Easy Strawberry Wafer Pudding

This easy Strawberry Wafer Pudding recipe is a dessert the entire family will enjoy! You only need a few ingredients and it comes together in less than an hour.

Do you remember the classic banana pudding commonly found in cafeteria lunches and church pot lucks? I have very fond memories of it as a child. I found myself craving it recently and I also had some strawberries hanging out in the fridge. I figured, why not try it with strawberries instead of bananas? This easy Strawberry Wafer Pudding recipe was born! The strawberries give you a great burst of flavor in every bite, while the pudding and vanilla wafer cookies bring you back to that classic childhood dessert.

With only a few ingredients and less than an hour of your time, you will have a dessert you can bring to a cookout, family dinner, or work pot luck. You can guarantee there will be at least one person who has nostalgic memories of this dessert. They will definitely be pestering you for the recipe!

How-To Make Strawberry Wafer Pudding

First, you want to slice your strawberries vertically and set them aside. Slicing them vertically allows you to arrange them beautifully in the dessert.

Next, in a large, chilled mixing bowl, you will combine the sweetened condensed milk, pudding mix, and milk until well combined. Place this mixture in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, which will allow it to thicken.

Once your pudding mixture has thickened, you will add half of your whipped cream and mix until well combined. Set aside the other half, we will use it at the end.

Now it is time to arrange your dessert. This can be a lot of fun! Maybe even invite your curious child to help with this step. Pour in just enough of your pudding mixture to cover the bottom of your serving dish. Now you will add your first layer of wafer cookies. I like to stand them vertically along the outer edge of the dish for the most pleasing presentation, but then you can use any broken pieces to line the inside of the dish and those don’t need to be as organized.

Add the rest of your pudding mixture so that it covers your vertical layer of wafer cookies. I had just enough pudding mixture to do this with my standard size trifle dish. If you use a larger dish or if you cut corners on ingredient measurements, this may be difficult. You could always add a little more whipped cream to help stretch your remaining pudding if you don’t think you will have enough.

On top of the pudding mixture you will now line your dish with the strawberry slices from step one. Stand them up so that the pointy end is pointing towards the top of the dish. In my opinion, this really adds a lot of interest to the dish. In the original banana version of this pudding, the colors are all so similar nothing stands out. With this version, the strawberries add a wonderful splash of color! Just like with the wafer cookies, if you have any less-than-ideal slices of strawberry you can lay those down in the middle of the dessert.

Cover the strawberries with the remainder of your whipped cream. The contrast between the red strawberries and the white whipped cream is beautiful and mouth watering!

Lastly, decorate the top of your dessert! I decorated mine by lining the edge of the dish with horizontally placed wafer cookies, and filling in the middle with artfully placed strawberry slices. I love how it turned out! You can use your imagination here and decorate it however you like.

The top of the strawberry wafer pudding dessert decorated with strawberries and wafer cookies surrounded by more strawberries and wafer cookies below it
strawberry wafer pudding with strawberries and cookies scattered around it

Strawberry Wafer Pudding

This strawberry wafer pudding is a delicious twist on the classic banana pudding. Layers of vanilla wafer cookies, sliced strawberries, whipped cream and pudding create a decadent dessert all ages will enjoy!
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 10

Equipment

  • 1 Large Mixing Bowl
  • 1 Glass Trifle Bowl -This provides the prettiest presentation but isn't necessary.

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 Package Vanilla Pudding Mix
  • 1 1/3 Cup Whole Milk
  • Vanilla Wafer Cookies
  • Whipped cream
  • Strawberries

Instructions
 

  • Slice your strawberries vertically and set aside
  • In a large, chilled mixing bowl combine the sweetened condensed milk, pudding mix and milk.
  • Put in the fridge for 15-20 minutes so it can thicken.
  • Mix half the whipped cream into the pudding mixture. Set the other half aside.
  • Pour just enough of your pudding mixture to cover the bottom of your dish.
  • Line your dish with cookies by standing them vertically.
  • Also line the inside of the dish with the cookies horizontally.
  • Fill with the remainder of the pudding mixture so that it covers the vertical layer of cookies.
  • Now line your dish with strawberry slices by standing them vertically.
  • Put another layer of cookies inside the dish horizontally.
  • Cover the strawberries with the rest of the whipped cream.
  • Leave the top plain or decorate it with whatever combination of cookies and strawberries makes you happy.
  • Enjoy!

Video

Notes

  • You can use vanilla pudding mix or strawberry pudding mix. I thought using strawberry pudding mix might be a bit overkill, so I stuck with vanilla. 
  • I recommend using whole milk but you can use whatever milk you have on hand and it’ll still turn out.
  • Of course I recommend making your own homemade whipped cream, but if you don’t have the time the store bought stuff will do.
  • Need a Trifle Dish? Check out this one made in Italy!
 
Keyword dessert, easy dessert, pudding, strawberry pudding, valentines dessert, vanilla wafer cookies

Variations for this Easy Strawberry Wafer Pudding

I used Strawberries for this particular recipe but you don’t have to! Feel free to use whatever fruit you have on hand. Some other options would be:

  • Raspberries
  • Blueberries
  • Blackberries
  • Cherries
  • Perhaps even a mixed berry! That would be beautiful.

It’s so easy to swap out different fruit and pudding flavors to create exactly the dessert you need.

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