Vegan Pineapple Coconut Muffins
Have a taste of the tropics with these Vegan Pineapple Coconut Muffins! They’re super soft, full of tropical flavor, and no one would ever guess that they are dairy-free + vegan.
When I went on a walk yesterday and could take off my jacket to feel the sun on my skin without shivering, I got the biggest smile on my face. It’s amazing how a little sunshine can make a city come alive.
After being in Costa Rica last week, basking in 90ºF+ weather, it was such a relief to come back to Seattle and see that spring has finally started to show itself. The past few days, the sun has inched past the 60s and settled at 72º – even though I know we’ll still have a few cloudy days (it is Seattle, after all), the worst is officially over.
In order to celebrate the sun’s return, I wanted to make something tropical. Also, I was really missing all the pineapple that I ate while in Costa Rica. Seriously, there were piles of it on my plate every morning, along with mangos, watermelon, papaya, and maracuyá. I wish someone would cut up all that fruit for me everyday 😍 *life goals*
These muffins definitely helped me get over it though and satisfied my craving for some more of the tropics. The recipe is adapted from my super popular Vegan Blueberry Muffins, which means it’s super easy and absolutely delicious.
Let’s make vegan pineapple coconut muffins!
This recipe is kept vegan by using a banana in place of an egg – the texture helps mimic the binding and moisture that an egg would add, but it doesn’t add much of a banana flavor. I used coconut milk, but if you have another dairy-free milk on hand, any kind would work. I just love adding in as many tropical flavors as I can!
For the pineapple, I opted to buy fresh and dice it up into small pieces. I bought a container of precut pineapple to make life easier for myself, but you could also use canned pineapple. Just be sure to drain it and dice it up before using.
I used toasted unsweetened shredded coconut because I’m not a big fan of the texture of sweetened coconut, especially when it’s added to baked goods. I definitely didn’t think these were overly coconutty. My roommate doesn’t like coconut, but she still loved these! Toasting is definitely key – it adds so much flavor to those flakes.
These Vegan Pineapple Coconut Muffins have me craving summer, bad! Luckily, you can whip up a batch of sunshine while we wait :D enjoy!
Want more vegan muffin recipes?
- Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Gluten-Free Vegan Double Chocolate Muffins
- Paleo Banana Nut Muffins
- Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Cake Muffins
Vegan Pineapple Coconut Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 10 muffins 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Have a taste of the tropics with these Vegan Pineapple Coconut Muffins! They’re super soft, full of tropical flavor, and no one would ever guess that they are dairy-free + vegan.
Ingredients
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted, you could also use vegetable oil
- 1 large banana, mashed, about ⅓ cup
- ⅓ cup coconut milk or other non-dairy milk, such as almond or rice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup fresh pineapple, diced; you can also use canned – drain before using
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
- Combine the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add in milk of choice, mashed banana, vanilla extract, and coconut oil and stir until just moistened. Fold in pineapple and toasted coconut. Divide the batter between the muffin cups, they should be about ¾ full. Sprinkle with unsweetened flaked coconut if using.
- Bake for 17 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Your vacation sounds amazing! I don’t have any tropical vacations planned, so I guess I’ll have to eat these muffins and pretend I’m on a warm, sunny beach somewhere. ;) The combination of pineapple and coconut sounds so good!
Pineapple coconut muffins sound so good! Love the bright tropical flavors!
I love tropical flavors! These muffins are so bright and sunny and I love unsweetened shredded coconut — it’s the best! These look perfect and I can’t wait to make them!
These pineapple coconut muffins are really bringing the tropical factor here! Love that they’re vegan and you have so much coconut flavor in them from the oil and milk :)
I feel the same way about spring! The weather has been gorgeous this week, I’ve been going on super long walks every day to soak up the sun. Also loving these muffins, I spied them on snapchat and they look so tasty. Pinning!
I am just curious as to how long they hold. I am thinking of making them to take to work on Monday but since I have to leave so early, they would be made on Sunday evening.
Hi Mia! I’ve sent these to work with my roommate after making them the previous morning and they were still great! I kept them on a plate covered in foil. Enjoy!
No wonder you’re feeling like something tropical… after that vacation! These are fabulous, Rachel and I can imagine, so flavorful. I love that you’ve incorporated coconut oil and milk as well as all the tropical fruits! This recipe is whipping me back to Hawaii… fast! Delicious work my dear! xo
Thanks so much, Traci! Definitely had some Hawaii vibes :)
Yay we must be on the same tropical pineapple coconut wavelength this week Rachel! Your muffins look amazing, and I love how you used coconut milk for extra coconut flavour. No wonder you were inspired to do this – Costa Rica sounds incredible! I was just experiencing hot end of summer days in New Zealand and pretending I was in the tropics… haha!
Okay just made them and they are in the oven. Two slight errors that I found are that you call for all-purpose flour in the list of ingredients and in the recipe itself, it states whole wheat. The other small error is that you say to grease 12 muffin tins but the yield in the top of the recipe states 10 muffins. I doubled the recipe and upped the cinnamon some. They will be placed in the staff room tomorrow at work.
Hi Mia! Thanks for pointing that out – I made these a few times and clearly didn’t re-read after making some changes! I’ve updated the recipe. Hope you and your coworkers love them!
Since I have a large bunch of ripe bananas, I may make these again in a few days and use part barley flour and part AP flour.
Ooh I’ve never used barley flour but that sounds interesting. I’m glad you enjoyed them! Let me know how how the barley flour turns out!
I made another batch this evening since my next door neighbor wanted to try them. I used 3/4 cup barley flour and 3/4 cup all purpose flour. I added some fresh grated nutmeg and upped the cinnamon to just over a teaspoon. I reduced the sugar to just the white sugar but added a tablespoon of molasses and mixed it in with my mashed banana. I also used two ripe bananas to make up for the reduced sugar. I gave my neighbor 6 of the muffins while still warm and she said they were just the right mix of sweet but not sweet from sugar.
So another variation.
These remind me of a Pina Colada!!
So glad you had a nice time on your trip :) Love the tropical flavors in these muffins! They look and sound delicious!!
I just want to let you know that I tried this today and absolutely loved it. I have been a vegan for almost 2 months and never knew this stuff could taste so good. While I still have cravings for a good steak once in a while, recipes like this keep me fro cheating so thanks so much :).
That’s so good to hear, David! I hope you can find lots of recipes on my site to make the transition a little easier ;)
I made these muffins and felt that they had to cook longer than 20 minutes and I had a hard time figuring out if they were done. They were so moist that I thought the
batter was still raw. Please, advise and tell me what I did wrong.
Hi Diane – sorry you had issues! Did you drain the pineapple really well before baking? If there was too much moisture dripping off of the pineapple, it can affect the moisture content and make the muffins a lot more wet. Could that have been the problem?
I made this today using almond milk, and threw in like 1/4-1/3 cup of oats into the muffins, and also a sprinkle of oats on top of the muffins as well. They turned out pretty good!
So glad that you’re enjoying them, Monika – thanks for your feedback.
HOLA BAKERITA,
GREAT RECIPE! COMO YO SOY DEL CARIBE SIEMPRE ESTOY BUSCANDO NUEVAS RECETAS DE PIÑA CON COCO Y DE MANGOS Y PAPAYAS TAMBIÉN. GRACIAS FOR THIS ONE.
HOWEVER, I DON’T USE WHITE SUGAR, SO I SUBSTITUTE W/ COCONUT SUGAR OR ‘PANELA PULVERIZADA’ AND SOME ORGANIC TURBINADO SUGAR, I ALSO HAVE TO USE ORGANIC GLUTEN FREE FLOWERS. THE RESULT IS SIMPLY SCRUMPTIOUSLY DELICIOUS.
Hola Mariangeles! I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins – it’s great to hear they worked well with coconut sugar and GF flour. Thanks for your feedback!
Can you buy toasted coconut or what is the process to toast it?
Hi Andrea, I believe you can buy it, but to do it yourself just bake for about 3 to 5 minutes at 350, or toast the coconut for a few minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently. Hope this helps!
I haven’t tasted them yet but the rest of the family loved them. They actually look better than I expected. I kept mine in a safe place, cause the way the kids were looking at them got me worried a bit. Just In case you never know. ❤️ Thanks a lot for the recipe
On a more serious note. You do not mention when to add the cinnamon. In addition I find it easier to follow a recipe when the ingredients are given in exact measurements. One Cup is how much exactly in grams/lbs/oz etc?
Hi Sol, glad they’re a hit! Cinnamon goes with the dry ingredients, must have been overlooked but I’ll add it now. Most of my newer recipes include gram measurements but since this one is older, it doesn’t have it – I’ll try to add them now.