Banana Pudding in a Cup
Instant vanilla pudding, banana chips, and crushed wafers, cold-soaked in a cup while you set up camp.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 3.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 137
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 4 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 4 min
- water
- 220 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Snack
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant vanilla pudding mix | 1/3 cup | instant only, the cook-and-serve kind will not set cold |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | whole, not nonfat, for body and calories |
| Freeze-dried banana slices | 1/3 cup | freeze-dried rehydrates soft, chips stay hard and sweet |
| Vanilla wafer cookies | 6 cookies | broken, half in and half on top |
| Powdered sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Vanilla extract | 1/4 tsp | in a dropper bottle, or use a pinch of vanilla powder |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Pour the pudding mix, milk powder, powdered sugar, and salt into your cup or jar.
- Add 220 ml of cold water and the vanilla. Stir or shake hard for a full thirty seconds so no dry pockets survive.
- Drop in the freeze-dried banana and half the broken wafers. Stir once.
- Close it and leave it twenty minutes. The pudding sets and the banana comes back soft.
- Crush the rest of the wafers over the top and eat with a long spoon.
The original is a cupcake with a pudding core, which needs an oven, eggs, cold cream, and a refrigerator. None of that travels. What actually makes banana pudding work is simpler: a set custard, soft banana, and something starchy to soak. Instant pudding mix plus powdered whole milk gives you the first two-thirds with cold water and no stove.
The milk powder matters more than it looks. Instant pudding sets on the proteins in milk, so mixing it with plain water gives you sweet soup that never thickens. Freeze-dried banana pulls moisture out of the mix as it rehydrates, which tightens the pudding further, so give it the full twenty minutes before you judge the texture.
Packing
Pudding mix, milk powder, sugar, and salt go in one small bag. Banana and wafers ride in a second bag so they do not turn to dust against the powder.
Variations
- Swap the banana for freeze-dried strawberries and skip the wafers.
- A tablespoon of powdered peanut butter thickens it further and adds protein, but drops the nut-free option for anyone sharing.
https://zenandhoney.com/banana-pudding-cupcakes-recipe