Homemade monkey bread is made with balls of cinnamon roll dough that are individually coated in melted butter and a cinnamon-sugar mixture then baked in a bundt pan with a buttery cinnamon-sugar sauce. The result is a soft, gooey, pull-apart cinnamon roll bundt cake!
Homemade monkey bread is soft, gooey, and oozing with warm cinnamon-sugar goodness. It's like a giant cinnamon roll cake that you can pull apart and eat with your hands! You know, like monkeys do?
Making monkey bread entirely from scratch is well worth it and the dough only needs about an hour to rise. Then you just take portions of dough, roll each into a ball, coat with melted butter and a cinnamon-sugar mixture, then arrange them in a bundt pan and top with a buttery cinnamon-sugar sauce. As the bread bakes the dough puffs up into large, soft, pillowy balls and the sauce melts and caramelizes around them. The best way to serve monkey bread is warm, fresh out of the oven with a quick and easy glaze icing drizzled on top.
How to Make Homemade Monkey Bread:
Cinnamon Roll Dough:
- Warm milk: The milk should be between 100-100°F to activate the yeast. Just make sure it's not too hot or it will kill the yeast and the bread won't rise.
- Butter: Unsalted and melted. Just like with the milk it can't be too hot or it will kill the yeast. What I do is microwave the butter in 15-second intervals until it's almost melted, then I add in the milk and microwave in 30-second intervals until it reaches the right temperature.
- Sugar: Makes the dough slightly sweet and also feeds the yeast which helps it to ferment.
- Active-dry yeast: Yeast is what causes the dough to rise and makes it soft and puffy.
- Salt: Just a little to bring out the flavors in the dough. If all you have is salted butter then leave the salt out.
- Flour: Measure correctly. Break up the flour to fluff it up and then lightly spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with a knife. 5 cups of flour should be perfect but if your dough is still too sticky you can add 1 or 2 tablespoons more.
Make the Dough:
- Add the warm milk, melted butter, and sugar to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved and slightly foamy.
- Stir in the salt and flour and mix until a dough is formed. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes in the stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with your hands on a lightly floured surface. To knead with your hands take the dough and push it away from you with the palm of your hand, then pull it back towards you and repeat. The dough should be soft, not too sticky, and bounce back when you make a gentle indent with your finger.
- Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl that has been lightly greased with butter. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Shape the Dough:
Punch the dough down to release the air. Tear off 1 and ½ tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball with the palm of your hands. Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and repeat with the rest of the dough.
Cinnamon-Sugar Coating:
Melt ½ cup of unsalted butter in one bowl and in a separate bowl whisk granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Dip each dough ball into the melted butter and then toss with the cinnamon-sugar coating. To keep things less messy I use two forks to dip the dough into the butter and then two separate forks to toss with the cinnamon sugar.
Generously spray a 9 or 10" bundt pan with non-stick spray or grease it with butter. Arrange the dough balls around the outer edge of the pan. If you don't have a bundt pan you can use 2 - 8 or 9" cake pans, but keep in mind the bake time may vary.
Make the Sauce:
Mix some melted unsalted butter with brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread the sauce all over the dough in the pan.
Time to Bake! Preheat your oven to 350° and bake the monkey bread for 20-22 minutes.
Once the pan is cool enough to hold, cover it with a plate and flip the pan over to invert the monkey bread onto it. Don't let it cool for too long or the bread won't come out of the pan as easily.
Make the Icing:
Whisk powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt in a medium bowl or a glass measuring cup until smooth. If the icing is too thick you can add more milk, or if it's too thin you can add more powdered sugar.
Pour the icing over the monkey bread and serve warm.
Enjoy! Monkey bread tastes best warm and fresh out of the oven.
How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat Monkey Bread:
Cover leftover monkey bread and keep it in the fridge for up to 1 week. To reheat, microwave individual slices in 30-second intervals until warm. You can also reheat in a 350° oven until warm. Reheating the entire pan will take about 15 minutes, reheating individual slices will take about 5 minutes.
Baked monkey bread can also easily be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow it to cool completely and then tightly wrap it with plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in a 350° oven for about 15 minutes or until warm.
More Breakfast Recipes:
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Homemade Bagels
- Quiche Lorraine
- Belgian Waffle Recipe
- Homemade Croissants
- Apple Cinnamon Muffins
📖 RECIPE
Homemade Monkey Bread
Equipment
- 9 or 10" bundt pan
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 and ½ cups whole milk, warm
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup sugar
- 4 and ½ teaspoon active dry yeast (2 standard packets)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
For the Cinnamon-Sugar Coating:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 and ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
For the Sauce:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
Icing:
- 1 and ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat or microwave in 15-second intervals. Add the milk and microwave in 30-second intervals or cook in the saucepan until it's just lukewarm, not hot. Pour the milk and melted butter into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, stir in the sugar and the yeast and let sit until the yeast is dissolved and slightly foamy.
- Stir in the salt and flour and mix until a dough is formed. When measuring the flour, loosen it up in the bag to fluff it up then lightly spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the flat side of a knife. Start with 5 cups of flour, if the dough is too sticky add 1 tbsp. more.
- Knead the dough for about 5 minutes in the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or knead with your hands on a lightly floured surface. To knead with your hands take the dough and push it away from you with the palm of your hand, then pull it back towards you and repeat. The dough should be soft, not too sticky, and bounce back when you make a gentle indent with your finger.
- Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl that has been lightly greased with butter. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Shape the dough: Punch the dough down to release the air. Tear off 1 and ½ tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball with the palm of your hands. Place it on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Cinnamon-Sugar Coating: Melt ½ cup of unsalted butter in one bowl and in a separate bowl whisk granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Dip each dough ball into the melted butter and then toss with the cinnamon-sugar coating.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Generously spray a 9 or 10″ bundt pan with non-stick spray or grease it with butter. Arrange the dough balls around the outer edge of the pan. (See post for a visual)
- Cinnamon-Sugar Sauce: Melt ¼ cup of unsalted butter and whisk in the ½ cup brown sugar and ½ tbsp. ground cinnamon. Spread the sauce all over the dough in the pan.
- Bake: Bake the monkey bread for 20-22 minutes.
- Once the pan is cool enough to hold, cover it with a plate and flip the pan over to invert the monkey bread onto it. Don’t let it cool for too long or the bread won’t come out of the pan as easily.
- Make the Icing: Whisk the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt in a medium bowl or a glass measuring cup until smooth. If the icing is too thick you can add more milk, or if it’s too thin you can add more powdered sugar.
- Pour the icing over the monkey bread and serve warm.
Jacqueline Holland
"You know, like monkeys do." My favorite line from a food blog ever.