This caramel banana cream pie has a delicious graham cracker crust, lots of bananas, a smooth caramel layer, topped by banana pudding, and whipped cream – for a delicious twist on traditional banana cream pie!
Want to make banana cream pie even better? Add caramel to the mix! This delicious banana cream pie recipe is seriously delicious!
I’ve mentioned before, but cream pies are my favorite and banana cream pie is my favorite of all! When I needed to make a pie for Pi Day (3.14) I knew that a twist on banana cream pie would be the perfect solution! Adding caramel to the pie takes it to the next level without adding too much difficulty.
This pie is different than banoffee pie which is usually made with a caramel made from boiled sweetened condensed milk or with dulce de leche. Banoffee pie is also usually just a layer of the condensed milk caramel topped with bananas and then whipped cream.
Where this caramel banana cream pie of course has the cream pie layer on top of a thinner caramel layer. Either way, this is delicious and banoffee pie sounds delicious too!
I started with my simple banana cream pie recipe. A quick and buttery homemade graham cracker crust, topped with banana slices, caramel, and vanilla banana pudding, and whipped cream for good measure. Drizzle each slice with a little more caramel for decoration if desired.
I kept this pie recipe simple, by using pudding mixes for the filling. I used both banana cream and vanilla pudding for the pie filling. If you don’t like the flavor of imitation banana you can instead do 2 packages of vanilla pudding. Or you can make the banana pudding from our banana cream pie from scratch recipe.
Ingredients Needed to make Caramel Banana Cream Pie:
- Graham Crackers – for the crust. You could also use Oreos, gingersnaps, etc.
- Granulated Sugar – to sweeten the crust just a little
- Melted Butter – to hold together the pie crust
- Bananas – You can’t have a banana pie without them!
- Soft Caramels – I haven’t tried using homemade caramels from this, but have used a variety of soft caramels from the store
- Heavy Cream – to help thin the caramels just enough so the layer isn’t too hard to slice through
- Vanilla Pudding Mix
- Banana Cream Pudding Mix – I like the flavor both the puddings together have, you can just go for two packets of one or the other too
- Milk – to make the pudding
- Cool Whip – because every cream pie needs cream 😉
How to make Caramel Banana Cream Pie?
Start by making the graham cracker crust. Crush the graham crackers into a fine crumb (a food processor works great for this). Then stir the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together in a medium sized bowl.
Add the graham cracker crumbs to a 9inch pie dish and press them into the bottom and edges of the pan, pressing as much as you can to make sure the crust is dense and holds itself together well. Put it in the fridge to chill while you make your pudding and caramel.
Add your caramels and heavy cream to a small sauce pan and melt them together, stirring often, until the caramels are melted and smooth.
Stir your vanilla pudding, banana pudding, and milk together (don’t follow the directions on the pudding box). Whip it together for a couple minutes. Fold in about 1/2 to 1 cup of the cool whip.
Add your sliced bananas into the bottom of your graham cracker crust. Drizzle the caramel over the bananas.
Then scoop the pudding into the pie shell and spread it around evenly. Spread the remaining cool whip over the top of the pie and place it in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, up to 8 hours.
Top the pie with additional banana slices, and serve. Drizzle the slices with additional caramel sauce if desired.
Tips for making Caramel Banana Cream Pie:
- You will NOT prepare the pudding mixes according to package directions. On the boxes the pudding mixes will call for 2 cups of milk each. You will instead use 2.5 cups of milk TOTAL.
- You can use Kraft Caramels, Werther’s Chewy Caramels or any other soft caramel for the sauce. You’ll add in about 2 TBS of heavy cream to the caramels when you are melting them. Just enough that the sauce is not to hard to slice with the pie, but not too much that it is runny and too thin either.
- This pie is best made the day you’ll be eating it, or the night before at the most. The pudding will start to become soupy with the bananas and caramel added, so enjoy as soon as the pie is chilled.
This caramel banana cream pie is the perfect easy dessert. It’s such a delicious twist on banana cream pie, and is a a dessert everyone will love!
Looking for more banana cream pie recipes?
- Banana Cream Pie
- Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups
- Banana Cream Pie Cookies
- Banana Cream Pie Yogurt Parfaits
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Caramel Banana Cream Pie
Ingredients
For the Graham Cracker Crust:
- 12 graham cracker sheets
- ¼ cup sugar
- 6 TBS butter (melted)
For the Pie Filling:
- 2 bananas
- 11 oz soft caramels (unwrapped)
- 2 TBS heavy cream (approximately)
- 1 3.5 oz instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 3.5 oz instant banana cream pudding mix
- 2½ cups milk
- 8 oz cool whip
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
- Crush your graham crackers into a fine crumb. (It should make about 1½ cups).
- Mix together the sugar with the graham cracker crumb in a medium sized bowl.
- Pour the melted butter over the top of the crumb and mix it all together until you have a nice sandy mixture.
- Pour the crust mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch pie crust pan and press down evenly on the bottom and up the edges of the pan.
- Cut the bananas into slices and lay them over your graham cracker crust.
- Combine the caramels and heavy cream in a small sauce pan. Heat over medium until the caramels are melted and smooth, stirring the whole time.
- Pour the caramel over the banana slices. (You can save about 1/4 cup of the caramel to reheat later and pour over the pie)
- Add the pudding mixes into a large bowl and add the milk and stir it together for a couple of minutes, until combined.
- Add 1 cup of the cool whip to the pudding mixture and fold it into the pudding.
- Pour the pudding mixture over caramel and smooth it across the top top. Place it in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours.
- Top with remaining cool whip and additional bananas before serving.
- Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce (reheated) if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This caramel banana cream pie was first published on March 14, 2016. The photos and blog post text were updated for clarity on October 27, 2021.
MAKE THIS DELICIOUS CARAMEL BANANA CREAM PIE WITH THE HELP OF THESE GREAT KITCHEN TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS:
gail livingstone says
And here I thought I had created a great recipe!. Doing a dinner for 36 so bought 5 prepared graham crust shells. I made the caramel with Sweetened condensed milk, under pressure for 40 minutes. Mixed it with a little vanilla and then cooled a bit. Pour it on the base of the crust. Then cut up 1 banana per pie and covered with a custard made with Byrds Custard (I am in Canada). Then topped it all with sweetened whipped cream. If desired you could put a little shaved chocolate on top or a drizzle of more caramel.
Sydney says
Hi there! I haven’t made this yet. My husband bought 1 package of vanilla instant and one cook and serve of the banana cream pie pudding. They didn’t have instant. How would I go about making it with these two mixes? Thank you!
Aimee says
I’m not sure, you could try cooking up the pudding and then adding the other mix, I usually don’t follow the package but I don’t know how to edit the cook and serve style… maybe a little less milk to help it thicken?
Cyndi says
Your pic of the pie is beautiful. Quick question, is there a reason you don’t cook the crust? Every recipe I have cooks it before putting any filling in it. I did notice that your crust was crumbling in the pics.
Aimee says
Thank you, when the pie filling is no bake I try to keep the pie crust no bake as well. You’re welcome to bake it if you want, but the reason it looks crumbly is I didn’t push it into the sides enough this time :/ (see how its thick on the sides). I’ve used this same no bake pie crust in several recipes and it’s probably more crumbly than if you baked it, but still holds itself together pretty well (https://lmld.org/no-bake-cheesecake-with-strawberry-sauce/ if you want to see it again)
Mariah says
This will relieve any banana pudding craving you may be having! We enjoyed this dessert.
Peggy says
Caramel banana pie. My boyfriend asked me to make him one, so thanks!
Jesse says
Recipe worked well. There was quite a bit of extra pudding batter after putting it in my 9 inch pie pan, so that was disappointing. And the caramel was so solid that we had to cut it with a knife just to eat it. I’d probably do half the caramel, as a thinner layer. This was also my first time making this, so not really sure if everything turned out how it was supposed to.
Aimee says
Did you use the right size boxes of pudding mixes? A regular pie pan should hold at least 4 cups volume, which is how much 2 boxes of pudding makes… but, if you used a foil/disposable pie pan those hold less. So those could be two reasons for that issue?
jjblas311@gmail.com says
Made this following exact directions but used Hershey’s caramel topping. It sat in the fridge for 5 hours. When I went to cut it was an absolute mess. Didn’t set up as I thought it would. Everything just slid around and became a pile of goop. It still tastes good but was a bit disappointed.
Aimee says
The hershey sauce is much thinner than the melted caramels I use. Did the pudding not set up either? You don’t add the milk according to package directions, you use the amount I listed. Sorry it didn’t turn out.
Billy Grant says
Excellent. My knees just go weak for this. The 10PM movie when everyone is asleep and I steal the whole thing one teaspoon at a time.
Susan says
My husband found this recipe and asked if I would make it. Oh yes I will!! Homemade treats are the best, but a simpler way to make this could be to use a ready made graham cracker crust ( they make chocolate crusts!!), and jarred carmel sauce. However you make it this is a super yummy pie!
Aimee says
The jarred caramel may be a little thinner, but it should still taste good. Let me know what you think!
Nette says
If you use Carmel in a bar how much would you use a cup a cup and a half how
much..
Thanks
Aimee says
Im sorry, I have no idea how many cups it would be or how much of a bar. I assume the caramel bars usually have weight lines like cream cheese? Otherwise I’d suggest using a food scale. Sorry!
Dominick Dominello says
With every recipe I’ve ever used, when it calls for 2-3oz of something that usually means 6oz total. Please make better decisions with your future recipes so people don’t make caramel soup.
Aimee says
Sorry that happened to you I have usually seen that written 2 3oz cream. Or whatever, but that would be weird to write unless it was something purchased in that size. For example cream cheese I would say 2 8oz cream cheese. But when I write 2-3 I mean 2 to 3, so not 6oz 2 or 2.5 or 3 oz
Cari D says
Do you put caramel over bananas hot? Or let it cool?
Aimee says
It cools pretty fast, it doesn’t seem to brown the bananas at all from the heat.
susi says
Hmmm, delicious !
Justin says
My caremal harden, made it hard to cut and was kind of a mess I don’t think 1 to 2 TBS of heavy cream is enough.
Aimee says
Sorry! Did you use the soft Kraft caramels? I’ve used 2 and 3 TVs but 3 seemed a little runny for me.