Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

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Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread — 🧡🙌🏻😋 By taking advantage of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, this monkey bread is FAST and so EASY! It has the flavor and texture of soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls but in bite-sized monkey bread pieces making it a favorite for kids and adults alike! Great for brunches, holiday mornings, or as a dessert for casual entertaining!

A freshly baked pull-apart bread topped with white icing on a white plate, accompanied by two glasses of milk in the background.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Recipe

Sometimes you don’t want to monkey around (sorry, I had to!) and you just want to enjoy an amazing tasting dessert without any hassle or fuss. If you’re in the mood for an incredibly easy dessert recipe, this is for you!

Traditional monkey bread, sometimes called pull-apart bread, is made by making a yeasted dough similar to what you’d use for cinnamon rolls, and rather than shaping it into rolls, you instead dice it into bite-sized pieces, pile them into a Bundt pan, and bake.

Cinnamon roll monkey bread with white icing drizzle on a white plate, surrounded by cinnamon sticks, a bowl of sugar, and a glass of milk on a wooden table.

This quick and easy monkey bread uses two tubes of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough to save the time and energy that you’d otherwise need to spend making scratch dough first.

After cracking open the dough, simply dice it, coat it in cinnamon-and-sugar, place it in a Bundt pan, drizzle a buttery sauce over the top, and bake.

Drizzling icing on a freshly baked cinnamon roll monkey bread on a white plate.

The result is melt-in-your-mouth bites of cinnamon roll-flavored, buttery monkey bread. I use the icing that comes in the dough tubes as a final glaze which adds for a bit of extra juiciness and ooey-gooey sweetness to each bite.

Make this simple monkey bread recipe with cinnamon roll dough for brunch, especially holiday brunches like Mother’s Day or for Easter or Christmas morning breakfast. It’s also a great little dessert to whip up for casual entertaining. The monkey bread pieces are just just waiting to be plucked off bite by bite!

Love Monkey Bread?

I have another recipe for Monkey Bread with Bisquick flour. It’s somewhere in between making totally from-scratch yeasted bread dough and popping open two tubes of cinnamon roll dough like this recipe.

Hands holding a freshly baked cinnamon roll monkey bread covered in white icing, with more rolls visible in the background.

Ingredients in Monkey Bread with Cinnamon Rolls

Grab the following handful of ingredients to make this easy shortcut monkey bread with refrigerated dough in about 45 minutes total time:

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

Overhead view of ingredients for baking on a marble surface, including a plate of cookies, bowls of flour, spices, and sugar, and small containers of honey and vanilla extract.

How To Make Monkey Bread with Cinnamon Rolls

  1. Grease a 10 to 12-cup Bundt pan and in a small bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  2. Open two cans of cinnamon rolls (16 rolls total) and cut each of the 16 rolls into quarters to form bite-sized pieces.
  3. Add the cinnamon roll bites to a gallon-sized ziptop bag, dump the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top, seal, and shake to coat evenly. Tossing in a medium bowl is also an option.
  1. Add the coated pieces in your prepared pan. If you’re adding nuts, add them as you’re layering in the dough pieces.
  2. To a small bowl (the same one with the cinnamon-sugar is fine), add the melted butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Pour this brown sugar butter mixture over the dough pieces.
  1. Bake and let monkey bread cool in 5 minutes before inverting onto a serving platter.
  2. Warm the glaze that came with your cinnamon roll dough, stir, and using a spoon, drizzle over the top before enjoying!

Tip – If you love icing, whisk together 2 tablespoons melted butter with about 1/3 cup powdered sugar and drizzle that, too! You can use cream cheese icing instead for a special treat.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

At room temp: Monkey bread should keep for up to 3-4 days, noting the fresher the better.

In the Refrigerator: You don’t have to keep it in the fridge (and it will dry out more if you do) but it keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.

In the Freezer: I personally wouldn’t freeze it, but it you do it will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To Reheat: While it’s not necessary, I use my microwave to zap leftovers for 10-15 seconds and put a pat of butter on it first. Be careful though – too long in the microwave and it will just dry out like crazy and become tough.

Recipe FAQs

can i make this recipe with other types of refrigerated dough?

I use Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls. However, if you have a tube of refrigerated dough such as biscuit dough (my recommended backup choice), crescent roll dough, or even pizza dough, they will work. Method and baking time should be approximately the same but of course, watch it in the oven to see how it looks.

can i use homemade scratch dough?

There are tons of recipes on the internet for homemade, 100% totally from scratch monkey bread using yeasted dough. This recipe was developed to be a quick and easy, no-fuss type of dessert. But if you’re interested in making scratch dough, I suggest using my 1-hour homemade cinnamon roll dough as your jumping off place. And then you’d follow the remaining steps in this recipe.

do i have to use a bundt pan?

I recommend a 12-cup Bundt pan for the most traditional looking monkey bread and for baking success. In a Bundt pan, air circulates through the center ‘hole’ which helps reduce overall baking time and helps cakes and desserts bake more evenly.

Bundt pans are also quite tall and even though it seems that the dough pieces are pretty low before you bake this, they puff up and expand quite dramatically. Which is why baking this in a basic round cake pan or 9×13-pan isn’t as ideal.

can i make this in advance?

Like most any soft, bready, doughy dessert, the fresher the better. Nothing beats warm and fresh from the oven or enjoying it same-day. If you’re making this for company or an event, make it the day of your event. It’s ready from start to finish in 45 minutes so better to just plan ahead the day of.

What to Serve with Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

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4.67 from 3 votes

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

🧡🙌🏻😋 By taking advantage of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, this monkey bread is FAST and so EASY! It has the flavor and texture of soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls but in bite-sized monkey bread pieces making it a favorite for kids and adults alike! Great for brunches, holiday mornings, or as a dessert for casual entertaining!
*The directions below make this look like a more complicated recipe than it really is but I am very thorough to make sure your monkey bread turns out perfectly! Read the condensed steps midway through the blog post for a quickie overview!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
5 minutes
Servings: 10
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Equipment

Ingredients  

  • cup granulated sugar
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • two 8-count tubes refrigerated cinnamon roll dough
  • ½ cups chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
  • 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed

Instructions 

  • Monkey Bread – Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt pan very well with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. Tips – It's very important to spray the pan very generously with spray to prevent sticking later on! I recommend using a Bundt pan and not any other type of pan for best results.
  • To a small bowl, add the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and whisk to combine; set aside momentarily.
  • Open each of the two tubes of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough. Separate all the cinnamon rolls, you should have 16 total. Dice each of the 16 rolls into quarters to form bite-sized pieces. Reserve the glaze that came in the tubes for after baking. See blog post FAQs for questions about using other types of dough.
  • To a gallon-sized ziptop plastic bag, add the dough pieces, sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough, seal the bag, and shake to evenly distribute and coat evenly.
  • Turn the coated dough out into the prepared pan, layering it lightly (do not pack or smoosh) and evenly around the pan. If you're using optional nuts, sprinkle them in as you're layering and placing the dough into the pan. Set pan aside momentarily.
  • To a small bowl, add the melted butter (you can use the same bowl you used for the cinnamon-sugar). Tip – If the bowl is microwave-safe, even better. You can melt the the butter in it in your microwave on high power in about 20 seconds.
  • To the melted butter, add the maple syrup, brown sugar, and whisk to combine. Tip – The warmer the butter is, the easier the sugar will dissolve and without clumping.
  • Evenly pour the buttery sauce mixture over the dough in the prepared pan, trying to keep it from hitting the perimeter of the pan and keep the sauce away from the sides and just on the dough pieces as best you can. This turns into caramel sauce as it bakes so the less it touches the edges, the better.
  • Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until dough pieces are just set and done; rotate pan once midway through baking to ensure even cooking. It won't look like very much before baking in the bottom of your Bundt pan, but the dough puffs up and rises quite dramatically while baking. Baking Tips – Start checking after about 25 minutes because all ovens vary and prepared dough like this has a tendency to cook pretty quickly, more quickly than scratch dough. It will also set up more as it cools so don't overbake.
  • Allow the monkey bread to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Cooling Tips – This allows the caramel sauce to thicken slightly. But don’t let it cool much longer than 5 minutes, or it will be too hard to remove from the pan. While cooling, get your glaze ready.
  • Inverting – Before glazing, you need to invert the Bundt pan over a serving platter. If the monkey bread doesn't just plop out, run a rubber tipped spatula down into the sides of the pan to try to loosen the sticking points. Don't be afraid to give the pan a firm wrap with your hands, too.
  • Glaze – Warm the two little containers of glaze that came with the two tubes of dough, if desired or necessary (if they were at room temp during baking, likely not necessary). If you want more glaze, melt 2 tablespoons butter and then whisk in about 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, or as desired for consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the monkey bread and serve immediately.
  • Storage – Monkey bread is best warm and fresh. Leftovers will keep airtight at room temp for up to 3-4 days. I like to zap my leftovers in the microwave for about 10 seconds but it's optional. There's no need to refrigerate this and I don't recommend freezing the leftovers either.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 104kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Sodium: 1mg, Potassium: 36mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 12g, Vitamin A: 74IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 13mg, Iron: 0.2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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4.67 from 3 votes (1 rating without comment)

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Easy, fun and Delicious! Since it was a success, nuts are going in next time.
    Just a note for those of us having trouble getting baked goods out of our fancy bundt pans, I used Bak-KleneZT
    and this came out perfectly. Kind of expensive at Amazon & Wms Sonoma, but worth no more disasters.
    Thanks Averie for more yummies!

    1. Thanks for the 5 star review, Jeanne, and I am glad this was a success and that next time you will add in some nuts to your liking. Great tip about which pan you used.