Best Vegan Banana Cream Pie Recipe

This Best Vegan Banana Cream Pie recipe features layers of delicious flavors. Vegan Banana Pie has a golden cookie crust, a tasty vanilla pudding pie filling, freshly sliced bananas, and coconut cream whipped topping. Dairy Free Banana Cream Pies are a family favorite dessert and an easy recipe that yields fluffy vegan cream filling everyone will love! 

I am in love with banana pie recipes. I know. What kind of person loves a pie? I must be terribly shallow. But all I know is this pie makes me feel happy. And I if there’s anything I know about myself…I LOVE being happy! So bring on the Vegan Banana Coconut Cream Pie and the happiness! What’s next? Unicorns and rainbows? I can always hope!

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

There were several responses, but the one I really picked up on was Banana Cream Pie.

My mind immediately raced back to the days of my mom’s dessert table. My mom still makes a mean dessert and she even makes vegan versions for us, but for some reason banana cream pie slipped off the menu over the last few years.

I’m going to surprise her this year with this dairy free pie recipe. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she tries it. Because it’s good. Dang good!

How to Make Vegan Banana Cream Pie

This pie starts with a golden sandwich cookie pie crust. I could have gone completely traditional and done a baked pie crust, but I loved the idea of these golden sandwich cookies creating a delicious foundation for the pie. It kind of reminds me of vanilla wafers which I always loved combined with bananas.

Place vanilla sandwich cookies in a food processor and add melted vegan butter. Pulse until a fine crumb forms. Press this into a pie pan.

Banana Cream Pie with Coconut Milk Filling

The next step in this vegan banana pudding pie is to make the creamy vegan banana cream pudding.

Pour sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Add plant-based cream and milk and stir to combine. Stir occasionally.

Usually when making a pudding you’re worried about lumps, but there’s no reason to worry about that with this recipe.

Place tofu, vegan butter and nutritional yeast flakes (for color) in a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add the thickened pudding mixture and pulse again. The food processor will take care of any lumps that may have formed when the pudding was cooking.

Vegan Puddings

Now, there are lots of ways to make a dairy free banana pudding for dairy free pie filling. For this recipe I used coconut milk paired with cornstarch.

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

Here are other thickeners you can use to make vegan pudding:

• cornstarch, the traditional
• Agar Agar (either flakes or powder)
• Arrowroot Starch (a new favorite of mine)
• Chia Seeds

All of these will work effectively to create a nice pudding layer for an eggless banana cream pie.

Interestingly enough, Jello vanilla pudding is dairy-free as well so you can use that with plant-based milk to create a vegan vanilla pudding. Talk about an easy banana cream pie recipe!

Add Bananas and Coconut Whipped Topping

Pour half of the vegan pudding into the prepared pie crust. Next, add a layer of sliced bananas then top that with the rest of the pudding. It creates a nice dramatic look to the finished banana cream pie. Top this with a layer of coconut whipped topping.

There you have it — vegan custard pie!

Do you see that pie? It’s done and ready for some Coconut Cream Whipped Topping. I added more sliced bananas to give it some more banana pop!

Easy Banana Cream Pie

This is a relatively easy banana cream pie recipe because we use a cookie crumble crust. Some recipes might call for a baked crust, but those take too long. And if you prefer an even easier banana cream pie, go ahead and buy a graham cracker crust. That will work!

The next step is making the pudding. Because we use tofu in this recipe as a thickener, the pudding comes together nicely. The rest was merely about assembly.

No-Bake Banana Cream Pie

You don’t need to fire up the oven for this recipe, simply heat up the pudding ingredients on the stove-top. Once that’s cooled down, pour it into your pie crust and return it to the fridge to cool.

I used my vegan coconut whipped topping on this pie to create the “cream” layer. It’s pretty easy to make and adds a lot to this dessert recipe. However, you can buy vegan whipped toppings at the store now. And if that’s a step you feel like skipping, I say go for it!

Expert Tips

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

• I used Ripple Half and Half Cream in this recipe. It’s easy to find Ripple (it’s available in stores like Target even)
• I used Earth Balance vegan butter, but Coconut Oil works to create the pie crust too
• Make this into a banana cream pie recipe with graham cracker crust by using graham crackers instead of vanilla sandwich cookies
• If you have banana extract, you can add that to the vanilla pudding for even more banana flavor
• For extra fluffy banana cream pie, make a double batch of coconut whipped cream
• This pie would be even better with a little Date Caramel Sauce drizzled over the top!
• Use gluten-free cookies to make this into a gluten-free pie recipe
• I used nutritional yeast flakes to add color to the vanilla pudding, however, you can add a drop or two of yellow food coloring.

What Can I Do with Overripe Bananas?

It’s always an easy option to freeze overripe bananas. I slice them up, put them on a tray and place that in the freezer. Then, once the bananas are frozen, I transfer them to a freezer bag. I do this because I love putting frozen bananas in our green smoothies, or in my favorite Nice Cream recipes!

Of course, now you can use your overripe bananas to make this vegan banana cream pie too. Be sure to use them in the pudding layer. Reserve your more firm bananas to add the slices to the top of the pie.

How Long Can You Keep Banana Cream Pie in the Fridge?

Bananas are produce and therefore you’ll want to eat this banana cream pie quickly. This pie will last about 3 – 4 days in the fridge. I would not recommend freezing this pie, since the quality of the banana in the pudding will deteriorate with freezing. However, if you want to eat it as a frozen pie, that would work. Simply cut it into slices and place those slices on a tray. After they’re frozen, transfer to a freezer-safe container or freezer bags.

Love Vegan Banana Desserts?

If you love vegan banana desserts recipes, these beauties should be on your list:

• This Vegan Banana Bread recipe is simple to make a real crowd favorite!
• These Vegan Banana Muffins are topped with streusel for added deliciousness!
• Let’s talk about Vegan Banana Pancakes because they’re amazing!
• Of course, everyone’s favorite is this fall on the floor good Vegan Banana Cake!
• OK, no bananas here but for a change of pace, this Vegan Key Lime Pie is a go-to favorite!

It’s easy to make banana desserts vegan because bananas are a great substitute for eggs!

I hope you love this recipe as we do! Have you tried it? Be sure and leave a comment and a rating of this recipe below and then take a quick photo and share it with me using #namelymarly on Instagram. I love seeing your creations!

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!

4.84 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Vegan Banana Cream Pie

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 16

Calories: 199kcal

Author: Marly

Ingredients

Golden Cookie Crust

• 24 golden Oreos or vanilla cream cookie of your choice
• 4 tablespoons vegan butter dairy free margarine, sliced

Cream Pie Filling

• ½ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup cornstarch (see notes)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups Ripple half and half, vanilla (See note)
• 1 cup plant milk soy, almond, coconut, etc, vanilla flavored
• 12 oz container of firm silken tofu drained
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter dairy free margarine
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
• 2-3 bananas peeled and sliced
• Coconut Whipped Topping

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.
• Add the vegan butter. Pulse again until the cookie crumbs until a still course, but even consistency develops. I like a consistency about the size of 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 medium-sized saucepan. Add the milks and stir until combined.
• Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook until the mixture thickens. Do no 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.
• 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. Top this with a layer of sliced bananas. 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 leftover. Lucky You!). Place in the fridge to set 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 Coconut Cream Whipped Topping and add additional slices of banana on the top as well

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.

I’m able to find Ripple at Sprouts, the health food section of my local grocery store, Target, and more.

I clearly have a thing for pies. If you’re like me, why not check out my Vegan Pumpkin Pie or my Chocolate Brownie Pie. Whichever pie you choose…Enjoy!