Coconut Banana Bread (Easy Recipe)

Like coconuts? Then you will love the taste of this delicious coconut banana bread recipe. It is moist, very simple to make and uses ripe bananas & coconut flakes. This recipe is a wonderful flavor combination of two fantastic tropical fruits. Coconut banana bread makes a great snack or dessert. My wife loves having it for breakfast!

Sliced Coconut Banana Bread

Coconut Banana Bread – Fresh from the Oven

This coconut banana bread recipe should take you only 10-15 minutes to prepare and clean up. Please be aware that this is an oven-baked banana bread recipe. It is not made with a bread machine.

Recipe Sections

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Helpful Tips

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Bananas – 345 grams – Use RIPE bananas for best results
• 2 Eggs (large)
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral flavored oil such as canola oil or corn oil
• 1/2 Cup – Flaked Coconut – 50 grams – Or shredded coconut
• 1/2 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 100 grams
• 1/2 Cup – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 107 grams
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 Teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon – 3 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• Optional – 2 Tablespoons – Flaked Coconut – 12 grams – Sprinkle flakes on top of the batter in the bread ban just before baking

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.

Key Ingredients – Ripe Bananas & Flaked Coconut

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Grease the bread pan (if necessary).
• Lightly beat the eggs.
• Add mashed bananas, eggs and oil into a large mixing bowl. Stir with a large spoon until mixed thoroughly.
• Add the flaked coconuts to the bowl. Stir until fully mixed. FYI – Adding the coconuts before the sugar & flour helps to moisten the coconut flakes.
• Add the white sugar and light brown sugar to the mixing bowl. Stir until fully mixed.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients. Stir until the batter is fully mixed.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Optional – After pouring & smoothing the batter in the bread pan, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flaked coconut on top of the batter. See the picture below.
• Bake in the oven for 65-70 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and let the coconut banana bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the banana bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period. Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven.
• After 10 minutes, remove the coconut banana bread from the bread pan. Place the banana bread on a cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cool down may take 1-2 hours. Gently slide a silicon spatula between the bread and the bread pan walls if the banana bread is stuck in the pan.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common banana bread problems.

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Sprinkle Coconut Flakes on Top of Batter for Extra Flavor

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Banana Bread Recipes. Our banana bread section has over 40 great banana bread recipes including walnut banana bread, chocolate chip banana bread, vegan banana bread, Greek yogurt banana bread, blueberry banana bread, cranberry banana bread and many more.

• Visitors – What do you like to add to your coconut banana bread to make it even better? Do you add chocolate chips? Extra spices (i.e. nutmeg)? Chopped nuts? Please post your banana bread tips & suggestions in the comment box below.
• Optional – I like to sprinkle coconut flakes on top of this coconut banana bread. This gives the banana bread some extra coconut flavor and a slightly crunchy top. However, you need to make sure not to place the banana bread too close to the heating element in your oven… or some of the coconut flakes might come out brown & extra crispy!
• Nevertheless, even if a few of the top flakes come out brown, the brown ones are very easy to pick off with your fingers. As you probably know, the best location to bake banana bread is in the center of your oven (and not near the heating element in the oven).
• Optional – If you don’t want a “crunchy” coconut top, you can bake a “plain” topped coconut banana bread and then add a coconut glaze topping. Spread some homemade banana bread glaze on top of the banana bread and then sprinkle some coconut flakes on top of the glaze. The glaze helps to stick the coconut flakes to the banana bread.
• Optional – If you would like to make a coconut banana nut bread, you can add 1 cup (115 grams) of chopped walnuts or chopped pecans to the batter after you have finished mixing in the other ingredients.
• Optional – If you would like to make a chocolate chip coconut banana bread, you can add 1 cup (170 grams) of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter after you have finished mixing in the other ingredients.

• Use RIPE bananas for the BEST flavor. Ripe bananas are soft and have a yellow peel covered with many small black spots. Hard yellow/green(ish) bananas are too starchy and have much less banana flavor. FYI – A beautiful pure yellow banana (without any spots) is not fully ripe!!
• Using UNRIPE bananas will result in a very bland banana bread (with little banana flavor).
• To avoid any recipe problems (i.e. the banana bread is too dry or too wet), you should use exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas. Unfortunately, bananas can vary in size and this can throw off banana bread recipes. Therefore, it is safer to measure the exact amount of mashed bananas when making any banana bread recipes.
• FYI – 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas is roughly 3 large bananas. However, please use a measuring cup or kitchen scale to measure the mashed bananas in order to avoid potential banana bread problems (i.e. too much moisture being added to the recipe).

• You can use sweetened or unsweetened flaked coconut to make this recipe. I prefer the sweetened coconut flakes… but I have a severe sweet tooth!
• What is the difference between flaked coconut and shredded coconut? Flaked coconut are slightly larger flakes/shreds of coconut whereas shredded coconut are smaller flakes/shreds. They are very similar and either one can be used to make this recipe.
• According to Wikipedia, “Freshly shredded mature coconut meat, known as “grated coconut”, “shredded coconut”, or “coconut flakes”, is used in the extraction of coconut milk” and “Grated coconut that is dehydrated by drying or baking is known as “desiccated coconut.” It contains less than 3% of the original moisture content of coconut meat. It is predominantly used in the bakery and confectionary industries”.

• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (i.e. corn or canola oil) in order to make this coconut banana bread recipe. Stronger flavored oils (i.e. peanut oil) may negatively impact the taste of this banana nut bread. If you want to use olive oil in your banana bread, I would recommend that using an olive oil with “light” on the label. Light olive oil is a type of olive oil with a lighter color and more neutral flavor.
• Economic Benefit – Many vegetable oils (i.e. canola and corn oil) are less expensive than butter (on an ounce-to-ounce basis). This helps to lower the cost of homemade baked goods.
• Many vegetable oils also contain less saturated fat than butter.

• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. flour) for the best results. Ingredients sitting around in open packages can go stale and this can ruin the taste of a banana bread. Try to keep your ingredients (i.e. flour & sugar) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (i.e. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients (when combining the wet and dry ingredients). Stick to an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can overmix the ingredients and the banana bread will turn out rubbery & gummy.
• Make sure that your oven has been COMPLETELY preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this banana bread could come out undercooked.
• If your oven does not have a built-in thermometer, you consider buying an inexpensive oven thermometer that you can place inside your oven (in order to correctly gauge the temperature). This will tell you if your oven has been preheated to the correct temperature.

• To prevent your banana bread from sticking to the bottom of the bread pan, you should consider either “greasing” the bottom of the pan with butter or vegetable oil, using a cooking spray, using a nonstick pan or lining the interior of the bread pan with baking parchment paper.
• Baking parchment paper is probably the best solution to prevent sticking (especially if you have added sticky ingredients such as chocolate chips or fresh cranberries to your banana nut bread). It also allows you to lift the banana bread out of the pan without disturbing the top of the banana bread… in case you have added any special ingredients (such as chopped nuts) to the top of the banana bread.
• Banana breads can dry out if left unprotected. After the coconut banana bread has been completely cooled (and you have eaten some of this delicious banana bread), you should wrap it in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and then store it in an airtight container or a large resealable bag. Depending on the heat & humidity of your kitchen, banana bread generally only lasts for 1-2 days at room temperature before it starts to spoil. For longer storage, you should freeze the banana bread.
• If you enjoy sweet “quick breads” made with tropical fruits, you should also try our Pineapple Bread or Hawaiian Banana Bread recipe.

• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the banana nut bread looks too moist or under cooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a long wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the skewer. If batter is sticking to the skewer then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 2 or 3 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 2 or 3 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the banana bread again with a long wooden skewer.
• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 bread pan to make this recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior crust ratios (thus the need for different baking time lengths), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.

• If you have a problem with a banana nut bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (i.e. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• In addition, you should always try to use relatively fresh baking soda & powder for the best results. For example, using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your banana nut bread.

• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with bread pans & a hot oven.
• For more delicious banana bread recipes (i.e. cranberry banana bread or blueberry banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s sections on easy Banana Bread Recipes or Quick Bread Recipes.
• Did you make this recipe? Did your banana bread come out amazing? We would love to see a picture of your masterpiece! Please post a photo of it on Instagram and tag it with @BreadDadRecipes

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Recipes

• Bread Machine Recipes
• Bread Recipes
• Banana Bread Recipes
• Quick Bread Recipes – Pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, etc.
• Cookie Recipes

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Banana
• Wikipedia, Banana Bread
• Wikipedia, Coconut

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. Your comments help us to improve & clarify our recipe instructions. Moreover, it is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!!!

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