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! 

Apply to the 2026 Cook-off no later than October 3, 2026.


Who made the best Banana Pudding in the United States in 2025?

  1. First place went to Patricia Cain from Camden, TN with a recipe called "Golden Tropics Banana Pudding". Patricia took home the $2,000.00 grand prize and bragging rights to the best banana pudding in America.
  2. Second place went to Shyree Brundage from Lithoania, GA.  She won $1000.00 for her " Shyree’s Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bliss Pudding"
    With Quick-candied Pecans"
  3. The third place prize of $500.00 went to Debbie Goins of Lyles, TN with her " Hot! Hot! Hot Chocolate Banana Pudding"


Nine contestants from seven different states participated in the 2025 Cook-off.  Applications for the 2026 National Banana Pudding Cook-off are available now.


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, $1000 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!