Nostalgic recipe: Old-Fashioned Homemade Banana Pudding The key to this sublime dessert is the from-scratch vanilla pudding. The ultimate homemade banana pudding recipe By Kristen Massad Old-Fashioned Homemade Banana Pudding is comfort layered in a bowl. It’s a perfect spring dessert that has created so many memories in the kitchen. And the way to make this nostalgic dessert really special is to make the vanilla pudding 100% from scratch. Homemade vanilla pudding is so creamy and smooth and has the purest vanilla bean flavor. Although the key flavor in this dessert is bananas, the vanilla pudding does not actually have any bananas in it. It is made with only five ingredients and worth every minute of your time making it from scratch. Once the pudding is made, it is lightened up with fresh whipped cream, layered with freshly sliced bananas and Nilla wafers, and finished off with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.