Eat your piña colada rather than drinking one with these Piña Colada Seven Layer Bars! 🍍🍒🏝️Fast, EASY, no-mixer bars that taste TROPICAL from the pineapple, coconut, white chocolate, and cherries! Want to go on a vacation without leaving home? Make these easy dessert bars!
Pineapple Coconut Seven Layer Bars
- I combined my love of pina coladas and seven layer bars into a fast, easy, no-mixer dessert that tastes like the tropics. These pineapple coconut bars are like eating a pina colada rather than drinking one and made with simple pantry ingredients.
- Like any good hello dolly, magic, or seven layer bar (the names are different but the concept is the same), this one starts with a buttery graham cracker crust and then I took a tropical turn.
- I topped the crust with crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries, white chocolate chips, coconut, and sweetened condensed milk.
- There are so many flavors and textures in every bite. Extremely soft, chewy, creamy, and fabulous.
- If you’re looking for an egg-free dessert, this one contains no eggs. There’s also no flour, but it’s not gluten-free since there are graham cracker crumbs.
What’s in Pineapple Coconut Bars?
To make this fabulous piña colada dessert, you’ll need:
- Butter – I used unsalted butter but you can also use salted if you want to tame the sweetness a bit. Or simply add a bit of salt to the mixture.
- Graham cracker crumbs
- Canned crushed pineapple
- Maraschino cherries
- White chocolate chips
- Sweetened shredded coconut flakes – I am a fan of sweetened coconut and personally don’t recommend unsweetened coconut.
- Sweetened condensed milk
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pineapple Coconut Bars
- Combine the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs in a large bowl, stir or toss with a fork, then press the buttery coarse crumbs into the bottom of an 8×8-inch baking dish.
- Evenly sprinkle with the pineapple, cherries, white chocolate chips, and coconut. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over top.
- Bake the bars until lightly golden brown around edges and barely bubbling in the center, and the center is mostly set.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool for at least 2 hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving.
Storage
Room Temp: Bars will keep in an airtight container for up to 5-7 days.
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up 7 days.
In the Freezer: This recipe will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Tips for Making Pineapple Coconut Magic Bars
- I urge you to line your baking pan with nonstick heavy duty aluminum foil when you’re making the bars because the sweetened condensed milk caramelizes while baking and will stick like crazy to an unlined pan.
- Keep a very close eye on the bars in the last 10 minutes of baking. All ovens vary and coconut can go from raw-looking to burnt in one minute. If necessary, tent the pan (cover pan with a sheet of foil) in the last 5 minutes of baking to help prevent coconut from burning.
- The longer you can wait before slicing into these pineapple coconut magic bars, the better, because they’re extremely soft coming out of the oven. Even hours (and days) later, they stay very soft.
- You can double the recipe. Yes, simply double the ingredients list and bake the bars in a 9×13-inch pan. The bake time should remain roughly the same.
Pina Colada Seven Layer Bars
Video
Equipment
- non-stick heavy duty aluminum foil
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter, melted (I use unsalted, but salted tames some of the sweetness)
- ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
- one 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained extremely well
- heaping 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, halved
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes, (measured loosely and not packed)
- two-thirds of one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk, (just eyeball it)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside. Do not skip lining your pan because clean-up will be a beast.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Add the graham crackers crumbs and toss lightly with a fork to coat crumbs evenly.
- Turn mixture out into prepared pan, forming an even, smooth, flat crust layer by tapping crumbs into place with a spatula or your fingertips. The amount of crust is skimpy and barely covers the pan, but it’s okay.
- Evenly sprinkle with the pineapple, cherries, white chocolate chips, and coconut.
- Evenly drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Bake for about 30 to 34 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around edges and barely bubbling in the center, and the center is mostly set. Keep an extremely close eye on bars in the final 10 minutes of baking because coconut can go from raw-looking to burnt in one minute. If necessary, tent the pan (cover pan with a sheet of foil) in the last 5 minutes of baking to help prevent coconut from burning.
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool in pan for at least 2+ hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving. Bars firm up and will look less ‘juicy’ as they cool yet stay very soft for days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pineapple Desserts:
ALL OF MY PINEAPPLE RECIPES AND ALL OF MY COCONUT RECIPES!
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Tropical Escape Soft Pineapple Bars — In need of a tropical pineapple dessert? Look no further than these pineapple bars! There’s an abundance of pineapple chunks in every bite, which are surrounded by a custardy, creamy filling!
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Angel Pineapple Lush Parfaits — This is a 4-ingredient, no-bake dessert that’s ridiculously easy, you don’t need a mixer, and you don’t have to turn your oven on.
Banana Pineapple Bread — Incredibly moist and is ever so slightly coconut flavored thanks to the coconut oil in the batter. You’ll definitely want seconds of this easy banana bread recipe!
Question: Since these cherries have a checkered past about their sugar and red dye content Can you sub regular cherries if you wish
I’m not sure exactly since I have not tried using regular cherries. They will probably be fine but if you test it, please let me know how it goes for you.
Made this a couple nights ago & it was heavenly :)
Made this a couple nights ago & it was heavenly :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad they were heavenly!
If I should want to make these in a 9 x 13 pan, how much should I increase each ingredient. I’d like to use all of the condensed milk in one recipe. I am also considering an 11 x 7 pan I have. Thinking that might be perfect to use 1 can of the condensed milk up. Any help you can give me?
You would double everything if doubling the recipe to bake in a 9×13 pan.
You’d have to use much more math which I don’t want to do if using a 7×11 pan.