As a holiday weekend treat, we made Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Infamous Coconut Banana Pancakes. My SwoleMate saw this epic cheat meal recipe posted on The Rock’s Instagram account. He asked if we had all the ingredients on hand, and we did!

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Who created DJ’s Infamous Coconut/Banana Pancakes?

With no formal training, Chef Puttie has turned her passion into a full business by using a healthier approach to her recipes. After losing her corporate job in 2012, she decided to focus on her hobby of cooking.

Primary Ingredients

Using high quality ingredients is the key to this rich recipe! It’s suggested to splurge a few extra dollars to ensure a tasty return on your investment!

Non-Stick Griddle

A great nonstick stovetop griddle is key for making pancakes and bacon at home.

All Purpose Flour

While it may be impossible to name the best all-purpose flour for every task you’ll undertake in your kitchen, finding the best all-purpose flour for simple baking is key to making great tasting cookies, quick breads, pound cakes, biscuits, pan sauce, and gravy too.

Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Shredded Coconut or Coconut Flakes? The difference between the two is in the size of the pieces. Shredded coconut is grated coconut, shaped into narrow thin strips, similar to shredded cheddar cheese. While coconut flakes are thicker and wider pieces of coconut.

Bottled Coconut Water

For this recipe, coconut water stored in a plastic bottle is preferred over the paper carton variety. Chef Puttie suggests that the taste of the pancakes is different when a plastic bottled coconut water is used instead of plastic.

Canned Coconut Milk

Canned coconut milk is preferred for this recipe. Coconut milk found in a carton can be more watered down and less flavorful than canned coconut milk. Canned coconut milk is more likely to be used for cooking, while coconut milk in a carton may contain sweeteners and is often used just to drink.

Coconut Oil

Whether unrefined (virgin) or refined, coconut oils are a great source of healthy fats. The biggest difference between the two types of coconut oil you may see are taste, aroma, and smoke point. Unrefined coconut oil is made from cold-pressed fresh coconut meat and adds great flavor to your recipes. Refined coconut oil has a more neutral aroma and taste for when you’re not looking for a “tropical” smell or taste. Refined coconut oil has a higher smoke point of 400 degrees, so it works well for sautés and stir frys. Virgin Coconut Oil is best when cooking up to 350 degrees.

Pure maple syrup

Pure maple syrup has a low glycemic score, which prevents “sugar crashes”. It is also high in antioxidants and contains many nutrients like zinc, potassium, manganese, thiamine, calcium, and iron.

Preparing This Recipe

Combine your dry ingredients in one bowl and your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix both together leaving the batter slightly clumpy.

Fold in the bananas. Pour the batter onto the preheated oiled griddle. Cook the pancakes on one side until bubbles form, then flip. Serve with a smear of creamy peanut butter and/or pure maple syrup.

The edges should come out slightly crispy while the inner cake is moist and delicious. These pancakes are definitely worth the calories!

Lessons Learned

DO NOT:

Double flip!
Flipping more than once can dry out your cakes!
Be patient and time it out appropriately

DO NOT:

Flatten them (like a pancake, HAHA). A fatter cake will actually be fluffier! Smashing it down just compresses the air. If you want a thinner pancake, spread the mixture out WIDER/thinner when applying to the griddle or pan or add more liquid.

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DJs Infamous Coconut Banana Pancakes Recipe

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 3 tbsp Cane Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 10 tbsp Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Wet Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup bottled Coconut Water
• 1 cup canned Coconut Milk
• 3/4 c Whole Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tbsp Coconut Oil, melted
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 Bananas, medium-sized, diced small
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil Spray, for griddle
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, for griddle

Toppings

• Creamy peanut butter
• Pure maple syrup

Directions

1. Add flour and baking soda into a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, salt and shredded coconut.
3. Mix lightly with a wooden spoon.
4. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk eggs, coconut water, coconut milk, whole milk, vanilla extract, coconut oil and butter.
5. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in milk mixture.
6. Mix lightly to combine, leaving batter clumpy.
7. Add bananas to batter, briefly stir to distribute evenly.
8. DO NOT overmix, a few lumps are ok.
9. Lightly oil the griddle using a combination of spray and butter.
10. Preheat lightly oiled griddle under medium heat.
11. Pour 1 measuring cup onto a griddle for large cakes or 1/4 cup for small pancakes.
12. Cook 2 – 3 minutes until the top of pancakes have bubbles.
13. Flip carefully with a thin spatula.
14. Cook until brown and crisp, about 2 – 3 minutes, adding more olive oil spray and butter if needed.
15. Transfer to a plate.
16. Top with creamy peanut butter and/or pure maple syrup and serve.

Yields: 6 large coconut banana Pancakes

Recipe Variations

Instead of white flour, wheat flour or oat flour can be used instead. For the sweetener, feel free to use regular sugar or brown sugar, erythritol or stevia sugar substitutes, pure maple syrup or agave. Canned coconut milk is preferred, but feel free to use the lite version for this recipe. If whole milk is not your forte, almond milk or oat milk can be substituted instead. Pure maple syrup is the preferred topping, but sugar-free syrup can be used as well.

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My BodyBuilding Boo and I like to live an 80/20 lifestyle; 80 percent of our foods are clean, healthy, whole natural foods and then we allow ourselves to indulge in processed food varieties 20 percent of the time. We like to KISS our recipes (Keep It Simple Sweetie); Easier to track, monitor, and meet our MACROS that way!

– Estee D. Ratliff