Banana Coconut Muffins
These naturally sweetened banana coconut muffins are for coconut lovers. I bet you can't tell they're made with 100% whole wheat flour!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
Coconut lovers, this double-coconut banana muffin recipe is for you! I’m confident you’ll fall in love with the sweet, bright flavors and contrasting textures in these little treats.
These muffins taste familiar and comforting, given their fluffy, banana-infused insides. They’re also fun and tropical, thanks to the shredded coconut you’ll find on the inside and on the muffin tops. A little lemon zest brings all the flavors together.
Like my healthy banana muffins, these muffins are also made with whole wheat flour and naturally sweetened (this time, with honey).
These muffins are based on a different recipe, though, and yield smaller muffins that are perfect for satisfying your afternoon sweet tooth. You could also serve them for a grab-and-go breakfast this Memorial Day weekend.
Curious about how this recipe came to be? I can’t remember how I originally found Deb’s Double Coconut Muffins, but I was completely taken by her coconut-topped beauties.
In the original recipe, Deb gives a long list of suggested substitutions, including swapping mashed banana for the yogurt. I was out of my staple Greek yogurt so I reached into my freezer for the bag of ripe, frozen banana chunks to defrost.
This was a serendipitous substitution because the banana adds the sweetness that unsweetened coconut flakes lack. In my second batch, I traded 1/4 cup honey for the 1/3 cup sugar, and found that the dry coconut soaks up the extra moisture in the honey.
I’m three batches deep in this recipe and I can say with certainty that these muffins are best with banana, sweetened with honey and topped with a heavy sprinkle of coconut and some glittering raw sugar.
With my substitutions, if you try yogurt instead of mashed banana, your muffins won’t be sweet enough to delight.
Please let me know how your muffins turn out in the comments! I hope they’re a big hit.
Craving more banana goodness? Here are a few more of my favorite banana recipes:
- Healthy Banana Bread and Healthy Banana Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes and Banana Oat Pancakes
- Favorite Banana Cake
- Vegan Banana Nut Scones
- Banana Almond Smoothie
Banana Coconut Muffins
These naturally sweetened banana coconut muffins are a real treat. I bet you can’t tell they’re made with 100% whole wheat flour! Recipe yields 1 dozen muffins.
Ingredients
- Âľ cup whole wheat pastry flour or white/regular whole wheat flour
- ½ cup white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ÂĽ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest (the zest from about about ½ medium lemon)
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana (from about 3 bananas)
- ½ cup virgin coconut oil, melted
- ÂĽ cup honey
- 1 large egg, preferably at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Âľ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided
- 1 tablespoon turbinado (raw) sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. If necessary, grease all 12 cups of your muffin tin with butter or muffin liners (my pan is non-stick and didn’t require any grease).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Stir in ½ cup of the shredded coconut.
- In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, coconut oil, honey, egg and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups (a scant ÂĽ cup batter each), then sprinkle the muffin tops with the remaining ÂĽ cup shredded coconut. Sprinkle the tops with the raw sugar.
- Bake for about 17 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer muffins to a cooling rack and let them cool.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Double Coconut Muffins.
Make it vegan: All you’ll need to do is replace the egg with a flax egg. I haven’t tried this substitution myself, but it should work.
Make it gluten free: Based on similar recipes, Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose blend should work well.
Freeze it: The muffins freeze well!
Serving suggestions: I like these muffins served warm for breakfast with a side of Greek yogurt, or with a little dollop of tart lemon curd for a sweet afternoon snack.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Mmmmmm, bananas are just so good in baked treats. Mind you, I’m a fan of yoghurt too. it’s probably a win-win for me either way!
Yum! I’m obsessed with muffins, although generally hard pressed to find one that is health supporting but doesn’t evoke cardboard/sand when eaten. Also, like you, I always find myself baking at odd hours when faced with the big life-y stuff. Growing up is stupid. Making muffins is awesome. You win. :)
Cheers to being a kid at heart in the midst of adult “things”, to fruit puree acting as yogurt, and to muffins that make my mouth drool!
Those look like JUST the ticket for this rainy Thursday… I’m thinking about perhaps toasting the coconut a bit for a little extra nutty flavor. Mmmmmm.
Late night impromptu baking is the best! I crave coconut in that “must have now” way also :)
Mmm such a yummy combination of flavours! Love it!
Those look so delicious, I might be able to get my husband to eat coconut with these guys.
I’m having an I dont want to be an adult day too! These muffins look DIVINE and after my success with your banana bread, this is next! And yay you! on the nomination!!
Thank you, Julia! If you enjoyed the banana bread, you will certainly love these muffins!
These sound amazing!!
I couldn’t think of a better way to start your day, friend. So, so so excited for your nomination–it’s so well deserved. The space you’ve created here, your writing, your photography, your cooking style, and your encouragement within the community is just fantastic. Hats off to you!
I am currently obsessed with coconut, so these muffins looks perfect! :) Might make a batch this sunday and give them to my parents for an Easter treat :) Thanks for sharing!
I am crazy for coconut! Love these muffins! Congrats again on your award! So happy for you!
I love your blog and your ideas.
I have been subbing bananas and other fruit purees for yogurt and/or butter for some time.
I’ve had the best luck with Bananas, Pumpkin, and (to a lesser degree) Apple butter. Getting the right balance of oil, moisture, and dry ingredients can be, as you mentioned, tricky. You said you’d like to trade notes? I’d be delighted too.
Thank you for the wonderful recipes.
Thanks so much for your fantastic comment, Joanne! So far I have only successfully swapped fruit purée for yogurt in this recipe. A couple of months ago I had a hunch that I could swap yogurt for the banana in my favorite banana bread recipe. I made the batter and had cooked the bread halfway when my friend called and urgently needed a ride, so I had to pull it out of the oven! I tried baking it the rest of the way later, but it was sunken in the middle. I will try again and let you know how a properly baked yogurt loaf turns out. :) I also want to experiment with strawberry purée—I am hopeful I will be able to blend fresh strawberries, drain off some of the juice and make strawberry bread.
Thank you for the reply.
Subbing Yogurt for Banana in banana bread? I’ve not tried that. Sounds like you may be on to a basic quick bread recipe to act as a palette for other flavors.
When working with fruits (including bananas and even pumpkin puree) especially if a recipe is moisture sensitive (for example dough for cinnamon rolls) I like to freeze my fruit. When the fruit is thawed, it releases a lot of liquid. I like to drain off the excess liquid from the fruit, save it, and add it back in place of other liquids in the recipe. For example, if a recipe calls for milk or buttermilk, I use the fruit liquid along with buttermilk or milk powder in place of using actual milk. This way, I get the benefit of using the fruit puree in place of some of the fat, while controlling the texture and amping up the flavor with the reserved juice. It still takes some experimentation when converting a recipe to get the texture right in the results. Some times I end up having the adjust the bakingpowder/soda to account for the acidity of the fruit.
I have one cinnamon roll dough recipe that I can make with pumpkin, banana or apple butter. I also have a scone recipe that I can make with yogurt or any fruit puree, and a muffin recipe that works with yogurt or any fruit puree. I’ve tried recipes that call for babyfood fruit purees. In my opinion, frozen fruit adds a lot more flavor to the end product than processed babyfood.
I look forward to seeing your experiments make it onto your blog :)
Joanne, I am totally intrigued by your freezing method and will definitely have to try it soon. I read about a cafe that freezes pineapple chunks for the same reason in The Flavor Bible just the other day. Thank you for elaborating on the method. I think I’ll try it with strawberries first!
Mmm, these look great! I love the golden coconutty top :D
I sweetened mine with coconut nectar. It’s thick and gooey so I warmed it up first it was good
I’m on a coconut kick right now and loving these muffins!
Me too! I can’t get enough coconut these days!
Oh.My.Gawd…I’m going to be dreaming about these muffins now until I make them. I’m going to see if I can sub almond flour for the whole wheat flour for a gluten-free version. Mmm…coconut+banana. And triple congrats on the Saveur nomination!!!!!!! Woot woot. You deserve it. You work so hard and your blog is beautiful.
Thanks a million, Alissa! Let me know if you try subbing almond flour, that sounds like a tasty swap.
These look incredible and I’d love to try something different with bananas (I always default to banana bread). Gorgeous photos!
Hey! first time commenter, long time lurker. I have made both the original muffins and now your adaptation… I like them both. They are quite different. And yours are a tad more complicated–but it was worth it! Yum!
Thanks for commenting, Christy! I’m glad you liked them! I just had one of Deb’s muffins for breakfast (her recipe, but with unsweetened coconut and added strawberries). Yum.
Oh yum! I just have to try this variation! And I love that you eat them with greek yogurt or lemon curd. Both sound awesome.
Made these muffins adapting few of the ingredients and was happy with the result. The addition of the lemon zest is a brilliant idea, as it works well with the flavour of the banana and the coconut.
Yum, yum, yum! These were delicious and perfectly moist! I love that they are sweetened with honey, and this is my first time cooking with coconut oil, so that was great too! I did not do the lemon zest, but will try that out next time. And, in addition to the sugar & coconut on top, I also added a sprinkle of pink Himalayan sea salt from the grinder – YUM! Just a touch of salty to offset to sweet! Off to explore the rest of your blog after this fabulous find! :)
Sea salt sounds like a great idea! Thank you for the great comment, Lianne.
These muffins are absolutely delicious! I used 3/4 cup light spelt flour, 1/2 cup whole spelt flour, extra lemon zest and a flax egg. I also drizzled honey on top in place of the sugar. I will definitely be making these again, as soon as my next batch of bananas over ripens!
Thanks, Holly! Your substitutions sound great.
Hi Kate, I am gathering ingredients to make these tonight. The rhubarb is up in our garden…any chance you have a healthy strawberry rhubarb muffin recipe? I can’t find one anywhere without butter and brown sugar! Is it just too sour to not use sugar?
Amy, I’m sorry for my delayed response. I’ve never made strawberry rhubarb muffins. I just googled honey-sweetened blueberry muffins and found this recipe (haven’t tried it) but I bet you could sub strawberry and rhubarb for the blueberries. If the muffins are tart due to the rhubarb you could always add a drizzle of honey to the finished product!
So yummy! Thanks!
I just made these, and am wondering if they could be made without any honey at all. Would that mess up the moisture? I find bananas to be so sweet (and I made it with very speckled ones, so sweet even for a banana) and the resulting muffins are delicious but more of a dessert than a breakfast accompaniment… ?? (I left the raw sugar off already)
Good question, Juliana. I’m pretty sure you could skip the honey altogether. Maybe add a little more banana to make up for it? Please let me know if you try!
Holy smokes I just made these and I’m having one fresh out of the oven. DIVINE. Not too sweet, perfect texture, tasty coconut banana flavor, and the lemon (I used lime) zest makes all the difference. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thanks for commenting, Alison! I’m so glad to hear that you love the muffins.
I just made these muffins and they are delicious!!! The flavor of the coconut and the banana pairs so well together. I made them exactly as written (using whole wheat pastry and whole wheat flour) and they turned out great. Thanks for the great recipe! I LOVE your blog!
Thank you, Sara! So glad to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes!
These muffins are amazing! My kids love them. Thank you!
Happy to hear it! Thank you for letting me know, Erica.
Hi! Just about ready to make these now that I have almost all of the ingredients except whole wheat pastry flour…could I substitute that for anything else??
Hey Lauren, just replace it with white or regular whole wheat flour. Should work great!
perfect, thanks! I will make them tomorrow morning for breakfast then. I ended up making your trail mix bread that night instead, and my parents loved them! Ill have to make them w/o coconut next time so I can eat them. It made the house smell absolutely amazing though
These muffins are my favourite! I was wondering if you would have an idea on how to make them gluten free? I need to go on an elimination diet, and would love to have some tasty treats that are gluten free. Let me know if you have any ideas! Coconut flour? How much? It absorbs liquids more than typical flour, so usually less is required. Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Hey Alisha, I bet an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend would work great. Coconut flour is really tricky and would probably require some serious adjustments, so I wouldn’t start with that one.
Suggest adding half cup apple sauce.Yummy
Wow – I make muffins every week for my husband and boys. These were a huge hit. They are definitely going into the rotation. I did not have whole wheat pastry flour so I just used a combo of whole wheat and white. They still turned out delicious.
My family thanks you!
Thank you, Amber!
Wow these were so good!! I put unsweetened cocoa powder in mine and they turned out really well, they makes you feel full which for me is important. A perfect breakfast!
Thanks, Klara! So glad you enjoyed the muffins.
I’m thinking of substituting gluten free flour instead of what the recipe calls for. Any thoughts?
Beth
P.S. I love your site! Have had great success with everything I’ve tried!
Hi Beth! So glad to hear you’ve been enjoying my recipes. I don’t have much experience with gluten-free flour blends, but I suspect a 1-to-1 GF flour would work well here! Please let me know if you give it a try. :)
They are perfect! Super easy, super healthy (I love that they are without sugar.) and super tasty. I think I will make them again and again.
Thank you, Tereza! Glad you’re loving the muffins!
i just made these as i happen to have some bananas i needed to use. I used a GF flour mix in place of both of the regular flours listed in the recipe and it worked out great!!!! super yummy and would totally make these again.
Thanks, Virginia! Glad to hear it!
Thanks a lot, I just made them (with sunflower oil as coconut oil is v expensive here in Turkey, and I used grape molasses instead of honey, grape molasses being a very common daily turkish staple).
Looking forward to try out more recipes from your lovely site!
Thanks, Nina! I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Wow-tasy, moist, light and prefection!! So happy to have healthy recipes like this that are also so nutritious! I substituted maple syrup for the honey. I will make a coconut oil lemon curd to go with. Thanks!
Thank you, Linda! I never thought to make coconut oil-based curd, that sounds great!
Thank you for this recipe, they are delicious!! As i didn’t have honey i substituted it with a combination of soaked chia seeds and apple puree, and it turned out well.
Thanks, Mel! Glad your muffins turned out well!
My little boy was begging to make banana muffins so I allowed him to choose based on which picture he liked best. He ended up choosing these coconut banana muffins (he’s the only other member of our family that like coconut – sigh!) and I am blown away by not only how yummy they are, but how beautiful they are. We made the mini version and they look like something out of a magazine, which never happens with healthy recipies. Seriously, my new favorite was to use up brown bananas!! Thank you
Another very good recipe! Thanks, Kate!
Oh wow yes I just made these and they are delicious! I didn’t have whole wheat flour or pastry flour so I used 3/4 of a cup of white flour and 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour with a few tablespoons of flax meal. I also added in some goji berries and yellow raisins, it smells delicious and has such a light tropical sweet taste to it I’m just in love thank you for this recipe !
Hey id love to give these muffins a shot i was wondering if i could sub the wheat flours for coconut and gluten free flour? Also if i subbed honey with coconut sugar would the texture/moisture change? Please let me know ASAP :)
No, definitely do not substitute coconut flour for other flours, ever—unless you want super dry results, as coconut flour absorbs a TON of moisture. Gluten-free all-purpose flour would be your best bet. I think coconut sugar would be fine in place of the honey.
These muffins are great! I am a novice baker and found this to be easy and quick enough to make before work. I hate to be “one of those people” and substitute but I had just bought some coconut flour and used 1/4 a cup on these bad boys! I just got really excited about the coconut flour!! Added a tiny bit of extra moisture. They turned out awesome! No tunnels, not dense, not dry…. Now if I can only keep my roomie from scarfing down the whole lot!
Hi. I couldn’t find a pastry flour, can I just use the whole wheat flour instead?
Yes, that’ll work!
Thanks for the great recipe – love the lemon, coconut and banana combination! I reduced the honey and added 50g dark chock chunks and a choc drizzle to the top. I had quite a thick batter, having used slightly less oil and honey, but the cooked texture was great!
Thanks again for your recipes, I am a big fan of your banana bread too!
Oh and I used 11/4cup normal whole wheat flour and it worked out well.
I adapted my banana and pumpkin bread recipe from your website and everyone that has tasted them fell in love with them so much so that they pay me to bake for them. I wanted to confirm that it’s okay to do this. Please let me know if you have any reservations. Thanks
Hi Tolu, if you’re just selling them to your local community, that’s fine! They sound great!
Thank you so much. God bless you
What are the macros for this recipe?
Unfortunately, I don’t have nutritional info available for my recipes just yet. I’m looking for a solution, and will update about it once I find one. In the meantime, here’s a nutrition calculator that might come in handy.
Everything Ive made of yours has turned out super yummy! But for some reason, these turned out hard and dry. I bake all the time, and followed the recipe, so not sure where I went wrong…?
This is my go to recipe when I have aging bananas lying around. I sometimes add in other things on a whim. In my last batch, I omitted the honey and added in a 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips. That’s what I love about muffing recipes, they’re so easily customizable!
Me, too! Your variation sounds delicious, Sarah.
Just made these with my roommate, and we love them! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Hooray! Thanks, Lynn!