Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut)
Bananas baked in butter, citrus and honey under a blanket of coconut, a simple Equatoguinean sweet.
Equatoguinean · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 20 min
~502 cal · 3g protein · 88g carbs · 19g fat · 8g fiber · 53g sugars · 15g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Akwadu is the baked banana dessert of Equatorial Guinea, an easy, fragrant sweet that leans entirely on the island's tropical bounty. Ripe bananas or are dotted with butter, drizzled with orange and lemon juice, sweetened with brown sugar and honey, then covered with shredded coconut and baked until soft and golden.
The dish shows the gentle Atlantic-island character of Equatoguinean cooking, where bananas, citrus and coconut are always to hand and desserts stay light and unfussy. The citrus is the key, its brightness keeping the baked fruit from cloying, while the coconut toasts on top into a fragrant crust.
Eaten warm, sometimes with a drizzle of extra honey, akwadu can start a day or finish a meal. It asks almost nothing of the cook and gives back a comforting, sunny sweet in return.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
4 ripe bananas or , halved lengthwise
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 orange, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp honey, to finish
Instructions
1
Lay the halved bananas cut-side up in a buttered baking dish and dot them with the butter.
2
Whisk the orange and lemon juice with the brown sugar and pour it over the fruit, then scatter the shredded coconut on top.
✎ Chef’s note
Do not skip the citrus, its sharpness is what stops the baked banana turning flatly sweet and keeps the dish bright.
3
Bake at 375F (190C) for about 20 minutes, until the bananas are soft and the coconut is toasted golden.
4
Drizzle with honey and serve warm, spooning the citrus syrup from the dish over each portion.
Equatoguinean island cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Malabo. Malabo is on Bioko, a volcanic island off the Cameroonian coast rather than on the country's mainland, which is why fish and seafood dominate here. Bambucha is the cassava-leaf sauce, and the Spanish colonial layer shows in ordinary things like a tortilla appearing beside plantain and yam.
🗺️
Equatorial Guinea. Pepesup is pepper soup rendered through Pidgin English, and the method is the point: whole scotch bonnets go into a broth of fish or meat with red palm oil, one or two mashed in and the rest left whole so each diner crushes as much heat as they want into their own bowl. Bambucha is the cassava-leaf sauce alongside.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Equatorial Guinea
PepesupA fiery, clear fish pepper soup of Equatorial Guinea, sharp with chili, ginger, and lime.
Plátano Frito con HuevoSweet ripe plantains fried till caramelized and topped with a fried egg, Spanish and African breakfast worlds on one plate.
Pescado con YucaFish braised in a tomato and onion sofrito, served with boiled cassava, a Spanish-inflected coastal lunch of Malabo.
Browse all Equatorial Guinea recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Whisk.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Equatorial Guinea meal
Pollo con Salsa de CacahueteDinner
MalambaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut)?
Bananas baked in butter, citrus and honey under a blanket of coconut, a simple Equatoguinean sweet.
Where does Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut) come from?
Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut) is a Equatoguinean dish from Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
Can Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut) take to make?
About 30 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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