Peanut Butter Banana Icebox Pie. It’s super creamy and packed with rich, nutty flavor and just the right amount of fruity sweetness. The whole thing is nestled in a peanut butter cookie crust. Ready to be the Pie-d Piper of your next potluck? Read on!
Table of Contents
- 🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- 🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
- 📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- 🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
- 💭 Insider tips: things to know
- 🥫 Leftover love: how to store
- 👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
- 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
- 🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose
- 📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.
🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- Enjoy Southern comfort with basic pantry ingredients and just a few minutes of prep—the hardest part is waiting 'til it’s chilled to dive in!
- Serve this pie ice cold at a BBQ, family potluck, or casual gathering for a delicious end to any Southern meal.
- It’s super important to use regular creamy peanut butter, not the natural kind you have to stir.
This peanut butter banana icebox pie is the perfect blend of sweet and salty, smooth and crunchy.
🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- You can customize the crumb crust flavor by using graham crackers, vanilla wafers, cinnamon cookies, ginger snaps, or Oreos.
- Speed things up by using a purchased crumb crust - but definitely try the peanut butter cookie version next time.
- Feel free to use crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy peanut butter for extra texture.
- Add a dash of bourbon or cinnamon to the filling for a warm, Southern flavor. Remember, if you add booze, it's an adults-only pie.
- Spread caramel sauce over the banana layer or fold toffee bits into the filling for extra sweetness and crunch.
🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page. Click on the image to see it full size.
Blend the cream cheese, peanut butter, and brown sugar.
Whip some of the heavy cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture.
Line the crust with banana slices. Spread the filling on top.
💭 Insider tips: things to know
- Buy regular creamy peanut butter, like the kind from Jif or Skippy. All-natural peanut butter is extra oily and often separates.
- While baked recipes often call for overripe bananas, you should use just-ripe bananas for no-bake pies. Otherwise, the bottom of your pie will become mushy.
- Soften your cream cheese before blending it with the peanut butter and brown sugar. You can’t mix cold cream cheese!
- Use heavy cream straight from the fridge. Ice-cold heavy cream whips much better than room-temperature cream.
Marye's Tip o' the day
Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture in batches. This prevents the whipped cream from deflating and helps evenly combine the two mixtures without streaks.
🥫 Leftover love: how to store
Like all icebox pies, you must thoroughly chill it overnight or at least eight hours before serving. This is crucial to setting the filling and melding all the flavors together.
You can store leftovers in the fridge for up to two days. If you store them for longer than that, the filling can deflate, the crust will soften too much, and the bananas will become watery.
Serve peanut butter banana pie straight from the fridge.
Freeze for up to 3 months. The bananas may lose some of their texture or get slightly watery.
🤫 Marye's secret for zhuzhing it up
I like decorating the outer edges of my peanut butter banana pie with eight dollops of freshly whipped cream, each topped with a vertical banana slice and peanut butter cookie. This also makes it easier to slice the pie into eight even servings!
zhuzh: verb. To make something more interesting or attractive
👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!
Not really—you need real heavy cream to make the whipped filling in this icebox pie. Although you can whip chilled coconut cream, it won’t produce stiff peaks or set properly and will deflate the filling.
Covering the banana slices with the creamy filling naturally prevents them from browning. However, if you’re topping your pie with extra banana slices, you can dip them in lemon juice to prevent them from browning as quickly.
The possibilities are endless! Some delicious toppings include extra whipped cream or Cool Whip, a chocolate or caramel sauce drizzle, a light dusting of cocoa powder, chocolate shavings, toffee bits, honey-roasted peanuts, or crushed chocolate-covered pretzels.
⏲️ Marye's time saving hacks -
If you don't have time to bake the crust yourself, you can use a store-bought graham cracker cookie crust instead.
📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose
First off, congrats on your self-control! Instead of sneaking forkfuls straight from the fridge (which is totally acceptable), here are some creative ways to repurpose leftover peanut butter banana pie:
- Toss a slice into the blender with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a splash of milk to create a peanut butter banana milkshake.
- Crumble leftover pie over a bowl of vanilla, chocolate, or caramel ice cream. Top with whipped cream and crushed peanuts for a next-level sundae.
- Make a pie parfait by layering crumbled pie with Greek yogurt or pudding in a glass.
- Spread a thin slice of pie in between two pieces of bread—it's like a fun PB banana sandwich with an extra layer of crunch!
📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
Y'all, this is delicious. Now, I admit I may favor peanut butter desserts a bit but even so... this is roll-your-eyes-back yummy.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Peanut Butter Banana Ice Box Pie
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
Crust
- 2 cups peanut butter cookie crumbs, or 1 9-inch graham cracker crust
- ⅓ cup butter, melted
Filling
- 1-½ cups heavy cream, divided use
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, don't use natural or the kind you have to stir in the oil
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large bananas, sliced
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Stir together crust ingredients; firmly press on bottom and up sidesof a lightly greased 9-inch pie plate.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove from oven to a wire rack, and cool completely.
- Or use a purchased graham cracker crust
Filling
- Beat softened cream cheese, peanut butter, and brown sugar with the paddle of a stand mixer on low until well mixed and no longer grainy.
- Add ¼ cup whipping cream and continue to mix on low, scraping the bowl as needed, until the mixture is fluffy.
- Set aside.
- Beat vanilla and remaining 1 -¼ cups whipping cream at high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold one-third whipped cream mixture into peanut butter mixture.
- Fold in remaining whipped cream mixture.
- Arrange banana slices in bottom of crust.
- Spoon peanut butter mixture over bananas.
- Cover and chill 8 hours.
Notes
-
- Buy regular creamy peanut butter, like the kind from Jif or Skippy. All-natural peanut butter is extra oily and often separates.
-
- While baked recipes often call for overripe bananas, you should use just-ripe bananas for no-bake pies. Otherwise, the bottom of your pie will become mushy.
-
- Soften your cream cheese before blending it with the peanut butter and brown sugar. You can’t mix cold cream cheese!
-
- Use heavy cream straight from the fridge. Ice-cold heavy cream whips much better than room-temperature cream.
- Fold whipped cream in gently or the whole thing can deflate and become runny.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
Janis May says
Can you use cool whip instead of the homemade whipped cream?
Marye says
Sure 🙂