Coconut Pineapple Vegan Banana Bread

Pineapple Coconut Vegan Banana Bread

Want to know what’s in my fridge?  A whole lot of ‘what the heck am I going to do with that’?  Maraschino cherries.  Basil pesto.  Expired buttermilk.  Kale… lots of kale.  A bottle with less that a tablespoon of maple syrup and carrot juice.  It’s a glamorous life I lead.  Totally.

You should be thankful I didn’t reach into my fridge for this recipe.  Cherry Pesto Kale Bread sounds like a big mistake.

Instead I scavenged through my cupboards.  What did I find?  A can of crushed pineapple.  A bag of dried beans.  Shredded coconut and bananas that I had very obviously forgotten about.   So!  Yes!  Bread!  Minus the beans…. cause…  that would just be weird.

So, just in case you’re keeping score… you could go ahead and call me an ‘oh crap I’m out of eggs and butter and just about every other animal product needed for baking’ type of vegan.  Also… I totally love bacon. Worst vegan ever.

Pineapple Coconut Vegan Banana Bread

You would never know that this bread was something I threw together out of cupboard desperation.  It’s dang good.  With bananas and pineapple, you can afford to add less oil… meaning less fat.  Of course, all our dreams of low fat banana bread fly out the window when we add sweetened shredded coconut.  It’s just too good to leave out.

Moist.  Flavorful.  Fruity.  Vegan.  This just proves that we can add just about anything to banana bread and still call it delicious.  Well… except dried beans.  That will always be weird.

Need more banana in your bread?  Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Pineapple Coconut Vegan Banana Bread

Coconut Pineapple Vegan Banana Bread

makes one 9×5-inch loaf

Print this Recipe!

2 large or 3 small very ripe bananas
1/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
generous pinch of ground ginger
pinch of allspice
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas really well. Add the sugar, pineapple, and oil and whisk briskly to incorporate.

Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.  Fold in the coconut.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and sprinkle with extra sugar if you’d like.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The top should be lightly browned and a knife inserted through the center should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes before transferring out of a pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Pineapple Coconut Vegan Banana Bread

All Comments

I Made This

Questions

142 Responses

  1. I was dubious when I read about the flavours… I thought they may overpower the banana… But not at all. This is the best banana bread I’ve ever made, hands down, and it’s a great snack because there’s only 1/4 cup of oil in the whole thing. So if you’re not sure – go for it!!

  2. Thank you for the recipe- I was looking to take advantage of putting together my overripe bananas and some fresh pineapple I had. I did substitute pear syrup (concentrated pear juice that can be substituted for molasses or sugar)as a sweetner and skipped the coconut (I had fresh coconut but wasn’t sure how this would turn out. The batter was a bit wet so I added a tad bit more whole wheat flour to firm it up.
    Its in the oven now and smells fabulous. T

  3. Oh. My. Goodness.

    I just made this (used a muffin tin instead) and it was perfect (even w/ unsweetended coconut)! Next time I’m going to add a splash of rum.

  4. I was looking for something to make to bring to a meeting discussing a project that’s taking place in Uganda. As last time I was there I sat around eating bananas and pineapple until I was stuffed to the gills, I think I found the one! Probably going to make it as smaller buns, though, to make it easier to eat.

  5. Hi, just to let you know that I’ve tried your recipie (I’ve just omitted the pineapple because I did not have it at home) and it turned out delicious :) Thanks a lot!

  6. Oh. My. Word. Just made this and ate it and it’s amazing. So not a vegan person (love me a bacon, egg, cheese biscuit) but this is amazing. And now I have something awesome to make for all my vegan friends! Thanks!!!

  7. So tasty! I had all the ingredients in my dorm and made this tonight! However, as a non-vegan, I buttered it, and it was even more delicious. Smart Balance would work too! Also, if I had walnuts, I would have added them, becuase I think this would have benefited from something crunchy in it. Delicious recipe–getting added to my vegan arsenal.

  8. This is an amazing recipe!! So good! I made it for my brother yesterday at work and he asked for another loaf today :)

  9. Would there be a way to make this with coconut flour? I dont know by how much you’d have to reduce the amount of flour in this case. Any suggestions? Thanks!

  10. I cleaned up my refrigerator this morning and found 2 small bananas with very black skin. Obviously, they had been sitting there quite sometime. So I looked up on line for the recipe and came across yours. As a sometime vegan person plus the picture looked so good, I gave it a try and bam..bam…. It came out so delicious. Although I would say it would be better with one more banana because it’s a little dry. Anyway, thanks for the recipe . I love it and I will definitly make it again.

    tikky

  11. Have I a recipe for you! And its for kale!!! Well the likelihood that your fridge is full of kale now is not really likely…but for future reference.

    Kale Chips!
    1 bunch of Kale
    2 tablespoons of Olive oil (or oil of choice)
    Sea Salt and or other spices

    Preheat Oven to 350
    Rip the leaves off of the stem and away from the hard wood part in that runs all the way to the top of the leaf. Then Rip the leaves in palm size and smaller portions (and make sure to get those little crinkly baby ones that like to hide out on the bottom!) After you get all of them ripped into pieces, them throw them into a bowl pour the oil over them and toss! Then (this is the important part) line a baking sheet with them very evenly trying not to overlap them or they will become soggy and not crispy….oh yeah and then sprinkle on the salt and or other spices. Bake in your oven for as long as it takes to crisp-i-fying them but not burning them. BEST CHIPS EVER!

    My kids even eat them…its one of the way i sneak the veggies in!

  12. I make this alllllllll the time! I love it!
    I don’t use any oil (applesauce instead) and use all whole wheat flour. Kind of gooey, but I like gooey, so this is AMAZING!!!! Thank you Joy for making everyone think that I’m the creative one at work/school. Wait, I don’t lie. I tell them that it’s all JOY THE BAKER!

  13. Although I used two large bananas and followed the recipe exactly, I found this to be dry and wouldn’t make it again. For those who do wish to make it, I’d guess 1/4c water may make it a bit more moist.

  14. So I just decided to check out the great wide world of blogs and have already fallen in love with your site. I made this recipe today and it was amazing. I got all the batter/dough ready and in a pan last night, chilled it over the evening. When I woke up this morning, I turned on the coffee pot, popped the pan in the oven and went back to bed. 50 minutes later, a perfect treat to go with my coffee on a Friday. Can’t wait to try the next amazing recipe. Thanks for sharing your gift!

  15. I am a newbie food blog addict and was soooo excited to find your site! Have made a couple of your recipes so far, sourdough starter is on day 5 and this morning made this delish vegan bread into muffins for my boys. They loved them (as did I) and I am now stashing the remainder in the freezer before they become lunch and dinner too! Thanks for the recipes and for giving me a good chuckle now and then ;)

  16. Wowee, yum! I did a few substitutions. For the sugar, I mixed turbinado and agave syrup. Instead of oil, I used 1/4 c soy milk (unsweetened) with 1.5 t apple cider vinegar, and mixed that with the sugars for a while to dissolve the turbinado. For spices, I ground a bit of cardamom, chopped up about a teaspoon of fresh ginger, added a large pinch of galangal, and 1 T of vanilla. I also used about 3.5 bananas.

    Anyway, it’s so delicious I want to eat the whole thing right now. Thank you!

  17. awesome bread. I was excited to finally make some banana bread for my vegan roommate. :] One thing was I had to add a little bit more c oil.

  18. Hi Joy!
    I made this bread a few weeks ago and had FANTASTIC results! My vegan friends went bananas over it (pun intended). I gave the basic recipe a go today with vegan semi sweet chocolate chips, chopped up crystallized ginger and some apple sauce to make up for the missing pineapple and it came out perfectly. Thanks for the recipe. I am so excited to have a good vegan bread in my repitoire!
    Kelly.

  19. thank you so much for this recipe!
    i got a lot of compliments and i myself loved it.
    i love anything that involves coconut and pineapple.

  20. I am also guilty of leaving a bottle of less than 1 tbs of maple syrup in my fridge. In fact, there has been a bottle like that in there for the last 2 years… and it hasn’t even been the same bottle.

    Lovely looking banana bread. I think I would use virgin coconut oil instead of canola, ’cause it’s a coconut cake and virgin coconut oil is far less refined than canola.

  21. Hi Joy,

    This looks wonderful! I love this combination — it reminds me of the Hummingbird Cake at Buttercup Bakeshop here in nyc, which also has banana and pineapple (and they put it totally over the top with cream cheese frosting. Oh, boy). I’ve always wanted to make at home, but now I’ll try your healthier version. thanks!

    Nancy

  22. Can I just say, this post made a usually environment-friendly person go out and buy the three things that probably use up the most carbon dioxide to ship to where they live in Sweden: pineapple, coconut, and bananas. But you know what, the bread was really good! And ‘exotic’! Thanks for the veganism, too! : )

    1. Wow Joy, you are the best. I am so happy that you left this recipe. I made it for my dogs funeral, he died of AIDS. Sadly his anal cancer was too far into the terminal stages. But boy, he sure did love coconut AND pineapple.

  23. My three kids devoured a loaf of this in less than 24 hours. They had it with peanut butter (at their request) this morning for breakfast. Thank you!

  24. My vegan friends will love this. I’m not vegan (I love bacon too much)but I think I will like this too. Thanks!

  25. Yum! Tropical bread! Would it be weird to serve banana bread with rum? Beacuse this bread really makes me think Carribean rum. OK, maybe not for breakfast… but if it’s a tea time sort of bread…

  26. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. This must be irresistible !!!

    Cheers from Spain. (I allways read you, though most of the times, I stay silent, my english is not as good as I’d like it to be).

  27. I wanna see what this baby looks like on the inside! is it moist and yummy?! wouldnt mind some for brekkie right now! ;-)
    Maybe it’s just me… but I just cant get over the feeling that anything flour-less, vegan or whatever is suspicious… :P not in this case, more like always. when i see vegan cakes or flourless, diary-free, eggless brownies at the market I cant help thinking: well, what the heck is this made of then??? ;)

  28. I’m no Alton Brown and I have no idea why eggs and milk make baked goods, well… baked goodies. But this bread looks fantastic without the dairy.

    Thanks for sharing.

  29. Regarding the comment (above) about white whole wheat flour: it isn’t bleached. It comes from a different kind of wheat than that usually used for whole wheat flour. That’s all.

  30. Grl – you need to make some baked kale chips with all that kale biz! (So crunchy and delish!) And that bread makes me swoon/drool.

  31. This sounds like my kind of recipe. I always wait until the last minute to go shopping and end up making several hodgepodge meals with whatever is left in the fridge or cupboard.

  32. Keep the wood piece!! And even though I’m anti vegan anything, I would totally try this. Maybe I’ll make it for my grandpa this week since banana bread is his favorite!

  33. i absolutely love the wood piece – i want one! where did you get it?
    and also i will make this bread this week, oh joy you’re gonna make me, make myself fat…

  34. @ comment #2…

    As much as I love Joy, I can’t help but hate that weird piece of wood that photobombs most of her baking adventures! That log slice is like an annoying neighbour, the kind that just always drops by and you can’t quite seem to get rid of…! :P

    1. um…. ok…. i’m sorry that wood is such a problem for you. i super love it.

      i could stand to switch it up a bit more… but i’m afraid you’re stuck with my annoying neighbor wood. :)

      1. I think we all love your wooden serving board. So unique!

        Please disregard Christine! I think most of us love it. Whenever i talk about your recipes and show my friends they all comment on how wonderful it is.

        Love your recipes, keep up your ninja-like baking skills!

        -Kaila

        1. Sheesh. I’m not saying the wood is terrible — I just think that, as a prop for food presentation, it’s been over-used; at first it was nice, but now it’s in the photos all the time.

          Anyways, I think people should “please disregard” your comment, because, y’know, on the Internet, clearly not all of us have the right to have our opinions equally acknowledged — especially not in a blog environment in which online popularity driven by fellow Internet-user visitation frequency. No no, my mistake. Please disregard my first comment, your comment, this comment, and while we’re at it, Joy’s comment. Because, y’know, not just anyone deserves to be heard.

  35. you had me going with the bean thing…beans(cooked and all mashed up) are a great sub for flour with tons more fiber and no gluten, no wierd bean-y taste either. This recipe is definately not a let down. Love the clean out the pantry into some banana bread, I am guilty of this too. I add a couple handfuls of oats all smashed up in my hand, a handful of flax seeds, and a smidge more fruit for moisture. Always keeps my hubby guessing (and regular too!)

  36. Wow, that looks so good! I don’t have any of that in MY pantry… you and your fantastic banana bread are going to force me to go to the store! Oh, the power you wield!

  37. FYI- Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour is made with garbanzo beans! I’ve also seen garfava flour listed on gluten-free websites, but haven’t tried it. I don’t know if it is a hybrid bean, or garbanzo and fava beans mixed together, but whatever, people are using it as flour!

  38. Only semi-vegan myself. I refuse to give up cheese and homemade ice cream. I hate soy milk and can’t stand Tofu, so full vegan is out for me. Good recipe, but I think I’d stick with butter…of course if I’m out of butter it’s nice to know an alternative.

    1. I don’t think there is such thing as a semi vegan. You can’t eat butter, cheese, ice cream and milk and be vegan anything… semi or otherwise.

  39. Baking this right now. :) Since there were exactly 5 very, very ripe bananas languishing in my fruit bowl – I doubled the recipe. It was also a nice stroke of luck that there was leftover crushed pineapple in the fridge from baking a carrot cake for family over the weekend!

    I ended up using 100% white WW flour. Also, in the interest of keeping things lower-fat, (doing Weight*Watchers and all…) I subbed unsweetened applesauce and added just 2 T oil for the entire doubled recipe, plus a teaspoon or so of vanilla. Topped with Sugar in the Raw. It filled a Pyrex loaf pan, plus 12 muffins. It smells great baking, on this dreary rainy day in Monterey – and I can’t wait to try it! :D

  40. Most of the vegan baked goods I have ever made were because I was out of milk and eggs too;) And they say it takes more planning to be vegan-ha.

    this looks divine. love love your blog as always.

  41. I think beans might actually be OK in a quickbread — pureed plain beans don’t seem that different from adding other slimy stuff, like mashed bananas or sweet potatoes. Bittman has a cornbread recipe that takes pureed white beans, and though I can’t ever get the thing to cook well, it’s got great flavor…

    This looks yummy! Thanks!

  42. I love this post! I had a similar morning yesterday, with a similar desperate fridge situation and bananas going south fast, and made vegan banana nut muffins. Of course, I bake vegan quite frequently, but it all started with me wanting to bake more, and consistently forgetting to get eggs. Still, this bread looks super YUMMM!

  43. Chef Rocco DiSpirito has a recipe for black bean brownies in his latest cookbook. Most reviews of the recipe say they’re really beany. So thanks for leaving them out of this bread. Beans and cornbread=win. Banana bread with coconut and beans=weird.

  44. Yep – so love making banana bread as I ALWAYS seem to have leftover mushy bananas laying around. Love the pineapple addition, and especially so because for whatever reason I’ve been dying to make a pineapple upside-down cake! We could have used your maraschino cherries there. ;) xxSAS

  45. Why do you always use white whole wheat flour? I thought the point of whole wheat was that it was dark, doesn’t bleaching it defeat some of the purpose of being healthy? Regular whole wheat flour is awesome and I have started to use it in a lot of things, from cookies to breads, they taste better and I can eat more cause it’s “healthy” right? lol love you, love your blog!

    1. you’re right rachael… regular whole wheat flour is awesome.

      take a look around these parts… i don’t make things because they’re healthy… i make things because they taste good.
      i often like white whole wheat flour because it doesn’t overpower a baked good with a wheat taste. that’s all. i’m not sure of the specifics on bleaching and health… i just go with what tastes good coming out of the oven.

      i bet this recipe would be just lovely with whole wheat flour. let me know if you try it out!

  46. Looks great!! If it weren’t for the whole “not eating bacon” thing, I’d totally go vegan. Maybe I will become a vegan with an occasional bacon vacation…I can do that…right?

  47. i am starting to stockpile bananas. i keep having one or two left that we don’t eat and they start getting really brown, so i throw them in the freezer. there are now quite a few in there, and i really need to use them. maybe i’ll make a batch for a friend’s housewarming gift – ya think??

  48. I have to admit, I was wondering what was going to happen with the dried beans. And I still have half a bowl of Raisin Bran Muffin batter in my refrigerator, there are two in the oven right now!

  49. Oh YUM! My hubby loves coconut and I adore pineapple and banana together!!! Thanks for making bread and not a smoothie. You took the tough route…that’s how you roll.

    Incidentally, the pesto would make an awesome pizza! I top mine with cheese (feta or moz.), sliced ripe tomatoes, fresh mushrooms and some parmessan. Delish!

    Have a delightful Tuesday! (since I don’t know about you but Monday bit the big one!)

    Jen-

  50. haha, before i read ahead i was all “wow, beans in banana bread? that joy can make ANYTHING work!” thankyou for not making that work, i feel like it might have been like the butterfly effect, one cup of beans added to a loaf of banana bread causes a ripple of similarly disturbing bean flavoured recipes across the internet…

  51. I would have liked to see it sliced. I can tell a lot about bread by the inside texture. Other than that, sounds really delicious.

  52. I loooooove when I find vegan recipes on non-vegan sites. I subscribe so that I can turn your yummies into vegan yummies. Thanks for taking a step out of the process! :) Can’t wait to try this!

  53. If it weren’t for the banana (but who doesn’t like banana?!) you could call this Piña Colada Bread… :D wouldn’t that be absolutely wonderful?

    I love your blog, by the way; I’ve been a long-time lurker, but I’ve decided to come out of the darkness… :)

    Wei-Wei

  54. Really, I feel your pain. I do the same thing. I’ve found several good recipes that use vinegar in place of eggs, and I love to replace butter with olive oil. Have you made vinegar pie?

  55. Looks yummy but I think I might miss the animal products. But, good to know you can pull something this tasty looking out of your hat or cupboard.

  56. Oh man… my roommates have threatened to put a moratorium on my baking, because their dance costumes are getting snug.
    This bread will make it both worse and better, and I can’t wait to bake it.

  57. I kind of just want to take big bites out of the whole loaf, rather than be a civilized human being and slice it up for a socially acceptable manner of consumption.

    Not weird, right? Sounds & looks perfect.

  58. Really inventive, it’s incredible the way you can use your leftovers with style.
    Can I use butter instead of canola oil, which does not exist in Italy?
    Thanks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts