National Banana Pudding Cook-off

Are you ready to compete?  We are ready for your recipe, and we can't wait to taste your banana pudding! 

Applications for the 2027 Cook-off are not open yet.


Who made the best Banana Pudding in the United States in 2026?

2026 National Banana Pudding Cook-off winners Nancy Crosby, Andrew Brooks and Jessie Lumpkins holding their prize checks

  1. Side Hustle Signature Banana Pudding by Nancy CrosbyFirst place went to Nancy Crosby from Bonaire, GA with a recipe called "Side Hustle Signature Banana Pudding". Nancy took home the $2,000.00 grand prize and bragging rights to the best banana pudding in America.

    Nancy is a Georgia State Banana Pudding competition winner who loves old-fashioned desserts that bring back memories of family gatherings. Her pudding starts with homemade vanilla-almond sugar cookies, baked again into crisp cubes, layered with fresh bananas and creamy vanilla pudding, and finished with Italian meringue toasted until golden.
  2. Golden Georgia Honey Butter Banana Pudding by Andrew BrooksSecond place went to Andrew Brooks from Byron, GA. He won $1,000.00 for his "Golden Georgia Honey Butter Banana Pudding".

    Andrew works in IT and spends his off time cooking French cuisine and baking French classics like chocolate mousse and crème brûlée. His pudding adds a classic piece of Georgia: local honey, the kind found at roadside stands and produced from hives on small family farms.
  3. Buttercrunch Jamboree Banana Pudding by Jessie LumpkinsThe third place prize of $500.00 went to Jessie Lumpkins of Goodlettsville, TN with her "Buttercrunch Jamboree Banana Pudding".

    Jessie came back after last year's cook-off with a recipe built on her famous Buttercrunch Bark, which she makes by the box for family, friends and coworkers every Christmas. Her banana pudding version of the bark won Best of Show at the 2026 Nashville Fair, and for the cook-off she brought that crisp toffee crunch into the pudding itself.


Ten contestants participated in the 2026 Cook-off.  Applications for the 2027 National Banana Pudding Cook-off are not open yet.


Finalists come from far and wide. The recipes are varied and scrumptious!  Come watch and cheer on your favorite!  You can purchase sample boxes of the Cook-Off Banana Puddings following the Cook-Off while supplies last.  Just $10 a sample box of all ten puddings.  That's a lot of banana pudding!  When you find one or maybe even two you really like, bid on them at the National Banana Pudding Cook-Off Auction.  You just might be the high bidder on the winning pudding. All proceeds help local charities.

 

You can also purchase The National Banana Pudding Cookbook at the festival.  It contains the recipes from the first five years of competition and some of the Puddin' Path Recipes. 

You might be our next winner -- but you have to enter!


About the cook-off

  • The best banana pudding in the United States is crowned here every year.
  • There are cash prizes: $2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second, and $500 for third.
  • Anyone is welcome to apply with an original recipe. Recipes may not have been published previously in a commercial magazine or book.
  • Out of the applicants, we select 10 finalists each year who are invited to the live cook-off.
  • The cook-off is in Centerville, Tennessee, which is about 60 minutes from Nashville. It starts at 9am on the Saturday of the festival.
  • All groceries and kitchen equipment, except a gas range, needed by the finalists for recipe preparation at the festival are the responsibility of the finalists. Recipes needing a microwave will not be considered.
  • There is no fee to apply, and you can apply more than once with one recipe per application.
  • You can't win if you don't APPLY!