Magnolia Bakery’s Famous Banana Pudding
For my family, this is hands-down the most delicious Banana Pudding! Best of all, this Magnolia Bakery’s famous banana pudding is super easy to make and can also be made ahead! Just mix then layer the pudding with vanilla wafer cookies and bananas and you have one fantastic-tasting dessert that everyone will rave about!
Love banana desserts? Be sure to check out these tried-and-tested, scrumptious sweet banana treats, like our Best Banana Pecan Cake, coconut and lemon-flavored Coconut Banana Loaf, our Filipino favorite Bananas Cooked in Sweet Syrup (Minatamis na Saging) and our fabulous Easy Frosted Banana Bars with cream cheese frosting.
We live about 78 miles away from New York City. If you’re an American, that’s not too far at all. Time-wise and assuming there’s not too much traffic, that’s only about 1 1/2 hours by car.
There was a time when we managed to reach Manhattan in exactly 1 hour! No we didn’t disobey traffic rules and went over the speed limit – in fact we carried on as usual? Guess what, it was even in the middle of winter!
Do you know why we managed to do so? Well, because the weather forecasters got the weather prediction totally wrong that day! They forecasted that there would be tons of snow over that weekend and advised everyone to stay at home. Saturday and Sunday came and not a single drop of snow came! Can you believe that? So off we went to New York that Sunday and since we were pretty much the only ones on the road – there was zero traffic and we arrived in Manhattan in one hour!
Now, that is one for the record books!
Anyway, let me get back to the topic of this post.
Since we’re often in New York City it was inevitable that we got acquainted with the world-famous Magnolia Bakery. Yes, it’s so popular that they even have a branch in my own city – Manila (technically outside Manila in Taguig City but that is part of Metro Manila anyway!).
The iconic product that they are famous for is their banana pudding! People from around the world wait in line for this creamy and delicious dessert!
I know because we once lined for nearly an hour for this. I initially thought, what’s the big fuss here?
Then I finally got to taste this totally scrumptious pudding and my tastebuds were blown away! Ever since that day, my family and I, whenever we’re in New York, we never fail to get a tub or two of this magnificent and famous – Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding!
I googled the recipe and boy was I glad that they actually have shared their yummy Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding publicly!
And now, I share it with you so you can enjoy it anytime you crave a fluffy, delicious and oh-s0-creamy banana pudding! Enjoy!
Why You Would Love This Recipe
You would love the famous Magnolia Bakery recipe for Banana Pudding because it is a decadent and creamy dessert with layers of sweet vanilla pudding, fresh banana slices, and crisp vanilla wafer cookies. The combination of textures and flavors from the rich pudding, ripe bananas, and crunchy wafers creates an irresistible treat. It’s a classic Southern dessert that Magnolia Bakery has perfected and made famous, with its version being praised for its perfect balance of sweetness and creaminess. The pudding is made with sweetened condensed milk instead of regular milk, giving it an extra luscious and indulgent taste. Overall, it’s a crowd-pleasing, nostalgic dessert that showcases simple but delicious flavors in an addictive layered format.
INGREDIENTS for Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1½ cups ice cold water
- 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix (Jell-O brand is recommended)
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 11 oz box vanilla wafers (Nabisco Nilla Wafers are recommended)
- 5 ripe bananas, sliced
HOW TO MAKE Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding
Whisk together the cold water and sweetened condensed milk in a medium-sized bowl. In a separate bowl, pour in the pudding mix and begin to slowly whisk in the liquid mixture (water with condensed milk), until it is smooth with no lumps, about one minute. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour until it’s firm, or leave overnight.
Using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until it starts to thicken, then increase the speed until stiff peaks form. Add your pudding mixture to the whipped cream and whisk until there are no streaks of pudding in the mixture.
In a trifle or wide glass bowl, spread one-quarter of the pudding over the bottom and place a layer with one-third of the cookies as well as about 1 to 1 1⁄2 of the sliced bananas to cover the full layer. Continue the process until complete, ending with one final layer of pudding and a garnish of some of the remaining wafers.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for four to six hours. It’s recommended to serve the dessert within 12 hours.
Magnolia Bakery’s Famous Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1½ cups ice cold water
- 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix (Jell-O brand is recommended)
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 11 oz box vanilla wafers (Nabisco Nilla Wafers are recommended)
- 5 ripe bananas, sliced
Instructions
- Whisk together the cold water and sweetened condensed milk in a medium-sized bowl. In a separate bowl, pour in the pudding mix and begin to slowly whisk in the liquid mixture (water with condensed milk), until it is smooth with no lumps, about one minute. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour until it's firm, or leave overnight.
- Using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until it starts to thicken, then increase the speed until stiff peaks form.
- Add your pudding mixture to the whipped cream and whisk until there are no streaks of pudding in the mixture.
- In a trifle or wide glass bowl, spread one-quarter of the pudding over the bottom and place a layer with one-third of the cookies as well as about 1 to 1 1⁄2 of the sliced bananas to cover the full layer. Continue the process until complete, ending with one final layer of pudding and a garnish of some of the remaining wafers.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for four to six hours. It's recommended to serve the dessert within 12 hours.
Last updated on October 16th, 2025 at 10:11 pm
I’ve have been making this recipe for years and everyone loves it. It’s absolutely delicious!
Delicious indeed! Thank you!
The ABSOLUTELY BEST banana pudding recipe EVER!!! I substituted the vanilla flavor for banana creme. It came out AMAZING!!!
Yay! I’m so happy you enjoyed this! Thank you so much for letting us know.
You have such a great website. I normal NEVER subscribe to website, but I did to yours. I live in NYC, and I also have waited in line for this heaven in a dish treat. Once I almost missed my LIRR train at Moynihan Train Hall just to get banana pudding for the ride out to Long Island. Thankfully I just made the train. The conductor saw me running and saw the Magnolia bag in my hand. He said “Only reason I opened the door is because I saw the bag. You must be late because you were getting banana pudding.” I said “Thank you for opening back up. Yep it’s the best!”
So Cheers on sharing the recipe!
I’m about to start making it here in a few minutes.
Awesome! Hope you enjoy the recipe and thank you for stopping by.
I used eagle brand fat free sweetened condensed milk, and sugar free pudding. And added a tsp of banana flavoring to the whipped cream. It was amazing! A new favorite.
So glad you loved this! Such a yummy recipe!
I made this and it was the best bananas pudding!!!
It’s absolutely our favorite and so glad you enjoyed this!
This is the best banana pudding I have ever had or made. Family went nuts over it. It is a great dessert to take to a gathering, it makes enough to feed an army.
Yay! Glad you enjoyed it. It’s truly good!
My daughter loves this and makes it for us when she fancies it. So delicious and tried and tested!
The vanilla wafers in the pictures are not Nilla wafers what kind are those. Where can I buy then or a recipe for them.
I have made this a few times and I have used Nilla wafers (please see older photos). I use Nilla wafers or something similar depending on what I have at hand. You can use Nilla or a similar type cookie even the chessman cookies. Because the newer photos are photographed in a smaller receptacle we had to use smaller but similar style of cookies or wafers. Enjoy the yummy pudding.
Made this for our Memorial Day cookout. It got rave reviews!! I didn’t own a truffle bowl but my family didn’t seem to care. Wonderful plus it’s easy.
AMAZING…..im from Enterprise,Al. Al.This dessert is a must have in my home. I made couple of changes to mine. Instead of vanilla pudding try FRENCH VANILLA pudding and I added block of cream cheese and it takes it to another level.
Sounds yummy with that addition! Thank you for letting us know.
I admit, the water and condensed milk threw me, but I wanted to trust the process. I have Madagascar vanilla and it is such a premium flavor I decided to add it. I think the recipe itself is wonderful, but the vanilla in the whipping cream pudding concoction, **chef’s kiss”. What an easy tasty recipe! Now if I only had a beautiful trifle bowl, I dont think the fam will mind! Love this recipe, going in my collection! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed this! It’s absolutely fabulous!
Nice ‘n easy. I grated Salted Caramel Kitkat on the top, just for fun!
I’ll make it again, but I might use chocolate wafers next time. The vanilla wafers are about the same colour as the pudding mix and bananas, so althought the flavour was good it needed some colour (in my opinion).
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
from Laurel in Cape Town, South Africa
Glad you enjoyed this! Love the idea of caramel kitkats!
I’m making this in a 19×11 foil pan. Do you think 3 recipes will be enough?
I haven’t done it that way so I’m not sure. But even if there’s leftover, this is so good that any extra you can leave for yourself or serve as well. Are you doing the recipe 3x or just multiplying it? I cannot guarantee the results for simply multiplying the ingredients by 3 as I haven’t done that so I don’t know. If done per batch and simply mixing them, I think it should work. Enjoy!