Baked Banana Pie is creamy and rich with a baked banana custard filling tucked into a flaky crust. It's delicious!
This is a homemade banana pie with a creamy custard filling. Usually when people go looking for ways to use bananas to make a baked banana dessert they go for banana strawberry bread or maybe a banana breakfast cake. This pie is one of the best ways to use soft bananas because they are blended and baked into the pie!
This is a fairly easy banana custard pie with NO pudding mix, but if you want something with pudding you could always try Banana Cream Pie Bars. Nothing artificial here. The delicious banana flavor comes from fresh or frozen and thawed bananas blended into a pureé and mixed into the creamy banana custard filling, then baked into a flaky cream cheese pie crust in a gorgeous, show-stopping fluted ceramic pie dish.
If you're looking for a unique pie recipe that isn't Pumpkin Pie, you've come to the right place. This is a bit of a riff on my creamy baked pistachio pie. It's a delightful baked banana cream pie variation!
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⭐️ Why You'll LOVE This Baked Banana Pie
- Great way to use ripe bananas! If you've had enough banana bread and banana muffins, this is a delicious way to use them.
- The bananas cook, so there's no worrying about fresh bananas turning brown and spoiling before serving! This makes it a GREAT pie to make ahead of time.
- No artificial flavors - this pie filling is 100% homemade! No pudding mix or cornstarch here! Just pure, delicious banana-packed flavor.
- Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust - if you've never had pie crust made with cream cheese, let me introduce you to your new best friend.
- Easy to make quicker - You can use a store-bought dough pie crust or graham cracker crust to cut down on time.
- Unique - This is a unique pie recipe, perfect for Pie Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or just a delicious little treat to share (or not)!
🛒 Key Ingredients
Luckily, most of the ingredients for baked banana pie are pantry staples. Here's the basics of what we're working with:
- Ripe Bananas - Overripe is the best for baking. Brown spots are what we like to see! If all you have is yellow or greenish-yellow bananas, see the Frequently Asked Question section for instructions on how to ripen bananas in the oven.
- Eggs - the binder and thickener for the banana custard filling, gives the custard a nice thicker-than-pudding texture.
- Cream Cheese - adds flavor and richness to the pie. Full-fat tastes best!
- Heavy Cream - needed for creamy custard base.
- White Granulated Sugar - bananas are very sweet, so not much sugar is needed for this pie.
- Salt - do you need salt in banana custard pie? Yes! It tastes so much better with a little added salt.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions
- Heavy Whipping Cream - can be substituted with evaporated milk.
- White Granulated Sugar - can be swapped for light brown sugar or coconut sugar.
- Cream Cheese - sour cream (full fat) can be used, or ⅓ fat cream cheese.
🆒 Variations
- Vanilla can be switched with coconut extract for a fun banana coconut tropical flavor profile!
- Pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice can be used in place of cinnamon for a more complex flavor without being too overpowering.
- Using a graham cracker crust instead of pie dough would be delicious!
- I used these delicious cinnamon crackers on top and it was amazing!
🧑🍳 Instructions
I'll walk you through how to make the pie crust and the baked banana custard pie filling.
Step 1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cold butter (slice into cubes), cream cheese, and salt. Break up the butter and cream cheese into the flour using a fork or pastry blender until the pieces are about pea-sized.
Step 2. Pour ice-cold water into the mixture and mix. You may need to add 1-2 extra Tablespoons of water if the butter is super cold.
Be careful not to work the dough too long, just knead until it's not crumbly anymore and holds together well. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 20-30 minutes while making the filling.
Step 3. In a mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer on medium/high speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 4. Mix in the eggs well until the mixture. You can do this one at a time starting at a low speed, then raise the speed until they are mixed in well.
Step 5. Mix in the cinnamon and salt.
Step 6. Peel the bananas and transfer to a bowl or measuring cup and mash or blend.
Step 7. The bananas should be a smooth puree equaling about 1 and ⅓ to 1 and ½ cups, or 315-350 mL. This recipe is pretty forgiving and the amount can vary a little.
Step 8. Pour the banana puree into the wet mixture and mix well.
Step 9. Roll out the chilled dough into a large circle, about ¼ inch (.6cm) in thickness, and transfer to the pie dish. Trim around the edges as needed and crimp the dough.
Step 10. Pour the banana pie filling into the pie crust and bake on a lower shelf at 400℉ for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temp to 350℉ and cook for an additional 25-30 minutes. You may need to cover the edges of the crust with foil to protect them while baking.
Step 11. Remove and let cool. The pie should be set around the edges. It continues to cook a little as it cools, so don't worry if it's slightly jiggly in the middle.
Step 12. Once the pie is completely cooled, chill for 2-3 hours, then serve with whipped cream on top and enjoy! I use a Wilton 2D tip to decorate with whipped cream.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 300℉. Don't peel the bananas.
Step 2. Place bananas with the peel on onto a baking sheet.
Step 3. Bake for 15-30 minutes, until bananas become brown and shiny.
Bananas, heavy cream, eggs, sugar, a few spices like cinnamon and salt, and cream cheese to add flavor. No cornstarch as a thickener, just eggs.
Both custard and pudding start with a sweetened milk or cream base, the difference is in the thickener.
Custard uses eggs as the primary thickener.
Pudding mainly uses cornstarch or flour and may contain eggs.
Yes! This is a make-ahead dessert. You can also make the cream cheese pie dough in advance and refrigerate until ready to use.
Yes! As long as they're completely thawed, mashed or blended frozen bananas work just fine.
❄️ Storage
Refrigerate: Once cooled, the pie can be refrigerated before serving for 1-2 days for best results, or leftovers for up to 5 days for safe consumption.
Banana custard pie slices REALLY well once chilled, which is why I like it more than other banana cream pies.
PRO TIP: Serve with whipped cream for maximum delicious effect! It definitely doesn't look as lovely or appetizing without it.
🍌 More Unique Banana Recipes
📝 Printable Recipe
Baked Banana Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter cold, cut into small cubes
- 3 oz cream cheese cold, cut into small cubes
- ⅓ cup ice cold water more as needed,
For the pie filling:
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup heavy cream or evaporated milk
- 3 ⅓ cups banana puree (3 large bananas)
- Optional: Whipped cream for topping
Instructions
For the Crust:
- In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar, cold butter, and cold cream cheese. Cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture using a fork or pastry blender (or pulse a few times in a food processor) until the butter and cream cheese are about pea sized chunks.
- Add in cold water, working the dough together until it forms a ball and is no longer crumbly. If the mixture is too dry, add cold water 1 Tablespoon at a time until a dough forms. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
For the Pie Pilling:
- In a mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese and sugar and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time and mix well in between, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.
- Add in salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and heavy cream and mix well.
- Blend or mash banana into a pureé with no chunks left. Pour into the mixing bowl and mix well.
- Preheat the oven to 400℉.
- Roll out pie crust to about ¼ inch thick (.6cm), and transfer to a pie dish, and crimp the edges using fingers or a fork. Pour the pie filling into the raw pie shell.
- Bake the pie on a middle/lower shelf at 400℉ for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350℉ and bake for another 25-30 minutes, or until edges are set and middle is only slightly jiggly. Remove and let cool completely, then refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.
- Serve with whipped cream on top!
Sophie says
I made this recipe Dairy Free (got to love food sensitivities around here!). I doubled the recipe and instead of cream cheese and heavy cream, I just did a 15 oz can of coconut milk. I also added an extra egg. I loved the perfect banana flavor and how incredibly smooth the custard was! An awesome recipe Sara!
Sara says
Yay! So glad you were able to make adjustments for it!
Stephanie says
Girl, this looks really good! You're gonna need to bake me some!