Coconut-Lime Banana Bread

I can only eat bananas when there’s still a bit of green on the stem. After that, they’re sent to the “banana bread” pile. But no one at our house seems to complain!
I found this recipe years ago through Cooking Light magazine, made a few modifications, and have never baked banana bread any other way.

The bread is always moist and the sour-sweet glaze on top is the perfect compliment to coconut banana goodness inside. So grab your bananas and let’s get baking!
INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups All-purpose Flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 of a stick) softened butter
2 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup yogurt (vanilla, plain, strawberry, whatever flavor)
3 Tbl apple juice or applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1 Tbl coconut to sprinkle on top of bread

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Appx 1 1/2 Tbl fresh lime or lemon juice (appx 1 lime; you may substitute store-bought lime or lemon juice if needed)

Often banana bread is made with overly ripe bananas. If they start to get too black before you’re ready to bake bread, just throw them in the fridge or freezer and it’ll buy you extra time. If you only have the fresh yellow/slightly green variety, go ahead and use those. My feeling with cooking and baking is to go with what you have in the house. Make it work for you.
First, mix the first 3 dry ingredients in the small bowl (the flour, baking soda, and salt) and set them aside.
Then gather your next ingredients…..
Mash up the bananas with a fork, like you’re making baby food and set them aside.
Crack two eggs and toss them in your mixer. If you don’t have a KitchenAid type of mixer, a hand-mixer or wisk will work too.
Next, add a 1/2 stick of real unsalted butter. I used to substitute margarine for butter because I didn’t think it made a difference but it does! Margarine has more water content and just doesn’t taste as good. So spend an extra buck for the real stuff.
If your butter isn’t “softened”, stick it in the microwave for 5 seconds, then turn it over and do another 5 seconds. But only microwave for very small increments. You don’t want the butter to melt!
ADD the SUGAR and beat everything on medium speed for about 1 minute.
Then add the rest of the ingredients…..the bananas,
the yogurt (use whatever kind you have in the house. I prefer vanilla but I’ve used strawberry before and it’s just fine),
the apple juice (or applesauce, whatever you have on-hand),
the vanilla (pretend mine says PURE vanilla and not imitation),
the coconut (something every kitchen should have in stock),
Get it all in there and mix it up until blended.
Then add the dry ingredients,
and mix it on low speed just until moist.
Grab your bread pan. I don’t like baking with non-stick pans because the breads and cookies tend to over-bake (even when the temperature is turned down a notch). I prefer standard aluminum and glass pans:
Cut a small rectangle of wax paper (or parchment paper) to fit in the bottom of your pan. This makes it easy to get the bread out of the pan once it’s baked. Then you just peel it off the bottom of the bread.
Spray the pan with cooking spray (or rub it with butter) and place the wax paper on the bottom:
Scrape the bottom of your mixing bowl with a spatula since Kitchenaid mixers never seem to get all the way to the bottom.
And pour the batter right into pan:
Finally, SPRINKLE THE TOP of the bread with 1 Tbl of COCONUT (sorry no picture), and put it in a 350 degree oven for appx 1 hour.
While the bread is cooking, prepare the glaze.
Squeeze the juice of 1 lime into a small bowl,
If you don’t have a fresh lime you can substitute store-bought lime or lemon juice, but the fresh stuff tastes better.
add 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or more if needed)
Mix it up until you have a slightly runny consistency:
When your bread is done, allow it to rest for 5 minutes on a rack (but don’t let it to cool completely)
Remove it from the pan, peel the wax paper off the bottom, and drizzle the glaze right over the warm bread. Get the glaze in all the groves and let it drip down the side (place a pan or plate under the rack to catch all the drips):
Make sure the kids ride their bikes and scooters around the table while you photograph, and that they’re excited to try your “banana cake”. The proper terminology will sucker them into sampling.
Slice it up,
And serve!
Then spread some butter on top, wrap it in foil,
And take an afternoon snack to dad at work.
Yum Yum!

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  1. 1) Rosemary

    Try toasting the coconut before putting it in the batter for a great tasting variation!

  2. Oooh, this looks amazing! I am definitely making this tomorrow! I have some ripe bananas just begging to be put out of their misery. 🙂 Mwahahah. Thanks for sharing!

  3. 3) brenda

    OMG! love it! it´s so good! thanks for sharing, i´m going to try some other recipe from you 😀

  4. 4) Irm

    A further suggestion about bananas – they will keep in the freezer for a very long time, and they will go completely black. However, they are the best for baking – the flavor is more intense, no matter how unripe they are when you put them in. The biggest bonus, is that you just have to snip the end off the unthawed banana (which can easily be done in the microwave) and then you just squeeze out the pre-mashed insides and you are good to go!
    This bread sounds absolutely fantastic – it will definitely get a try!

  5. Looks quite yummy this recipe and some of these days I am giving it a try….but I’ve got a question – may I omit the applesause/apple juice or is it essential to the recipe?
    Thanks,
    Nádya

    • 6) Sandrine

      You could, but the goal with the apple is to add moisture. So instead add one or two extra tablespoons of butter. It will just take the “Light” out of Cooking Light.

  6. 7) Maria

    Very good! First time tried banana bread with coconut, and realized that they go together very well. I didn’t have any yogurt in the fridge, so I used buttermilk. And I had no apple juice/sauce either, but milk worked great. Kids loved to dip their pieces of cake into frosting drippings 🙂 yum. Thanks for the recipe. Next I’ll try your veggie muffins…

  7. 8) Carole Ferguson

    It would be great if the recipe could easily be printed out on one page (with the ingredients AND directions together).

  8. 9) fran

    I made this with gluten free flour, no glaze, no apple juice/sauce and just a bit of extra full fat no sugar yoghurt. came out scrumptious – and i reckon like that it’s ok for everyday, even for breakfast. thanks Dana 😉

  9. 10) Lacey F.

    I made this recipe for my family yesterday, and it was a big hit!! Thank you for uploading this recipe. I will be making it again. 🙂

  10. 11) Vicky

    I have been craving this for a while, and made it this morning. Its was delicious.
    Thanks for the recipe.

  11. 12) brenda

    oh man! i made it a few times in the past and it´s just perffect! but if you wanna make it a little more fluffy you can beat the egg whites and add them at the end just before you put the bread in the molde, it get super fluffy! thanks for the recipe!

  12. How about putting the glaze on the inside? Juice 6 fresh limes into a saucepan, and let simmer on medium-low while you prepare the rest of this recipe (stirring often). Let the lime juice boil down until it looks like syrup. Use this lime syrup to replace the applesauce. Also, replace the butter with coconut oil. This intensifies both the lime & coconut flavour!

  13. 14) Claire

    Looks delicious! Can half of the flour be substituted with whole wheat or would that negatively affect the taste/texture?

  14. 15) Annegret

    Thank you so much for the recipe! My kids LOVED it and I had a hard time holding back a little of the bread to go into their lunch boxes the next morning…so yummy!

  15. 16) Falcon

    Beautiful photos! Thanks so much for this. It was delicious and got eaten very quickly. Have passed link onto friends.

  16. 17) TJ

    I’m going to make this for my wife! She’s not feeling good.

  17. 18) TJ

    Made it today! It was perfect and looked like the picture!!!

  18. 19) Sarah

    Thanks for the recipe. Quick note though – you might want to change the recipe ingredients list to reflect that you’re to use “unsalted” butter because I didn’t catch onto that. You say it in the instructions but sometimes when you’re gathering your ingredients you’re just looking at the listed ingredients and then skim the instructions (like I did). In the end it’s my fault, I used salted butter. I haven’t tasted the results – not sure I’ll get to because I’m giving the bread as a gift. I hope that it’s okay. It sounds like an incredible recipe and I hope I didn’t ruin it.

  19. 20) Sherri

    I agree with Carole Ferguson about having a way to print out just the ingredients and directions. Also, it would be AWESOME to be able to have an e-mail link to forward your recipes, tutorials, etc, to friends/family. Thanks ever so much. This would be greatly appreciated!!

  20. I made this coconut-lime bread and my family loved it. Thanks so much

  21. 22) Julie Kemp

    Love your blog and recipes. Need PRINT icon. I have to copy them in long hand.

  22. 23) Mayka Tustison

    I just have to tell you that this is my go to recipe for banana bread. I have been making it for years since the time you had two or three recipes. Thank you so much!

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