Keto Banana Pudding

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Some would call this an “old southern favorite” and they would be 100% correct. However, I happen to know many friends and family from other parts of the country (the world, in fact) that love a good homemade banana pudding! 

Are Bananas Keto-Friendly?

Unfortunately, no. Bananas have many great health benefits, BUT, they also have about 27 grams of carbs and 12 grams of sugar. Way too much for maintaining healthy ketosis.

 If you want to stay in ketosis, your carb consumption has to be limited to 20-50 grams per day. 

Because one single banana can knock you out of ketosis, the problem with “traditional banana pudding is, well, the bananas.

But I love banana pudding and so does my entire household. 

While we are on the subject of bananas, did you know that banana pudding dates back to the mid-1800s, United States? Prior to that, bananas were scarce in the US and therefore a very rare treat for only the wealthiest of households. 

And another fun fact, those little golden wafers layered between the pudding and bananas didn’t even exist as we know them today until the early 1900s.

Prior to vanilla wafers, people used things like sponge cake for the layers. I’m not making this up! Thank you, National Biscuit Company (the original name of Nabisco), we love you! 

Anyhoo, more than a century has passed since the early days of banana pudding’s debut and we twenty-first-century, keto types want all the sweetness and all the flavor without all the sugar.

So, instead of continuing to mope around about high sugar content, I’ve made it happen!  

How to Make Keto Banana Pudding

A couple important notes for starters; No bananas were harmed in the making of this banana pudding and the vanilla wafer ratio is very debatable in our household. 

In fact, the first batch was too few (supposedly) with about a dozen wafers

For batch number two I made 100 cookies and used about 50 which was way too many.

The third batch had about two dozen cookies and seemed to satisfy everyone. It was like the Goldilocks story for wafers.

Now that I think about it, all this “wafer ratio” debate was likely just a dark ploy by my family to squeeze two extra batches of dessert out of me so be aware in case it happens to you. 

Moving on!

The Vanilla Wafers for Keto Banana Pudding

Get started by preheating your oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, mix together your butter, cream cheese, sweetener, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract until things are mixed well. 

Take your favorite medium bowl and whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking, powder, and salt.

Then, add this dry mixture to the large bowl with the other ingredients and mix together until a stick, crumbly dough forms. 

Ball up the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 

Once the dough ball is chilled, roll out the dough and cut out your cookies using a small round cookie cutter (about the size of vanilla wafers). 

If you don’t have the right-sized cookie cutter, I found a shot glass was the perfect size, lol.

Related: New to Keto? Learn how to eat out and still lose weight!

Place the tiny cookies on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown.

Once they get a little brown on the edges, pull the cookies out and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to completely cool. 

While the cookies are cooling let’s make some pudding!

The Pudding (sans bananas)

In a medium saucepan, before you turn on the heat, whisk together the sweetener, xanthan gum, and salt then add the egg yolks and whisk again until combined. 

Still with no heat, slowly add 1 ½ cup of heavy cream to the saucepan while whisking the mixture. 

Now, place the saucepan over medium-low heat and bring the mixture to 180 degrees F, stirring continuously.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and banana extract, then set aside. 

In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup of the heavy cream with the vanilla creme stevia using an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form. 

Once the pudding is cooled completely, fold the pudding and whipped cream together.  

Putting It All Together!

Layering is the baker’s choice. You can go wafer-pudding-wafer or pudding-wafer-pudding, you decide.

You also get to decide how many wafers you are gonna use. Good luck with that part! 

Once layered, place your dish in the fridge for two hours to fully chill. 

More Keto Desserts

Nothing makes me happier than seeing the delight on people’s faces when I whip up a new keto dessert.

They are often amazed that a low-carb, gluten-free, and sugar-free diet can taste so good. In fact, my own daughter once said, if you take out the grains, gluten, and sugar, what’s left?

Haha, I just happen to believe you should be able to have your cake (or cookies or pudding or pie) and eat it too!! Completely guilt free 😉

Here are a few of my family’s favorites:

The Best Keto Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Homemade Sugar-Free Vanilla Ice Cream

Crazy Good Keto Sopapilla Cheesecake

Classic New York Cheesecake with a Gluten-Free Crust