This Banana Coconut Macadamia Nut Bread is comfort food at its best. It’s a simple, satisfying, and fragrant banana bread loaded with big chunks of melted chocolate, salty buttery macadamia nuts, and large flakes of sweet coconut.
🍌 Tropical Banana Bread, Upgraded
If you love classic banana bread, this version is going to be your new favorite. It takes everything you love about the original and adds tropical flair: crunchy macadamia nuts, sweet coconut flakes, and chunks of melted semi-sweet chocolate throughout. It’s the kind of loaf that disappears fast, and you won’t feel bad about eating a thick slice for breakfast.
If you’re usually a banana bread purist, I really hope you’ll give this one a try. The textural contrast from the nuts and coconut takes it to a whole new level, and the chocolate? Well, chocolate makes everything better. This bread is also wonderful toasted, which creates irresistible melted chocolate pockets. Slather a warm slice with Nutella or coconut butter and thank me later.
Table of Contents
🧾What You’ll Need
Ingredients
You’re just a few simple ingredients away from the best tropical banana bread. Check out these tips to help you gather everythign you’ll need. Full ingredient amounts can be found in the recipe card. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)
- Ripe bananas: As always with banana bread, very ripe bananas are the key. Look for deeply speckled, mostly brown peels to make the most flavorful bread.
- Granulated sugar and brown sugar: Using both adds depth of flavor; the brown sugar brings a hint of caramel and keeps the crumb extra tender.
- Coconut oil: Adds moisture and a subtle richness that pairs beautifully with the coconut flakes. Melted butter can be substituted if needed.
- Milk: Just a splash to loosen the batter slightly. Whole milk works best, but any milk will do.
- Large egg: Helps bind and give the loaf structure.
- Vanilla extract: Use pure vanilla extract like this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla for the best flavor.
- All-purpose flour:Spoon and level it, or use a kitchen scale for accuracy.
- Baking soda: Makes sure the loaf rises properly. Check that yours isn’t expired for the best results.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and enhances all the other flavors.
- Ground cinnamon: Just enough to add warmth without overpowering the banana.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chunks: Chop a good quality bar yourself for big, melty pockets throughout. Chocolate chips work in a pinch but won’t give you the same effect.
- Macadamia nuts: Use salted, toasted macadamia nuts for the best flavor. Pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds are great substitutes. If you go the hazelnut route, you’re basically required to top a few slices with Nutella!
- Large flake coconut: I like to use large coconut flakes because they have better texture and toast up beautifully on top of the loaf, but you can also substitute sweetened/unsweetened shredded coconut.
Equipment
- Loaf pan: A 9×5 inch loaf pan is the perfect size for this recipe. A smaller pan risks overflow; a larger one will give you a flatter loaf.
- Tinfoil: Keep a roll of tinfoil nearby to tent the loaf if the top starts browning too quickly before the center is fully set.
- Wire rack: To cool the bread evenly, a wire rack is essential. Cooling in the pan traps steam and can make the bottom soggy.
🍞 More Quick Bread Recipes
Leave a Review!
If you make this recipe, let us know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe below, and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram @elabau, or use #sugarhero on IG!
Banana Macadamia Nut Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup large bananas, coarsely mashed, very ripe, from about 4 medium
- 3.5 oz granulated sugar, (½ cup)
- 3.75 oz brown sugar, (½ cup), packed
- 7.7 oz coconut oil, (½ cup),melted
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3.68 oz all-purpose flour, (1½ cups)
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chunks, or semi-sweet chocolate chips, (⅔ cup)
- 5 oz macadamia nuts , salted and toasted, (⅔ cup)
- 2.13 oz flaked coconut, shredded coconut can be substituted, (⅔ cup)
Instructions
- Prepare to bake: Preheat your oven to 350℉, and spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, sugars, coconut oil, milk, egg, and vanilla.
- Whisk together dry ingredients: In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Combine wet and dry mixtures: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and blend well with a spatula, just until the streaks of flour remain. The batter will not be smooth.
- Add mix-ins: Add most of the chocolate chunks, macadamia nuts, and coconut flakes, reserving a handful for decoration, and stir well.
- Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and sprinkle the top with the reserved chocolate, nuts, and coconut. Bake at 350℉ for 55-65 minutes. Turn the bread halfway through baking, and cover with a loose tent of foil if the top seems to be getting too dark. The bread is finished when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool: Cool the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, until it is warm but not hot to the touch, then remove the loaf and let it cool completely before slicing.
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
❄️ Storage
- Room temperature: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store for up to 4 days.
- Refrigerator: Keeps well for up to 1 week stored in an airtight container. Let slices come to room temperature, or toast them for the best texture.
- Freezer: Wrap the cooled loaf tightly in plastic and foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature before serving.
💡 Tips For Perfect Banana Coconut Bread
- Don’t overmix. Stir by hand just until no streaks of flour remain. Overmixing leads to a dense, tough loaf.
- Reserve some toppings. Save a small handful of chocolate, nuts, and coconut to sprinkle on top before baking. It makes the loaf look gorgeous and adds texture to the crust.
- Tent with foil if needed. If the top is browning too quickly before the center is set, loosely cover with foil and continue baking.
- Check for doneness early. Start checking around 55 minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the loaf starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- Cool before slicing. Let the loaf cool completely for clean slices, though no judgment if you sneak a warm piece!
Oh heavens, I have been there… Thank goodness I usually walk away from a post if I’m unsure of it and come back to it later and laugh at myself. Like, okay D, people are here for food. Calm yoself.
That said, I’m sure that even a “MORTALITY, you guys” Sugar Hero post would be wonderful and great. You are good at this!
Lastly, this bread looks delightful. I could certainly go through a whole loaf in a weekend, especially if you remind me that life is dangerous and then we die.
Haha, oversharing high five! Everything seems really Important and Deep at 2 am, and in the cold light of morning…notsomuch. 🙂
PS My next blog post is totally just going to say “MORTALITY, you guys!” and then a recipe for cookies. Done!
this banana bread looks delicious and combines my favorites- coconut and macadamia nuts! My kind of comfort food for sure!
Awesome, thanks Rachel! TOTAL comfort food…especially if you’re like me, and just eat the tops and leave the bottoms for your unfortunate family. 🙂
Can I just say that this banana bread is just soooo cool! Loveeeee the additions! Why yes, I’d love some melted chocolate pockets while I’m eating these! Soo Soooo good! 🙂
Thanks Samina! Pretty much any food could be improved with some melted chocolate pockets inside.
I need this in my life right now. Banana bread is definitely much better with chocolate and coconut… gosh, it is making my mouth water 😉
I agree–I don’t know if I can go back to plain banana bread after this!
I love banana bread I made some for a fishing day this weekend. Now that I am thinking about it I should of added chocolate.. I love how moist your bread came out…
I think that means you need to make another batch with chocolate. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed some banana bread recently too!
I always write my post late at night when my brain is tired and 99 percent of the time I regret what I end up posting. Maybe I should stop doing that…
Anyways I adore this banana bread. It has all my favorite things.
Is there someone we can outsource blog post writing to? I enjoy it, but it’s always the last thing I tackle on my list and dang it, I’m not always making good editorial decisions late at night. Surely there’s a broke English major somewhere who wants to write freelance food blog posts? 🙂
I’m an all kinds everything kind of bread gal, so yes, I’m totally up for trying this! I like the texture from the nuts, coconut, and chocolate chips and how they look in the photos. I always LOVE your photos, Liz. And your recipes. Like, I wish I was eating this for breakfast. Oh, and you’re not alone in late night post writing … that results in really deep post writing. I’ve done it before, too:)
Mary Frances, you are so sweet! Thanks for the kind words–and I agree, this would make a fabulous breakfast. I tended to eat mine for brunch and elevenses, but obviously I need to make another loaf and try it for breakfast. 🙂 And maybe one day I will learn to write my posts far in advance, but I’m afraid it probably won’t happen any time soon…
Made this today. Only change I made was to adjust flour ratios to incorporate whole wheat in addition to the white. I find the bread oily and wet and did bake it for well over 65 minutes and even allowed it to sit in a warm oven to dry up a bit. My thoughts are that it is ok, a little heavy for my liking. Not sure that I’d make it again.