12 BEST Banana Pudding Recipes

All the recipes you'll ever need to make the perfect Banana Pudding (from traditional to easy recipes) plus fun spins on this classic southern dessert!

I know we do some weird stuff around here in the South. We paint the ceilings of our porches blue to keep the ghosts away (see below). We’ll give our children more names than will fit on a school registration form. Way out in the country, we’ll bury tires halfway in the dirt, paint them white and call it yard art. We’ll monogram our boots, pajamas and anything else an embroidery needle will pass through. We can have some funny ways.

And we eat some weird stuff too. We eat Neck Bones & Rice, boiled peanuts, chitterlings (not me, though… as long as ramen noodles are 5 for $1 I won’t ever be hungry enough to eat chitterlings), every kind of greens you can imagine, Catfish Stew and umpteen other things other folks might find odd. And we eat Banana Pudding.

I know Banana Pudding isn't weird, per se. What I didn’t know was that none of Husband’s family in Canada had ever even heard of it. The last time we were up there I said I’d make a Banana Pudding for dessert and everyone looked at me kinda crazy. I explained what it was and no one looked very enthusiastic about it but I knew as soon as they tasted it they would LOVE it!

I ran to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients and – y’all aren’t going to believe this – the store didn’t have vanilla wafers! I looked up one side and down the other of the cookie aisle then finally asked an employee who stared at me like I had six heads. Side note about that… that is the general response I get most places I go in Canada. I’m so used to hearing other accents (because lots of folks migrate here, vacation here, etc.) but I image it isn’t too often that someone in Belleville, Ontario hears a Southern accent. Especially a drawl like mine 😁

Welp. No one knew what a nilla wafer was and I couldn’t find anything I thought would be a good substitute (limited selection in the store I was in) so I didn’t make it. But as a testament to how HUGE Banana Pudding is, I wanted to put together a collection of Banana Pudding inspired recipes just to put some perspective on how big of a deal it is.

When a dessert inspires OTHER dessert ideas, you’ve got a classic!

Oh, real quick, before we get to the recipes! Here's what I meant when I said we paint our porch ceilings blue....

My front porch with Haint Blue painted ceiling
PAH! I wish! This is from the 2016 Southern Living Idea House

Haint Blue & Why We Paint Our Porches

A ‘haint’ (slang for ‘haunt’) is a Gullah word used to describe the spirit of the dead. The Gullah are the descendants of West African slaves who were enslaved together along the coastal region of the South Carolina Lowcountry and northern coastal area of Georgia (roughly the area between Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA).

Gullah traditions, culture and cuisine run deep in the Southeast, particularly here in South Carolina. One of those traditions is to paint the ceiling of your porch light blue to keep the haints away. There are two theories as to why this might work to ward off spirits. The most common theory is that the spirits would confuse the light blue color with the sky and pass right through the ceiling without disturbing the home or the folks inside. The other theory is that the light shade of blue looks like water, which they will avoid because, apparently, spirits of the dead can’t traverse water.

Side note about haints... I grew up with the very real (however irrational) fear that if someone were so inclined, he or she could go see the root doctor down in Happy Town (a small community right down the road from my house) and have a her "put a haint on you". I'll tell you this much... that'll make you look both ways before stealing a kiss from someone else's beau!

OK, now onto the puddin' recipes!

Here are my Top 12 favorite Banana Pudding recipes from my favorite Southern cooks!

This collection has everything from the traditional recipe to Paula Deen's famous 'Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding' plus new takes on the old classic! And where better to find recipes for a Southern recipe than my favorite Southern recipe experts!

Southern Banana Pudding

(recipes for both Easy and Classic versions)

by South Your Mouth

Banana Pudding Cheesecake

by The Country Cook

Banana Pudding Layer Cake

by Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen

Unconventional Banana Pudding

by Southern Bite

Frozen Banana Pudding

by Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate

Peanut Butter Ripple Nutter Butter Banana Pudding

by South Your Mouth

Uncle Bobby's Banana Pudding

by She Wears Many Hats

Banana Pudding Poke Cake

by The Country Cook

Banana Pudding Éclair Cake

by Plain Chicken

Banana Pudding Dip

by Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen

Banana Pudding Parfaits

by Served Up With Love

Paula Deen's Banana Pudding

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