Greetings from the Gulf of Oman! I’m currently on vacation in beautiful Zighy Bay, a remote fishing village on the Musandam Peninsula on the northern tip of Oman. After a 13-hour flight and a 2-hour drive, I met up with my family for the start of our adventures abroad.
The trip is a chance to experience the culture and cuisine of Oman and nearby Dubai. And I’ve been drawing inspiration from so many of the ingredients and dishes I’ve enjoyed so far, from traditional Arabic flatbreads and spicy curries to chicken shawarma and creamy hummus.
While I’m currently 6,829 miles away from my New York City kitchen, no distance was going to keep me from sharing this quick and easy recipe for classic banana pudding. The creamy pudding is layered with sliced bananas, crunchy Nilla Wafers and homemade salted caramel sauce, which adds the perfect savory twist to this southern-inspired sweet.
This crowd-friendly dessert can be prepared in a large serving dish or portioned out into smaller glass containers for eye-catching individual servings topped off with a pinch of large-flake sea salt. Slice up those bananas and stay tuned for much more to come from my culinary adventures overseas!
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Ingredients
For the salted caramel:
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cubed
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
For the banana pudding:
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 (3.4-oz.) box instant vanilla pudding
- 1 (3.4-oz.) box instant banana pudding
- 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 6 large bananas, sliced
- Nilla Wafers or shortbread cookies (See Kelly's Notes)
Instructions
Make the salted caramel:
- Sprinkle the sugar in an even layer in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium-high heat. Using a heatproof rubber spatula, stir the sugar until it begins to melt and darken in color, about 10 minutes. (If chunks form, continue stirring until they dissolve.) Stop stirring and let the sugar cook, undisturbed, until it turns amber in color, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the melted sugar from the heat and whisk in the butter until combined, then slowly and carefully whisk in the heavy cream. (It will bubble vigorously.) Stir in the sea salt then transfer the caramel to a glass container to cool while you prepare the pudding.
Make the banana pudding:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the milk with the instant vanilla and banana pudding mixes.
- In a separate medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and condensed milk.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the cold heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
- Stir the cream cheese mixture into the pudding until well combined. Refrigerate the pudding until ready to serve.
- When ready to serve, place a layer of Nilla Wafers on the bottom of your serving dish, and then top the wafers with a layer of the pudding, followed by a layer of sliced bananas and a drizzle of the salted caramel sauce. Repeat the layers as needed. (See Kelly's Notes.)
Kelly's Notes:
- The amount of Nilla Wafers you will need depends on how you serve the pudding. You can serve the pudding in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish, or make individual banana puddings in your desired serving dishes, such as mason jars, tall glasses or ramekins.
- When making caramel, it's really important to use a heavy-bottomed saucepan and to never turn your back on the sugar. It can change from amber to black in a second!
- This recipe will yield about 1 cup of caramel. Use a portion of it with the pudding and save the rest, stored in an airtight container in the fridge, for sundaes ... or for eating by the spoonful.
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Pudding recipe adapted from Food Network.
Hello pregnancy craving #355! I halved the recipe since I will be eating this entirely by myself. Omitted the sweetened condensed milk for same reason as just stated and to not have half a can left. And just used 1 box of banana pudding mix and left out the box of vanilla. Curious your thought behind 1 box banana and 1 box vanilla? Seems like it would take away from the bananainess although perhaps that’s why some of the other commenters really enjoyed it! Thanks for the recipe ❤️
Hi Renee! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. I personally prefer that balance of banana AND vanilla but you could absolutely go with the banana flavor for both packets, if you prefer!
Oh my gosh! This is delicious! Homemade whipped cream instead of cool whip is the best idea ever! I’ve never liked cool whip & banana pudding tastes so much better with the whipped cream! Love it! Thank you!
YESSSS! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Maude!
The banana bread with cream cheese swirl in the middle looks amazing thanks for the recipe.
You are so welcome, Rhonda! I hope you enjoy it!
Made this last night and loved it! Of course anything salted caramel I’m instantly addicted to…
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Patti!
That looks so good, especially the sauce! I’m pinning it!
my son loves banana cream pie and I begrudgingly make it for him on Thanksgiving but I don’t care for it and sadly most of it gets thrown out, but this actually sounds delish! Will try, thanks!
Hi Kelly! I had a hard time with the caramel, along with the others above. Perhaps a 6 on my electric stove was too hot? It looks a bit lighter in color than yours, but has a bitter taste. Out of butter so will serve without caramel. No problem! My question is, do you have any tips for cleaning my saucepan? Thanks!!
Hi Ashley! I’m sorry you had an issue with the caramel. Yes, there’s a chance the electric burner was a bit hot, but in terms of cleaning the pan, you can add very hot water to the sugar and boil it slightly until it melts then carefully discard it. Hope that helps!
Made this tonight…the pudding is delicious and went together a lot quicker than I had imagined. The caramel wasn’t difficult…or so I thought. It looks great, perfect consistency, but has quite a bitter after taste. Any ideas as to why or troubleshooting suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Hello! There’s a chance the sugar may have cooked a bit long if it’s tasting bitter, as it may be slightly burned (which is causing that aftertaste).
Hi Leslie – I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipes. I’ve made both many times and never experienced that flavor or the burning. Did you use a heavy-bottomed saucepan?
Merry Christmas! It was awesome. New favorite!
Just finished making this for Christmas dinner. Can’t wait to eat it! Put a little bourbon in the caramel sauce-I’m from Kentucky, couldn’t resist. I’m going to use pepperidge farms bourdeaux cookies instead of vanilla wafers. May just skip dinner. Yum:)
Love the addition of the bourbon, Lisa! Merry Christmas!
Oh, that looks excellent. I love the miniature jars as serving dishes. I think I might try this in champagne glasses, with carefully layered wafers and pudding. :)
I’ve never tried banana pudding but I LOVE salted caramel. Anything with salted caramel has got to be good.
What a dessert! Awesome, beautiful pics, we cannot miss it with his caramel salted sauce, thank you, some people will be happy, have a nice evening, liên
kelly, that looks divine!
Have to admit, this post made me a little bit weak in the knees. Especially when I got to the picture where the butter is melting in the caramel sauce….*drool*
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow