Easy Monkey Bread
This Quick and Easy Monkey Bread is made with biscuits that have been chopped into quarters and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It’s baked to perfection in a bundt pan and inverted on a plate so the warm gooey brown sugar and butter coat the top and sides of the monkey bread. This quick monkey bread tastes great served warm or at room temperature.
Monkey bread is easy to make and so delicious. This cinnamon sugar monkey bread will quickly become one of your go-to dessert recipes. It's fun to eat and will save on dirty dishes!
Easy Monkey Bread Ingredients
Butter – I recommend salted butter because it breaks up the sweetness of the brown sugar slightly, but you can use unsalted if you prefer and just add in your own salt when heating up the brown sugar and butter.
I would suggest starting with ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon of salt if you’re adding it separately.
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Sugar – This recipe does call for two types of sugar. The light brown sugar will become the topping for this quick monkey bread and the granulated sugar is mixed with cinnamon and coats each piece of biscuit to maximize that flavor.
You can substitute the light brown sugar for dark brown sugar if you would like. I haven’t tried it, but I know it will perfectly and will give more of a molasses flavor to the recipe.
Canned Biscuits – I always use the generic Walmart brand of the 4 pack of biscuits in the tubes, but I know Pillsbury also carries them as well.
Cinnamon – The ground cinnamon is mixed with granulated sugar to make a delicious cinnamon-sugar coating for the pieces of biscuit. Did I mention this easy monkey bread recipe tastes a lot like a gooey cinnamon roll? YUM!
How to make Monkey Bread with Biscuit Dough
If you’re interested in making monkey bread from scratch rather than using store-bought biscuit dough, I have just the recipe for you. My Homemade Monkey Bread gives you all of the details to make your own dough.
I also have a delicious Instant Pot Monkey Bread and a Crockpot Monkey Bread if you're looking for an option that isn't an oven.
Step One: For this monkey bread recipe using store-bought biscuit dough, start by greasing the bundt pan and preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.
After that, heat up the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted. Once the butter is melted, pour it into the prepared pan and set aside.
Step Two: Add the granulated sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl and stir until the cinnamon is evenly distributed.
Step Three: Open one can of biscuits at a time and cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. It’s quicker to cut a stack of 2 to 4 biscuits into quarters and then pull them apart.
Step Four: Toss the pieces in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and stir until thoroughly coated.
Step Five: Add the quarters of biscuit on top of the brown sugar and butter, spreading them out evenly around the bundt pan.
Place the bundt pan into the preheated oven and bake.
Tips for Quick and Easy Monkey Bread
- To make prepping quicker, place the cinnamon and sugar into a large storage bag and shake until combined. Toss the pieces of biscuit in and give them a shake until they are coated in the cinnamon sugar. Scatter the pieces on top of the brown sugar and butter.
- Remove one can of biscuits at a time from the fridge unless you plan on opening them all at once as soon as they're out of the fridge. Leaving unopened cans of biscuits on the counter at room temperature will cause them to start to expand and build pressure up on the tube so when they're opened, they just burst when they're barely touched.
- If the biscuits are browning too much in the oven before they’re fully baked, fold a piece of aluminum foil in half and place it over top of the bundt pan to tent it. It doesn’t need to be pressed onto the pan.
- Don’t let the monkey bread cool for more than 5 to 10 minutes in the bundt pan after baking otherwise the delicious topping will be stuck inside the pan and not rolling down the sides of the bread like it should. Trust me, you it’s the best part and you want it on the monkey bread.
- If a piece or two of the biscuits get stuck in the pan, don’t pop them right back on the bread. No one will over know.
Does Monkey Bread Have to be Made in a Bundt Pan?
If you’re comfortable adjusting the bake times and knowing what to look for in the bread being done, you can definitely use a muffin pan, loaf pan, or a 9x13 pan.
Muffin Pan - You might have to do some adjusting to how many biscuits you are using or doubling the batch of brown sugar and butter mixture. The bake time will be quite a bit less.
Loaf Pan – This recipe will probably make two regular-sized 9x5 loaf pans of monkey bread. You can either split the brown sugar and butter mixture or make two batches.
9x13 Pan – You can double the brown sugar and butter for this or leave it as is. Make sure to check the biscuits in the center of the pan that they aren’t doughy underneath before taking it out of the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve used store-bought buttermilk biscuits that come in the tubes and also the store-bought flaky layer biscuits and they both work nicely. In the pictures, I used buttermilk biscuits.
This recipe typically takes 42 minutes to bake in the 9 ½ inch bundt pan. If you change the size of the pan, the time can and probably will change.
So let me tell you what to look for. Gently pull a couple of pieces of the biscuits up. One near the center of the bundt pan close to the inside edge of the pan and one directly in the middle from the outside edge and inside edge of the bundt pan.
If the bottom of the pieces that haven’t been exposed is still doughy, the bread needs to bake longer. If it’s fully baked and no stretchy dough appears, it’s ready.
Yes! It’s a MUST to try monkey bread warm, but it's delicious at room temperature as well.
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Easy Monkey Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter cubed
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 4 pack (7.5 ounce tubes) biscuits 40 biscuits
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 to 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 ½ to 10 inch bundt pan with nonstick spray.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add in the butter and brown sugar. Let the butter melt while stirring occasionally.
- Once the butter is melted, pour the topping into the prepared bundt pan.
- In a small bowl, add the granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Stir until combined. Add the additional 1 to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon after the biscuits begin to get much lighter in color when they’re being coated.
- Unwrap the tubes of biscuits. Slice each biscuit into quarters. Roll the pieces of biscuits into the cinnamon sugar until they are completely covered.
- Place the pieces in the bundt pan on top of the brown sugar mixture, spreading them out evenly. Continue to roll all the pieces into the cinnamon sugar and layer them in the bundt pan.
- Place the bundt pan in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until done.
- Once the monkey bread is baked, let it cool for 5 minutes.
- Once cooled, place the serving plate inverted on the bundt pan. Using over mitts and preferably over a sink just in case of any spillage, flip the bundt pan upside down so the bread is sitting on the serving plate. Slowly pull the pan off the bread. The brown sugar mixture will pour down the sides of the monkey bread.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. The monkey bread is absolutely delicious while it's still warm and the brown sugar mixture is gooey.
Notes
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)
This post was originally published August 8, 2013, but updated in September 2021 with additional information.
This has always been one of my favorite tastes in sweet bread .
I'll let you know how it came out after I am finished.
Yay, hope you enjoy it.
Ohhh reminds me so much of the monkey bread I used to have in college!