I originally made this gorgeous pie for Thanksgiving 3 years ago, but I say, why not make a creamy chilled pie in the summer?! If you’ve made any of my pie recipes in the past (my dutch apple is a must for this fall) you know that I don’t mess around when it comes to an incredible homemade pie.
This is truly the most amazing banana cream pie recipe you’ll ever make. It’s deliciously rich, perfectly sweet, and has a peanut butter cookie crust that is everything you need and more. I know making a chilled pie like this can seem intimidating, but trust me when I say it’s WAY easier to make than you think! Check out Episode 2 of my YouTube series, Good Mood Comfort Food HERE to see how it’s done.
Surprise friends and family for birthdays, holidays, and “just because” with a dessert that’s guaranteed to turn heads and draw people in for seconds!
What is banana cream pie?
If you’ve never had banana cream pie before OMG get ready to fall in love. Old-fashioned banana cream pie is basically a buttery pie crust layered with fresh bananas, a thick vanilla pudding/custard mixture, and topped with whipped cream. There aren’t actually any banans in the filling!
My world’s best banana cream pie recipe jazzes up the traditional version by using an epic peanut butter cookie crust. Plus, we’re skipping the boxed pudding often found in the middle and making our own vanilla filling. SO GOOD.
Tools you’ll need
Making banana cream pie from scratch is a bit of an art and science, so you’ll need the right tools:
- Good whisk
- Large saucepan
- Small pot
- Springform pan or pie pan
- Food processor
- Spatula
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Pie server
Get all of our go-to kitchen essentials here!
Ingredients in this banana cream pie recipe
Homemade banana cream pie may look intimidating to make, but the ingredients are actually fairly simple. You’ll need:
- For the filling: the vanilla custard filling is made with whole milk (or 2% milk), egg yolks, granulated sugar, cornstarch for thickening, salt, bourbon or scotch (optional, but delicious), vanilla extract, and butter. You’ll also need fresh bananas to slice and layer on the bottom.
- For the crust: my special peanut butter cookie crust is made with nutter butters and some melted butter. So easy!
- For topping: skip the cool whip this time — gotta have that fresh whipped cream! It’s made with heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Learn how to make perfect homemade whipped cream here!
- To garnish: I love topping my pie with cute chocolate curls from a dark chocolate bar, but see below for even more ways to customize.
Make your banana cream pie with different types of crust
Although I’m truly obsessed with the flavor in the peanut butter cookie crust (peanut butter lovers, rejoice) you have plenty of options for making a crust:
- Feel free to use a regular pie crust like my homemade all-butter pie crust for a more traditional banana cream pie. Be sure to blind-bake the crust first as you will not be baking the pie after adding the filling (like in apple or pumpkin pies). Get all of my tips for doing a blind bake with pie weights or dried beans in this video!
- Try using other cookies for a different flavored cookie crust! Oreo, a vanilla wafer, or a graham cracker crust would be amazing.
A note on substitutions
I know I’ll get a variety of questions like how to make this banana cream pie vegan or gluten free, but unfortunately, this is the only way I’ve tested the pie and it is a tried & true recipe. It is an indulgent dessert that’s perfect for special occasions! I cannot recommend a vegan substitute, but let me know if you have a favorite gluten free crust option that you try.
How to make banana cream pie from scratch
Now that you have all of your ingredients, it’s time to layer this baby up. These are the basics, but be sure to read each instruction in the actual recipe at the bottom of the post very carefully to ensure success:
- Prep your pan. You’ll start by greasing a 9-inch springform pan or a deep dish pie pan.
- Make & add the crust. Next, pulse the nutter butters in your food processor, add melted butter, and pulse again until combined. The mixture will be like wet sand (and this will be your “pie dough!”), and you’ll then pour it into your pan. Press into the bottom and sides so that a nice crust forms — using a small measuring cup can help!
- Bake & cool. Bake the crust for just about 10 minutes, then let it cool completely.
- Mix the filling. While the crust is cooling, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large saucepan until smooth.
- Heat & add the milk. Add milk to a separate, small pot and bring it to a slight simmer without boiling it. Once it starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and whisk 1/3 cup of hot milk into your egg mixture. Whisk it well so that the milk doesn’t turn the yolks into scrambled eggs! Continue with the rest of the milk.
- Finish the filling. Place the pan over medium heat and keep whisking until the mixture gets warm, slightly boils, and starts to thicken. Pay attention as this can happen quickly. Once it has a custard-like texture, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla, bourbon & butter.
- Assemble & chill the pie. Add banana slices to the bottom of the cooled pie crust, and then pour the filling on top. Smooth it so that it’s well distributed, then cover with plastic wrap so that it touches the filling and refrigerate for 2-4 hours until cold. That’s right, instead of baking we’re just chilling the pie before serving!
- Add whipped cream & serve. When you’re about ready to serve, make your whipped cream and then evenly spread it all over the cold pie filling. Garnish with chocolate curls or your fav toppings and devour!
Delicious ways to make this banana cream pie your own
Besides choosing your favorite pie crust, you can easily make this banana cream pie your own by:
- Adding a layer of peanut butter to the bottom of the crust before adding the bananas
- Dusting the top with cocoa powder
- Drizzling homemade salted caramel on top (my peanut butter caramel would be amazing)
- Sprinkling the top with toasted coconut
How to store banana cream pie
Store any leftover banana cream pie loosely covered with plastic wrap or foil in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Make it ahead of time
You can easily make one or both parts of the banana cream pie 1-2 days ahead of time to save time on the day of holiday festivities.
- To make pie crust ahead of time: after baking the pie crust, simply store it covered in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble and chill the rest of the pie.
- To make filling ahead of time: once you’ve mixed the whole filling together, cover the filling with plastic wrap so that the plastic is touching the top of the filling (to prevent air from getting in) and chill the filling in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble the pie. You can also make the whipped cream topping ahead of time and store it in an airtight container until you’re ready to add it to the pie!
More cakes and pies you’ll love
- Deep Dish French Silk Pie with Hazelnut Oreo Cookie Crust
- Salted Butterscotch Zucchini Coffee Cake
- Tony’s Very Favorite Dutch Apple Pie
- The Best Tart Cherry Pie You’ll Ever Eat
- Damn Good Peanut Butter Banana Cake (gluten free, grain free)
Get all of our delicious dessert recipes here!
Good Mood Comfort Food
I hope you love this amazing banana cream pie recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
World's Best Banana Cream Pie
Ingredients
- For the filling:
- 2 cups (480g) whole milk (or sub 2%)
- 4 large egg yolks
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (32g) cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon bourbon or scotch (optional, but recommend)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 2-3 large ripe bananas, sliced
- For the peanut butter cookie crust:
- 20-25 nutter butters*
- ¼ cup (57g) melted butter
- For the topping:
- 16 ounces (1 pint) heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- To garnish:
- Dark chocolate for chocolate curls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray or melted butter. This creates such a gorgeous pie but you can also use a regular deep dish pie pan to make this pie too!
- Start by making the crust: Place cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse for 1-2 minutes or until cookies are finely crushed. Add in melted butter and process again until well combined.
- Dump the mixture into the prepared pie pan and press into the bottom and side evenly. It should come up at least an inch to an inch and a half on the sides. Sometimes I find it helpful to use a small measuring cup to help set the crust firmly and get the crumbs up the side of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. FYI: The crust will need to be somewhat cool to the touch before you can add the filling.
- To make the filling: In a large saucepan, mix the yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt until well combined and thick. It may take some time to get it all combined but the mixture should be silky smooth once you’re done.
- Next, add milk to a small pot and bring to a slight simmer. Do not boil the milk. You just want it to start to slightly bubble and simmer along the edges. Remove from heat once simmering and immediately whisk in ⅓ cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture, keep whisking as we don’t want the eggs to curdle! You’ll need to be quick. Slowly whisk in the rest of the hot milk and continue to whisk.
- After all the milk is whisked into the pan with the egg mixture, immediately place the pan over medium heat and continue to whisk, ensuring that you get the sides and edges of the pan. Once the mixture starts to get warm and slightly boils, it may thicken VERY quickly so you must pay attention closely. Once the mixture thickens to be custard-like or almost like a thick peanut butter (which shouldn’t take that long), you can immediately remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, bourbon and butter; stirring until well combined.
- Next add banana slices all over the bottom of the pie crust so that they are touching. Pour the filling into the cooled cookie pie crust and smooth the top. Cover with plastic wrap so that it touches the filling and refrigerate for 2-4 hours or until cold.
- Once pie and filling are cold and you are ready to serve, make the whipped cream topping: Add heavy whipped cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand mixer!); beat on high until cream reaches stiff peaks. Taste and add additional sugar if necessary and mix once more.
- Evenly spread whipped cream over pie filling, then garnish with dark chocolate shavings or dust pie with a little cocoa powder. Serves 9-12, depending on how large you cut the slices. Pie will stay fresh for a few days if properly covered and stored in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on November 12th, 2021, and republished on August 17th, 2024.
Amazing recipe, and pretty easy! I substituted butter butters with gluten free cashew butter chocolate”Oreos”, and instead of bourbon I put a shot of banana liquor in the filling. SOOO DELICIOUS!! Next time I make this I want to try using my local farm’s banana milk instead of plain whole milk for the filling.
Thank you!
Sounds amazing! Glad you loved it!
Do you have any idea how many grams the nutter butters are? My store only had the bite size ones!
Hi! It should be about 280-300g!
I made this with a regular pie crust, and added some banana syrup to the custard and to the whipped cream topping. I added another 1/2 TSP of vanilla extract too. This is the best Banana Cream pie I’ve ever had in my life. There’s no way I’m ever ordering this in a restaurant again. This was absolute perfection. This is so good, it should be illegal. At least that is what my diet would say. 🤣 THANK YOU!!!
This is a lovely recipe, and I make it with sugar substitute. I like how easy it is, and I use this recipe regularly. I substitute banana flavoring for half the vanilla. I also use monkfruit/allulose instead of sugar. For the topping I use zero calorie Cool Whip. I also use Marie Callendars deep dish crust.
I’m glad those swaps work out well!
My husband’s favorite pie is banana cream. This is the only recipe I ever have and will make. Insanely good. Feels easy to me, even though it involves stove top custard (really not bad and totally worth it). My trick: add a dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt to the whipped cream. Subtle flavor, stabilizes it so it stays beautiful and fluffy on top — assuming you don’t eat the pie in one sitting (hard not to).
So happy to hear that! Great tip for the whipped cream, too!
I was having a bake-off for Friendsgiving and was unsure of what to make. I did a trial run with several other recipes (which failed) and came across this one. It was so easy to follow and looked delicious so I made it. IT WAS A HIT AND I WON THE BAKE-OFF. It was light and airy and I could eat the whole thing without getting sick of it. I swapped out the sugar for monk fruit and worked perfectly. She also said you can use your favorite cookie for the crust. Personally the nutter butter crust was slightly too sweet so I will try to use a different cookie next time but if you liked sweet crusts then it’s perfect! Everyone said it was delicious and asked for the recipe. I sent the link to this website! Can’t wait to try more of her desserts. Thank you!!!!!
Amazing!! So happy this was a hit!
We made this pie this past weekend for a family gathering and decided next time we make it, we’re going to tweak the recipe a bit. Three of my sisters and I thought the whipped cream topping tasted flat and a little too much like whipping cream straight out of the container. We felt it needed a step up in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Everyone loved the Nutter Butter crust, but thought it was too thin and would shine more with an additional 50% of crust added. We used banana extract instead of vanilla which gave the filling a nice, but not overwhelming, banana flavor. I like a suggestion on a previous post of cutting and blending or folding bananas into the filling. That would distribute the banana into each bite,
Great tips! Let me know how they go next time!
Just when I thought banana cream pie couldn’t get any better, Monique gave it a nutter butter crust. This might be my new favorite dessert.
The best!! So glad you loved it 🙂
This was an amazing pie. So simple, yet so delicious. As far as banana creme pies go, this is one of the best. I definitely recommend the optional bourbon as well in the creme.
For the recipe, I was initially a bit confused as to why you would mix the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan, but once understanding that the milk mixture and the yolks eventually get heated together to thicken the creme, it all made sense. I also used about 30 nutter butters in order to get that full “deep dish” experience.
Thank you for the recipe. It will definitely be made again.
The technique is definitely different than with other pies, but it all comes together! So glad you loved it!
So glad I found this recipe. Going to try it out for my brother’s Thanksgiving dinner party.
Amazing! I hope everyone loved it 🙂
I’m, surprised you use salted butter. I went to culinary school in France and we were taught NEVER, EVER use salted butter, especially with pastries. I made this recipe and it was good, but I did not use salted butter. In fact, I don’t ever buy salted butter.
It’s just my preference as I think it adds more flavor 🙂
This was a great recipe and very yummy! Followed the recipe exactly, and everything came out perfectly. Easy but still from scratch and so so good. The crust is such a great addition.
Love it! Such a great homemade dessert!
I have made this pie twice. First time 9 inch with gluten free graham cracker crust and the second time 6 inch gluten free vanilla wafer crust. Both were great but gf graham crackers taste better than gf vanilla wafers.
Amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
Made this today. It was a hit! Very easy to make. Had to make it gluten free so I used gluten free cookies for the crust but added Pb&me powder, 1 tbsp peanut butter and 3 tbsp melted butter. Instead of regular whipped cream I used coconut cream… it was delicious. I will definitely be making this again!
Perfect! So glad everyone loved it!
Ohhh yeah. This pie is awesome. Nutter butter crust is a winner. I drizzled the recommended “peanut butter caramel” on top, and it is delicious!
Love it!!
This pie was ok. Personally I don’t believe the Nutter Butter cookie crust added much to the pie. I don’t think it was worth the additional calories over a simple graham cracker or flour crust.
Sorry to hear that it wasn’t a hit! I find the nutter butters to add a lovely peanut butter flavor with the banana, but you can absolutely choose your favorite type of crust.
This was delicious! I messaged for clarification— you do use the whole Nutter Butter, filling and all, for the crust! I took her rec and added a thin layer of PB under the bananas and ended up adding another 1-2 tbsp of sugar to the whipped cream to make it a little sweeter. It was a hit for my BP/ Banana pudding loving husband and dad!
Perfect! So glad everyone loved it!