Gooey Monkey Bread

Gooey Monkey Bread is sweet and sticky, made with buttermilk biscuit dough, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ready in under 45 minutes!

We love making both savory AND sweet breakfast dishes for every occasion, especially around the holidays like our Breakfast Casserole, Easy Cinnamon Rolls (in 1 Hour!) and Easy French Toast Bake!

GOOEY MONKEY BREAD

Monkey Bread is a holiday favorite breakfast (a Christmas morning tradition around here!) that is incredibly EASY to throw together because it uses store-bought buttermilk biscuit dough, and a few extra ingredients you already have in your pantry like cinnamon, brown sugar, and unsalted butter.

It may sound like the ingredients aren’t that special together, but what you get is a sweet bread that tastes a mix between a dessert and a coffee cake, with a caramel brown sugar mixture holding it all together.

Kid Friendly

Monkey Bread is a kid-friendly recipe from start to finish. The dough cooks up like dumplings so they have a great time pulling it apart. The dough is also perfect for kids to help with, a plastic knife is all you need to cut it into quarters for this recipe.

Want to make this more homemade? We sometimes like to make biscuits for dinner the night before, and reserve half of the dough for the next morning in the refrigerator.

If your store doesn’t have biscuit dough, you can use another pop-open can of dinner roll dough to make this. We prefer the taste and texture of the classic biscuit dough version, but once you coat it in melted butter and cinnamon sugar, you might not even notice a switch in the dough you’re using.

More Breakfast Pastry Recipes:

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

Gorilla Bread

Slow Cooker Monkey Bread

Easy Cinnamon Rolls (in 1 Hour!)

FAQs about Monkey Bread

• Why do they call it Monkey Bread? This is traditionally called monkey bread because the cake is made up of little dough pieces, making it easy to pull apart with your hands, like a monkey would eat it.
  • It’s also called golden dumpling cake, monkey puzzle bread, and pinch-me cake, and is meant to be served while it is still warm so you can easily pluck it apart. A lot of families serve this sweet bread on Christmas morning.
• How do you Make Caramel Sauce Monkey Bread? Instead of melting the butter and brown sugar together, you can use a homemade caramel sauce for this monkey bread recipe instead. Here’s my homemade caramel sauce recipe, which would be the perfect sweet and sticky match for this monkey bread recipe!
• Can you refrigerate before baking? Yes you can assemble the monkey bread entirely, then cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Store-bought dough makes this really easy. You don’t have to worry about the yeast rising too much and ruining the dough.
• How do you store overnight after baking? Monkey bread can be covered tightly with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature overnight. I don’t recommend refrigerating bread after you’ve cooked the dough because it will go stale faster.

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Homemade Monkey Bread (From Scratch!)

We use store-bought buttermilk biscuit dough, but you can definitely make this homemade monkey bread from scratch by using the dough from my recipe for Buttermilk Biscuits. Just rip the dough into biscuit-sized balls and follow the rest of the recipe as written. Plus you can save some dough for later and make biscuits for dinner!

More Coffee Cake Recipes:

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Easy Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

Honey Bun Cake

Apple Crisp Crumb Cake

TIPS FOR MAKING MONKEY BREAD

• Try adding a touch of maple syrup to the brown sugar butter mixture, then topping the finished monkey bread with pieces of cooked bacon.
• If you’re serving this bread for a holiday, make it more festive by dusting with powdered sugar and cinnamon right before serving. You can also drizzle with some icing and top with chopped pecans.
• Use a non-stick bundt pan to make flipping the bread onto a plate easier.
• Instead of combining the brown sugar and butter on the stove, you can save time by melting the butter in a small bowl in the microwave for 1 minute at a time, then whisk in the brown sugar until well-combined before pouring over the biscuit dough.
• If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can make this in a loaf pan by cutting the cooking total time down by about half, then check it every 10 minutes or so until it’s done.

Serving and Storing Instructions:

• Serve: This recipe is best served immediately after baking. Let cool for five minutes then serve so the sugars can set and cool a little. 
• Store: This recipe can be stored at room temperature overnight in an airtight container or in the refrigerator for 2-3 days before it becomes too stale. Warm gently in a microwave.
• Can You Freeze Monkey Bread? You can freeze monkey bread wrapped tightly for up to 3-4 weeks. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight. This is best served warm, after it’s defrosted I recommend wrapping in tinfoil and warming in the oven for a total time of 6-8 minutes at 325 degrees F, just until the bread is warmed through. This makes the butter and sugar mixture softer so the bread will easily pull apart.

5 from 5 votes

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Gooey Monkey Bread

Gooey Monkey Bread is sweet and sticky, made with buttermilk biscuit dough, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ready in under 45 minutes!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword monkey bread

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12 servings

Calories 513 kcal

Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

• 3 12-ounce packages refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough , each cut into quarters
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar , packed

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and add the sugar, cinnamon and biscuit quarters to a ziplock bag and shake well.

2. Add the pieces to a bundt pan.

3. Add the butter and brown sugar to a medium saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil for one minute before pouring onto the bundt pan.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, remove from oven, let cool for 10-15 minutes then place a plate over the bottom of the bundt pan and flip over to remove.

Recipe Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition Facts

Gooey Monkey Bread

Amount Per Serving

Calories 513 Calories from Fat 189

% Daily Value*

Fat 21g32%

Saturated Fat 6g38%

Cholesterol 21mg7%

Sodium 874mg38%

Potassium 214mg6%

Carbohydrates 76g25%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 37g41%

Protein 5g10%

Vitamin A 235IU5%

Calcium 63mg6%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.