Homemade Monkey Bread From Scratch (and Make Ahead Option)
An easy homemade monkey bread recipe made from a simple yeast dough, butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar that makes the BEST caramely cinnamon roll pull apart bites. Bake the same day or choose the make ahead option that rises overnight in the fridge and bakes fresh in the morning. It’s our Christmas morning tradition, but is great any time of the year!
Christmas brunch is a 30+ year tradition at our house, and once I simplified our traditional brunch after years of doing too much (that no one but me really cared about) I set about to find a special sweet bread to round out the egg and bacon dishes.
Since we have The Best Cinnamon Rolls in The World during our extended family celebration the weekend before Christmas, I wanted something different that we’d all love and look forward to each year (yes, I’m kind of big on traditions).
I’ve made cranberry cane shaped pastries, scones, sour cream coffee cakes, single pan sticky buns, and various other sweet breads and we enjoyed them all…but they weren’t the ‘one.’
Until I made brown sugar-cinnamon monkey bread.
Fun, delicious, and special – it’s exactly what we’ve come to love as our traditional Christmas morning sweet bread and goes perfectly with our other brunch recipes.
Note: If you’re curious what else our easy, low-stress Christmas morning brunch looks like, I’ve listed all the Christmas brunch recipes here and created a cute menu printable to make your table that much more special!
But do you know how hard it was to find a recipe for monkey bread that uses real ingredients – no pudding mixes or canned biscuits – AND could be made ahead and baked Christmas morning?
Too hard apparently, because I couldn’t find one.
I wasn’t going back to the complicated brunches of my memory, though, so I created my own easy real food make-ahead version, adapting a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that used real ingredients and then experimenting with overnight refrigeration and morning baking.
The monkey bread turned out absolutely perfect and I am so happy to share the recipe with you and save you a bunch of searching!
Ingredients
- Milk – I’ve used whole and 2% milk, but not milk substitutes – if you’ve used some in other bread dough with success, it should work here, too.
- Butter – both for the dough and melted for coating.
- Sugar – or honey since it’s just the bit in the dough.
- Yeast – instant or active dry yeast work.
- Unbleached flour – I don’t usually add whole wheat to this since we have it once a year, but once used 1 cup whole wheat for the unbleached and it was fine.
- Salt – regular sea salt.
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Optional: powdered sugar and milk for glaze.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer – see FAQ section for making by hand or using a bread machine.
- Bundt pan (not removable bottom angel food cake pans, though – they leak) – I’ve seen the bread made in large loaf pans, too, though I’m not sure if you’d need one or two pans for this recipe.
- Measuring cups, spoons, small bowls for butter and cinnamon sugar for coating.
How to Make Homemade Monkey Bread
Detailed quantities and instructions are included in the full recipe box below, but here are a few extra tips to help with each step:
Step 1: Combine melted butter and sugar/honey for dough with yeast in a glass measuring cup. Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, then add yeast mixture. Mix and then knead 6 minutes.
Step 2: Remove dough from mixing bowl, oil the bowl and then replace the dough in the bowl (one less bowl to wash!) and cover with plastic. Let rise an hour.
Step 3: Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface (I use a tea towel for easy clean up) and pat into a 8×9″ rough rectangle. Use a long knife to cut into 64 pieces (it doesn’t matter if some are smaller than others).
Step 4: Generously coat a bundt pan with softened butter. Roughly shape each dough piece into a ball, dip in melted butter and then the sugar-cinnamon mixture and start layering them in the buttered pan.
TIP: The beauty of monkey bread is that the balls don’t need to be uniform in size since they’re all piled atop one another, so it’s great for kids. My daughter and I like to dip the balls together – one dips in melted butter and the other in the brown-sugar-cinnamon mixture – before we layer them in the well-buttered bundt pan.
Working together my daughter and I can get all the balls coated in about 15 minutes.
Step 5: Choose to bake today or refrigerate to bake the next morning:
- To Bake Today: Cover pan and let rise for an hour either on the counter or in a warmed oven if your kitchen is cold (heat oven to 150-200 degrees and turn off – add pan and leave the door slightly ajar). Heat oven to 350 (removing pan if you’re rising in the oven) and bake for 30-40 minutes until very brown and bubbling.
- To Bake The Next Morning: Simply cover the pan and put it in the refrigerator until the next morning. Sweet and simple!
The monkey bread rises some in the fridge, and rises a bit more when you set it out 45 minutes to an hour before baking to bring it back to room temperature. Then bake as instructed.
Let the baked bread sit in the pan for about 5 minutes before carefully turning it out onto a large platter (use hot pads to hold the pan).
Drizzling the loaf with a simple powdered sugar-milk glaze is optional, but we wouldn’t go without it!
Storage
IF there’s any leftover, it can be covered and left on the counter for a day or refrigerated for a few days. Heat in an air fryer or toaster oven for a bit (it’s not great leftover, but toasting helps a lot).
You can freeze sections for longer storage (1-2 months) – thaw and toast a bit before serving.
FAQs
Here are some questions I’ve gotten about this homemade monkey bread recipe.
You can mix with a wooden spoon until the ingredients come together and then knead on a floured surface, adding more as needed, for about 8-10 minutes, then continue with the recipe as written. Takes a bit more work, but worth it!
Yes – use the bread machine to make the dough, remove it and then proceed with the recipe as written OR use this reader suggestion:
Use the bread machine and pause the machine just after the knead and the first rise, take the dough out and dip and roll and throw the balls into the bread machine loaf pan. Once all of the dough is back in the pan, put it in the machine and restart from the beginning of the second rise cycle. It comes out beautifully.
This can go in the fridge up to 24 hours before baking, so the morning of the day before you want to eat it. It’s usually in the fridge around 3 in the afternoon at our house.
Yes, like any bread I’m sure you can, though I haven’t tried it. I would think it would be best to freeze it after baking and removing from the pan. Don’t glaze. Then thaw at room temperature, and then heat a few minutes in a low oven before drizzling the glaze.
You can always experiment with this. Personally, I’m never happy with the results of freezing dough like this (or in my cinnamon rolls) – the dough texture seems different to me and it never seems to rise as much.
While I haven’t done it, I’m sure you can as long as your mixer (or arms if you do it by hand) can hold that amount of dough. My 6-quart kitchenaid could hold a double recipe, for example. (TIP from a reader: when making two batches, don’t use an angel food cake pan for one – the caramel leaks out of the removable bottom when baking.)
I would think that using a 1:1 gluten free flour that you’ve used in other yeast baked goods (so you know it works well) will work as well here, too.
More Easy Sweet Bread Recipes
- The Best Cinnamon Rolls, Period.
- Frosted Maple-Oat Scones
- Cranberry Crumb Muffins
- Sticky Bun Sourdough Coffee Cake
We LOVE this monkey bread so much and everyone who visits us on Christmas day loves it – so I’m sure it’s destined to become one of your family’s favorites. too.
I especially love how it fills the house with wonderful cinnamony goodness while we are relaxing together and enjoying our family time – no stress required!
A Few Rave Reviews
“We all loved this recipe! My kids all lost their minds!! I’ve made it now for friends as well! Rave reviews!” -Gillian
“FABULOUS. Utterly scrumptious………*pausing Christmas morning to get a few more gooey bubbly bites* too good not to comment right away!” -Pam
“This is an excellent and reliable recipe. It’s the perfect make-ahead brunch treat and it comes out perfect every time.” -Dina
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Homemade Monkey Bread Recipe – From Scratch with Make Ahead Option
Equipment
- stand mixer
- bundt pan
Ingredients
For Dough:
- 1 ⅓ cup milk warmed to 110-115 degrees
- 4 tablespoons butter divided (2 melted and 2 softened for pan)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon yeast (both instant or active dry work)
- 3 ¼ cup unbleached flour* may need up to 1/4 cup more when kneading
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
For Coating & Glaze:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, optional
- 1 tablespoon milk, optional
Instructions
Make Dough:
- Add milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter, sugar and yeast to a large measuring cup and stir to combine. Mix 3¼ cup flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer with a dough hook on low.** Slowly add the milk-yeast mixture and stir until dough comes together. Increase speed to next level and knead the dough for abut 6 minutes, adding 2-3 tablespoons of flour (a tablespoon at a time) as needed for dough to clear sides of bowl (the dough should still be sticking to the bottom of the bowl, though).
- Remove dough from mixing bowl to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Coat bowl with oil (I simply use the bowl I mixed in), replace dough in bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave to sit until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Use the 2 tablespoons of softened butter to liberally coat a Bundt pan.
- Remove dough to a lightly floured surface (I use a tea towel for easy clean up) and pat into about an 8×9″ rough rectangle. Use a long knife to cut into 64 pieces – it doesn’t matter if they’re even or not.
Coat Dough:
- Place the melted butter in one small bowl and combine brown sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.
- Roll each piece of dough into a rough ball, dip in melted butter and then roll in the brown sugar coating. Place in buttered pan, layering and staggering dough balls as needed to make an even loaf. Sprinkle any extra sugar-cinnamon mixture on the top.
To Bake Today:
- Cover pan with plastic and set in a warm place to rise for an hour. Preheat oven to 350 during the last 15 minutes of rise time.
- Remove cover, place in heated oven and bake 30-40 minutes until the bread is very browned and the sides are bubbling. Cool for 5 minutes in pan before turning out onto a serving platter (use hot pads to hold the pan, as it will still be hot).
Make Ahead to Bake In The Morning:
- Cover pan with plastic and leave out on counter for 30 minutes before placing in the refrigerator to finish rising slowly overnight.
- Remove pan from refrigerator abut 2 hours before you want to serve it. Leave at room temperature, still covered, 45 minutes to 1 hour and preheat oven to 350 degrees the last 15 minutes.
- Remove cover, place in heated oven and bake 30-40 minutes until the bread is very browned and the sides are bubbling. Cool for 5 minutes in pan before turning out onto a serving platter (use hot pads to hold the pan, as it will still be hot).
Make Optional Glaze:
- Whisk together powdered sugar and milk to a pouring consistency. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the warm monkey bread and serve while still warm.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in January 2014, and updated in 2016 and 2023.
FABULOUS. Utterly scrumptious………*pausing Christmas morning to get a few more gooey bubbly bites* too good not to comment right away! We didn’t use the glaze and it was still plenty sweet for us. CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS and thank you for the absolute best bread recipes & instructions ever!
Oh, I’m so glad, Pam! It is such a fun Christmas tradition. 🙂
We have a few gluten-free in our family but would love to make this for Christmas morning- any thoughts on how to substitute to make this GF? Thanks
Sorry, I haven’t tried that. Maybe use a 1:1 gluten free flour?
Can I use Bobs red mill active dry yeast for this recipe? Thanks in advance
Yes!
This is an excellent and reliable recipe. It’s the perfect make-ahead brunch treat and it comes out perfect every time. I have made it three times in the past year and it’s always a hit. I love that it’s all from scratch as well! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
So glad you like this, Dina!
I made this for Christmas morning last year. My twins loved it so much, they requested it for their 9th birthday tomorrow! So guess what is in my mixer, kneading as I type? 🙂 Thanks for (another!) great recipe, Jami!!!
Oh, how sweet Heather! And I think alternatives to cake is always fun. 🙂
I have made this bread for years and never thought about letting it slowly rise over night in frig. Thank you so much. I also live in Oregon, but in the central part. Not much rain with beautiful mountain views!
You’re welcome, Sharon! It’s such a nice way to have it fresh and warm.
And yes – central Oregon is beautiful with all those mountains! We love when we get over there to kayak on the high mountain lakes. 🙂
Hi,
I just found your blog today and I love your ideas.
We have a bread machine that we use when we do not have the time to make bread by hand.
We usually only make a white loaf from unbleached flour because we have not had good luck with whole wheat bread in the machine.
A few years ago, I was trying to come up with a relatively quick way to make a take along snack. We use the bread machine and a white sandwich bread recipe (2 pound loaf) and pause the machine just after the knead after the first rise, take the dough out and dip and roll (like in your recipe) and throw the balls into the bread machine loaf pan. Once all of the dough is back in the pan, I put it in the machine and restart from the beginning of the second rise cycle. It comes out beautifully. You have to be really careful when you depan the bread because there is a lot of hot caramel that I spoon from the plate onto the bread until it cools enough to stop running. It helps to wait a few minutes so the caramel is not too runny, but don’t let it sit too long or it may be too stuck in the pan. The loaf shape Monkey Bread is not as pretty, and I don’t add icing to this already sugary dessert but it is very quick and hands off when you are in a rush. I took this to our homeschool Park Day group several times and it was always a hit.
Good idea, Chris – I bet everyone is happy with that. 🙂
Hi! So i was actually thinking of making the cooks illustrated recipe for monkey bread. i stand by their recipes because it always turns out so great. But i prefer an overnight method. So i was comparing your recipe to theirs and you have very few changes. My question was is the increased about of yeast and less salt you call for specific for an overnight method? Or do you think i could go ahead and make their recipe, using your principles of putting it in the fridge after rolling the balls in the. cinnamon sugar? Thanks for the help.
You can sure try, Bekah! I did increase the yeast to help the overnight rise and the less salt must’ve come from another recipe I consulted (I actually looked at quite a few, plus my other bread recipes).
Never heard of coating the pieces with pudding powder, I would stop reading also. I do my recipe a little different, but you are right, the results using fresh dough is the best way to do this recipe.
I use an Amish Bread recipe, no milk, no butter. I let it rise the first time, but I like your idea to roll the dough out and it looks like you used a pizza cutter to cut all those squares. I put in refrigerator to let it rise again for about 30 minutes, then I take out the dough. My mixture is different. I coat my bread with a cinnamon/sugar mixture, then I get my brown sugar and butter and melt them in the microwave. I pour this mixture in between my layers and on the sides. I like to add a teaspoon of almond extract to the butter mixture or vanilla. Then put it all in the fridge for overnight. Take it out in the morning to warm up and then bake. I did the canned biscuits for a while, but my boys love the fresh dough recipe.
I like your idea for the icing but it won’t work for the boys, they do however like me to add ice cream caramel topping, melted to the top, after it has cool down a bit.
I made bread today, but I too will be making Monkey Bread for Thanksgiving and Christmas morning.
Thank you so much for posting the recipe and I will use the tip for cutting all those pieces, will save me a lot of time. Do you think a pizza cutter might work or should I just use a knife.
That sounds good, too, Gloria! You can use either a knife or pizza cutter – the cutter makes quick work of it, though. 🙂
First snow day of the year, and this was my kids’ request! Mixing up the dough now…thanks again for this great recipe.
What kind of oil do you use to coat the dough? I don’t see an oil in the ingredient list.
It’s just a light spray of whatever you have to keep the dough from sticking (I have some Trader Joe’s cold-pressed sunflower oil in a small spray bottle that I keep for things like this, if that helps!).
I wonder if you could make this like a week or so ahead of time and freeze it. Then thaw it and bake….any thoughts?
I don’t really know, Heather – I know a lot of people who do the freeze-dough-and-bake thing, but I’m never happy with the results. The dough texture feels different to me and it never seems to rise as much. That said, you could certainly try it. Maybe do a test that you’d then get to eat? 😉
Have you tried making this in a crock pot? I am curious about doing an overnight bake on low, but now sure how long it would have to cook, or if it would turn out edible.
No, and I’ve never made bread in a slow cooker before so I wouldn’t have a clue. 🙂
Made this for our Christmas breakfast this year. Just a tip to add so someone else doesn’t make my mistake–I made two batches and only have one bundt pan so put the other in an angel food cake pan…bad idea! The butter/cinnamon mixture leaked out some in the frig and then again in the oven when baking! Fortunately, I noticed it and put a pan below to catch the drips before they baked on the bottom of the oven. The bread was great…but don’t use a angel food can pan 🙂
Good tip – thanks for the warning, Sue!
This recipe was outstanding! I was looking for make-ahead recipes for Mother’s Day brunch and boy am I glad I found this. It was spectacular. It came out perfectly and it was the first item gone from a large buffet I prepared. I added a small amount of melted butter and softened cream cheese to the glaze ingredients (plus a little more powdered sugar) and it really put it over the top. Thanks so much for a great recipe that doesn’t involve nasty biscuits from a can or dry pudding mix!
Thank you, Jannine! I’m glad your family liked it as much as mine does. 🙂
Yay! I have been looking for monkey bread that did not require canned dough too! I will have to try this soon. Thanks for sharing!
I am making this for the second time tonight in anticipation of a snow day tomorrow for the kids! It was a huge hit last time–made up the dough in my bread machine and it was fabulous. Thank you so much for this recipe, I hate artificial ingredients but love the ease of make ahead things. Looking forward to a yummy breakfast tomorrow!
So glad you enjoy this, Anne – what a fun snow day treat!
omg, looks so good.
This sounds amazing but we don’t own a stand mixer. How do i make it without one?
We’ve been doing the pudding mix recipe as well
You can mix with a wooden spoon until the ingredients come together and then knead on a floured surface, adding more as needed, for about 8-10 minutes, Tina, then continue with the recipe as written. Takes a bit more work, but probably worth it. 😉
Pudding mix? Does pudding get put in the bread pocket (pinched bread dollop)? I put cream cheese cubes rolled first in cinnamon/brown sugar mixture, then pinched in the bread pocket’s middle. I will try the yeast dough, got to be better than canned biscuits. I also use cream cheese in the icing with powdered sugar, butter,vanilla extrac, and salt.
I don’t even remember when the pudding mix was added – I think it was instead of the sugar coating? Once I saw it in the list of ingredients, I stopped reading, lol.
Thank you
I love this! We do eat the pudding mix monkey bread but have been toying with the idea of something different (especially since I got a stand mixer this year!!) We are out late on Christmas Eve and one of the things I do appreciate about the pudding recipe is that it goes together quickly after the kids are in bed, gifts done, etc. How early on Christmas Eve could this be put together and put into the fridge, do you think?
I make it in the afternoon before heading out to our Christmas Eve dinner, Shannon. It’s probably in the fridge around 3 or 4pm and turns out great, as you can see. 🙂