The Secret Ingredient That'll Make Your Banana Pudding A Total Crowd-Pleaser

Does banana pudding conjure all sorts of delicious memories from childhood? It's not really that surprising if so. The creamy dessert is a bit of a comfort food in its own right. Which explains why it was the most Googled dessert in the summer of 2020. Still, it might be hard to imagine that a single ingredient can transform it into something even more mouthwatering than what you remember — but it's true. The smooth, fruity pudding can actually get a lot better! And all you need to do to amplify it is add ice cream. Vanilla ice cream to be exact.

No, this tasty trick isn't about topping the pudding with soft serve or anything like that. Instead, it involves actually adding the vanilla ice cream to the pudding mix before it sets. Are you intrigued? Let's hope so, because you'll truly be missing out if you don't give this secret ingredient a try the next time that you make banana pudding. In fact, why not make some right now?

Making banana pudding is as easy as buying a box of instant pudding, mixing it with cold milk, and putting it in the refrigerator to chill. So you might be wondering if it's really worth it to add an extra ingredient, and thus an extra step. And how do you add a solid like ice cream to the pudding mix anyway?

First of all, yes, it's definitely worth the extra step as it will take your pudding from pretty yummy to absolutely spectacular. Second, you're not going to add frozen ice cream to the mix. This means that you will have to melt the vanilla ice cream first — that is true. But it's not a difficult task. You're going to replace half of the milk that the box ingredients call for with ice cream, so just scoop that amount into a microwave-safe dish and zap it for approximately 30 seconds. You only want it to melt, not heat it up, so be cautious not to overdo it. Or you can always leave it in the refrigerator to melt instead. While the ice cream will be soft after about a half hour, you may have to leave it in for a few hours or even overnight to get it to melt all the way. Leaving it on the counter might be tempting but it will melt unevenly and risk foodborne illness in the process.

By substituting half of the milk with vanilla ice cream, your pudding will be creamier, sweeter, and on a whole other level of tastiness. But can you use other flavors of ice cream instead? Honestly, that is totally up to you and your tastebuds. It's easy to imagine a delicious concoction of banana pudding and chocolate ice cream (though it might not be very pretty). Or strawberry banana pudding made from an instant banana pudding mix and strawberry ice cream. It's definitely worth a try anyway. And pudding is pretty inexpensive, so why not go crazy and see what works?

Another fun alternative to try would be combining vanilla pudding mix with your favorite flavor of ice cream. The options here are pretty much limitless since just about every flavor of ice cream will pair well with vanilla pudding. But don't forget to give this banana pudding upgrade a shot first now before your imagination starts running wild.