Instant Pot Banana Pudding—layers of Nilla wafers, bananas and homemade vanilla pudding with a generous amount of whipped cream on top. The from-scratch pudding is made with no stirring in your Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Banana Pudding
Each week in 2020 I’m sharing a recipe inspired by one of the 50 states. So far I’ve covered…
- Alabama
- Louisiana
- Utah
- Minnesota
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Hawaii
- South Carolina
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Alaska
- New Mexico
- West Virginia
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- South Dakota
- Pennsylvania
- Georgia
- North Dakota
- Missouri
See all the state recipes in one place.
Today’s recipe is inspired by the Volunteer State, Tennessee. Tennessee is known as The Volunteer State probably because of the prominent role played by volunteer soldiers from Tennessee during the War of 1812.
When I think of Tennessee I think of Nashville, country music, Dave Ramsey, the Smoky Mountains, hot chicken, Dolly Parton, Bluegrass music, the Grand Ole Opry, Graceland and Elvis Presley and nice Southern people. Greg is always saying if he didn’t live in Utah he would like to live in Tennessee on a big piece of property with lots of trees. We were able to visit Nashville last year for a few days and it was so fun!
Tennessee has lots of good foods to choose from like it’s famous hot chicken, biscuits, barbecue, catfish, country ham and all sorts of other southern delights. I chose to make banana pudding because (a) I love it, (b) I wanted to see if I could make pudding in the Instant Pot and (c) I had a barbecue to go to and I wanted to make something yummy to share.
Banana pudding is a layered dish with vanilla wafers, bananas, vanilla pudding and whipped cream or meringue topping. It is one of my most favorite non-chocolate desserts in the whole world. I told my family that I won’t be making banana cream pie anymore for Thanksgiving but I will be making this banana pudding dessert instead. It is twice as good and just as easy. Plus it serves a huge crowd!
How to make pudding in the Instant Pot
- Use the pot-in-pot method to make pudding in the Instant Pot. If you try to make it directly in the pot it will burn to the bottom. Get an oven safe dish that will fit inside your Instant Pot (I used this one*) and whisk together well the pudding ingredients.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the Instant Pot liner. Then lower the pudding pot onto a trivet in your Instant Pot.
- Cover the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 12 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- Remove the lid. The pudding will look bubbly and not smooth. Remove it from the pot and whisk some butter and vanilla into the pudding well until it is smooth.
- Refrigerate the pudding until ready to eat or serve it warm.
Tips for the best banana pudding
- Use the name brand vanilla wafers. I have tried it with generic brand and with the name brand and it is waaayy better with the name brand. I prefer the full size vanilla wafers over the mini vanilla wafers.
- Use bananas that are not green and not brown. The best bananas have just a few brown spots on them signifying that they are ripe and sweet but not mushy.
- Use whipped cream instead of Cool Whip.
- Refrigerate for a while. The flavors get better over time so if you can let the pudding sit for 6-8 hours it tastes better than if it had just sat there for 2 hours. The leftovers stay good in the fridge for up to 3 days.
More Instant Pot Dessert Recipes…
Instant Pot Oreo Cheesecake Bites
Instant Pot Raspberry Cheesecake Bites
Instant Pot Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Instant Pot Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Instant Pot Banana Pudding
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 15 servings 1x
Description
Layers of Nilla wafers, bananas and homemade vanilla pudding with a generous amount of whipped cream on top. The from scratch pudding is made with no stirring in your Instant Pot!
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 cups milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 Tbsp flour, sifted
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 (11 oz) box Nilla wafers
- 6–7 medium bananas, sliced into half inch slices
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Pot in pot pudding: In a pan that fits inside your Instant Pot (I used this one*) whisk together the egg yolks and milk. Then whisk in the salt, sugar and flour until smooth and without lumps. Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of your Instant pot. Place the pan on top of a sling/trivet* and lower the pan into your Instant Pot. Cover your Instant Pot and lock the lid into place. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes. When the time is up let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting and remove any remaining pressure. Remove the lid. Remove the pan from the Instant Pot. Whisk the pudding until smooth and creamy. Stir in the the vanilla and butter until it is melted. Set aside.
- Layer the pudding: In a 9×13 inch pan add one layer of Nilla wafers, one layer of bananas, one layer of Nilla wafers, one layer of bananas. Then pour the hot pudding over the top and use a rubber scraper to spread it evenly over the top.
- Refrigerate: Cover the pan with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate until it’s chilled (at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours).
- Whip the cream: Make whipped cream topping by beating the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- Serve: Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pudding. Scoop into bowls and serve.
Notes
Meringue Topping Option: Instead of whipped cream you can make a meringue topping and serve warm. After you pour the pudding over the top of the wafers and bananas whip e egg whites with an electric mixer set at high speed. Allow egg whites to foam, add 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar and then gradually add 1/4 cups of white sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue whipping until sugar is well-dissolved. Add 1 tsp of vanilla once stiff peaks have formed and whip until well-combined. Spread meringue over banana pudding, making sure to spread to the edges of the dish. Bake for about 25 minutes at 325° F until the meringue is lightly browned.
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.You can make this in an 8 quart pot.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I just made the pudding, and put it in the fridge, it was really runny, more like soup, hope it will get more solid in the fridge, but doubt it will get firm enough to call it pudding, sure hope I am wrong. I followed the recipe exactly and it was runny when done. Unless it firms up I won’t use this recipe again.
Did not like this recipe, the one using the yogurt setting make a far superior texture. the high heat of this recipes makes for a grainy, coarse pudding. Will not use this one again.
I sifted the flour and whisked the heck out of the pudding mixture (both before it went in the IP and after it came out). Still got tons of lumps and as a result, the pudding never quite became pudding. It was more of a cold soup. A delicious soup, but I wanted pudding. After making it, I saw this was a pretty common complaint, which makes me think this is a recipe issue and not an error on my part. It’s a shame, because the flavor really is great.
When halving it, do you suggest two egg yolks? One? A little difficult to do 1.5! Thank you! Looks so yummy.
Yes! That is what I would do!
I like a lot of the pudding mixture so I was wondering if the 3qt inner pot would hold a double batch of the pudding mixture? Because I def want to try this instead of standing over a double boiler stirring.
Yes I think it would totally fit in there.
Y’all, when I cut this recipe in half… are the cooking times changed? Thanks for the help.
Same cooking time for halved recipes! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-halve-instant-pot-recipes/
When you say “pot in pot” are you referring to the pot that came with the IP or putting another pot inside it?
I guess I’m confused because when I do pudding on the stove, I always use a double boiler.
Pot it pot is when you cook food inside another vessel inside your IP. See about it here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/pot-in-pot-method-explained/
This recipe turned out great! I also did not sift the flour and the pudding turned out lumpy… I scooped the lumps out and it was fine. I also used vanilla bean paste in place of the extract for the pudding and whipped cream. Great sub! You could taste the vanilla bean in there
The vanilla bean paste sounds great. I’ll have to find that next time I go to the grocery store.
I am reserving judgement until we eat the pudding after dinner. I had two problems. The pudding was very smooth going into a stainless steel pot, then into the instant pot. When I pulled it out after the times in the recipe, it seemed like the bottom was solid and the top loose and bubbling. I whisked like crazy, added the butter and vanilla, continued whisking but it never got smooth. I made the meringue topping. It seemed like I needed two or three more egg whites. I had a hard time getting the whole pudding thinly covered. In 10 minutes, the meringue was very brown. Do you think it was the stainless steel Ekovana bowl that caused the pudding to cook so unevenly? Was I supposed to put the lid on the bowl?
Sorry there were issues, Vesta. Did you use sifted flour? I don’t think the pan is the problem. And I left mine uncovered. How did it taste?
Made this and it was lumpy. Even used the mixer to try to get lumps out. Important to SIFT the flour (which I didn’t do cause I didn’t have a sifter) also to wish flour in slowly. Think I went to fast. Flavor was ok but texture was awful! I will try again tho cause I think I can make it work!
DANG!!! Yes, sifting flour will help and you’re right do it nice and slow and should be fine next time.
Do you use the 3 qt. pot or the 6qt? I only have the 6qt…. should be ok right?
Hi, I use the 6 quart pot!
If making the pudding on the stove, how long should I cook the pudding?
Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until ingredients are thickened and smooth. Probably around 10 minutes
Hi Karen
Want to make this gluten free…suggestions?
I haven’t tried this without the flour but here is a recipe that is gluten free and homemade… https://week99er.com/new/homemade-vanilla-pudding-recipe-glutenfree/
Best to wait for pudding to reach room temperature before putting a topping on it or putting it in the fridge (a cover when it is hot will collect “sweat” from the hot liquid, and the meringue will not “stick” to the pudding). Also after browning the meringue in the oven, let it reach room temperature before putting in fridge.
I would use 3 TBS flour for 3 cups liquid for the pudding.
Have never tried making pudding in instant pot thanks for the idea.
Martha Crutchfield, Memphis, TN
Thanks for the suggestions 😊
Sorry, not being critical but there is an error in the instructions for merangue. It says to use e egg whites. What should it say? Love your recipies and following you. I loveh aving discovered Instant Pot cooking~
Janice, you’d use the 3 gg whites from the 3 yolks in the recipe. 🙂
Yes Sabrina is right. Reserve the egg whites from earlier 😊
I haven’t made this but will. Thanks for posting the bowl you use inside the IP. I didn’t even think about the insert for smaller pot. Going to order one – now there will be more things I can use my IP for. I use it almost every day. Now that weather is getting warmer will be making lots of tea again.
It definitely comes in handy! 😊
Dear Karen, Karen, Karen,
Please, if you could, come up with a low sugar (diabetic) version of your wonderful Tennessee InstaPot Banana Pudding. I have memories of my Mom making this when I was a kid. It is so good! Also, any cobbler style recipes would be appreciated (low sugar) by all I’m sure. The Banana Pudding recipe here would surely place me in a diabetic coma, not good.
Thank you so much,
James S
Hi James, I would suggest using sugar free vanilla pudding from a box. Then find wafers that are sugar free or low sugar. Make the pudding according to package directions on the stove. Whip the cream without the sugar. Layer in a dish. This definitely won’t taste as good but it won’t put you into sugar shock!
This looks so good and am anxious to try it. There are only 2 of us so I would like to half the recipe. Would I just half the ingredients and cook it the same amount of time?
Yes that’s exactly what I would do!
You are bing brave with this series. I am English so I look with variable interest but I sometimes think what a similar thing would be here in England, Britain with Counties a fraction of the size of your various States and imagine the Civil war (that is our Civil War) starting again.
Lol! People do get a little territorial and particular with recipes and food.
What oven temp for meringue?
325, thank you I forgot to add that in.
The only thing that could make this better is using the egg whites for a meringue topping like my mama used to make.
Sounds like you had a good mama! I put meringue topping option in the notes of the recipe 😊