Homemade monkey bread combines several tiny balls of dough coated in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It’s basically a giant Bundt pan of gooey cinnamon rolls! Finish this fun breakfast or dessert treat with vanilla icing and serve pull apart style.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Have you ever had monkey bread before? You either (1) have eaten it and love it (2) have no idea what I’m talking about. If you fall into the latter category, let me explain what this outrageous recipe is.
What is Monkey Bread?
Monkey bread is a sweet, gooey Bundt cake made from balls of dough rolled in cinnamon sugar. Arrange the dough balls in a Bundt pan, then top it all with a buttery brown sugar sauce before baking. Invert it onto a serving plate, then drizzle with creamy vanilla icing. Each bite tastes like the sticky delicious center of cinnamon rolls. Monkey bread is served pull apart style, similar to my cinnamon roll wreath, where everyone tears off a piece—just like how monkeys pick at their food.
You can have monkey bread for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. Or dinner, or 2nd dessert, or lunch, or snack. (Hey, I’m not judging! Every time is a good monkey bread time!)
I published a caramel monkey bread recipe several years ago and followed up with this traditional recipe. I decided it was time to update the photos, add a video tutorial, and include more helpful information so you can have monkey bread recipe success!
Video Tutorial: Monkey Bread Recipe
Here’s a video tutorial displaying each step. Use this as your guide.
4 Parts to Monkey Bread
There are 4 parts to this monkey bread. It sounds like a lot, but most of the ingredients are repeated in each. One thing to note is that you pour the brown sugar sauce over the dough balls before baking. It’s the secret to monkey bread’s gooey sticky texture!
- Homemade Dough: milk, sugar, yeast, eggs, butter, salt, flour
- Dough Ball Coating: butter, cinnamon, sugar
- Brown Sugar Sauce: butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract
- Vanilla Icing: confections’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract
Homemade Monkey Bread Dough
Before we walk through each individual step in this monkey bread recipe, let’s talk about the dough. This is the best monkey bread I’ve ever had because it starts with a rich homemade dough. Nothing compares to the flavor of homemade and you’ll be surprised how quickly the dough comes together. You can even get started on the dough the night before!
This is a rich dough, which means that it’s prepared with fat like milk, butter, and eggs. Rich doughs make soft breads such as Nutella babka, dinner rolls, and glazed doughnuts. Lean doughs, on the other hand, are made without much fat and produce crusty bread such as focaccia, homemade bagels, and pizza dough.
You need 7 ingredients for monkey bread dough:
- Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. Nondairy or low fat milks are fine, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers. Review my Baking with Yeast Guide before getting started if you need a little refresher on working with yeasted dough.
- Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough.
- Eggs: Eggs provide structure and flavor.
- Butter: Butter promises a flavorful dough.
- Salt: You can’t make flavorful bread without salt!
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the structure of the dough.
Overview: How to Make Monkey Bread
- Prepare the dough: The dough comes together with a mixer. You can also make the dough by hand, but it requires a bit of arm muscle. After the dough comes together in the mixing bowl, it’s time to knead. You can simply continue beating the dough with the mixer for this step or you can knead the dough by hand. See my How to Knead Dough video tutorial for extra help with this step.
- Let the dough rise: The dough rises in about 1-2 hours in a relatively warm environment.
- Punch down the dough: Punch down the dough to release the air.
- Shape & coat dough balls: Pull off little pieces of dough and roll into balls. Dunk the balls into melted butter, then coat with cinnamon sugar. Little bakers love to help out with this step! Good thing to note: the heavier the cinnamon-sugar coating, the more these little monkey bread bites will taste like gooey cinnamon rolls.
- Let the shaped monkey bread rest for 20 minutes: Arrange the coated balls in a Bundt pan or tube pan, cover lightly, then set aside to rest as you preheat the oven. The balls will slightly rise during this time.
- Top with buttery brown sugar sauce: Before baking the monkey bread, mix melted butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract together. Pour this sauce all over the dough balls.
- Bake: Bake until the top is lightly browned, about 40 minutes.
- Invert onto serving plate: Allow the monkey bread to cool for 5-10 minutes, then invert it onto a serving plate.
- Drizzle with vanilla icing: Whisk confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together until smooth. Drizzle all over the warm monkey bread. Love chocolate? Try drizzling the chocolate sauce from my dessert nachos on top!
Imagine the best cinnamon roll you’ve ever tasted. This monkey bread is even better because it’s stickier, softer, sweeter, and piled extra high. You’ll be licking your fingers clean and grabbing more and more bites. Though from-scratch monkey bread takes longer to prepare than a shortcut version made with canned biscuit dough, the results are incomparable. Once you smell the gooey cinnamon sugar bubbling in the oven, you’ll know you made the right decision.
More Indulgent Breakfast Recipes
- Star Bread
- Biscuit Breakfast Casserole
- Raspberry Twist Bread
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
- Berry Fritters
Homemade Monkey Bread
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 servings
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Monkey bread combines several tiny balls of dough coated in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It’s basically a giant Bundt pan of gooey cinnamon rolls! Finish this fun breakfast or dessert treat with vanilla icing and serve pull apart style.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star (1 standard packet)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup (5 Tbsp; 71g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 cups (625g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Coating
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, divided
- 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup (130g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add the remaining flour. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. *If you do not own a mixer, you can mix this dough with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle!*
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5-7 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5-7 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Generously grease a 10-12 cup Bundt pan with butter or nonstick spray. (Nonstick spray is best for this recipe.)
- Prepare the coating: Melt 1/2 cup (115g;1 stick) of unsalted butter in a medium bowl. Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon together in another medium bowl. You will use the rest of the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla later.
- Shape the dough: Use the video tutorial above as a guide for this step. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Working one at a time, take small pieces of dough and roll into balls (about 1.25 inches in diameter each). You will need 40-45 balls total, so be modest with their size. Dip each ball, one by one, in the melted butter and then generously roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat them. You may need more cinnamon-sugar depending how heavy you coat each ball. Arrange the balls in the Bundt pan as you go. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel and allow the shaped monkey bread to rest for 20 minutes. The balls will slightly rise during this time.
- Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It’s best to bake the monkey bread towards the bottom of the oven so the top doesn’t burn.)
- Finish the coating: Melt remaining 1/4 cup (60g; 4 Tbsp) butter, then whisk in the brown sugar and vanilla extract. Pour evenly all over the shaped monkey bread.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cover loosely with foil if the top is browning too quickly. Cool for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a large serving plate or cake stand.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together. Drizzle over monkey bread. Cut the bread into generous slices or let everyone pick off the gooey pieces themselves. That’s the fun of this treat!
- Monkey bread tastes best served on the same day. Cover leftovers tightly and store at room temperature for 1 day and in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Prepare recipe through step 4. After dough rises, punch it down to release the air, then roll into 40-45 small balls as directed in step 7. Do not coat the balls. Place shaped dough balls on a baking sheet, then refrigerate for 30 minutes. Once cold, the dough balls won’t stick together anymore. Place them in a freezer bag or freezer-friendly container, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw dough balls in the refrigerator or at room temperature, prepare the coating and Bundt pan, then coat the dough balls as instructed in step 7. Continue with the recipe.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare the recipe through step 3. Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate for up to about 15 hours. At least 3 hours before you serve the monkey bread the next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, keep covered, and allow to rise on the counter for about 1-2 hours. Continue with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer | Whisk | Glass Mixing Bowls | 10-12 cup Bundt Pan
- Yeast: Red Star Platinum yeast is an instant yeast. You can use Red Star Yeast active dry yeast instead. Rise times will be slightly longer using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
This post is sponsored by Red Star Yeast.
Hi! If I don’t have a bundt pan what would you recommend? A round cake pan? Two loaf pans? A 13×9 pan?
Thanks, and can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hi Taryn, You can use a loaf pan- simply layer the dough balls in a 9×5 pan. You’ll have enough for two loaves. You could also try placing a single layer of the dough balls in a 9×13 but you might have some leftover. I’m unsure of the exact bake time for either. Happy baking!
Hi, I don’t have a bundt pan either but I happen to have an old tube pan for angel food cake. It worked perfectly.
This was so delicious Will be keeping this recipe. Not overly sweet and very light. A lot of steps but worth it in taste.
Hi! I made this receipe this week and it was DELICIOUS. I’m already going to make it again tomorrow! 🙂 I’m wondering: how long can it sit after step 7? I’d like to put the balls in the pan and then leave it for several hours, if possible. Have you done this?
Hi Danielle, The assembled pan should rest at room temperature for only about 20 minutes. However, you can cover assembled/shaped bread tightly and place it overnight in the fridge, then bake in the morning!
This. was. delicious. SO much better than pre-made biscuit dough. My family LOVED it. We will make this again and again.
Hi Sally,
I was wondering if it would be an issue refrigerating it for one day fully assembled before baking? I’m taking it to a friends, but don’t want to have to assemble it there, just bake it.
Hi Emily, You can cover assembled/shaped bread tightly and place it overnight in the fridge, then bake in the morning!
We made this last night and my 6 and 4 year old had fun rolling the dough in sugar. We had it for dessert and it tasted amazing! Can’t wait to make it again!
i made this recently, it was so yummy. I was thinking adding chopped up granny smith apples would be amazing. do you think it would work if I just added the apples right into the dough?
Hi Courtney, we haven’t tested this monkey bread with chopped apples, but some readers have tried it with great success. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Hi Sally! Do you think I could fry this dough to make doughnuts?
Thanks!
Hi M, I’m sure you can! Very similar dough to my glazed doughnuts recipe.
Hi sally! I made this recipe and it was delicious! I was wondering if I could double it or is it like cake and I’d have to make it twice?
Thanks!
Hi M, for best results I recommend making 2 individual batches of this dough!
Hi Sally. I’m new to yeast and bread. I am in the middle of trying this recipe fir the 1st time. The dough prior to kneading was very wet and sticky. I couldn’t knead it as is. I added more flour to get it to form like it did in your video. Hoping this works.
For future reference, any tips? I measured everything diligently – using a scale – so I know that’s not the issue.
Thanks!
Hi Bryan! There are a lot of variances that go into the consistency of yeast doughs, even down to the weather and humidity. Adding more flour is always helpful if the dough seems too sticky. While this is a very soft and supple dough, it should still come together as you knead it. More flour, a little at a time, helps. Hope you enjoyed this recipe. It’s one of our favorites!
How well does this keep? I was thinking about making it a day before and having for breakfast for guests.
Hi Amanda, Monkey bread tastes best served on the same day. If you would like to get started the before you can follow the overnight instructions in the recipe notes. Enjoy!
hi sally! I was wondering if I could make cinnamon rolls out of this dough? I know you have several cinnamon roll recipes but I wanted to try this dough
thanks!
Definitely!
hi sally! I was wondering if the monkey bread removed easily from the pan? even with the brown sugar glaze?
thanks!
Maddie
Hi Maddie, I generously grease my Bundt pan with nonstick spray and don’t ever have an issue with them sticking!
I tried your recipe today. I must confess though I used my own bread recipe. I was making something else anyway with it. I used the rest of your method and it was perfect. Sweet? Yes. But isn’t that what monkey bread is? Decadent and sweet? It’s not something I eat regularly and I’m sure no one else does either. Thank you for this recipe. It’s just my husband and I and we’re seniors who don’t eat much so I’m taking most of it to my daughter and grandkids. I better go… they’re waiting for me. 🙂
Hi! Can you add pecans into this recipe? If so, where would you recommend adding them in? Thank you!
Absolutely! As you arrange the balls of dough into the pan, simply layer in some chopped pecans between them. Yum!
Can I make this using almond flour and stevia? Made the original recipe and it is amazing. Asking because my son and his fiance are dieting pre-wedding. Thank you in advance.
Hi! I don’t recommend almond flour in this yeasted dough. I haven’t tried any sugar substitutes but I fear the yeast wouldn’t raise the dough properly without real sugar. Here are some of my healthier recipes if you’d like to browse.
Baked these before and htey were great. Quick question: If I’m in a hurry, can I substitute some kind of pre-made pilsbury (or other brand) dough ? If so, what kind would work best?
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Macy. I’m sure you could use packaged dough although I haven’t tested one.
Halved this recipe to make a smaller loaf and it came out beautifully! Baked for about 37 minutes and it was just done. I actually cut the amount of brown sugar – butter topping and didn’t include the icing because I like my desserts a little less sweet and it was still wonderful. Thank you!
Wonderful recipe! Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not putting a pan under the Monkey Bread while baking, resulting in the sauce overflowing all over the bottom of the oven. I definitely won’t be making that mistake twice… Yikes! But I will be making this Monkey Bread recipe again. SOOOOOOO GOOD! Thank you for sharing it!
OMG. Yum, yum, yum. I made the monkey bread this past Sunday afternoon. It was gone by Tuesday afternoon. No company came over (Covid). Just me and hubby devoured it. No judgement. Lol. My husband normally says “ that was good.” This time he said “that receipe is a keeper”. Thank you Sally!
Sally Thank you, I’ve tried this and your delicious scones. I did have to use more butter and cinnamon sugar. Because I made the balls smaller. But it still came out wonderful.
Hello, I have been reading this recipe and I was wondering can I use Bread Flour for this instead of all purpose? I have a surplus of bread flour that I knead (LOL) to use up. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Angela
Ha! Yes, you sure can. Same amount.
Thank you!! Will it change the texture any?
I made it with bread flour last night and it came out GREAT. I have made it a few times now – only once using bread flour. The only difference was that the dough seemed to come together better/faster using the bread flour. The texture was wonderful with both bread flour and all purpose flour. I do not use a stand mixer. I use a hand held mixer with the beaters to do the initial mix and then do everything else by hand. This is a FANTASTIC recipe. Absolutely delicious!
Wonderful recipe, Sally. I reduced the amount of sugar a bit and used half white wheat flour and it still rose perfectly and tasted great!
We made this for Easter. My 6 yo and 3 yo loved rolling the balls of dough and dipping them in the butter and cinnamon sugar! And, it tasted amazing!!
Wow, made this for Easter with my 9 year old daughter. She had a blast and it turned out amazing! Perfectly written directions! To those who asked if you could use AP flour, the answer is yes – that’s what we did because that’s all we had on hand.
This recipe worked so well and it tasted so good! I used a little nutmeg in the cinnamon sugar mixture just to add a little more flavor. Also be careful when making the coating… I put too much sugar and not enough butter (I accidentally put about a cup of brown sugar) so it was not runny enough to go fully into the pan. Even then it still tasted sooo good! Thank you Sally!
Hi Sally. Can I make the dough in my bread maker just using the “dough” setting”? After the bread maker does its thing, then do I just go to your step 5? And can I use half-n-half instead of whole milk? Thank you!
Hi Rebecque, I don’t have a bread machine so I can’t test anything but I know some readers have made this dough in one. Half-and-half is too heavy for this dough unfortunately.
This tastes heavenly and it turned out great I just made a cream cheese icing instead of her icing And it just made it one step better. thanks
Hi Sally I love your recipes but I have a question. Because I don’t have a Bundt pan can I use like a cake pan or another type of pan or do I have to go buy a Bundt pan?
Thanks Jeremy! You can halve the recipe for a loaf pan or make 2 loaf pans from the written recipe. The bake time will be shorter when using smaller pans. Or try a casserole dish or individual monkey bread muffins in a muffin pan.
I love this recipe but I’ve always put raisins in it and I use a warm oven to quicken the rising time