Favorite Banana Cream Pie

Name: Favorite Banana Cream Pie
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 8 servings.
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; 1/4 cup cornstarch; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 3 cups 2% milk; 2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 3 tablespoons butter; 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 pie crust (9 inches), baked; 2 large firm bananas; 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Homemade banana cream pie is my mom’s specialty, and this dreamy dessert has a wonderful banana flavor. It looks so pretty, and it cuts easily, too. —Jodi Grable, Springfield, Missouri

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups 2% milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 pie crust (9 inches), baked
2 large firm bananas
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Directions

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into eggs; return all to pan. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer.
Remove from heat. Gently stir in butter and vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard; refrigerate, covered, 30 minutes.
Spread half of the custard into crust. Slice bananas; arrange over filling. Pour remaining custard over bananas. Spread with whipped cream. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.

Nutrition Facts

1 piece: 472 calories, 26g fat (14g saturated fat), 117mg cholesterol, 353mg sodium, 55g carbohydrate (35g sugars, 1g fiber), 7g protein.

Originally published as Banana Cream Pie in Taste of Home December/January 2006

Reviews

My Review

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Average Rating:

Alexandra

Jul 30, 2018

Giving a review solely to negate the bad reviews from people who didn't cook the custard properly. It's simply a matter of patience. When you feel the initial mixture become the texture of Elmer's glue, then you know it's time to add the eggs. If you do that, you will end up with a perfectly stable, non-runny pie. This might require more than 2 minutes to achieve, but that doesn't mean this recipe is flawed. Literally the only adjustments I made were to swap out half of the vanilla for banana flavoring and put an additional layer of bananas on the bottom, but this is one of the best pies I've ever made. I have to bring two to family events now because just one isn't enough!
Peggy

Jun 28, 2018

This is a delicious summertime dessert. I used 2/3 cup sugar after reading comments below about the custard tasting overly sweet and comparing this recipe to the one in the Joy of Cooking. I love the ease of the recipe--I was committed to it after seeing it used two whole eggs rather six egg yolks. As far as the question about thickening the custard--trust science--the ingredients will react as their chemistry requires. Just stir until the stirring feels different, heavier, resistant. I used a frozen baked pie crust and it worked beautifully. Another comment I have is that I served after chlling it only 3.5 hours. It tasted delicious, but was messy to cut and serve. Later, when I sent pieces home with our dinner guests, I noticed the difference. (oh, and we are all light eaters, so don't take the fact that we didn't gobble down the complete pie as evidence that the pie was less than tasty and enjoyable) Highly recommended!
Kristii

May 1, 2018

Haven't made it, but the recipe calls for a baked pie crust, while the photo shows what appears to be a graham cracker crust.
Mary

Apr 23, 2018

I made this today using the recipe and it came out delicious! I should have read the review first before making for the sugar comments (too sweet). I will cut sugar in 1/2 next time, but it still taste yummy. Also as for review from Saucisse, yes it does take a while for the mixture to thicken; took me 25 minutes. But super easy recipe and delicious. I will make this for my next potluck, and be proud to serve it.
Em

Mar 14, 2018

Made this today. I didn’t read the reviews before I made this, so I made it without any changes. It turned out great. It’s the way a real pudding pie with bananas should taste. No artificial ingredients. This is not gonna taste like the artificially flavored “crap” you make from one of those tiny boxes. Just follow the directions as written, especially the egg instructions, and just keep stirring and cooking until you see that it thickens.
Christine

Mar 14, 2018

Custard was too sweet for my taste. Some of the other reviewers said the custard was too thin. Mine would have been had I not cooked it much longer than specified. I also used an additional banana in the filling and stood the slices on end in the custard rather than in a single layer. Hopefully it will increase the amount of banana flavor.Addendum;I think the recipe is perhaps geared to experienced bakers. Had I never cooked a custard for pie before or had never whipped cream often I would have not cooked it long enough nor had known to add powdered sugar and vanilla to the cream. I too would ended up with a mess like others. If I make it again I will cut back on the sugar in the custard and stir in an unflavored gelatin slurry to the whipped cream so it doesn't break so quickly.
Ashley

Jan 5, 2018

I can't give this rating a 1, but I probably should. I printed out this recipe years ago because I love banana cream pie and I wanted something more authentic than using pudding. I don't know what happened, but I remember the first time I made it, it seemed to come out ok and was solid and edible as a pie. Though every time I've gone to make this pie since then, it has failed. Every. Single. Time! After looking up other custard recipes, this recipe is just not right. I'm sad to say I can't enjoy this recipe as is, because in order for it to work, it has to be tweaked! There is way too much milk used, only egg yolks should be used, the cornstarch and the egg yolks should be mix together first before mixing it with everything else, and after everything is combined, you really need to make sure it boils long enough to be able to thicken! I too was disappointed in the lack of banana flavor, so I add some banana pudding mix into it to get some banana flavor in there. I wonder if there is banana flavoring? Anyway, I end up getting a great flavor, but it's not good for pie. It makes for a great stand alone pudding to eat out of a bowl, or it could be fun as a dessert trifle. Good luck!
~Birdy

Dec 16, 2017

I've made allot of pies, and often change the recipes up a little. This one I decided to follow, and it turned out amazing.
Charlie

Nov 24, 2017

I was so disappointed with this recipe that I made an account just to be able to rate it!I followed the recipe as written. I wouldn't describe the consistency of the custard when I cut into it the next day as "soupy," but it was far from anything like what is shown in the picture beside the title at the top of the recipe. That picture shows a beautiful, light, creamy dream of a slice, akin to what I usually achieve with egg whites|whipped cream|and/or cream cheese and (important) a wee bit of GELATIN. The mess that I prepared following this recipe was considerably more runny. There's no way a knife could slice it to produce what you see in that photo.Second, I was hoping for a stronger banana flavor throughout but should have realized after reading the instructions that that was not what this recipe produces. It's more of a banana-and-cream pie rather than a banana-cream pie.Third, it was too sweet. (Ordinarily, I wouldn't comment on something like this since tastes differ so much and you can usually adjust for that by altering the quantity of sweetener used the next time. There won't be a next time for this one!)Fourth, (just out of curiosity) why use 2% milk if you are just going to load it up with butter anyway?I am far from a professional chef, but I am not completely lost in a kitchen. I have made custards before. Some of the comments from other reviewers of this recipe are needlessly condescending.
Kari

Nov 22, 2017

I have made this pie several times and I get complements on it every time. I do double the cornstarch for a thicker custard. It's a perfect custard for vanilla pies and coconut cream as well!