Creamy Southern Homemade Banana Pudding – egg-free / dairy-free / gluten-free / vegan / no sugar
Did you know that I once competed in a Banana Pudding Eating Contest?
Yes, really… Can’t you picture it? 🙂
It was at Six Flags, and I was with a group of friends. Hungry teenagers, lured by the thought of free banana pudding and Nilla wafers, we all decided to enter. About 3 seconds into the contest, we knew we were way out of our league. I’d eaten a bite and a half of banana pudding, while the guy next to me was halfway finished and the lady next to him was already onto her second bowl!
Needless to say, I didn’t come close to winning the contest, but the banana pudding was delicious and I didn’t end up with a stomachache like I’m sure the winner must have gotten… He ate almost 2 pounds of banana pudding in under 5 minutes!
So can you guess the secret ingredient that makes this healthy banana pudding recipe super thick and creamy without the use of cornstarch or heavy cream? Don’t worry, it’s not garbanzo beans, and it’s not cauliflower. Not this time.
Above, topped with sliced banana and Homemade Healthy Graham Crackers.
Creamy Homemade Banana Pudding
Banana Pudding
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup over-ripe banana, mashed (measure after mashing) (160g)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp coconut butter (45-60g)
- 1 package MoriNu tofu (Soy-free version: see recipe instructions below)
- pinch stevia extract, or 2-4 tbsp sugar of choice (depending on your tastebuds and the banana ripeness)
- optional: 1/8 tsp turmeric for a deeper-yellow hue
Instructions
Banana Pudding Recipe: Make sure the coconut butter is melted before you begin. (For tips on the easiest ways to melt coconut butter, see Coconut Butter FAQ Page.) Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until completely smooth. Makes about 2 cups. (Soy-free version: Omit the tofu, and decrease the coconut butter to 2 tbsp. Decrease the salt to 1/8 tsp. Add 1 cup cashews that have been soaked in water 4-6 hours and drained fully. Vanilla stays the same, and sweeten as desired. Add milk of choice if a thinner pudding is desired.)
Click for: Banana Pudding Nutrition Facts
Question of the Day:
Would you ever consider entering a food eating contest?
Do you think you could ever win?
Link Of The Day:
This looks marvelous! I’ve been resisting investing in coconut butter but I think this is a good reason to try it out!
Eating contests were always repulsive to me as a kid. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t watch people shoveling food into their mouths. The eat-like-a-pig scenes in Matilda and A Christmas Story would make me so sick I’d have to leave the room! As I’ve gotten older, I think what bothers me is the… disrespect, I guess? Like there are starving kids in the world and we treat food like a toy? I wrote a paper on this concept when I was in college, specifically about the banquet scene in the second Hunger Games book when Capital residents are using emetics so they can eat more. It just makes me sad, I think, that we’re making a game of how much food a person can consume when it could feed a whole family.
Self-righteousness aside… I definitely would’ve entered the contest you did just so I could eat banana pudding!
OMG! I was literally just looking on pinterest for a healthier banana pudding them decided to come look here, begging you to have a new banana pudding post. THANK YOU!!! 🙂 I’m totally trying it. Haha, me in an eating contest. That would never work.
I did a jello eating contest before. Well, it wasn’t so much a contest, as it was a “Eat Jell-O and be happy when you do. And don’t use your hands” So, no winner. But it was still fun
On another unrelated note, I have something that’s been really disturbing me. It’s when people try to make vegetarians feel bad and stuff, when they say stuff like “There are still animals killed in combines that harvest grains, so don’t think that you’re making a difference in this world”
and then people say stuff like this. This was actually said to me.
“Vegetarians are still contributing to the torture and murder of millions of animals in the egg and dairy industries, so for them to attempt an ethical argument against meat eaters doesn’t make sense. The only ethical way is Vegan. ”
I’m not a vegetarian, but isn’t that just snobby. She’s basically saying that vegetarians aren’t good enough. I disagree that it is the only “ethical way,” if you’re trying to stop animal cruelty, that’s sufficient, even if you’re buying organic, locally raised meat, that’s still something. Something is always better than nothing, and this girl seems to think that vegetarians are cruel beings. They should be commended for at least trying.
I know that this is unrelated, but it has been disturbing me and I need to get it out to someone whom I know will feel what I’m feeling.
Welllllll… your vegan acquaintance(?) has a point. She’s just making it in a very not-tactful way. When the egg industry is, arguably, the most cruel one out there AND when you consider that half of all chicks born in hatcheries are immediately killed (rooster chicks of egg laying breeds don’t grow efficiently enough for meat production and cannot lay eggs, so they are discarded when born) AND when you realized that the dairy industry has veal as a by product, it is a bit hard to see vegetarians getting high and mighty about how they don’t kill animals or lording it over meat-eaters. Just because they don’t see the death directly, doesn’t mean they aren’t actively funding it.
It’s like griping at someone who kills with a knife because you prefer to use poison. Still bad, just different bad. If you care about animal rights (not welfare) then the only truly ethical way to live that conviction is veganism. That’s not being snobby or snotty, it’s just a fact. You cannot claim to be for AR and still eat/use some animals. *shrugs* It’s quite possible to be opposed to *cruelty*, be a welfarist and consume “happy meat” and other animal products. Those “happy” products still aren’t cruelty free, of course, but welfarism is more about avoiding the worst atrocities in animal agriculture. It’s just different strokes and different levels of uneasiness with that whole system. You choose what you, personally, can live with supporting. I’d just not throw stones if you live in a glass house, is all. Veggies calling meat eaters murderers or getting really strident while still eating eggs/dairy is a bit hypocritical.
For example, I tend to avoid getting on to fellow vegans for small, hard to avoid things (I’ll call out an egg eating “vegan” though! That’s not a small, hard to avoid thing!) like electronics, car tires or even processed sugar. I’m not perfect either so I’m certainly not going to get down on them for small errors/accidents. I think there is a big difference between a vegan who accidentally eats animals and one who is “vegan” but actively chooses to continue to eat animals sometimes, when it’s convenient. I consider one to be acting like the vegan police (“hey, did you know if that sugar is processed with bone char or not? OMG YOU’RE A MURDERER!!11!”) and one to be just trying to keep the word from getting watered down (“please don’t say you’re vegan and then order fish. It makes it hard for the rest of us to get a vegan meal at this restaurant if you set the precedence that vegan food includes fish”).
Ugh, throw the word “reaction” between “I consider one … to be” in that last bit. Le tired.
my point was, I didn’t think vegans should lord over vegetarians, as they’re both trying to REDUCE animal cruelty within their comfort zones. That’s all. Like, I were a vegan, and someone chose to only buy organically and humanely raised animals, that’d be fine by me.
I would say that the real problem is overpopulation and entitlement. If there were less people we would most likely not be in the midst of a mass extinction and if people lived more simply there would be way less animal cruelty byproducts. I think eating meat is fine–but not from fast food etc where is about mass production and convenience. Eating your 4h cow is different–you assured its good life and death/consumption is part of a cows lifecycle anyhow. Sorry long rant.
Hilo,
Overpopulation is a myth. It’s not that there are too many people it’s that meat is demanded far too much and this has caused mass production of it. I know this is an old post but now I hear forest is being hacked down to allow more grazing area for livestock. Additionally, neighborhoodsare beibg contaminated with animal feces from nearby pig “farms”. Again, it’s the meat-eating demand causing this. If everyone was plant-based or at least most cultures, this would cease to exist.
See here:
https://www.pop.org/debunking-the-myth-of-overpopulation/
Weeona – The way I see it, any step in the direction of reducing animal product consumption is a huge win for the animals. Meatless mondays make a difference. Being vegetarian makes a difference. Buying products that weren’t tested on animals makes a difference. Picking fabric shoes over a leather shoes makes a difference. Until we live in a vegan-friendly world, no one is able to be 100% vegan no matter how hard we try. I consider myself vegan because I don’t eat, wear or use animal products to the fullest of my ability, but there are things like all prescription medications being tested on animals that are outside my control. When it comes to things like medications or tires, I just do the best I can. Rest assured that if there were a vegan option, I would choose it. Hopefully one day there will be a vegan option for everything, but I hate the attitude that you might as well do nothing if you can’t be perfect. Every choice we make is important. Every choice matters. Eating no meat or even less meat helps. Reducing dairy and egg use, even if you don’t want to stop eating them completely, helps. I wish I had gone vegan sooner, but I don’t think that makes my 11 years as a vegetarian meaningless.
Totally agree, something is better than nothing . . . And just a comment on food eating contests, what is the attraction anyway, certainly a display of excess and waste in a time where some people have difficulty putting food on their tables. Eating to the point of being sick to your stomach is a turn off to watch.
Maybe dumb question but how do I print the recipe – love to have it in the kitchen when making the item. Can’t wait to try!!! Looks so awesome!!
Hi Mary,
At the moment, the best way to do it is to highlight just the recipe portion and then press “control c.” Then open a word document and press “control v.”
I’m working on a better way, but it’s not set up yet!
I just go to the search bar & highlight the link, then email it to myself & put the recipe title in the subject line!
Then it doesn’t take up room in my computer!
I have a “Recipe” folder in my email…it’s easy to search for it later that way too!
Wow, this looks amazing! Definitely am going to make this next time I get to the grocery store to buy the tofu. No, I don’t think I can compete in one of those contests. I like to eat my food slowly (well, except for your ultimate fudge cake which I couldn’t help but gobble it up in a few bites). Plus, my stomach gets upset pretty easily so I think it would just be torture for me! Thank you for the recipe!
Is the tofu supposed to be silken, firm, or extra firm?
It actually doesn’t matter. I’ve used both the silken and firm for this. But MoriNu is preferred over other brands.
And what is the soy free option for the banana pudding??
Tofu is a nice way to get the texture for this; you can be sure you will only taste the bananas.
I have never been in a food eating contest, and would never consider it. Back in the day when I would binge regularly, I might have been able to do it, but I don’t like the idea of being stuffed to the gills. And I’ve been working so hard for so long to get away from overeating, that I have no desire to undo all my hard work. 🙂
I’ve yet to use tofu in a dessert before but I can’t wait to try this!
Eating contests kind of freak me out; I’ve heard stories of people dying after participating! I remember hearing about a water drinking contest called ‘Hold your wee for a Wii”. Not fun hahah
I’m glad you didn’t overexert yourself at the pudding eating contest, Katie!
Oh my gosh, yum!!! This looks delicious and indulgent, yet light enough for eat during this hot summer heat.
As for the eating contests… after witnessing several of my friends get sick during a chocolate pie eating contest in 2nd grade, I vowed never to partake in one myself. Although, I’m strangely intrigued by shows like Man vs. Food despite the fact that I’m usually looking away as they take down large stacks of meat!