Banana coconut muffins are an easy moist muffin recipe that is loaded with banana flavor and a hint of coconut. These easy muffins are perfect for making ahead of time or enjoying fresh out of the oven.

Banana Coconut Muffins

In my house muffins are a key part of our breakfast meals. If it was up to my kids they would eat them morning, noon, and night. While I like making fresh muffins every morning there is not always the time to. I love easy breakfasts and having muffins made and on the counter or in the freezer that we can heat up in the morning means the kids have the muffins they love while keeping things easy.

Muffins are great for breakfast, lunches, and snacks. I also love that muffins freeze well so I can make large batches of muffins and have them in the freezer for us to easily enjoy. I totally agree with my kids that muffins are one of the best foods ever. They are so easy to make and then they are even easier to enjoy!

We make muffins often, so when I made these I was in the mood for a banana muffin, but something different than our normal go-to banana chocolate chip muffins. I was looking in the pantry and saw the coconut chips and thought it would be perfect! A tropical flavor banana coconut muffin, the perfect combination of banana and coconut flavor in a moist muffin.

The kids took one bite and told me that I need to make them more often! The kids devoured these and have asked me to make them many times since the first time I made them. Now they refer to them as the tropical muffins when they are asking for them and I now make a double batch anytime I make them.

Delicious muffin recipes

How to Store Muffins

Allow the muffins to cool and then place them in a plastic zip close bag and store them at room temperature. You can also store them in an airtight container. To do so line an airtight container with paper towels. Then, place the muffins in one layer. Top the muffins with another set of paper towels and seal the lid. These muffins will keep for up to 3 days, if they actually last that long in your house.

How to reheat muffins

Nothing is better than a warm muffin right out of the oven, especially these simple coconut banana muffins but of course, they will eventually cool so you will need to reheat homemade muffins. These healthy banana coconut muffins taste amazing even when they are room temperature but I love them warmed up. All you have to do is pop them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to heat the muffins and they will be as warm as when they came out of the oven!

How to Freeze Muffins

Banana Coconut muffins will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. There are 2 different ways to freeze fresh muffins.

How to freeze muffins Individually wrapped. Let your muffins cool completely. Then individually wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them in a freezer bag.

How to freeze muffins in bulk. If you do not want to wrap them individually, you can let them cool completely. Once cooled, remove the muffins from the muffin tin and place them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place them in the freezer and freeze them until they are solid, which takes about an hour.

How to defrost frozen muffins

Defrosting frozen muffins is easy and there are a few different ways that you can defrost muffins.

Defrost at room temperature. Remove muffins from the freezer and let them defrost at room temperature on the counter.

Defrost in the fridge. Remove muffins from the freezer and let them defrost in the fridge.

Defrost in the microwave. Remove muffins from the freezer and put them on a microwave safe plate. Then heat them in the microwave for 30-40 seconds.

Tips for Making this Recipe

Different types of coconut. If you don’t have coconut chips on hand you can use shredded coconut or coconut flakes, but the muffins will have a slightly different texture.

Gently stir the batter. When you are mixing the batter you don’t want to over stir. You also want to make sure you don’t mash the banana chunks when you add them into the mix.

Nuts are optional. I added walnuts to mine but if you are not a fan of walnuts you can skip them.

Room temperature ingredients. Having room temperature milk, butter, and eggs when making muffins is going to give you perfectly fluffy muffins every time. When you use room temperature ingredients you get a smooth mixture that traps the air when mixing and then gives you fluffy muffins as they bake in the oven.

overhead photo of a Banana Coconut muffin with a bite taken out

Variations of this recipe

Change up the nuts. I like using walnuts but you can also use pecans. If you are not a fan of nuts in your muffins then you can skip them all together.

Add chocolate chips. If you want to you can add milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips. I prefer them without the chocolate but my kids love them with the chocolate chips.

Use shredded coconut. I like using coconut chips but you can also use shredded coconut, if you want to use unsweetened for a less sweet muffin you can.

Can I make these into mini muffins?

Yes you can totally make these into mini muffins, you will want to use a mini muffin tray and muffin liners and then cut the bake time in half.

Banana Coconut Muffins Ingredients

Bananas. It is important that your bananas are overripe bananas and mushy for this banana muffin recipe. You will not get the right results if you are using bananas that are underripe. This is the perfect recipe to use if you have overripe bananas! I also use a potato masher to mash my bananas, it makes getting them perfectly squished so easy! You will also want to have some nonover ripe bananas so you can have banana chunks in the muffins as well. You will need 1/2 cup of mashed bananas which is normally one banana and 1/2 cup of diced ripe bananas which is about 1 bananaa also.

Vanilla extract. I much prefer to use homemade vanilla than the store bought vanilla extract that you get in the store whenever I am baking.

Butter. You need to use unsalted butter when you are making these homemade muffins. Do not use margarine, you need real butter.

Walnuts. You will want to use chopped walnuts, if you don’t have chopped walnuts you can can chop whole walnuts in a food processor. You can also use pecans, hazelnuts or macadamia nuts.

Coconut Chips. I like using coconut chips, but you can also use shredded coconut. You will want to leave a little bit out when you are making the muffin batter so you can put some on top of the muffins after putting the muffin batter into the muffin tin. You can use unsweetened coconut or sweetened coconut depending on how sweet you want your muffins to be. If you want to add toasted coconut on the tops of them instead of coconut chips you can do that too.

All purpose flour. I have not used any other flour when making these, so I stick with all purpose flour. This recipe has not been tested with whole wheat flour, almond flour or gluten free flour and it is suggested that you follow the recipe ingredients exactly for proper results.

White sugar. Granulated white sugar is the sugar you will want to use for this muffin recipe.

Baking Powder.

Baking Soda.

Salt.

Egg. White or brown eggs are fine to use, just make sure you are using fresh eggs.

Milk. I normally use 2% milk when baking because that is what we buy but you can also use whole milk when making this recipe.

How to Make Banana Coconut Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Line your muffin pan with paper liners or coat with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl add the overripe bananas and mash them, then set aside.

Cut the ripe banana into small chunks and set aside. If you are putting banana slices on top you will want to slice another banana as well.

In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

In a separate mixing bowl combine the wet ingredients, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas together.

Gently stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until combined.

Fold the banana chunks, walnuts, and coconut chip (leaving a little bit out to put on top of the muffins) into the muffin mix.

Fill your muffin tins so they are 3/4 of the way full.

Sprinkle the top of the muffins with the remaining coconut chips. If you want to put a slice of banana on top of the muffins, you can at this point. You will just need to add another ripe banana to your ingredients.

Bake for 24-26 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center and the tops are golden brown.

Place the muffins on a cooling wire rack to cool.

Banana Recipes