Kids and adults can’t resist doughy, sweet, pull-apart monkey bread! This easy 5-ingredient monkey bread recipe uses biscuit dough rolled into tiny balls and dipped in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It’s simple to make and is the best monkey bread recipe!
We’ve been making this easy monkey bread recipe for years. Homemade monkey bread can be a pain and not worth the trouble. This easy recipe tastes just as good. It’s a fun recipe to make. It’s a sweet treat the entire family will enjoy.
To get the maximum of both worlds, you want to turn to easy monkey bread. It’s a cinch to make, and its pull-apart design makes it not only hand-friendly but almost mandatory. It’s a great recipe to make with kids!
Also, check out our favorite super moist banana bread, the easiest pumpkin bread, the best blueberry muffins ever, and our very popular coconut loaf. They’re all amazing and perfect recipes for brunch.
Why This Recipe Works
Table of Contents
We have been making this recipe for over 20 years, here are some reasons why we love it and why it works:
- It’s easy to make using canned biscuit dough, which is just as good as homemade, but with half the effort.
- You only need a few ingredients when making monkey bread and you can find them at your local grocery store.
- It’s an easy recipe to follow and you can bake it in a bundt pan or a loaf pan.
- Our recipe has been made by hundreds of people who all love it as much as we do!
Everything about this monkey bread is easy. It stores well, it’s customizable, you can prep it in advance, and it lasts long enough that you can get away with big batches.
It doesn’t even require plates to enjoy, though you’ll want to stay on top of who’s touching what in between bites.
Ingredient Notes
This recipe is so easy and with just 5 simple ingredients! Full recipe in the recipe card below.
Canned Biscuits – A can of biscuits makes the best gooey, delicious monkey bread. We used Immaculate organic flaky biscuits. Pillsbury biscuits will work too. You’ll need two cans of biscuits.
Dark Brown Sugar – This adds a deep and sweet flavor to the bread, giving it a rich, caramel-like flavor that is difficult to replicate with other ingredients. It also helps create a beautiful, golden-brown color as the bread bakes in the oven.
Cinnamon – Adds a sweet and spicy flavor to monkey bread that complements the sweetness of the sugar. It also helps to give the bread its signature brown hue, making it look as good as it tastes.
Granulated Sugar – This sugar brings a hint of sweetness to the bread. It’s mixed with ground cinnamon for the cinnamon, sugar flavor.
Butter – Not only adds flavor but it gives the monkey bread a rich and moist texture. Each ball of dough is rolled in butter before being coated with cinnamon and sugar. We also pour melted butter over the top of the bread to give the bread a golden-brown exterior that is full of flavor.
We also make a glaze for this recipe using a little confectioner’s sugar and milk. This is totally optional, but we love the added flavor.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Pull the biscuits apart into small pieces and roll the dough into small balls. About 3 tablespoons per ball.
2. Grease an entire deep-dish loaf pan with butter. You can also use a bundt pan for this recipe. Cooking spray is another option for greasing the bottom and sides of the pan.
3. In a medium bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar and stir. Roll each dough ball in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and then place it in an even layer at the bottom of a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over the dough balls.
4. Continue creating another layer over the first layer. Depending on the size of the pan, you should have 2 layers of dough balls in the pan. You might have extra dough, but you don’t need it. The dough rise will happen when it’s baking in the oven.
5. Melt the butter and pour it over the top of the dough before baking. Sprinkle on some of the leftover cinnamon and sugar.
6.Bake the bread in a 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes. Depending on what biscuits you’re using, the bake time will vary.
Check the directions on the biscuits to see how long to cook. It can take longer. You will know when it’s done when the top of the biscuits are a deep golden brown and have doubled in size.
Expert Tips for Recipe Success
- Depending on the size of the pan, you should have 2 layers of dough balls in the pan. You might have extra dough, but you don’t need it.
- Make sure to pour the extra butter over the top of the dough before baking.
- Sprinkle on some of the leftover cinnamon and sugar mixtures.
- The monkey bread will be golden brown on the top and that’s what you want. It’s important to cook all the way through so you don’t have a doughy inside.
- You can bake this in a bundt pan or a loaf pan. We used a loaf pan made from clay, which absorbs, distributes, and retains heat evenly, so the bread bakes to perfection.
- Only fit as many dough balls as you can. No need to use them all if it doesn’t fit into the pan you’re baking the bread in. This is an easy recipe to alter as you go.
- If the bread isn’t fully cooked through, give it some more time in the oven. True oven temperature varies and can alter the baking time.
- This is monkey bread with biscuits; however, you can try pizza dough to make monkey bread as well.
Easy Glaze Recipe
I love adding a sweet and gooey glaze over the top. It’s easy to make and adds more sweetness!
- Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of milk to make the glaze and mix until smooth.
- Pour over the monkey bread before serving.
Another option is to drizzle our easy caramel sauce over the top as a glaze. It becomes like sticky bread and is full of buttery caramel flavor!
Storage Tips
Most bread products dry up and get tough to chew over time. Monkey bread, given its high surface area, allows some bits to stay moist longer than you’d think.
You can safely leave monkey bread on the counter for a few days. The surface sugars will harden if you let them stay in contact with air, so covering is ideal.
Freezing Instructions
Freezing monkey bread lets you keep it fresh to use for weeks. Keep it airtight and tightly wrapped before storage. Freezing is the best way to keep the freshness and longevity of the monkey bread.
Flavor Variations
This recipe is a beautiful base for creating delicious flavor combinations! Here are a few ways you can change this recipe:
Caramel Apple Monkey Bread – This variation combines diced apples, caramel sauce, and spices for a sweet and delicious treat. Cut apples into small pieces and add them to the layers of dough.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Monkey Bread: This version adds creamy peanut butter and cocoa powder for richness and flavor. Add a peanut butter layer over the dough.
Gluten-Free Monkey Bread: If you want to try and make this recipe gluten-free, we recommend making gluten-free biscuit dough and then rolling it into small balls.
Garlic Parmesan: For savory monkey bread, swap out the cinnamon and sugar for grated parmesan cheese garlic powder.
Orange Cardamom: This is one of my favorite flavor combinations and I use it in my apple cider donuts recipe too. Add fresh orange zest and ground cardamom to the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
When to Serve Monkey Bread
This monkey bread recipe is perfect for a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning. It’s also great to serve year-round or for any of these occasions:
Frequently Asked Questions
Monkey bread is a sweet, gooey cinnamon roll-like bread that is made from balls of dough rolled in cinnamon sugar. It’s made with biscuit dough, cinnamon, white sugar, and butter and is baked together to create a fantastic sticky cinnamon bread that is perfect for brunch.
This bread is best right out of the oven when it’s fresh, warm, and gooey. If there are leftovers, they can be stored in an airtight container, covered tightly in the refrigerator, for one week.
While the combination of sugar and toppings (especially caramel) leaves the overall texture on the gooey side, the bread shouldn’t be. While you want the middle soft, you don’t want it to have that near-custard texture of a French toast puff.
Internal temps won’t give you a good enough indicator of doneness, nor will you check in one spot.
Use a long toothpick or fork to poke in a variety of places. You want to aim for the thicker parts. A clean fork means done. A sticky fork needs another minute.
Remember to plate monkey bread quickly after it leaves the oven. That will keep it from hardening onto your cooking surfaces.
Though you’ve probably seen many store-bought versions come in the traditional Bundt shape, it’s unnecessary. Monkey bread cooks in a bread pan, a cookie sheet, ramekins, or a loaf pan.
If you prefer to use a tube pan, that is fine. Just make sure the sides are greased if you release it from the bundt pan.
You want to be careful to balance the thickness to avoid uneven cooking.
Though you’ve probably seen many store-bought versions come in the traditional Bundt shape, it’s unnecessary. Monkey bread cooks in a bread pan, a cookie sheet, ramekins, or a loaf pan.
If you prefer to use a tube pan, that is fine. Just make sure the sides are greased if you release it from the bundt pan.
You want to be careful to balance the thickness to avoid uneven cooking.
Reheat monkey bread to 140 F to melt the sugars and rehydrate the bread.
If you leave it on the counter, there is no need to reheat it’s perfectly wonderful at room temp.
You can make monkey bread ahead of time. Form the dough into balls and add them to a greased bundt pan along with any other ingredients like sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap and bake as directed.
You only want to freeze monkey bread one time. Once it’s removed and thawed, it should not be frozen again.
What is monkey bread? It’s a gooey and sweet pull-apart bread that’s made with dough, butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It can be baked in a bundt pan or a loaf pan and baked until the dough is golden and perfect. Once the bread is done, a glaze is drizzled over the top. It’s one of the easiest desserts to make and SO incredibly tasty.
You can swap out biscuit dough for crescent rolls. Use two cans of crescent rolls, slice and roll them into small balls. Then proceed with the recipe as you would using biscuit dough.
More Brunch Recipes You’ll Love
There are a lot of benefits to making easy monkey bread, and it works for any season. If you’re looking for more breakfast recipes check out these:
- Easy Semi-Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- The Best Crumb Cake Recipe
- Traditional New Orleans Beignets
- The Best Quiche Recipe
- Easiest Brunch Ever
- Chocolate Chip Biscuit S’mores
- The Best Blueberry Banana Muffins
Let me know if you make this super easy monkey bread recipe by leaving a comment and review below.
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Easy Monkey Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Monkey Bread Recipe
- 2 cans biscuit dough
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 cup ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup butter
Simple Glaze
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Open each package of canned biscuits.
- Roll the dough into small balls. Pull off about 3 tablespoons per ball.
- Generously, grease a deep dish loaf pan with butter. Grease the bottom and the sides.
- In a medium bowl, combine cinnamon and granulated sugar and stir.
- Roll each dough ball in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and place it in the loaf pan.
- Add a single layer of dough balls to the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle 1/8 cup of the brown sugar over the layer, leaving the other 1/8 cup for the next layer.
- Continue creating another layer of dough over the first layer, and sprinkle brown sugar over the top.
- Depending on the size of the pan, you should have 2 layers of dough balls in the pan. You might have extra dough, but you don’t need it.
- Melt the butter and pour it over the top of the dough before baking.
- Sprinkle on some of the leftover cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Then, bake the bread in a 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes. Depending on what biscuits you’re using, check the directions to see how long to cook.
- The monkey bread will be golden brown on the top and that’s what you want. It’s important to cook all the way through so you don’t have a doughy inside.
- To make the glaze, add 1/4 cup powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon milk and mix until smooth.
- Pour over the monkey bread before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Tried this amazing Monkey Bread today and my husband and I cannot stop eating it! So delicious!
These are good but the recipe is confusing –
4. combine cinnamon and sugars or just the cinnamon and white sugar – since later you are supposed to sprinkle with brown sugar – or the brown sugar mix?
6. Coat the bottom (with the cinnamon covered balls?)
It would help to have the ingredients listed as they are used. This is why #4 is confusing to start.
Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for a list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions.
Absolutely the best monkey bread!! Thank you!! My family loved this recipe!!!
I love making this with the boys. Always fun and always good!
Hi. I have a loaf of bread dough that I thawed. Can I use that instead of the biscuits???
In the “how long will is last” section, it should say not long once your family gets their hands on it, haha! I’m making it again this afternoon because it’s already gone.
I love this monkey bread! So glad I have monkeys of my own to share it with, this is too big of a temptation to have on my own!
We are obsessed with monkey bread over here. So yummy! the perfect treat for chilly nights
This recipe was so easy and totally delicious. Perfect treat!!
Thank you, Laura!
This was SO delicious! What a fun breakfast bread. Easier than cinnamon rolls and JUST as yummy! We’ll definitely make this one again!
Glad you liked it Lisalia!!
This is actually something really fun to prep with my son and it’s nice that it doesn’t have to turn out “pretty”. Definitely kid friendly and approved!
I LOVE monkey bread, it is so fun to pull apart and it is super easy to make. 🙂 🙂