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Home » Side Dishes » Bread » Coconut Banana Bread

Coconut Banana Bread

Created: January 22, 2019 Updated: August 13, 2020 by Lyuba Brooke 22 Comments *This post may contain affiliate links. Read More...

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Banana Bread is by far the best quick bread there is. After making countless amount of different flavored breads, we always go back to banana bread. It’s fast and easy with minimal effort to prepare the batter without a mixer. This Coconut Banana Bread is soft, moist, and has a delightful hint of tropical coconut flavor. 

For some more breakfast ideas and snacks inspired by the classic banana bread, check out my Avocado Banana Muffins and Dark Chocolate Banana Muffins. Of course, you can always go with the Classic Banana Bread.

Banana Bread with Coconut sliced on a cutting board with bananas

BANANA BREAD

I am a big fan of any recipe that requires minimal efforts. It’s especially nice if I don’t even have to pull out the mixer. Banana bread is just that type of recipe where you don’t need any mixers and the batter is done in 5 minutes.

All you need is some nice, ripe bananas, eggs, butter, sugar, flour, and baking soda. There are many additional flavor ingredients that you can add to the bread for an extra special touch. To my classic bread recipe, I like to add nuts and a touch of cinnamon.

This banana bread recipe has a special tropical touch with some coconut flakes. Coconut can be homemade or store-bought. The difference in flavor will be subtle but do remember that homemade coconut flakes are not sweetened so the taste of coconut will not be as strong when using homemade coconut flakes.

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Coconut Banana Bread in a loaf pan on a cutting board

TIPS FOR MAKING BANANA BREAD

When choosing bananas, make sure the outside of bananas is bright yellow with just a few brown areas. There should not be any green areas or the bananas will not ripe enough.

Bananas should be soft enough to easily mash with a fork.

Over-ripe bananas are also fine to use in banana bread, of course.

Mash bananas in a mixing bowl using a fork but leave a few lumps. It will help give banana bread moist texture.

While baking, if you notice that the top is getting dark fast but middle still has quite a bit of baking time, loosely cover the top with aluminum foil. This will keep direct heat off the top of the bread.

Baked banana bread can be stored either on the counter or in the refrigerator. It will last longer in the refrigerator.

For easy, grab-and-go breakfast, slice banana bread and cover each slice in saran wrap. Store wrapped slices in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Coconut Banana Bread sliced on a platter on a cutting board

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE COCONUT FLAKES:

If you’ve never experimented with making your own coconut flakes, it’s actually quite fun. It does take about 30 minutes to make and coconut flakes can be stored in the refrigerator or frozen.

Homemade coconut flakes are not sweet, so result will taste slightly different from store-bought coconut flakes.

Open the coconut and drain off milk.

Place coconut halves in a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 400°.

Flesh will be easy to peel away from the shell with a butter knife after it’s been baked.

Take coconut flesh out and peel brown skin off of the white flesh with a vegetable peeler.

Use large cheese grater to shave white coconut flesh.

Place coconut flakes in a zip-lock bag, get all the air out, and seal. Store it in the refrigerator for about a week or freeze.

Coconut Banana Bread sliced on a plate

HOW TO FREEZE BANANA BREAD:

Make sure that banana bread is cooled completely before baking.

Bread can be sliced or frozen whole. For quick and sweet breads, I like to place a slice of parchment paper in between each slice to keep them from sticking together.

Place bread in a large zip-lock freezer bags and let the air out. Place the bag in a freezer.

You can also wrap bread in saran wrap first, before placing it into a freezer bag, to ensure that no air gets to the bread.

Defrost the bread on the counter top. Slices of bread will take minutes to defrost.

Coconut Banana Bread on a cutting board

Some More Quick Bread Recipes:

Cherry Bread

Coconut Blueberry Bread

Lemon Quick Bread

Blueberry Oatmeal Quick Bread

Cherry Almond Bread

Coconut Banana Bread in a loaf pan

If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @willcookforsmiles and #willcookforsmiles so I can see all the things you tried!

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Coconut Banana Bread

Soft, moist, and super easy banana bread made with tropical flavor addition of coconut.
4.48 from 23 votes
Print SaveSaved! Rate
Course: Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour hour
Coconut flakes: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes
Servings: 10
Calories: 351kcal
Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs room temperature
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 large ripe bananas
  • 1 cup coconut flakes packed
  • milk enough to cover coconut flakes
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Place coconut flakes in a measuring cup and add enough milk to cover the flakes. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. (Milk will be squeezed out. You can drink coconut milk or use it in pancakes or cereal.)
  • Preheat oven to 350° and grease an 8x4 bread baking dish.
  • Mash bananas with a fork in a large mixing bowl. 
  • Whisk in eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla extract until all mixed.
  • Add flour, baking soda, and salt and gently whisk until the batter is smooth and everything is evenly combined.
  • Squeeze milk out of coconut flakes and add flakes to the batter. Fold them in. 
  • Transfer batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 55-60 minutes. If the top of bread is browning too fast, loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep direct heat away.
  • Take bread out and let it cool before cutting. Use serrated bread knife to slice the bread.

Notes

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.

Nutrition

Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 201mg | Potassium: 211mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 355IU | Vitamin C: 3.2mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1.7mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles and tag #willcookforsmiles

Coconut Banana Bread collage

LYUBA

ABOUT LYUBA

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read more...

12.1K shares

Filed Under: Bread, Snacks

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.

Comments

  1. Martha Honea says

    September 27, 2021 at 3:08 pm

    Lyuba, the bread was really good. A must to soak the coconut and not over bake. I did enjoy the coconut glaze. I made the drizzle by using
    1 c powdered sugar, 1/8 c milk (from coconut soak) and 1/2 scant teaspoon coconut extract .
    Was really tasty, great bread for year round.
    Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      September 29, 2021 at 4:48 pm

      Yum! I will have to give your glaze a try next time I make it! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Martha says

    September 25, 2021 at 3:45 pm

    This bread looks decadent. Think milk soaked coconut should make a difference in moisture of bread. Might add a coconut drizzle. Thanks for recipe.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      September 27, 2021 at 1:38 pm

      I think a coconut drizzle would be so good with it! Let me know how it turns out!

      Reply
  3. Jackline says

    June 23, 2021 at 7:21 am

    Hello Lyuba!

    I have noticed you didn’t mention baking powder in the recipe section. Is it that way or you have forget?

    Regards

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      June 23, 2021 at 10:58 am

      This recipe doesn’t call for baking powder just baking soda. I hope you enjoy it!

      Reply
  4. LE says

    November 1, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    5 stars
    Very tasty and easy. I had to cook it quite a bit longer because the middle wouldn’t set, but it turned out great. Thanks!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      November 2, 2020 at 4:56 pm

      Sorry, you had a longer cook time. I am glad you liked it though! Thanks for stopping by to let me know.

      Reply
    • Mel says

      June 3, 2021 at 1:43 pm

      I had to add 20 minutes and covered with foil so it wouldn’t burn. It turned out perfect!

      Reply
  5. Jaleesa Moncur says

    July 25, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    I added ricardos coconut rum, fresh coconut, homemade coconut milk, and nutmeg. It was delicious.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      July 27, 2020 at 4:52 pm

      Hi Jaleesa,

      That sounds so good! So glad you liked it! 🙂

      Reply
    • Linda says

      June 2, 2023 at 2:20 pm

      4 stars
      U;d I’ve to try that. Doubt you’ll get this 3 years later, but what did you take out in place of the coconut rum?

      Reply
  6. Karen says

    June 5, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    5 stars
    It was delicious, I used store bought sweetened coconut flakes, I didn’t soak them in milk and it came out just fine! I also added about half tsp of cinnamon.

    Also I am the queen of mix ins, I like a little something in every single bite…….so I also added chopped walnuts and raisins 👀 I’m that girl sorry lol. (did half cup each)

    It was delishhhhhhhhh full of goodness and still wasn’t too sweet shockingly!!!!! I had made up my mind to indulge and enjoy with black coffee if it turned out too sweet but it didn’t!

    Thanks for the recipe!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      June 8, 2020 at 1:56 pm

      Hi Karen,

      I am happy you liked it and were able to make it your own by adding the add-ins! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Kate hall says

    May 2, 2020 at 10:13 pm

    Omg! I just made this and added some mini chocolate chips – hubs said it’s the best banana bread he’s ever had! I concur!!! 💗

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      May 6, 2020 at 3:25 pm

      Hi Kate,

      Wow! What a nice comment! I am so happy to hear how much you enjoyed my recipe!

      Reply
  8. Tammie says

    April 15, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    It was delicious. My new favorite banana bread recipe. I just used regular bagged coconut and did not soak it in milk and it came out perfect.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      April 16, 2020 at 11:03 am

      So glad you liked it! 🙂

      Reply
  9. Kathy says

    January 23, 2020 at 3:00 pm

    Sounds great! I’m going to replace half of the vanilla extract with coconut extract. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      January 30, 2020 at 1:11 pm

      Hi Kathy! That sounds good, I think it will be delicious! 🙂

      Reply
  10. Lyn says

    April 19, 2019 at 7:02 pm

    5 stars
    Your bread looks delicious! I’ll have to try it soon.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      January 30, 2020 at 1:14 pm

      I hope you like it! 🙂

      Reply

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Well, hey there!

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read More.

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