This easy monkey bread recipe is made with canned biscuit dough. The monkey bread with canned biscuits is a delicious, sweet dessert (or breakfast!) that only uses four ingredients. It is doughy and soft inside and the outside is crunchy, sugary, and sweet.
Monkey bread is kind of a weird name for a food, isn't it? But whatever the name is, it's a sweet, delicious food. This monkey bread recipes makes a dessert that's like a gooey, caramel baked biscuit creation.
I like easy recipes, and this is a VERY easy monkey bread recipe. The monkey bread uses canned biscuits so there's no having to spend time making a dough! It only uses four ingredients.
What's not to love about biscuits, melted butter and brown sugar?
And honestly? This is the best monkey bread recipe I've made or had. So the fact that it's so easy to make is a bonus.
Ingredients
- 2 Cans of Biscuits - For this, make sure to just get plain biscuits (either homestyle or buttermilk). You don't want to use overly buttery or flaky biscuit dough for this.
- 1 stick (half a cup) of butter - This butter will melt with the cinnamon and brown sugar to create your sticky, gooey sauce.
- Cinnamon - Cinnamon adds a bit of warmth and extra flavor to the monkey bread
- Brown sugar - Here is where the sweetness and caramel flavor comes in! I use light brown sugar for this recipe.
How to make the monkey bread using canned biscuits
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine your butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Stick in the microwave until butter is melted into the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Stir to combine the ingredients and set aside.
Open up your cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters.
Stir the quartered biscuit pieces into the brown sugar mixture, making sure each piece is coated. Pour the mixture into a greased bundt pan. (I typically spray my bundt pan with some non stick cooking spray before adding the biscuit mixture).
Cook for 35-40 minutes, and then remove from the oven.
Let cool for 15-20 minutes, then turn the monkey bread upside down onto a plate or platter and serve.
Customizations
- Nuts - you can add chopped pecans or walnuts to this recipe for a bit of crunch and texture
- Dried fruit - Dried cherries, cranberries, or blueberries would be delicious here.
- Using cinnamon rolls - you can always use canned cinnamon rolls (or orange danish rolls) to make the monkey bread, and then drizzle on the frosting at the end.
- Fresh fruit - If you like, you can drizzle with a glaze at the end and serve with fresh fruit!
- Add cream cheese frosting or cream cheese glaze - If you have a sweet tooth and want this to be a dessert, you could always make a cream cheese frosting and top the monkey bread with the frosting.
Why is it called monkey bread?
Apparently the name monkey bread comes from the way you can pick apart the bread, related to how monkeys eat.
It's also referred to as a type of pull-apart bread. However, when I was little, we would make a version of this and call it caramel biscuit ring. So it has a lot of names!
It doesn't matter what it's called though. What matters is that it is delicious.
The butter, cinnamon sugar mixture kind of combine to create a sticky, sugary, crunchy golden brown crust when the monkey bread bakes in the bundt pan.
Recipes using canned biscuit dough
Monkey Bread with Canned Biscuits
Equipment
- Bundt Pan
Ingredients
- 2 cans biscuits (homestyle or buttermilk) See notes section for sizes. (Each can between 10-11 ounces)
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- cooking spray (to grease pan)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and get out your bundt pan. Grease the bundt pan with cooking spray.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, add the butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Cook in the microwave until butter is melted. Stir together to combine. Set aside.
- Take the two cans of biscuits and open. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Add the biscuits to the brown sugar mixture, making sure each piece is coated.
- Pour the biscuits into the bundt pan, making sure to distribute the pieces equally around the pan.
- Cook in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the monkey bread is nicely browned and cooked through.
- Let the monkey bread cool on a rack for 15-20 minutes, then turn upside down onto a plate or platter and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
If nutrition info is shown, values are based on an online calculator and are estimates. Please verify using your own data.
Susan l fannon
I made this recipe and the only problem I had was that leaving it in the pan to cool off, the monkey bread stuck to the pan, even though I sprayed it. I just made it again, but this time I melted the butter with 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and then I put the other half in a baggie and mixed the biscuits together, I also added a 1/4 cup of brown sugar to them. I am going to invert the pan as soon as it comes out of the oven and see how it goes.
Elena
What size biscuit and what Pillsbury?
Aimee
Great question! I adjusted the recipe to note as well - I choose a can that is between 10-11ish ounces (and you will need 2 cans). Not flaky layers or buttery. Something like Grands Southern Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (5 count).
Tonya
I have made Monkey Bread from scratch before and this was just as good and so much quicker. One of my coworkers was retiring and I only had a couple hours to prepare it, this worked great. Tastes just as good the next day too!
CH
My kinda last minute weekend morning treat!
Lynne
Haven’t tried this yet, but it’s my kinda recipe ~ easy and sweet 😍