Best Banana Cream Pie

slice of banana cream pie on a white plate

5 from 56 votes

Best Banana Cream Pie

Rich, silky, and creamy, made from simple ingredients, my Banana Cream Pie is the perfect comfort food. Indulgent, but light enough so you don't guilty from over eating!

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

chill time6

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 837kcal

Equipment

1 Deep Dish Pie Pan

Ingredients

Pie Crust

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoon unsalted butter cut into small pieces kept very cold
1 large egg

Filling

3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
¼ teaspoon sea salt
⅓ cup corn starch
1¾ cups granulated sugar
4 ½ cups whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoon unsalted butter

Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Assembly

4 bananas sliced. (more if needed)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pie Crust

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse the dry ingredients 4 times to fully mix the igredients.
Add the pieces of very cold butter to the dry ingredients and pulse at one-second intervals until the butter is mixed in, forming buttery pebble size pieces
Add the egg to the mixture and pulse until the dough forms a ball on the blade of the food processor.
Turn the dough out of the food processor onto a floured surface (be careful with the blade).
Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the pie dough for 15-20 minutes before using.
Roll out pie dough and place it into your pie baking pan.
Place the pie pan in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake
Preheat the oven to 375°F
Place the pie pan on a baking sheet to make it easier to move in and out of the oven. Place a piece of parchment over the pie dough and add the pie weights to cover the bottom and sides of the dough.
Don't overfill the pie shell
Place the pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake until the sides of the pie crust are just set and light brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes with the pie weights in place. After 5 minutes, carefully lift the parchment paper with the pie weights out of the pan.
Using a fork, dock the bottom and sides of the crust to help keep the crust from puffing up.
Place the pie pan back in the oven and continue to bake for 15 minutes.
Check the pie crust to see if has puffed up. If it has, use a spoon to press the bottom and sides, but be gentle. Then continue baking the pie crust until golden brown and dry, about 10 minutes.
If the edges start to get too dark, cover the edges with foil or a pie shield to keep it from browning too quickly.
*Transfer the pie crust to a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely before adding the pastry cream.

Banana Filling

Add three egg yolks and 3 eggs to a medium mixing bowl.
Whisk together the eggs and three yolks and set aside until needed.
Add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt to a medium saucepan. Whisk the ingredients to combine well.
Pour the whole milk into the dry ingredients and whisk until fully combined.
Make sure there aren’t any clumps.
Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and whisk continuously for about 5 minutes until thickened.
*When the mixture has thickened reduce the heat to medium and continue whisking for an additional 5 -6 minutes, then remove from the heat.
Slowly add a cup of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, whisking continuously through the addition.
*This tempers the eggs so they don’t turn into scrambled eggs when you add them to the saucepan of hot milk.
Add the egg and milk mixture to the remaining hot milk in the saucepan, again whisking continuously through the process.
Place the saucepan back on the stove over medium-high heat and continue whisking for two minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract and butter to the mixture. Using a rubber spatula stir the mixture until the butter is melted and incorporated into the custard.
Cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap and chill until its cooler than room temperature. About 55 degrees F.

Whipped Cream

Add heavy cream, sugar and vanilla to a stand mixer. Whip the ingredients to stiff peaks.
This process should be slow, starting. on low increasing the speed over about ten minutes.
**This method is how you keep the whipped cream from breaking. The cream should be ice cold and as fresh as possible. Look for heavy cream with the longest expiration date.

Assembly

Use a spatula to smooth a layer of the pastry cream filling (homemade vanilla pudding) onto the bottom of your cooled pie shell.
Add enough sliced bananas to cover the layer of pastry cream. This could be anywhere from 2-4 bananas depending on their size
Add the remainder of the filling over the sliced bananas in the pie shell.
The consistency of the filling will depend on how long you let it chill.
Smooth the top of the filling and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the banana cream pie for at least 4 hours.
Add the whipped cream to the top of the pie, smoothing with a spatula.
Decorate the top of the pie with more banana slices before serving.

Nutrition