20 Irresistible Southern Dessert Recipes Worth a Plane Trip

Southern food is many things. Although this regional cuisine is often associated with things like history and tradition, there has also been a fair amount of effort in recent years to revamp and innovate these recipes — to introduce new ingredients, cooking techniques, and flavor mashups. And that’s one trend that’s certainly evident in the desserts and sweets arena. These recipes, which include an impressive lexicon of pies, puddings, and bars, have been reimagined in ways that prior generations would have never thought possible. Though the recipes may not look the same as generations past, there are often shared ingredients, including butter, bourbon, and fruit, that serves as a jumping-off point and an anchor between the Southern desserts of the past and those of the present. 

We’ve assembled a comprehensive guide to Southern sweets in an effort to highlight the classics — including pecan pie, peach cobbler, and banana pudding — as well as some more modern interpretations. These recipes offer approachable steps, widely-available ingredients, and family-friendly flavors that will appease any eater, whether you’re living in the South or just looking to expand your baking repertoire.  

As its name suggests, this Texas sheet cake is a favorite in the Lone Star State. But our recipe puts a spicy and unique Korean twist on it. Gochujang, a Korean pepper paste, is swirled into the icing alongside crunchy peanuts, imparting both a unique design and a mouthwatering flavor. 

It’s important to note that this recipe calls for self-rising flour (in true Southern fashion), which is not the same thing as all-purpose. The former contains leavening agents, which helps give this cake its light and fluffy texture. 

Recipe: Gochujang Texas Sheet Cake

No Southern barbecue is complete without banana pudding for dessert. This simple, sweet treat is made with layers of instant vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, vanilla wafer cookies, and whipped topping. Since it’s made with instant pudding, it comes together in under an hour and is best made fresh, as the wafer cookies can get soggy quickly. 

You can make this banana pudding as one massive batch or portion it into individual containers for easy eating. It’s a crowd favorite that’s hard not to love.

Recipe: Classic Banana Pudding

Although the origin of lemon bars is contested, one thing that’s undeniable is their popularity at Southern celebrations, showers, and parties. These sweet-tart squares are made with a layer of lemon filling set in a simple buttery crust. 

If you want to give your bars a leg up, you can add a simple dried lemon slice for garnish or pipe a little whipped cream on top. They’re a great dessert for folks who love all things lemon, and their slightly tart taste sets them apart from the other overwhelmingly sweet confections on your dessert table. 

Recipe: Best Lemon Bars

Bananas Foster is nothing short of a showstopping dessert. Banana slices are cooked down in a buttery caramel mixture before being doused in dark rum and set aflame. It’s one dessert you have to eat if you visit NOLA, but you can make it at home by following this simple and relatively pared-down recipe.

Bananas Foster is best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Though we’d recommend reserving some of that caramel sauce for drizzling on top. 

Recipe: Bananas Foster

Love it or hate it, ambrosia salad is something inextricably tied to the South. Our recipe is made with crushed pineapple, canned mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries, shredded coconut, and mini marshmallows, all stirred into a mixture of sour cream and whipped topping, though this delightful mix has a couple of variations, such as pecans, real cherries, or pineapple chunks.

It’s a super-easy side dish (or dessert, depending on who you ask) to make. And it beats any green salad by a long shot. 

Recipe: Old-Fashioned Ambrosia Salad

Chess pie is a Southern classic, but this recipe puts a delectable chocolatey twist on it. The rich custard filling, made with a combination of sugar, butter, cocoa powder, and evaporated milk, goes into a pie crust to be baked until set. If you enjoy the particular sweetness of pecan pie, it’s similar to this, just without the nuts and with a little chocolatey element mixed in. 

You can make your chocolate chess pie in a homemade pie crust, but using a store-bought one certainly expedites the process. Top your slice with a whipped topping, which you can conveniently find in the freezer aisle with the pie crust. 

Recipe: Chocolate Chess Pie

Sweet potato pie is one of the South’s most iconic dishes; recipes for it are oftentimes passed down from generation to generation. But you won’t need to dig out your grandma’s version since you have this recipe right here waiting for you. It’s made with a store-bought pie crust, canned sweet potato puree, and warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

You can serve the pie as is or layer on the whipped topping for a color and texture contrast. A sprinkle of roughly chopped pecans is also an effective garnish to add texture to your slice. 

Recipe: Simple Sweet Potato Pie

Don’t let its name fool you; German chocolate cake was created in Dallas. This simple cake recipe consists of multiple layers of decadent dark chocolate sponge and pecan-coconut frosting.

If you don’t like the idea of icing and decorating your cake with the finesse of a professional baker, this might just be the recipe for you. Once your cake is cooled, layer on the simple frosting and garnish it with extra pecans. You don’t have to worry about coating the entire thing in an extra layer of icing. The slices are great as is, or you can serve them with a handful of fresh berries or scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Recipe: Old-Fashioned German Chocolate Cake

The only thing better than biting into a juicy peach is turning the fruit into a cobbler. This recipe combines fresh peaches with a tasty homemade crumble. Since the peaches are juicy, you need to use a little bit of tapioca starch to thicken up the juice they release as they cook. 

A classic topping for peach cobbler is vanilla ice cream, but that’s far from the only frozen dessert flavor you can use. Try butter pecan, rum raisin, or even a ginger ice cream to complement the flavors in your dessert and make it all the more refreshing. 

Recipe: Classic Peach Cobbler

Buttermilk is an important ingredient in Southern cooking, so it’s no surprise it would also find itself the subject of a Southern pie. Though this recipe also features another unexpected ingredient, blackberry moonshine, which is in both the filling and the berry topping. In a pinch, you can also swap the moonshine with blackberry brandy. 

This dessert is the perfect fusion of Southern and Southern Appalachian cooking. Once you slice the pie, drizzle it with the boozy berry topping and enjoy — preferably outside on the back porch overlooking a beautiful sunset.

Recipe: Blackberry-Buttermilk Pie

While pecan pie has ascended the ranks as a Thanksgiving staple across the nation, it has been and will always be a Southern favorite. Our pecan pie recipe is made with a store-bought pie crust. But it’s still a wet filling, so make sure you par-bake the crust before you pour in the syrupy filling and finish the bake off. As with all pecan pies, you should let the pie sit on the countertop for a couple of hours post-bake to ensure it’s firm all the way through.

Pecan pie is great enjoyed as is, or you can go the extra mile and serve it with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. The leftovers also keep well. 

Recipe: Classic Pecan Pie

Mississippi mud pie may have been inspired by the banks of the Mississippi River, but this recipe takes the Southern dessert to a more sophisticated level. The crushed cookie crust is par for the course, but there’s also tons of complexity thanks to flavorful additions like roasted hazelnuts and a filling made with hazelnut syrup and dark chocolate. 

This may not be the easiest dessert for novices to make, as it requires you to perfect a silky-smooth custard filling. But once you master the basics, you’ll be well on your way to a flavorful and spectacular dessert for any occasion. 

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Mud Pie

Florida is about as South as it gets. This Key lime pie recipe, named for the Southeast Asian limes that grow well in the state’s island chain, is bound to appease any eater, whether you call the Sunshine State home or not. The key ingredient here (pun intended) is the Key lime; it’s a fundamental factor in this pie’s iconic tartness. While you can use regular limes, the Key lime is really the gold standard. 

Once this pie is constructed, you can add a delectable finishing touch by torching the meringue or putting it under the broiler just long enough to impart a beautiful color to it. It’s the perfect summery dessert that tastes like sunshine with every bite.

Recipe: Sweet and Tart Key Lime Pie

We’re off to the races with this Kentucky-inspired derby pie recipe. It may look a lot like pecan pie, but there are some fun twists that make it all the more delicious. In our recipe, the chocolate chips add a dose of sugary sweetness, but it’s the bourbon that really gives it a taste of Kentucky. 

The original Kentucky Derby pie recipe is still under lock and key, but this double-chocolate interpretation is certainly one for the books. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top or serve it as is. 

Recipe: Double Chocolate Derby Pie

It turns out you don’t have to travel all the way to the Big Easy to get your hands on a plate of authentic, New Orleans-style beignets. This simple doughnut recipe is an excellent pairing for coffee or dunked into an awaiting side of chocolate sauce.

You just need to make a yeasted doughnut dough before resting it, slicing it, and dropping it into a pot of hot oil. It’s important to fry your beignets in batches. If you add too many you may drop the temperature of the oil too much. As long as your temperature is consistent, you’ll end up with light, tasty beignets that are better than any NOLA café. 

Recipe: New Orleans Beignets

If you’re looking to make pecan pie for a crowd, look no further than this simple bourbon pecan pie bar recipe. Not only does in make almost double the yield of a standard pecan pie, but the enriched pie crust dough is more tender and easier to handle, meaning it’s a lot more forgiving when it comes to placing the crust in the pan.

But you could also swap it out with a thawed store-bought pie crust to make things easier on yourself. The filling is a touch boozy, and the spirit mainly serves to elevate the flavor of the toasted pecans and enrich every bite with vanilla, nut, and oak flavors. 

Recipe: Bourbon Pecan Pie Bars

Everyone should have a good red velvet cake recipe on retainer. This recipe combines cocoa powder and red food coloring to create a dense, vibrant, and flavorful cake that pairs well with the iconic cream cheese frosting.

The exact origin of this cake is highly contested, but it’s undoubtedly a popular addition to Southern tables. No matter where it came from, there’s no denying that this is a delicious and showstopping cake worth serving at birthday parties, celebrations, and more. 

Recipe: Classic (and Decadent) Red Velvet Cake

It’s the mashup you didn’t know you needed: a Mardi Gras classic meets one of NOLA’s favorite fruity desserts. This king cake is stuffed with a mixture of bananas, dark rum, and cinnamon, which gives it the flavor of bananas Foster, along with a bit of cream cheese to give it a divine mouthfeel. 

Folding and braiding this king cake may be a bit intimidating, but this recipe maps it out in detail. Just don’t forget the signature green, purple, and yellow sugar garnish along with the tiny plastic baby. 

Recipe: Bananas Foster King Cake

If you’re a big fan of pineapple, you’re bound to love hummingbird cake. This unique variation takes a classic hummingbird cake recipe and transforms it into a simpler, loaf-style dessert that comes together in under two hours total. The cake is infused with a flavorful blend of spiced rum-rehydrated dried apricots and pineapple alongside bananas and pecans. 

Once the batter is added to the pan, it can be topped with a tasty pecan-oat streusel and baked. This recipe comes with a vanilla glaze, which helps add an extra dose of sweetness and ties all the flavors together into one cohesive, flavorful, and fruity bite. 

Recipe: Hummingbird Loaf Cake

This lemon chess pie recipe is about as classic as it gets. The filling is made with a flavorful combination of lemon juice and zest as well as yellow cornmeal. The citrusy and nutty flavors of these ingredients cut through the sweetness of this dessert with ease and really round out the flavors. 

It can be difficult to determine when chess pie is done baking. A word to the wise: Give it a jiggle and look for a set edge with a slightly wobbly center. Once the cake is cooled, you can dig in or add a handful of fresh berries on top for a colorful and complementary garnish. 

Recipe: Lemon Chess Pie