Kyl Haselbauer has 20 years of experience working in fine-dining and modernist kitchens, including Bar Cotto and Anchovies &amp; Olives in Seattle. He is also the owner of Bright Spot, a café and coffee shop in Seattle.

Kyl Haselbauer

After publishing a bunch of my vegan pudding recipes—<a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/vanilla-pudding">vanilla</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/butterscotch-pudding">butterscotch</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/coffee-pudding">coffee</a>, and <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/eggnog-pudding">“egg”nog</a>—a lot of readers asked for a banana version. So here it is: the best banana pudding I’ve ever tasted.The base recipe is the same. It harnesses the thickening power of <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/unlock-your-hydrocolloid-starter-pack">low-acyl gellan gum</a> to produce a creamy and rich fluid gel using a combination of blended cashew, water, and coconut oil. The only real trick was to try to nail the flavor of banana-flavored stuff out there, which are typically made with synthetic flavors.I did a number of trials to figure out how to achieve that flavor, and ultimately, the closest I could get was by roasting bananas in their skins before blending them into the pudding base. Cooking the bananas converts some of their starch to sugars, making them sweeter, and cooking them in their skins seemed to intensify their inherent flavor, as the flesh cooks in its own juices. Once cooked, they’re so soft that they blend up super smooth.You do have to use a precision digital scale—accurate to 1/10th of a gram—for this recipe (and my other puddings) since low-acyl gellan is such a powerful gelling agent. You only need a little, but you also need the precise amount called for to get the right texture. Add too little, and it won’t set up correctly; add too much, and it’ll be unpleasantly firm.The scale will come in handy, too, for measuring out the cooked banana flesh. All the ingredients in this recipe are designed to work with 300 grams of roasted banana, so getting that quantity correct is important if you want the correct texture.Portion the pudding into cups, with or without a fresh banana and Nilla wafer garnish, and I guarantee it’s the best banana pudding you’ve ever tasted, too.

Vegan Banana Pudding