Easy King’s Hawaiian Pineapple Coconut Buns

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Take a 12-pack of King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls, stuff them with a buttery pineapple and coconut filling, and drizzle pineapple juice icing over the top. That’s it, and these King’s Hawaiian pineapple coconut buns came out INSANE 🤯 I love this one because it’s a semi-homemade cheat code. The sweet rolls do all the work for you, so there’s no dough to make and nothing to proof. You slice, fill, bake and ice, and you’re eating in about twenty minutes.

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This one earned a spot in 54 Game Day Food Ideas With an Asian Twist too.

What Makes These King’s Hawaiian Pineapple Coconut Buns So Good

It’s pineapple and coconut baked straight into a warm, pillowy sweet roll. The rolls are already soft and a little sweet on their own, which makes them a perfect base, and then you’ve got juicy pineapple, shredded coconut and buttery sugar melting down into the bread. The pineapple icing over the top is what pulls the tropical thing into focus. SO good!

Plus, if you’ve followed me for a bit, you know I keep coming back to these rolls. My King’s Hawaiian roll cream cheese danishes use the same slice-and-fill move with a gooey cream cheese center, so if you’re into one you’ll probably be into the other. They’re too good a shortcut for me to leave alone.

And for a totally different direction with the same rolls, my Cinnamon Sugar Fried King’s Hawaiian Rolls deep fry them until crispy and toss them in cinnamon sugar, so they come out tasting like donuts.

Can You Use King’s Hawaiian Rolls for a Dessert?

You definitely can, and I’d say they’re one of the easiest dessert shortcuts going. The rolls are already sweet, soft and fluffy, so they work as a ready-made base for pull-apart bakes like this. Instead of making dough, you slice the connected slab in half, load the middle, and bake it for ten minutes. King’s Hawaiian leans into this themselves with a whole set of dessert recipes built on the same rolls, so I’m in good company here.

And when I want that pineapple hit without turning the oven on at all, I blend up a copycat Dole Whip, which is just frozen pineapple and vanilla ice cream whipped into that famous soft serve. If you want to go full tropical, my mango coconut sticky rice is the coconut-forward one, though fair warning, that one actually takes planning.

Tips for Making King’s Hawaiian Pineapple Coconut Buns

1. Drain the pineapple well, but keep the juice

This is the big one. Pat the slices dry after draining so all that extra liquid doesn’t leave you with a soggy bottom layer. And whatever you do, save the juice you drained off, because that’s what makes the icing. Do not pour it down the sink!

2. Use room-temperature butter for the filling

Softened butter mixes into the sugar and coconut far more evenly than cold butter does, so let it sit out for a while first. It also spreads across the bottom layer of rolls without tearing them up on you.

3. Keep the rolls connected

Don’t pull the 12-pack apart. You want to slice the whole slab in half horizontally, like one giant sandwich, so you can fill the middle and set the top straight back on in one piece. It bakes into a shareable pull-apart that people tear into, which I think is half the fun of it.

4. Brush the tops with melted butter

Right out of the oven, brush the tops with that remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter before the icing goes on. It gives you a glossy finish and keeps the tops from drying out, and it takes about fifteen seconds!

Storage and Leftovers

Cover them and keep them at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for 4. The icing softens as it sits, so they get a little stickier over time, which I don’t mind at all.

Warm them for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave and they come right back to that fresh-baked softness! I wouldn’t reheat them in the oven uncovered, because the icing scorches before the middle warms through.

Equipment

• Baking pan
• Bread knife
• Hand mixer
• Mixing bowls
• Basting brush

Ingredients

For the rolls:

• 1 12-pack King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 can Dole pineapple slices (20 oz), drained, juice reserved
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the icing:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons Dole pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut

Substitutions and Swaps

• The pineapple. Canned slices are what I’d use, because they’re already soft and sweet and they’ve given you the juice for the icing. Fresh pineapple works but it’s much wetter and more acidic, so drain it hard and you’ll need another juice source for the icing.
• The rolls. Any soft sweet roll or brioche slider bun does the same job. What you don’t want is a crusty dinner roll, since the whole point is bread soft enough to soak up that buttery filling.
• The shredded coconut. Sweetened is what I use and it melts into the filling nicely. Unsweetened works if you want it less sugary, and toasting it first before it goes in adds a nuttier flavor that I really like.
• The icing. Milk or lemon juice will make a fine glaze if you’ve somehow lost the pineapple juice, though you lose the tropical note that echoes the filling underneath. A splash of coconut milk in there is also excellent.
• Going bigger. This scales straight up to two 12-packs in a 9×13 pan if you’re feeding people. Just add 2 to 3 minutes in the oven, since the bigger slab holds more heat in the middle.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. With the rolls still connected, use a bread knife to slice the whole slab in half horizontally so you have a top and bottom layer. Put the bottom layer on a non-stick or lightly buttered pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the room temperature butter, granulated sugar and shredded coconut with a hand mixer. Add the drained pineapple slices and mix them in with your hands.
3. Spread the filling evenly across the bottom layer of rolls, then set the top layer back on.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.
5. Take them out and melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave, about 15 seconds with a stir. Brush it over the tops of the rolls.
6. In a small bowl, mix the pineapple juice, powdered sugar and shredded coconut into an icing. Drizzle it over the top and serve warm.

The icing is what ties this together, and using the juice from the can instead of milk is the part I would not skip. You get pineapple twice, once baked into the middle and once on top, so it never tastes like plain sweet bread with stuff on it.

These are a brunch or a potluck move. You pull the pan apart and there are twelve of them, so it scales without any extra work on your end. 🙌

If you make these, leave a star rating on the recipe card and tell me in the comments how they went. It really helps other people find the recipe, and I want to know if anyone toasted the coconut first!

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