Gluten-free, vegan banana pudding

[This post is sponsored via my new partnership with Blue Diamond Almond Breeze. Each month, I’ll be creating a recipe using their fantastic Almond Breeze almond milk. Read on for a vegan and gluten-free banana pudding!]

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze

Banana pudding is one of my all-time favorite desserts. The bummer is that many restaurants don’t serve it.. unless you’re at some type of cafeteria. I’m ok with that. Along with wishing that it was more accessible, I found myself wondering about the sometimes-sketchy ingredients, so I decided to take things into my own hands and make some. My mission was to create something vegan and also gluten-free.

Vegan Banana Pudding

The key to the creamy texture:

Almond Breeze almond milk + soaked raw cashews.

Cashews

Soaked raw cashews and young Thai coconut meat are two fantastic vegan options to add creamy texture to a dish. For this recipe, I knew the cashews would help to thicken the mixture, and also yield a light, nutty flavor. I added the cashews to the high-speed blender, along with a banana, a date, maple syrup, and almond milk.

I blended the mixture on high,

layered it with gluten-free vanilla cookies,

gluten-free vanilla wafers

wafer and banana layer

pouring the pudding layer

and allowed it to set overnight. 

Vegan banana pudding

Creamy pudding, slices of fresh banana and wafers, which have softened and chilled. Comfort food at its finest (aka very comfortable as I plant my face into the dish).

vegan banana pudding

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to give it a try!

Hope you love it 🙂

 

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Gluten-free vegan banana pudding

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A dairy-free alternative to the classic comfort food. Make the night before — it tastes even better the next day!

  • Prep Time: 15
  • Total Time: 15

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups raw cashews, soaked at least one hour or overnight. Drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup Almond Breeze almond milk
  • 1 medjool date, pitted
  • 3 bananas (2 sliced, 1 whole)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup (or any sweetener you love. Honey would work well, too)
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 package of your favorite vanilla cookies or wafers
  • Dairy-free whipped cream and cinnamon, for serving

Instructions

  1. 1. In a high-speed blender, blend the cashews, one banana, the date, pinch of sea salt, sweetener, Almond Breeze, and vanilla on high until smooth and creamy.
  2. 2. In a 9×13 baking dish, add the remaining banana slices and cookies to cover the bottom of the pan.
  3. 3. Pour the pudding mixture on top, cover and allow to cool in fridge overnight.
  4. 4. Serve with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

 Vegan Banana Pudding, gluten-free and healthy! fitnessista.com

What’s your all-time favorite dessert of comfort food? Have you ever made at all home? 

I’m a HUGE molten chocolate cake fan, but don’t think I’ve ever made it at home… need to change that.

Have a wonderful day.

xo

Gina

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This post was sponsored by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze- my favorite almond milk! As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting this blog and the sponsors that help to support our family.

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45 Comments

  1. Heather J on March 26, 2014 at 11:41 am

    Just wondering if there’s a typo here:

    “1/2 cup maple syrup (or any sweetener you love. 1 tablespoon of honey would work, too)”

    1/2 cup of maple syrup wouldn’t substitute with just 1 tbsp of honey. Should it be more honey or less maple syrup?

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 11:49 am

      yes! fixed it– thank you:)

      • Heather J on March 26, 2014 at 12:28 pm

        Super!

    • Pati Clark on April 15, 2014 at 1:00 pm

      Are you concerned about the ingredient Carrageenans that is in most almond milks ? Just wanted to hear your thoughts …I now banded store bought almond & coconut milks and creamers due to Carrageenan and opt for making my own almond milk from scratch .

  2. Betsy on March 26, 2014 at 11:46 am

    This is such great timing! I was just talking to someone on Sunday about much I love banana cream pudding but that I hadn’t tasted it in years since I was vegan and gluten free. I’m so excited to try this!

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 11:50 am

      let me know what you think!

  3. Maggie on March 26, 2014 at 11:47 am

    This looks so yummy! I was just wondering if you used sweetened or unsweetened almond milk? If I use unsweetened, do you think I’d need to add more dates?

    Thanks!
    Maggie

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 11:49 am

      i used unsweetened too, and it was perfectly sweet!

  4. Maria on March 26, 2014 at 11:55 am

    This looks awesome! I’ve been looking for a dairy-free pudding recipe to make for the little miss 🙂 Thank you!

  5. Green Shushi on March 26, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    Love almond milk–just made a smoothie with it.

  6. Ashley @ A Lady Goes West on March 26, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    That sounds delicious and light. Thanks for sharing.

    My favorite dessert is carrot cake, and I’ve never tried making it at home. Wonder if I could pull together a healthy version.

    Looking forward to more Blue Diamond recipes.

    Best,
    Ashley

  7. Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl on March 26, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    This sounds fantastic and I LOVE that it is vegan! So cool! 🙂

  8. Megan @ The Skinny-Life on March 26, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    I love that this is vegan! Dairy and I don’t get along well. I’m a sucker for vanilla wafers too. That’s for the great recipe!

  9. Haley @Cupcakes and Sunshine on March 26, 2014 at 12:49 pm

    OH wow. this sounds like the perfect afternoon snack! I can’t wait to try it out. I’ve been on a HUGE banana kick lately. We just got a dehydrator, so I’ve been obsessing over dried bananas. I may have to sprinkle some in my pudding for a little crunch!

  10. Shelly Gallender on March 26, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    I’ve done something quite similar using chia seeds as the thickener. Yum!

  11. GiselleR @ Diary of an ExSloth on March 26, 2014 at 1:09 pm

    Oh man this looks awesome! I’ve tried chia seed pudding and the texture was all wrong, but this looks right up my alley 😀

  12. Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed on March 26, 2014 at 1:28 pm

    Do the cashews get soft when you soak them? I think nuts would kill my blender otherwise. I’m still dreaming of the day when I own a food processor (soon with our wedding coming up)! I definitely want to try this one, yum 🙂

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 6:48 pm

      yep, they soften up nicely! i’d soak them overnight.

  13. Erin (Running Tall) on March 26, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    THANK YOU! The BF is a big banana cream pie/pudding dessert fan so this will be an awesome healthy alternative for him! Legit making this this weekend 🙂

  14. Jackie on March 26, 2014 at 1:36 pm

    Holy yum! I could use some right now!

  15. Shannon on March 26, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    This sounds CRAZY delicious!
    Totally a dessert I could have a few nights a week! 😉

  16. Abi@AbsofSteel on March 26, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    This recipe looks great! I think chocolate chip cookies are probably my favorite dessert comfort food.

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 6:47 pm

      looooooove an old-fashioned, warm, chocolate chip cookie. THE BEST

  17. Lauren @ Focused To Be Fit on March 26, 2014 at 2:18 pm

    Yum! This looks delish and I love that it’s not too difficult at all. I’ll have to get some cashews…I always walk past them because I end up eating them all too fast.

  18. Sara @ LovingOnTheRun on March 26, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    This looks so awesome! YUM!

  19. Elizabeth {Positively Healthy} on March 26, 2014 at 4:05 pm

    I am crazy for banana pudding, I would ask for it for my birthday instead of cake! I love this GF version as well! Can’t wait to give it a try! Pinning!

  20. Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment on March 26, 2014 at 4:32 pm

    This looks great! My favorite comfort dessert is rice pudding with raisins.

  21. Jen@HealthyFoodandFamily on March 26, 2014 at 5:14 pm

    Sounds delicious! I haven’t had banana pudding in a really long time!

  22. Livi on March 26, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    I love this recipe, and I love all the ingredients you used! Almond Breeze is an awesome company!

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 6:46 pm

      let me know if you try it! totally agree- they’re amazing 🙂

  23. Courtney @ Harness Your Energy on March 26, 2014 at 6:06 pm

    That dessert looks unreal! I have a love affair with chocolate mousse. However, I’ve never made it at home, I did however get on a week long kick of making black bean brownies for dinner (!) & they were amazing… I’m not sure how it worked it’s way onto my dinner menu & stayed, but it did. I tried not to feel too bad about it since it was a semi-healthy “dessert”. To each their own. 🙂

    • Fitnessista on March 26, 2014 at 6:45 pm

      chocolate mousse is one of my faves, too! but then again, i love anything chocolate 🙂

  24. Chicago Jogger on March 26, 2014 at 6:56 pm

    Yum! My dad is vegan, I’m definitely keeping this recipe around for him to try:)

  25. Danielle @ It's a Harleyyy Life on March 26, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    banana pudding is my favorite dessert… EVER!

  26. Kelli on March 27, 2014 at 2:12 am

    This is the second time in 2 days that I’ve seen a post/photo of banana pudding with vanilla-wafery cookies. Must be time to make some!

  27. Lisa on March 27, 2014 at 3:50 pm

    Looks so good.
    L x
    http://workingmumy.blogspot.com

  28. Teri {a foodie stays fit} on March 27, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    This looks delicious!! Love banana pudding, especially the homemade kind I’ve discovered in the South, but the traditional kind destroys my digestive system. Can’t wait to try this!

  29. Stephanie @ Whole Health Dork on March 28, 2014 at 1:53 pm

    One of my all-time favorite desserts is a brownie sundae, which I do make at home. Another one that I’ve never made at home? Crème brûlée. I don’t own ramekins, nor do I have a torch, but I wouldn’t mind trying some day.

  30. Debbie on March 28, 2014 at 2:06 pm

    Banana flavored anything has always been my favorite. I just made this with 1/4 cup agave (it was all I had left) and it was delicious. I found myself wanting to lick my vitamix. All I have at home right now are animal crackers, so that is what i used.
    Where did you find your vanilla cookies?

    • Fitnessista on March 29, 2014 at 6:38 pm

      boom. glad you liked it! i got those ones at whole foods

  31. Monique @ burpees to bubbly on March 28, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    this looks amazing!! And, dating someone who is GF and DF, this is sure to be a winning treat!

  32. Kailey on March 28, 2014 at 5:46 pm

    Guilty pleasure but SO easy:

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Lava-Cake-in-less-than-15-minutes/

    I’m sure you could think of a creative spin on this! 🙂

    • Fitnessista on March 29, 2014 at 6:36 pm

      dude. i’m on it.

  33. Brittany on March 30, 2014 at 6:22 am

    I love banana pudding and this one looks perfect. I’ve made a peanut butter version with almond milk before. So good!!

  34. Bri on March 31, 2014 at 9:48 am

    This sounds amazing; did you make the recipe up? YUM!

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