Dairy-Free Banana Cream Pie! Made with REAL dairy-free vanilla pudding. Nobody will ever guess this pie is dairy-free! Easily gluten-free using gluten-free pie crust.
It’s time to think about Thanksgiving pies! Hooray! Are you a banana cream pie lover? Banana cream pie usually made an appearance at my house for Thanksgiving growing up.
It was nothing fancy – the kind of banana cream pie made with boxed pudding and cool whip. It always seemed like an afterthought pie and the answer to “what should we do with this extra pie crust?”
I hadn’t had banana cream pie for years until I developed this recipe for homemade dairy-free vanilla pudding. This pudding is so creamy and delicious it definitely surpasses any boxed pudding – dairy or not.
No more afterthought banana cream pie – this one is a showstopper!
The dairy-free pudding is what I like to call real deal pudding. Like the chocolate pudding in this Chocolate Pudding Pretzel Pie, it is made with traditional pudding ingredients. No weird ingredients like avocado or tofu here!
You can use any precooked pie crust you like for this pie. Just be sure it is cooked and totally cool before filling. This pie is best eaten a few hours after it’s made. That way the bananas will be fresh and the crust will still be crisp. To save time on Thanksgiving I would recommend making the crust in advance.
I like to top this pie with So Delicious Coconut Whipped Cream. Nobody will ever guess it’s dairy-free!
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Dairy-Free Banana Cream Pie {Gluten-Free}
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Pudding:
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 4 egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 3 Tablespoons Earth Balance Vegan Butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
For the Pie:
- 1 cooked pie crust of choice, gluten-free if needed
- 2-3 bananas, sliced
- 1 container coconut cool whip, I use So Delicious CocoWhip
Instructions
- Prebake the pie crust and allow to cool completely.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks and salt. While whisking, slowly about ½ cup of the almond milk.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the remaining almond milk. Cook while whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble. Once bubbling, cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the pudding is thick an coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vegan butter and vanilla extract. Let pudding cool for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Place a layer of bananas along the bottom of the pie crust. Pour over the cooled pudding. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until set.
- Top with coconut cool whip and more bananas. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
You might also like this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pretzel Pie!
Dawn Adele says
Adding the eggs right away, cooked the egg yolks. Even though we started with a low temp, and increased slowly, the egg yolks cooked. So to salvage, we had to pour through a metal strainer to remove the cooked egg yolks. Also, I felt 4 egg yolks were too much, so we just added 3, and that worked fine. Also, only added a tablespoon of Earth Balance. Concerned 3 tablespoons would make it too runny and too buttery. Once we tweeked the recipe and strained the pudding, it came out pretty good. In the future, I would cook the sugar, cornstarch, salt and almond milk, till it bubbled and thickened, take off heat and add a little at a time of hot mixture to beaten egg yolks, so they don’t cook. Once you’ve warmed up the yolks with a few tablespoons of hot mixture, stirring constantly and doing this very slowly, then you can add egg mixture to your hot mix, return to a low heat to incorporate well, then take off heat and add butter replacement and vanilla. I also laid a piece of parchment paper right on top of the hot mixture, once it was strained and in a new container, so no film could form. Let it cool, about 20 minutes, then sliced bananas, put on crust and then add cooled pudding/custard mix. Hope this helps others, so you don’t cook your eggs too.
Pamela says
is there a way to make this eggless? will flax eggs work?
Erin Collins says
Unfortunately the eggs are needed for this recipe. There is not replacement. Sorry about that!
Kathy says
Can I use rice milk as a substitute? My son has severe soy and nut allergy.
Erin Collins says
Yes I think that should work great!
madeline says
I am allergic to nuts, would coconut or oat milk work instead of almond milk?
Erin Collins says
Coconut milk would work great! I would use light canned coconut milk if you have it.
Christine Cech says
Hi it looks good to me thanks for have a dairy free banana cream pie make me feel good inside of my heart