Coconut Banana Bread

Coconut Banana Bread

It seems that no matter how often I make banana bread, we always seem to have a few brown bananas hanging out on the kitchen counter. Sometimes I put them in the freezer for later, but then I end up with a giant collection of frozen black bananas in my freezer.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love banana bread, but I can only eat so much of the same thing.  So, lately I’ve been trying to mix it up a bit and find new ways to use those overripe bananas.

One of the other things that collects in my kitchen is coconut milk.  I always think that I’m out of it and buy it at the store, only to go home and discover 3 or 4 more cans sitting on my pantry shelf. I don’t even use coconut milk that much… I have no idea why I buy it all the time. I guess I just get peanut sauce cravings at the grocery store or something.

Anyway… The moral of the story is that I decided to clean house a bit the other week, and I decided to make some banana bread with my abundance of overripe bananas and coconut milk. Bananas and coconut play pretty nice together, so it seemed like an obvious combination to try.  Plus, I had a bag of sweetened flaked coconut in my pantry that needed to be used.

This recipe surprised me.  I figured the bread would be OK… Definitely edible.  But, I wasn’t expecting it to be really great. That’s why I didn’t bother to take pictures while I was preparing it. When all was said and done, though, I couldn’t get enough of this banana bread.  It stayed nice and moist and the flaked coconut added a nice texture to the bread. It’s great just the way it is, but a slather of butter or cream cheese doesn’t hurt, either!

Coconut Banana Bread
(Makes 1 loaf)

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
  • 1 cup light coconut milk
  • 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla extract.

Whisk together the white whole wheat flour, pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, stir together the mashed banana and the coconut milk.

While mixing on the lowest setting, gradually add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients.  Be sure to start and end with the dry mixture. Mix until just combined.  Stir in the coconut.

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan.  Bake for 1 hour – 1 hour and 15 minutes, when a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.

25 comments

  1. Yum! I love the addition of coconut. And the whole wheat flour is great!

  2. Paula says:

    I often add chocolate chips to my banana bread, sometimes dates and nuts but I have never thought to add coconut milk and flaked coconut. Your bread looks great Jen. Thanks for the recipe!

  3. Sounds yummy! I love banana bread, so I will definitely have to try this!

  4. JenniferA says:

    Nice – I love a good moist banana bread. Now I know what to do with all those black bananas in my freezer and the coconut milk in the cabinet. I do the same things! I have no idea why I have the coconut milk. I think it was for some ice cream I was going to try but never got to.

  5. Eliana says:

    This could not sound more delicious. I may need to do some cleaning myself cuz I think I probably have all of these ingredients at home waiting to be baked into this very bread. Love it!

  6. Tessa says:

    I love that this is whole grain! Glad to hear your pantry clean-out resulted in something amazing.

  7. Joy says:

    Ohh coconuts and bananas. This looks great.

  8. That looks delicious! I too always seem to have some straggling bananas that are just begging to be made into banana bread. I love your whole wheat version! :-D

  9. Tracey says:

    I just made a batch of banana bread the other day, otherwise I’d be heading into my kitchen to try this one with those bananas :) Sounds so good!

  10. Ethan says:

    Banana bread in the morning with a little peanut butter and jam is great and now you’re offering all that plus a hint and crunch of coconut. Thank you!
    As usual, your pictures are great. is that cutting board brand new or is it only used for picture purposes? lol

    1. Ethan – Nope, the cutting board isn’t new… And, I actually use it all the time. Kosher salt works wonders to clean a cutting board. :)

  11. katie says:

    Sounds delicious and very tropical.

  12. Michelle T says:

    Made this as soon as I read it! Changed it up a bit by browning the butter instead. Was your batter moist and smoother or more like thick cupcake batter? Either way, it was a delicious change from the ordinary!

    1. Hi, Michelle – I’m glad you enjoyed the bread! The batter was a bit thicker than my typical banana bread… I’d say somewhere between a cupcake batter and a typical quick bread.

  13. Sounds great! I think I would actually prefer it with the coconut. I get bored of banana bread really fast. Plus my banana bread always turns out dry…not sure why.

  14. This sounds awesome. I always have leftover bananas too. Can’t wait to make this!

  15. Sounds like a great recipe to try, thanks for sharing Jen!

  16. What a tropical delight. Am printing this out right now for sometime soon. i just put a bunch of bananas in the freezer that I didn’t eat last week. Perfect!

  17. YUM! You collect coconut milk at the grocery store, and I find myself, always buying a bag of icing sugar….just in case! Your bread looks delicious, and I can’t wait to try it.

  18. Julia says:

    This just came out of the oven, Looooove it! Some quick bread recipes stay kinda flat, they don’t get the pretty full looking ‘dome’ on the top. This one DOES, it domes perfectly and is moist and flavorful. Make it, just sayin ;)

  19. ambrosia says:

    This is baking in my oven right now, it smells SO good! I used regular white flour and added the whole can of coconut milk. I can’t wait to try a piece! Also, since I live in Colorado this recipe made 1 bread pan and 24 mini muffins.

  20. Jeanne says:

    TFS this awesome delicious recipe.

  21. Meli says:

    So Good!
    I added 1 tsp coconut extract and used unsweeted coconut.

  22. Darlene says:

    Yes @Mardi, tropical delight is the perfect description for this amazing recipe.

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