Description
Sliced bananas, fluffy, creamy vanilla pudding, and golden brown gluten-free vanilla wafer cookies pack this gluten-free banana pudding recipe with all the classic flavor you love–simply made gluten-free!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cups ice cold water or cold whole milk
- 1 (3.4 ounce) package Jello Instant Pudding*
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 4-6 just ripe bananas, sliced (about 4 cups slices)*
- 2 (6.3 ounce) boxes gluten-free vanilla wafers (I use Kinnikinnick)
Instructions
- 3-4 Hours In Advance, Make The Pudding. In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), combine cold water (or whole milk) and sweetened condensed milk. Add pudding mix and whip with a whisk, hand mixer, or a whisk attachment for 2-3 minutes, or until the pudding mix is completely dissolved.
- Chill Pudding 3-4 Hours, AT LEAST. Transfer the pudding mixture to an airtight container (or cover the bowl) and chill at LEAST 3-4 hours (up to overnight). Do NOT skip the chilling step, or your pudding mixture will turn out runny!
- Whip The Cream. Add cold cream and vanilla bean paste to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a glass or metal mixing bowl). Whip 3-5 minutes on medium speed, until the whipped cream reaches stiff peaks. (If you pick up some whipped cream on a beater or whisk attachment and rotate it around, the whipped cream should hold its shape.)
- Mix In Pudding. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and fold in the pudding mixture a dollop at a time until fully and evenly blended.
- Layer The Pudding. Set aside 4-5 cookies for garnish. In a large, wide glass bowl (like a trifle bowl!), or a 9×13 pan, add 1/3 of the gluten-free cookies. Top with a layer of sliced bananas (1/3 of the bananas), a layer of the pudding mixture (1/3 of the pudding mixture), and repeat this process twice. (1/3 cookies, 1/3 bananas, 1/3 pudding, 1/3 cookies, 1/3 bananas, 1/3 pudding), finishing with the final 1/3 of the pudding mixture.
- Cover & Chill 4-6 Hours. Next, cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill 4-6 hours in the refrigerator. (Ideally, the cookies should be soft!) Right before serving, garnish with the reserved cookies (you can leave them whole or crumble them like I do!) Feel free to garnish individual servings with additional whipped cream and sliced bananas, if desired.
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If you prefer to make individual servings rather than a large trifle, you’ll simply re-create these layers on a smaller scale in twelve mini trifle dishes, small glasses, or 8-ounce dessert cups. I find it’s easier to do 2 layers of each ingredient in small cups rather than trying for 3.
Notes
- Bananas. I recommend JUST ripe bananas (possibly even with a tiny touch of green). Do not use spotty or brown bananas, or they’ll get mushy and brown quickly in this pudding. Just ripe bananas (bright, clear yellow) work best.
- Pudding. I recommend Jello brand pudding since it works so consistently and is gluten-free. If you use another brand, be sure it’s gluten-free!
- Want A More Traditional Presentation? You can set aside 1 heaping cup of the whipped cream before folding the rest of the whipped cream into the pudding. Top the finished trifle with the reserved whipped cream before sprinkling with the reserved vanilla wafers & a few fresh banana slices right before serving.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Chill Time: 8 hours
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No-Bake
- Cuisine: American
