Vegan Banana Cream Pie

This vegan banana cream pie recipe features a golden cookie crust, tasty vegan vanilla pudding, fresh-sliced bananas, and coconut cream whipped topping. It’s layers of deliciousness in every bite. This is a favorite family dessert everyone will love!

A slice of vegan banana cream pie sits on a plate. The rest of the pie sits behind it.

This vegan banana cream pie happened because I asked the question on the Namely Marly Facebook Page, “What’s your favorite pie recipe that you’d like to see veganized?”

There were several responses, but the one I picked up on was Banana Cream Pie. I love bananas, so I was happy to take up the challenge. If you love summertime fruit pies like me, try this Vegan Berry Pie, too!

This pie starts with a golden sandwich cookie pie crust. I could have used a traditional vegan pie crust, a vegan graham cracker crust, or even an oatmeal pie crust. But I loved the idea of these golden sandwich cookies as the foundation for the pie. It reminds me of vanilla wafers which I always combined with bananas.

What You Need

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:

  • Oreos — I used golden Oreos to make an Oreo pie crust, but you can use chocolate or lemon, or whichever flavor you prefer.
  • Vegan Butter — You can buy Earth Balance or Miyoko’s or make your own homemade vegan butter.
  • Sugar — You’ll need granulated sugar.
  • Cornstarch — You can substitute other thickeners, such as arrowroot powder, but cornstarch delivers the consistency I’m after.
  • Salt — Use either table salt or sea salt.
  • Evaporated milk — I used vegan evaporated milk because it’s rich and creamy, or you can substitute a vegan creamer such as Silk Oat Creamer or Ripple Half & Half, or canned coconut milk. Any plant-based, creamy milk will work.
  • Vegan milk — Use soy, almond, etc.
  • Silken tofu — I love using silken tofu to thicken a creamy dessert like this. Here’s more on how to buy tofu products.
  • Nutritional yeast flakes — We’ll use nutritional yeast flakes to add color and flavor to the pudding. You can substitute a drop of yellow food coloring or a small pinch of ground turmeric.
  • Bananas — You’ll need 2 to 4 bananas, depending on their size. I prefer bananas that are yellow with only a few spots. Overly ripe bananas get mushy very quickly.
  • Vegan Whipped Cream — My go-to favorite whipped cream is this Coconut Whipped Cream.
Bananas on a white counter top.

What Bananas are Best for Banana Cream Pie?

Using ripe bananas brings out the sweet flavor in any recipe, but for a banana cream pie, you’ll want to choose bananas that are just barely ripe. That’s because we want the banana flavor they provide without any mushiness. Besides, overly ripe bananas can weep, causing the pie to get runny. Choose bananas that are primarily yellow with a few brown spots.

Why is This the Best Recipe?

  • A cookie crumb crust adds buttery flavor and texture, making every bite better than the last.
  • Using cornstarch to make a thick vanilla cream pudding helps absorb any moisture from the bananas.
  • Adding fresh banana slices between layers of pudding helps add banana flavor and seals the banana into the pudding, preventing them from weeping.

Whipped Topping

Top the pie with decorative dollops of coconut whipped topping. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Transfer the whipped cream to a piping bag with Wilton 1M star tip.
  2. Make fluted dollops around the edge of the pie, leaving spaces for banana slices.
  3. Chill the pie in the fridge for at least an hour (or more) before serving.

Sliced bananas will turn brown as they sit. I recommend placing banana slices on the pie immediately before serving.

Other favorite vegan cream pies? This Vegan Coconut Cream Pie and this Vegan Chocolate Meringue Pie are the best!

Serving Suggestions

You can serve individual slices with drizzles of any of the following:

Reader Reviews

★★★★★
I made this and it was sooo good! Everybody who tried it loved it, even people who are very skeptical of vegan dishes were impressed by it.

Chiara

★★★★★
My husband made this pie for Thanksgiving and it is the BEST banana cream pie I’ve ever had.

Stephanie M

Marly’s Tips

Use these expert tips and tricks to make this vegan banana cream pie recipe perfect every time:

  • If you have banana extract, you can add a tiny bit of that (1/8 teaspoon) to the vanilla pudding for even more banana flavor.
  • Use gluten-free cookies in the crust to make this into a gluten-free banana cream pie.
Looking down on the edge of a banana cream pie with decorative coconut cream and banana slices on top.

Vegan Pudding

Using cornstarch to create pudding is something I learned from my mom, but now there are so many ways to create puddings. For example, in my Vegan Chocolate Chia Pudding, I used chia seeds.

Here are other thickeners you can use:

  • Cornstarch — this traditional thickener is easy to find and easy to use.
  • Agar Agar — use flakes or powder to make a lower-carb thick pudding.
  • Arrowroot Starch — This is a new favorite of mine, and it’s easy to use.
  • Chia Seeds — I use chia seeds to make this banana chia pudding.
  • Jello Vanilla Pudding — This pudding is dairy-free, and you can use it with plant-based milk to create a vegan vanilla pudding.

These will create a nice pudding layer for this vegan banana cream pie.

Looking down on a banana cream pie with whipped cream fluted around the edges and slices of fresh banana on top.

Storage Tips

Bananas are produce and therefore, you’ll want to devour this banana cream pie. This pie will last about 3 to 4 days in the fridge. I would not recommend freezing this pie since the quality of the bananas will deteriorate with freezing. However, You can serve it as a frozen pie. Simply cut it into slices and place those slices on a tray. After they’re frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe container or freezer bag.

More Vegan Banana Desserts

If you love this vegan banana cream pie, here are even more banana recipes you’ll want to try:

A slice of vegan banana cream pie sits on a plate. It has banana slices and coconut whipped cream on top. The rest of the pie is behind it.
A slice of vegan banana cream pie sits on a plate. It has sliced bananas and coconut whipped cream on top.

Vegan Banana Cream Pie

Every slice of this vegan banana cream pie has layers of vanilla pudding, fresh bananas, coconut whipped cream, and a crispy cookie crust.
4.93 from 14 votes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 16
Calories: 199kcal

Ingredients

Golden Cookie Crust

  • 24 golden Oreos (or any vanilla cream cookie)
  • 4 tablespoons vegan butter dairy free margarine, sliced

Cream Pie Filling

Instructions

For the Golden Crumb Crust

  • Place the Golden Oreos in a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds until the cookies are broken up into smaller pieces.
    Golden Oreo Cookie Crust is a perfect complement to this Vegan Banana Cream Pie
  • Add the vegan butter. Pulse again until the cookie crumbs until an even consistency develops, similar to large grains of sand.
  • Press the crust into an 8 or 9" pie pan, pushing firmly against the side. It helps if you use a measuring cup to press the crust against the pan. Refrigerate for about an hour to set.

For the Banana Cream Pie Filling

  • Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in the bottom of a medium-sized saucepan. Add the milks and stir until combined.
    Looking down on plant-based milk and other ingredients in a saucepan.
  • Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook until the mixture thickens. Do not worry about lumps. We'll take care of that in a minute.
  • Place the silken tofu, 2 tablespoons vegan butter, and nutritional yeast flakes in a food processor. Pulse for several seconds until the mixture becomes very smooth. Remove the lid and push some of the contents down to the bottom and then pulse again. Add the pudding mixture to the food processor and pulse again until all the ingredients are combined and any lumps that may have formed while cooking are gone. Set this aside and allow it to cool a little.
    Ingredients are in a food processor bowl.
  • Once the Pie Filling is mostly cooled, remove the pie crust from the fridge and pour about half of the pie filling into the pie crust.
    Vanilla pudding is being poured into a golden cookie crust. There is a cutting board with sliced bananas in the background.
  • Top this with a layer of sliced bananas.
    A hand is placing sliced bananas on a pie filled with vanilla pudding.
  • Pour the remaining pie filling over the sliced bananas. (Depending on what size of pan you used, you might have a little of the pudding left over. Lucky You!).
    Vanilla pudding is being poured on top of a pie with pudding and banana slices on top.
  • Place the pie in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably two, before serving.
  • Follow the instructions in the link to make the Vegan Coconut Cream Whipped Topping.
  • Once your Banana Cream Pie is set, remove it from the fridge, cover it with large dollops of the vegan whipped cream and add additional slices of banana on top.
    Looking down on a banana cream pie with whipped cream fluted around the edges and slices of fresh banana on top.
  • Store the pie in the fridge. It will keep for up to 5 days.

Recommended Equipment

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Notes

Use gluten-free cookies to make this pie gluten-free
You can use different thickeners besides cornstarch, such as arrowroot powder. Do that in a 1-to-1 ratio. You can also use Agar Agar flakes. Use 1 tablespoon Agar Agar flakes in place of the cornstarch. 
You can buy vegan coconut whipped cream at most health food stores these days if you’d like to use that instead of making it yourself.
If you don’t want to make vegan evaporated milk, you can substitute a thick vegan creamer or vegan half & half.
For a creamy. yellow color to your vanilla pudding, you can add a pinch of turmeric or natural yellow food coloring.
Calories: 199kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 147mg | Potassium: 177mg | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 230IU | Vitamin C: 1.5mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1.3mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

This post was originally published in 2019 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.

55 Responses to Vegan Banana Cream Pie

  1. Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyMaria Reply

    5 stars
    My family loves this banana cream pie. Thanks for another great recipe!

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