You are going to love this Banana Pudding Lasagna recipe! It’s easy and inexpensive to make, plus it will be super impressive when served at your family dinners or holiday get-togethers.
Banana pudding is a nostalgic treat I remember my grandmother making. Banana pudding – the dessert – isn’t just banana pudding. It’s a mixture of instant banana pudding, vanilla wafer cookies, and fresh bananas that come together to make this delicious and creamy dessert with lots of textural interest.
Banana pudding lasagna takes this idea to the next level, by layering the ingredients in a pan and including a crispy, buttery cookie crust, and a cheesecake like filling. This no-bake Banana Pudding dessert will be one of your go-to recipes from now on.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Feeds a Crowd: As written, this banana pudding lasagna feeds 8, but is easily doubled to serve a larger group. Don’t spend too much time deciding if you should double it. If in doubt, just do it! There are rarely leftovers when I make this dessert.
- No Bake: No bake desserts are so simple to make. They won’t heat up your kitchen, so they are perfect for summer time, and they are creamy and delicious, making them perfect for the rest of the year as well.
- Delicious Layers: Layered desserts like this one, and my Chocolate Lasagna are so enjoyable to eat because they offer a variety of textures and flavors all in one dish.
- Simple Ingredients: Things like instant pudding and cool whip are used in this recipe to create shortcuts that make this dessert lasagna recipe a cinch to put together.
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this dessert lasagna:
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
To create this delicious banana pudding lasagna, we’ll create a crust and then a filling that will be layered with sliced fresh bananas. It’s all topped with cool whip and peanuts!
- Nilla Wafers, Melted Butter, Vanilla Extract: These three items come together to make the base of our lasagna, which will be a sweet and crunchy Nilla wafer crust. Nilla wafers are also layered into the banana pudding lasagna.
- Cream Cheese: Two bricks of cream cheese, softened to room temperature start off our filling.
- Sugar: Regular granulated sugar is our sweetener.
- Whipping Cream: We will whip up the filling to make it nice and fluffy. Heavy cream allows us to whip air into the mixture.
- Instant Banana Pudding Mix and Milk: Milk activates the instant pudding mix to make it firm up. Be sure to buy “instant” pudding and not cook and serve.
- Bananas: For this recipe, use bananas that are ripe, but not overripe. You want them to be sweet, but still firm when you slice them.
- Cool Whip and Chopped Peanuts: Everyone’s favorite topping, cool whip is the perfect ending to this recipe. Chopped peanuts add an additional crunchy layer as well.
How to Make Banana Pudding Lasagna
- Make the Crust: Mix crushed vanilla wafers with melted butter and vanilla extract. Press the crumb mixture down evenly to cover the bottom of a 7×11 inch casserole dish.
- Cream: In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and sugar together. Add heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract and whip until incorporated and stiff peaks form. You can use a hand mixer or a whisk for this step.
- Make Pudding: In a separate bowl, whisk together banana pudding and whole milk. Let stand to thicken for 10 minutes. Then add the pudding to the bowl with the cream cheese, and fold to combine.
- Layer: Add half of the filling mixture to the crust in the casserole dish. Smooth the top, and layer banana slices to cover. Then, add a layer of Nilla wafers over the bananas. Once complete, repeat the process with the remaining ingredients, ending with Nilla wafers.
- Top: Cover the top with Cool Whip and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Tips for Making Banana Pudding Lasagna
Press The Crust: Just tossing the cookie crumb mixture into the pan won’t work, you need to really press it down to make a dense crust. Use your hands or the bottom of a heavy glass to help.
Use Vanilla Pudding: If you can’t find instant banana pudding, or just don’t prefer it, vanilla pudding is delicious in its place.
Buy Instant Pudding Mix: When buying pudding mix, look for the box that says “instant”. The type of pudding mix that needs to be cooked won’t work properly here.
Change the Toppings: If you don’t want peanuts, leave them out. Alternatively, you could substitute another chopped nut, or chopped toffee pieces instead. Lastly, add crushed Nilla wafers to the top for more crunch and texture.
Chill out: Don’t try to serve this dessert before it’s had time to set up in the fridge. A minimum of 4 hours chilling is required.
No Bake Dessert Making Tools
- Pyrex Mixing Bowls: There’s something about these clear glass mixing bowls that brings me back to baking with my mother. They are a must for me, even though I’ve tried other bowls, I still come back to these every time.
- Glass Pyrex Baking Dish: This 2 quart rectangular glass dish is perfect for this recipe.
- Hand Mixer: No need to use a fancy stand mixer when a hand mixer does the job just fine. I use this one from Kitchenaid.
- Measuring Cups and Spoons: This set from OXO is just so well designed! There are magnets in the handles so they stack and stick to each other perfectly.
FAQs
To get neat edges when serving, run a large knife under hot water before each slice. This will help it to melt through the layers rather than dragging them, giving you clean slices.
This banana pudding dessert is a perfect make-ahead treat. It needs at least 4 hours in the fridge anyways, so feel free to make it up to three days before you’re going to serve it.
I used a decorative dish for the images, but typically I use a 2 quart pyrex baking dish to make this recipe, and it measures 7×11 inches. You could also use a 9×9″ baking dish, or even a large pie plate for this recipe. It’s pretty forgiving that way.
Choose bananas that are ripe enough to eat, but not yet brown or mushy. This way you’ll have sweet slices of banana that will hold their shape in the no-bake banana pudding filling.
More Amazing Dessert Recipes to Try
I think that this recipe will take you back in time, and help you to impress your family and friends with a delicious dessert. It’s a win-win!
Banana Pudding Lasagna
Equipment
- 7×11 casserole dish (See Note 1)
Ingredients
For The Crust:
- 2 cups crushed nilla wafers
- 5 tablespoons melted salted butter
- 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For The Filling:
- 16 oz softened cream cheese
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup whole milk
- 1×3.4 oz package instant banana pudding mix
- 6 bananas sliced, Note 2
- 1×11 oz box nilla wafers
For The Topping:
- 4 ounces cool whip
- ¼ cup chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Mix crushed vanilla wafers with melted butter and vanilla extract. Press the crumb mixture down evenly to cover the bottom of a 7×11 inch casserole dish.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and sugar together. Add heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract and whip until incorporated and stiff peaks form. You can use a hand mixer or a whisk for this step.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together banana pudding and whole milk. Let stand to thicken for 10 minutes. Then add the pudding to the bowl with the cream cheese, and fold to combine.
- Add half of the filling mixture to the crust in the casserole dish. Smooth the top, and layer banana slices to cover. Then, add a layer of Nilla wafers over the bananas. Once complete, repeat the process with the remaining ingredients, ending with Nilla wafers.
- Cover the top with Cool Whip and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
- I used a decorative dish for the images, but typically I use a 2 quart pyrex baking dish to make this recipe, and it measures 7×11 inches. You could also use a 9×9 baking dish, or even a large pie plate for this recipe. It’s pretty forgiving that way.
- Choose bananas that are ripe enough to eat, but not yet brown or mushy. This way you’ll have sweet slices of banana that will hold their shape in the no-bake banana pudding filling.
- To get neat edges when serving, run a large knife under hot water before each slice. This will help it to melt through the layers rather than dragging them, giving you clean slices.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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