How to Toast Coconut

Name: How to Toast Coconut
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 11 min
Ingredients: 2 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened )

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Toasted Coconut adds beautiful color and crunch to cakes, pies, and other desserts. Today I’m sharing my favorite toasting methods that take just 10 minutes! Recipe includes a how-to video.

Ten-Minute Toasted Coconut

I’m sharing two of my favorite quick and easy methods for making toasted coconut today! They’re perfect for toasting both large and small quantities of coconut, and both take just 10 minutes.

I recently shared a post on how to toast pecans, so if you saw that, you’ll notice today’s instructions are nearly identical. It’s also the same technique I used to make a coconut garnish for my coconut cream pie and coconut cookies too!

I love adding toasted coconut to desserts for extra texture and tropical flavor. It’s so easy to make and truly elevates anything you add it to (Sprinkling it on chocolate coated homemade marshmallows or chocolate covered strawberries would be divine!).

Why You Should Toast Your Coconut:

Gives it a beautiful golden color
Crisps it up so it has a drier, crunchy texture
Mellows out the flavor and adds a toasty dimension to the tropical notes

What You Need

golden shredded coconut flakes after toasting

Making toasted coconut is so easy; in fact, you only need one ingredient:

Coconut! You can use sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut found in the baking aisle of most grocery stores. Either version toasts just fine, so choose depending on your recipe and taste preferences.

SAM’S TIP: I love to sprinkle toasted coconut on banana pudding; it gives it a toasty, slightly tropical taste that really complements the banana flavor!

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Toasted Coconut

collage of two photos showing coconut before and after toasting in the oven

Scatter coconut over your baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and toss with a spoon before baking for another 5 minutes until toasted.

SAM’S TIP: While you can also toast your coconut on the stove (instructions for this are in the recipe card), I personally find the stovetop method doesn’t toast as evenly as the oven.

cookie sheet covered with shredded coconut after its been toasted in the oven

Frequently Asked Questions

Can unsweetened coconut be toasted?

Yes! You can toast pretty much any kind of coconut with this method; unsweetened or sweetened, flaked, shredded, etc. I even think this method will work with fresh coconut, but it will probably take a few minutes longer since it’s more moist.

How long will toasted coconut keep?

Quite a long time, actually! You can keep it in an airtight container at room temperature for a few weeks.

Where can I use toasted coconut?

Besides obvious coconut desserts, toasted coconut is delicious in muffins or scones, or as a garnish on cakes (chocolate cake would be delicious!), smoothie bowls, parfaits, and more.

spoon scooping golden brown coconut flakes that have been toasted in a cast iron skillet on the stove

I’ll be sharing a brand new recipe that uses toasted coconut very soon, so stay tuned!

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook