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You are here: Home / Recipes / Hawaiian Mango Bread Recipe

September 14, 2016 Breads & Muffins

Hawaiian Mango Bread Recipe

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Mango bread has taken the place of banana bread in our house, hearts and stomachs ever since we had in it Maui a couple years ago and again in Kauai this past summer.

Made with Chosen Foods Avocado oil to keep it extra moist and delicious. Thanks to Chosen foods for sending me avocado oil for this recipe. 

Mango bread slices on white plate, sliced mango half, cup of coffee, whole mango

When we went to Maui a few years ago we sampled banana, mango, lilikoi and guava breads all throughout our trip. Maui is known most for its famous banana bread that you pick up on the way to Hana to snack on while your drive through the 600 turns of the infamous Hana highway.

You can also find it at various farmers markets on the island and we found the best mango bread at the outdoor market near Leoda’s pie shop on the way to Lahaina. My kids couldn’t get enough of it, neither could I. Leoda’s pies are amazing too by the way. A MUST stop on Maui.

Whole loaf of mango bread on wire cooling rack, bowl of mango puree, whole mango, mango half sliced

When we got back from Maui I looked for mango bread recipes online and the ones I found never quite ended up the same as the ones we had on vacation. I tried making substitutions with banana bread recipes, but still, not the same. I made a plan to look for more Hawaiian cookbooks on our next Hawaii trip. I try to hunt down vintage cookbooks every trip to Hawaii. Usually from thrift stores. Kauai has an amazing book store and I made a point to visit it when we went this year.

Talk Story Book Store Hawaii www.pineappleandcoconut.com

Located in Hanapepe, the Talk Story bookstore has the claim to fame of the western-most independent book store in the United States. They had everything from new to very old, children’s to adult fiction, popular and hard to find. Lots of Hawaiian guide books as well as a huge section of Hawaiian cookbooks. I was in cookbook heaven.

I decided on three, since suitcase room was dwindling due to many other purchases already made that trip. Two of the cookbooks I found had mango bread recipes in them and I couldn’t wait to try them at home.

slices of mango bread next to half of loaf, two mango halves sliced into cubes

I got out all my supplies and ingredients and started up with one of the recipes. Simple ingredients, even more simple directions – “Combine everything and bake”. I whipped up the batter and filled my pan. And boy do I mean filled. Recipe yield stated one loaf so I poured it all in my loaf pan. EEP. It was about a quarter inch from the top and I hoped that the bread didn’t rise too much during baking. It did.

Luckily I placed a baking sheet on the oven rack below it in case any batter spilled over. There was too much batter and after an hour and 15 minutes I thought it was finished baking but it wasn’t quite done. It tasted great, close to the bread we had in Maui, but the middle was a little under baked.

mango bread on aqua and brown wood cutting board, one slice cut

Since the flavor was so great I decided to give the recipe another go. This time splitting it into two loaf pans. Flavor still there, but the loaves were very small and I would have over-baked had I not watched them closely. I could have photographed them for this post but since they were such squat loaves, I decided to give it the old “third time’s the charm” and try one more time.

Third time was most definitely the charm. The mango bread is dense and moist, baked to the perfect height and so flavorful. Exactly like the bread we had on Maui and Kauai. Delicious.  Two gorgeous loaves, one to eat now. One to freeze and save for later. Like. Next week.

close up of mango bread slices

A few notes about the recipe first:

  • This post was initially sponsored by Chosen Foods and I used their avocado oil. Do you have to use avocado oil? Nope. I love baking with it since it is a nice neutral flavored oil. You can use melted coconut oil in place or another neutral oil such as sunflower. I haven’t made this with olive oil, I tend to use that more for vinaigrettes than baking. I don’t use canola oil or soy oil at all.
  • What if I don’t have loaf pans or only one loaf pan? Make muffins!  I have made this recipe into one loaf, and a dozen or so muffins before or all muffins. I get anywhere from 2 dozen to 28 muffins, depends on how full I fill the muffin tins. I always use paper muffin/cupcake liners too. Even with cooking spray, muffins tend to stick in my pans and they are a pain to clean.
  • To make as muffins, make the batter as the recipe states, fill each muffin tin 2/3 full ( I use a #12 scoop – 1/3 cup size) and bake for 16-18 minutes. Cool in pan for 5, remove to wire cooling rack to cool completely. 
  • This bread freezes well. Wrap in plastic wrap then foil then in a resealable bag to keep super fresh, and to keep out other freezer smells. I didn’t wrap up a banana bread very well once, had it in the freezer next to a bag of shrimp. Shrimpy smelling banana bread wasn’t the most appetizing ha ha
  • I have made this recipe with both fresh mango and frozen. For the frozen I thawed it then drained off the excess liquid. You want the puree to be like thick applesauce, not watery at all. 
Continue to Content
Yield: 2 9X4 inch loaves

Hawaiian Mango Bread

Hawaiian Mango Bread

Mango Bread like you find at the farmers markets and roadside stands in Hawaii. But made at home.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • *Ingredients listed in cups for spoon and measure method, ounces or grams for weighing method*
  • 3 cups (13.5 oz or 385 grams ) All purpose flour
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 3 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3 cups mango puree (see notes)
  • 2 cups sugar (14 ounces or 396 grams)
  • 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp Chosen Foods Avocado oil (9 ounces or 255 g)*
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp rum ( optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 Deg F (180 C) and grease and flour two loaf pans ( 9x5”)
  2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, sea salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
  3. In a large bowl mix together the mango puree, sugar, avocado oil, eggs, vanilla and rum if using it. Mix until well combined. Add in the flour mixture and stir until moistened and only a few flour streaks remain. Do not over mix. Divide batter between pans. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick placed into the center comes out clean and only has a few crumbs on it.
  4. Cool in pan 10-15 minutes then remove to a wire cooling rack and cool completely. Wrap in foil then in an airtight container. Will keep well 3-4 days at room temperature or up to 3 months frozen.

Notes

*You can sum avocado oil for coconut or any other neutral oil such as sunflower. I have not made this with butter so I can't tell you how that would turn out.

For the mango puree I will blend fresh mangoes when in season. You want the puree to be the same consistency as applesauce. You can also find frozen mango puree in specialty grocery stores, International, Asian or Mexican grocery stores. Thaw, drain off excess liquid, then purée. Or you can use frozen mango chunks. Just thaw and blend until smooth. Do not use mango nectar or juice, it will make the batter way too runny.

The sugar can be reduced a little. I have played around with only using a cup and a half (10.5 ounces) of sugar and it comes out close to the same. If you want to substitute a liquid sweetener such as maple syrup or honey then adjustments will need to be made to the entire recipe. I have not used a liquid sweetener with this recipe before.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

© Shanna
Cuisine: Hawaiian

two mango bread slices on white plate, whole mango, cup of coffee

Serve the mango bread with fresh Kauai coffee and a good book. I love this mango bread at room temperature but slightly headed with a little slathering of butter or cream cheese is super tasty too.

close up of two mango slices on white plate, fork, cup of coffee, yellow and blue polka dot napkin

Thanks again to Chosen Foods and like always opinions are my own. I appreciate the support from all my readers helping make my blog possible so I can continue to bring you amazing recipes and have the ability to work with amazing brands.

Categories: Breads & Muffins

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. SkinnyMe says

    November 29, 2016 at 10:00 pm

    This is the absolute best bread I have ever tasted! It was gone in less than an hour. Now I’m making four batches for my family. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      December 5, 2016 at 3:50 pm

      It is amazing how fast it disappears! I am so glad you loved it!

      Reply
  2. Vicki Naehu says

    June 19, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    Do you know who the original author of the recipe is/was? I have some beautiful Hayden mangoes from my friends tree. The ones that drop/fall to ground are picked up daily, looked over for splits (they get thrown away), and those that are good, get cut up and saved for bread or cake. I couldn’t find my aunties famous recipe, so I decided to search, I knew the ingredients, just couldn’t remember the ratios. Mahalo for posting this recipe. I’m off to conquer my craving for mango bread.
    Aloha No, Aunty Vicki Naehu, Waianae, Oahu

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      June 19, 2017 at 6:40 pm

      Aloha!! I used “Best-Tested Recipes of Hawaii” cookbook that I had found at Talk Story Book Store. Author is Margaret Kepka Stone. Copyright of the book is 1984. This recipe really tastes just like the mango bread from roadside stands in Hawaii. Let me know how you like it!!

      Reply
  3. Kelly Lee says

    September 18, 2018 at 3:45 am

    Aloha!
    I am a Floridian who has an amazing mango tree that produces an abundance of fruit. Searching for a moist, tasty mango bread led me to this recipe. It is by far the best bread recipe to do the juicy, mouth watering mangos from my tree justice.
    My question is about the mixing of the flour with the wet mixture. You say to not mix too much but I find that if I don’t, it clumps and can leave an occasional flour blob. Is there a secret or tested method to mixing that won’t yield those unsightly blobs? Most consumers of the bread just tell me to mix better and throw that part out. I’d rather not have them though.
    Thank you for the recipe and for your response.

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      September 18, 2018 at 9:14 am

      Definitely mix to get rid of the flour blobs but don’t mix too much more than that. It will over develop the gluten and make for dense, tough bread. I hope you like the recipe!!

      Reply
  4. Kim says

    September 3, 2019 at 5:36 pm

    Holy cow! Was looking for something to do with an extra ripe mango when I found this. Had the bread you were talking about at Leoda’s in 2015. So good, went back next day to get whole loaf to take across the street to Olawalu beach (sshh, my favourite beach on Maui) So missing tbe island’s but this recipe will help! Thanks for sharing it!

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      September 4, 2019 at 10:31 am

      Oluwalu is the best beach!! Hope you love the recipe!

      Reply
  5. Pat says

    April 30, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    I and my family love this bread. It has the right amount of sweetness, it is moist and fluffy. Came out right on first try. Also a forgiving recipe. Thank you

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      May 1, 2020 at 7:45 am

      Thank you so much! I love hearing this.

      Reply
  6. Sue says

    July 5, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    I am in mango bread heaven. I have been looking for a real authentic Hawaiian mango bread recipe and came across your website. The moment I saw the photos I knew this was the real thing that we eat in Hawaii every time we go. After I read your story I knew I had finally found it. Just made it for the first time this evening. It is amazing and transported me back to the beach the waves and the smell of the ocean (and yes, Oluwalu). Thank you so much for posting this authentic recipe. It is a keeper! Mahalo!

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      July 6, 2020 at 6:52 am

      I am so happy you loved it! Oluwalu is amazing! Aloha!

      Reply
  7. Stuart says

    July 29, 2020 at 6:04 pm

    I live in Hawaii and have been trying to replicate the mango bread I got at a local craft fair for AGES. My backyard mango tree has been providing lately so I figured I’d give this one a shot, and you got it. This is the one. Subbed coconut oil for the avocado oil, and didn’t have a second loaf pan so the rest of the batter went into mini bundt tins (baked for 16 minutes at 350F). Everyone in the family is going nuts for this recipe. Goes beautifully with coffee.

    Reply
    • Shanna says

      July 30, 2020 at 7:32 am

      Coconut oil works great too! I am so glad you love it. I need to make it again soon. I have made one loaf and with the extra batter made muffins instead of a second loaf. Works so great that way as well. You are so lucky to have a mango tree too, I wish I could have one in Vegas. Aloha!

      Reply

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about shanna

I am a self taught baker, cook and mixologist and photographer. I love making healthy meals, sweet treats and fun cocktails. Lots of my recipes are influenced by my travels to Hawaii over the years. Hope you enjoy my recipes!

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