not make this again, it was inedible.
I personally had never cared for banana pudding before, but since I married my husband (who swears that you can only get good banana pudding in Georgia), I've been on a mission to find a great recipe. Mission Accomplished! This was so much easier and tastier than I could have ever imagined!
This was so yummy!!!! Omg, perfect. We doubled the reciepe but forgot to double the sugar in the meringue. perfecto!!!!!!! will do again and again. Thanks!!!
I also grew up on this recipe, exact to every detail. It is the only way I had ever had banana pudding and was never ever to replicate it on my own. Thank goodness for this recipe! It took me back to the comforts of my childhood. My family didn't care for the meringue, but for me it was heavenly!
I followed this recipe without the brown sugar, just used white sugar, and it was great, just like Mammy use to make :)
This dessert was okay. Definitely not one of my favorites. It was alittle too sweet. It took about 30 minutes to get the pudding mixture to thicken.
MMMMM! Made this as a dessert for Easter dinner. Runny, but that was my fault. I didn't have the patience (or the time, actually) to cook the pudding until it thickened enough, but it was STILL delicious! My family ate it up! I was almost embarrassed for them to see it because it was so soupy, but after one teensy bite, I changed my mind & am glad I did. I live in the deep south & my southern family all agreed that it had that "home-made" banana pudding taste that we grew up with as kids. I doubled the recipe per some suggestions, but if you are only making a 9x13 dish...DON'T double it! I ended up with too much pudding & I think that's why it was taking so long to thicken. But DO double the meringue. Banana pudding without meringue shouldn't even be called banana pudding! :) I will definitely keep this recipe in the mix for family gatherings! Thanks!
this recipe was very easy and great...i did a little tweaking of course to make it my own but great if you need a starting place and never made it homemade before...
My husband said he can never go back to jello pudding ever again. I'd been looking for a southern style banana pudding for a while and this is it. I didn't have any brown sugar on hand so I substituted granulated sugar. STILL FABULOUS!!! Now my mother in law and my sister are insisting this be my contribution to the holiday meals :-)
Easy to make but a word of advice- definitely serve warm. I made this ahead of time thinking it would save me some trouble and so I wouldn't have to neglect my dinner guests, but putting it in the fridge made the wafers hard as rocks.
We are divided on this one. Two of the kids (I say kids, but 18 and 20 year olds) were here for dinner tonight and both liked it and said it had great flavor. My husband and I both thought it was too sweet, even after backing down the sugar to 3/4 cup. And the consistancy was "mushy and mealy". Neither of us liked it at all and we usually like any kind of dessert. It does make a pretty presentation before cutting and serving.
The pudding was as thin as water and the brown sugar made it the color of coffee and creamer. I didn't even get to the point of assembling the pudding, since the pudding part came out so horrible. I think I'm just going to head back to the store and buy a dessert or make the best of it and try using the bananas for a banana cream pie. I wanted to live this recipe, but since it wasn't edible after following the directions to a tee, I can't.
Easy! But too sweet. Try swapping brown sugar for granulated sugar and reduce amount. And get cream of tartar
Well this was a hit!! this is my southern boyfriends favorite dessert, it was my first time making . He kept saying how it was better than his grandmas!!! thank u so much, he was pleased and so was I . I did use white sugar instead of brown
I don't know who said this recipes was too sweet. It was perfect!!! The quick banana pudding is good if you're in a rush, but this style is my FAVE!!!
I did the meringue exactly like the recipe calls for but as soon as i added the sugar it just turned to foamy soup. Researched Allrecipes for how to make a meringue and found a couple tips i will try next time-do not use a plastic bowl, room temp egg whites, add sugar from the beginning-pudding was delicious tho.
Delicious dessert! I didn't have vanilla wafers and used graham crackers instead. Also, my daughter was helping me and told me 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar instead of 3 1/2 for the meringue . . . it turned out just fine :-) It wasn't hard but difficult to let the kids help with the heat and eggs. It made me remember my grandmother's lemon meringue pie . . .
I doubled the meringue for mine and also added a pinch of cream of tarter to help the meringue peak. Great recipe.
Delicious! I cut the brown sugar to 2/3 cup and added a pinch of salt and a few drops of vanilla to the pudding. I also cut the sugar in the meringue and added a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar. It took forever I thicken on the stovetop but I
I am not sure what is happening with others who have tried this saying it's not working out. I also didn't let the pudding thicken long enough, and what I thought was "coating" the spoon apparently wasn't quite enough...but it set well in the fridge, so all is good. I used the recommended amount of sugar and in no way do I think it's "too sweet". In fact it's perfect...just like any other dessert! Since I have Celiac, I used gluten free flour and used a gluten free cookie made by Schar. It's the shortbread cookies. It works and tastes good, but nothing compares to vanilla wafers! Either way, it worked out just fine. Thank you!
This was a hit in my home for Father's Day...after reading the previous reviews I decided to just do 1/2 cup brown sugar & 1/2 cup of white sugar..I also used 3 egg whites...it turned out GREAT!!!!
I've made this twice and really like it (but it is over the top sweet). The proportion of cookie/banana to pudding/meringue is not balanced for me. I wished I would have doubled the pudding portion.
The flavor of this banana pudding recipe is almost perfect, but it's WAY too sweet. The pudding recipe also didn't yield enough pudding to totally coat all the layers of cookies and banana. Next time I make this recipe I will double the pudding recipe without increasing the sugar, because there just wasn't enough of the pudding to make the whole pan delicious and gooey! There was also much too much sugar in the meringue; 1 Tablespoon would have been plenty. If not for the excessive sweetness, this recipe would be exactly like the banana pudding my mom used to make.
Amazing recipe. Everyone in the family thought grandmama was back in the kitchen. Lol.
I followed the instructions for the meringue exactly, and started adding the sugar when the egg whites started holding a soft peak. The mix immediately became more liquidy and never firmed back up.?
Good and easy - Used 2/3 cup of sugar and it was still really sweet. I crumbled shortbread cookies on the bottom of individual dishes - everyone love it.
I had a bad experience with this the first time, but will definitely try it again with a few differences. My biggest mistake was using a 2-quart casserole because I thought 1 1/2 would be too small for all the banana and wafers. I still think that (because they didn't quite fit in the bigger container), but will try the smaller container anyway because the amount of pudding was too small for my bananas/wafers. I ended up with very nicely flavored mush.
I made this recipe yesterday for my uncle's birthday. Everyone loved it. I did change a few things based on complaints from other reviewers. I used 3 egg yolks (instead of 2 yolks and 1 whole egg) for a smooth texture, 3/4 cup sugar to decrease sweetness, 1/8 cup flour to decrease "soupiness", and I did layers of vanilla wafers/bananas/pudding. In my opinion it was still a little too sweet. Next time I'll try 2/3 cup sugar. ***Also, I know you're supposed to consistently stir the pudding while it's cooking to avoid clumping but it helped to let it sit for 15-20 seconds after a good whisking. It seemed like it cooked faster. I used medium high heat. Good luck!
Was too sweet but if you use 1/2 cup granulated sugar and are light on the wafer cookies it’ll be better. Some minor adjustments: I subbed some of the milk for half and half in the pudding to make it richer. I added vanilla extract and cream of tartar to the meringue, which was deliciously fluffy and just the right sweetness.
I made this identical to the recipe. I agree with other reviews, easily could have backed off the sugar by 1/4 or 1/3 a cup. My banana’s were very ripe so that probably added to the sweetness. For those that mentioned runny pudding, keep cooking. It took quite a while for mine to thicken, probably 20 minutes. Recommend a third egg white for the meringue, it was just a little thin with inky two eggs. Overall, I would make this again, but with those tweaks to meet our tastes.
The best banana pudding recipe I have ever tried. The brown sugar gives an added taste that puts it over the top. I always skip the meringue because I just don’t like it. You really don’t need to bake it if you’re skipping the meringue.
This was my first real southern banana Pudding and my first meringue. I now cook on a 1929 gas stove and like to do things the old way. So, I hand-whipped the meringue which turned out great just like the pudding did. Took me back to my childhood... You need to make this one...
Delicious!!!!! I added more surgar to the merange because it is my favorite part, but amazing taste and I love it.
Ok I'm not super experienced pudding cook, but this is my opinion. It was too sweet. I looked up another recipe and it's ratio of milk sugar was 2:1 which i think is better. also this called for 3 TBS of flour instead of only 1. I think it is personal preference for brown vs white sugar, however I think that white makes it less rich which i like. I didn't feel like there was enough pudding so I'm making more with the 2:1 ratio and adding it in. depending on your stove you may need to heat over med heat. I stirred it for an hour on med low with no results. but my stove's low setting is extremely low. I also added vanilla to this (which I know makes in richer) but then I read somewhere else to add vanilla after it's cooked. does anyone know why this is
