Recipe: Easiest Way To Prepare Banana Pudding Fluff Salad

Banana Pudding Fluff Salad. This isn't the old banana pudding recipe - it's the banana pudding salad! This simple no-bake dessert salad is full of bananas and nilla waffles and is the perfect alternative to traditional banana pudding.

Feather salad is relatively new to me. We never ate them growing up, but I know they are a staple on many holiday tables. As a kid, I probably wouldn't touch most spring recipes because I'm not a fruit lover and they are full of them. As an adult, fruit is so-so to me, but I'll be eating apples and bananas, both of which are great in feathers. (Have you tried the cheesecake and apple fluff salad? It's a dream.) I love the sweet creamy texture mixed with the apple crunch.

Now that spring is here and summer is here, I think about a simple potluck and no-bake desserts. In the summer we like to be entertaining - and it's really hot here - so both categories suit me well. Spring salad is the perfect side dish all spring and summer!

The Fluff Pudding Banana Salad looks so delicious

This fluff banana pudding isn't your mother's banana pudding, that's for sure. This is a banana pudding fluff salad with everything you love about a traditional banana pudding.

What is a fluff salad?

If you're like me and haven't heard of feather salad by Pinterest, let me explain a little what it is. Fluff Salad is a dessert salad that is usually made from cold custard and/or whip, sometimes cream cheese, fruit, marshmallows, and sometimes nuts. Traditionally, feather salad is a bit like ambrosia and is the base of a pudding filled with pineapple, pecans, and maraschino cherries. I don't know for sure, but I'm sure it started in the South or the Midwest because it grew up in California, that's nothing. I also bet it started in the 70s when Jell-O was invented.

Spring salad is made from oranges, berries, cherries, or any type of fruit you can think of. You can use a vanilla or banana or pistachio pudding mix or whatever flavor you want, and some spring salads are made with cottage cheese in them. Verily the sky is the limit and the possibilities are endless.

The indispensable ingredients for a spring salad are pudding, fruit, and marshmallows.

This version of the spring salad uses a custard and banana mix to mimic the traditional banana pudding recipe with nilla waffles.

My version of the spring salad uses vanilla or banana pudding. You can use whatever you like, but banana pudding is traditionally made from custard and pieces of banana.

What is banana pudding?

Banana pudding is often served in a 9x13-inch baking dish or small plate. It's generally a custard (either homemade or from a box) and topped with nilla waffles and pieces of banana and whipped cream or chilled whipped cream. My favorite banana pudding uses butter cake, but you can use anything you like.

This banana fluff pudding salad is a combination of these two favorite traditional recipes!

With just 6 ingredients, this feather salad is created in a few minutes. Usually, the canned fruit used for a spring salad is all of the liquid you need to make the pudding mixture, but since we used bananas I had to use some milk. Since I wanted a thick mixture, I only used one cup, half what it says on the package.

How to Make a Simple Fluff Pudding Banana Salad

Mix the pudding mixture with the milk and let it set.
Since the traditional spring recipe is made with cool whip, I use that. It looks better too; Cold whip is more stable.
Make sure your bananas are ripe but not overripe; You don't want them to go to a pulp.
Nilla waffles make a nice crunch and are a traditional banana pudding cake, but you can use shortbread or shortbread biscuits as well.
The marshmallows are a must-have and give the FLUFF salad it takes!
Keep it in the refrigerator but eat it within a day or the bananas will turn brown and the cake will turn out mushy.

You can have Banana Fluff using 6 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Banana Pudding Fluff

1 box 3.4 ounces INSTANT vanilla or banana pudding mix may substitute sugar-free
1 cup nonfat milk
1 container 8 ounces Cool Whip may substitute sugar-free
3 cups mini marshmallows
3 cups Vanilla Wafers broken into pieces
3 medium bananas sliced

Banana Pudding Fluff Salad step by step

Whisk pudding mix and milk in a large bowl. Let sit for 3 minutes to set.
Stir in Cool Whip. Then stir in marshmallows, cookies, and sliced bananas.
Serve the same day it's made (bananas will turn brown with age and cookies will soften).