The 2 Tropical Ingredients You Should Add To Banana Bread

Let's take a minute to thank banana bread for all its efforts, shall we? Savior of snack time, the perfect nosh when the sweet tooth kicks in, and widely beloved by children and adults alike, banana bread is one of those rare treats that's not only almost universally enjoyed, but also so simple to make at home that you can whip it up pretty much anytime a craving descends. Among the first items that many of us learn to bake at home, banana bread calls for, of course, ripe or overripe bananas, but beyond that is almost infinitely customizable, coming together using white flour or buckwheat, plain ol' bananas or laced with pumpkin, or even using gluten-free or vegan ingredients.

Our site alone lists about eight banana bread recipes, and that's without getting into the variations produced by changing up the mix-ins that go into banana bread. Chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and dried fruit are some of the most common additions to this classic snack cake, but the sky is pretty much the limit when deciding what to stir through your batter, making it easy to tailor the treat to your precise preferences. And if you like tropical fruits, it's time to start thinking about adding them to your next banana bread.

If you love whipping up variations on banana bread at home but are running out of ideas for how to flavor it beyond chocolate chunks and a sprinkle of cinnamon, look no further. The next time this classic treat is on the docket, have a look around your pantry for two tropical fruits: Pineapple and coconut. Bananas, though exported around the world, are, of course, a tropical fruit, too, and they happen to play exceptionally well with these two ingredients.

So how to add them to your next banana bread? With a fresh pineapple, you'll want to core it, then dice or shred it into small pieces so that it distributes well throughout the bread. You can also used canned pineapple, making sure to cut up any rings or larger chunks of the fruit and stir it through your batter before transferring to a prepared pan.

Coconut is another great option for banana bread. You can stir coconut flakes or shredded coconut into your batter — preferably unsweetened so you can better moderate the level of sugar in the dessert — and can even triple down on coconut flavor, if you wish, by incorporating coconut milk in place of any milk or buttermilk in the recipe, and using coconut oil as your fat. 

With these tips, your next banana bread has the potential to be extra-tropical, indeed.