Why You Will Love These Creamy Banana Pudding Ice Cream Bars
If you’re a fan of classic banana pudding, you are going to obsess over these frozen bars! While many people make their pudding from scratch, this recipe uses boxed pudding mix to cut out the extra work without cutting out any of the flavor. Whether you’re making these for a summer cookout or just keeping a batch in the freezer for your late-night sweet tooth, they are a guaranteed hit with kids and adults alike!
Ingredients
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Make sure this is ice-cold! It’s the base that gives these bars their airy, ice-cream texture.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: This adds the perfect level of sweetness and ensures the bars stay smooth and creamy instead of icy.
- Vanilla Extract: A little splash goes a long way in bringing out the flavor of the cream and the fruit.
- Ripe Bananas: You can use fresh or frozen
- Banana Pudding Mix: Will give the pudding that classic banana taste
- Nilla Wafers: It wouldn’t be banana pudding without the wafers!
- Ice Cream Molds
How to Make Creamy Banana Pudding Ice Cream Bars
To get started, combine the heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer. Give it a quick stir to incorporate, then add in your ripe bananas and the boxed pudding mix.I personally prefer slicing my bananas to add chunks of fruit to my bars, but mashing them works perfectly too! Turn the mixer on high and let it whip until the mixture fluffs up and looks just like thick whipped cream.
Once your filling is nice and fluffy, it’s time to prep your molds. For this recipe, I used the Ouddy Life popsicle molds from Amazon. I’ve tested this with other silicone molds before, and it was a total disaster! The bars stuck and broke apart, but the Ouddy molds have an easy-release feature that is a total lifesaver.
Start by placing one whole Nilla Wafer in each mold. If you want to get fancy, feel free to add a thin slice of banana in there too! Slide in the wooden sticks, then fill each mold with your pudding mixture. Gently lift and drop the mold on the counter a few times to get rid of any hidden air bubbles. After the molds are filled, top them off with some crushed Nilla Wafers. To make sure they don’t pick up that “freezer taste,” I like to cover the molds tightly with plastic wrap. Pop them into the freezer overnight, and by the next day, you’ll have a batch of beautiful and delicious Banana Pudding Ice Cream Bars!
Hey Foodie! Want more recipes like this? Subscribe to Ne’s Kitchen Newsletter!
Tips for the Best Creamy Banana Pudding Ice Cream Bars
- The biggest tip I can give you is to use cold ingredients! When I was testing this recipe, I made the mistake of using room-temperature heavy cream, and it actually churned into butter—definitely not what we’re going for here!
- Keep your cream and your sweetened condensed milk in the fridge until the very second you’re ready to mix.
- Also, make sure you really tap those molds on the counter. Removing the air bubbles ensures your bars come out solid and don’t have any empty gaps when you pull them out.
Variations & Substitutions
- If you want to mix things up, you can swap the Nilla Wafers for buttery shortbread cookies.
- For a “loaded” version, you can fold in Nilla wafers, shortbread cookies, and top them off with a drizzle of caramel sauce before freezing.
- If you don’t like the texture of bananas, leave them out and use the boxed pudding for the banana flavor!
How to Store
To keep your popsicles tasting fresh, make sure to use the plastic covers that come with the Ouddy Life molds. If you aren’t using a mold with covers, you can individually wrap each bar in plastic wrap once they are fully set.
Other Recipes You Will Love
If you loved this, you have to try my viral Frozen Banana Pudding!
Creamy Banana Pudding Ice Cream Bars
Description
These Banana Pudding Ice Cream Bars are the perfect summer treat! It's a fun twist on a classic Southern dessert. Perfect for kids and a guaranteed hit at your next summer cookout!
Ingredients
Instructions
-
Start by combining the heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract in a stand mixer. Mix well.
-
Add in your bananas and banana pudding mix, then whip on high speed until the mixture is thick and fluffy like whipped cream.
-
Place one whole Nilla Wafer into the bottom of each popsicle mold.
-
Fill the molds with the banana pudding mixture, making sure to tap the molds firmly on the counter to settle the cream and remove air bubbles. Top each bar with crushed Nilla Wafers.Â
-
Cover the molds with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
-
Once frozen, carefully remove the bars from the molds and enjoy!
Note
This recipe will likely leave you with some extra filling! You can pop the remaining mixture into a container and keep it in the fridge for a more traditional, fluffy banana pudding, or freeze it for a quick scoopable treat. Of course, if you have extra molds, you can also use it to make even more ice cream bars!
