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Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana pudding ice cream made with creamy, banana-infused vanilla custard churned until scoopable. It’s loaded with crushed Nilla wafers and frozen banana slices for a frozen banana pudding texture in every bite.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
chilling + freezing 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 520
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Banana base
  • 3 bananas Use very ripe bananas for the smoothest puree.
  • 2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 0.75 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 0.25 tsp salt
Pudding-in-ice-cream mix-ins
  • 1.5 cup Nilla wafers, roughly crushed Crush into a mix of fine crumbs and small pieces.
  • 0.5 cup banana slices (frozen) Fold in late so they stay distinct.

Equipment

  • 1 ice cream maker
  • 1 large saucepan

Method
 

Blend and prep
  1. Blend ripe bananas until completely smooth, then set aside. The puree should be silky with no visible chunks.
Make the custard
  1. Heat heavy cream and whole milk until steaming. You want small steam wisps, not a rolling boil.
  2. Slowly whisk the steaming cream mixture into egg yolks beaten with granulated sugar. Keep whisking until the mixture looks smooth and slightly lighter.
  3. Cook the custard over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches 175F. It should thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon.
  4. Strain the custard, then stir in vanilla extract, salt, and banana puree. The finished base should look uniform and creamy with a banana color.
  5. Cool completely before chilling. Move to the refrigerator so it firms up evenly for churning.
Churn and freeze
  1. Refrigerate the custard for 4 hours, then churn in an ice cream maker. Stop when it has the texture of soft-serve.
  2. Fold in crushed Nilla wafers and frozen banana slices in the last 2 minutes of churning. Stop and look for evenly distributed wafers and visible banana pieces.
  3. Freeze until scoopable. The ice cream should hold shape in the scoop with a creamy finish.

Notes

For the smoothest banana flavor, use very ripe bananas and blend until completely smooth before adding to the custard. Refrigerate the churned ice cream covered up to 3 days for best scoopability; freeze up to 2 months (thaw 5–10 minutes at room temperature before scooping). For a lighter option, swap half the heavy cream for whole milk, but expect a softer texture.