• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Genetic Chef

  • RECIPES
  • ABOUT
  • SHOP
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Amazon
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • RECIPES
  • ABOUT
  • SHOP
    • Amazon
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • RECIPES
    • ABOUT
    • SHOP
    • Amazon
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
  • ×
    • Caprese pasta salad in a bowl with a basil garnish.
      A Simple Caprese Pasta Salad
    • A side view of a sliced smores bar.
      Easy To Make Gooey Chewy S'mores Bars
    • A mason jar of lemon garlic steak marinade with lemons and garlic cloves.
      The Best Lemon Garlic Steak Marinade In Existence
    • Basil vinaigrette in a jar with garlic cloves and a spoon resting on a dish.
      A Simply Amazing Basil Vinaigrette
    • Spinach and Feta Stuffed Portabello Mushroom on a black plate.
      Spinach and Feta Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
    • A skillet of ground beef with porcini mushrooms garnished with green onions.
      Super Easy Ground Beef With Onions And Mushrooms
    • Half of a lemon olive oil cake with sliced lemons.
      An Amazing Lemon Olive Oil Cake - No Mixer
    • Roasted asparagus with Parmesan on a baking sheet.
      Easy Delicious Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan
    • Sautéed broccoli with garlic and crushed red pepper.
      Quick Simple Sautéed Broccoli With Garlic
    • A sour cream coffee cake with two slices cut.
      A Sour Cream Coffee Cake Worth The Calories
    • Greek lemon potatoes in an oval baking dish.
      Greek Lemon Potatoes - Ellinikos Lemoni Patatas
    • A spatula lifting a serving of New England baked haddock.
      New England Baked Haddock
    Home » Breads

    Homemade Monkey Bread

    Published: Dec 21, 2020 · by Natalie · This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our privacy policy. · Leave a Comment

    RECIPE PRINT PIN

    Monkey Bread is a pull apart bread that’s flavored with butter and coated with cinnamon sugar. This one starts out with an incredible soft dough that can be prepared the day before. A delicious treat to enjoy on Christmas morning or any time of the year.

    Icing drizzled on top of monkey bread.I make Homemade Monkey Bread every Christmas morning and made it our family tradition. Sometimes traditions are  passed down from generation to generation, and sometimes you create them. This is one I created for my kids on Christmas morning. It wasn’t until I had kids that I even knew what monkey bread was and once I tried it, I knew I had to make it.

    I've tried a few recipes for homemade monkey bread, but found the results turned out dry, hard, and overly sweet - like break your teeth sweet. After years of perfecting the recipe for my rolls, I figured, why not use the same dough? The only change is cutting some of the sugar since the dough for monkey bread is already coated in it. The dough is made with oil along with a simple dough enhancer of lemon juice which produces soft flavorful rolls that retain freshness.

    Cutting pieces of dough for the monkey bread. Coated monkey bread in bundt pan ready to let rise.

    Coated monkey bread in bundt pan risen and ready to bake. Baked monkey bread cooling in pan on rack.

    You also have the option of preparing the dough the night before. Placing the dough in the refrigerator the night before slows down the rise. Once the dough is kneaded, transfer it into a container like this one or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. If making this the night before, place it in the refrigerator overnight to slowly rise. When I made the last batch, I made it at 3 pm and let it sit in the fridge overnight until 11 am the next morning. Now all you have to do in the morning is cut, dip, coat, and bake. I don’t bother to roll the pieces of dough into balls. I don’t have the patience for that and find the uneven pieces of unshapely dough to be unique and interesting. If you want to roll them, by all means.

    Since this is a good amount of dough, you will need a large sized bundt pan - at least 12 cups in size. This will continue to rise in the oven so you need to adjust your oven rack to a lower position to prevent the top from burning. One position below the middle is fine.

    Make it fun! This is a great way for the kids to help you in the kitchen. It's a great and engaging way to have them start learning how to cook.

    Drizzling some icing over the monkey bread.Having Homemade Monkey Bread is a Christmas tradition in our house and I hope it will be passed down to the next generation. Make it your tradition.

    You may also enjoy these breakfast treats:

    • Perfect homemade pancakes
    • Maple scones
    • Bakery style corn muffins
    • Best blueberry muffins
    • German pancakes
    • French toast casserole

    Monkey bread without icing on a cake plate.

    If you sprinkle in remaining sugar and tuck it in the pieces then pour the remaining butter all over instead of mixing the two and pouring it in, you'll get a lighter looking bread like the one above. Isn't it beautiful?

    Life it too short for mediocre food.

    WANT TO SAVE THIS DELICIOUS MONKEY BREAD RECIPE?

    PIN IT

    FIND ME ON PINTEREST FOR MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES AND THANKS FOR VISITING

    THEGENETICCHEF.COM

    This post contains affiliate links. Your clicks and purchases help support theGeneticChef.com at no extra charge to you. I only recommend products that I love.

    Icing drizzled on top of monkey bread.

    Homemade Monkey Bread

    PRINT RECIPE PIN RECIPE SAVE RECIPESaved!
    Homemade Monkey Bread - What's better than sweet, pull apart bread, flavored with butter and coated with cinnamon sugar? A delicious breakfast treat! This recipe can be prepared ahead!*
    Bake in a 12 -15 cup capacity bundt pan.
    Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes
    Rise: 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 3 hours hours 5 minutes minutes
    Servings: 12 +
    Author: Natalie Gregory

    Equipment Used

    Large Bowl
    Spatula
    bundt pan
    container with lid
    Baking Sheet
    Cooling Rack

    Ingredients

    • 1 ¼ cups warm milk about 110 degrees
    • 6 tablespoons sugar
    • 1 tablespoon yeast*
    • 1 ½ pounds (680 g) all purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon fine salt
    • ½ cup neutral oil
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
    • 2 large eggs room temperature**

    Coating:

    • 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter melted
    • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
    • 1 cup light brown sugar packed
    • ¾ cup sugar

    Icing: (optional)

    • ½ cup confectioners' sugar
    • 1 - 2 tablespoons milk
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    Make the dough:

    • In a bowl of your standing mixer, add milk and sugar and sprinkle in the yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes while you are getting everything else ready.
    • Add about half of the flour, the eggs, oil, and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar into the bowl with the yeast mixture. Start the machine and mix on medium high speed until it's smooth like a batter. About 1 - 2 minutes. You can also do this by hand using a dough whisk or regular whisk.
    • Once you have a batter-like mixture, add the remaining flour and the salt into the bowl and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky but come away clean from the mixing bowl.
    • Grease a bowl with about a teaspoon of oil.
    • Place the dough into a greased bowl or container and cover with plastic wrap or the container lid. I use tall plastic lidded containers that are perfect for dough. Let rise for 1 hour.
      If you are making this ahead, place the dough in the refrigerator overnight. It will rise slowly. Remove from refrigerator and continue with the recipe.

    Prepare the coating:

    • Add the melted butter in a bowl and set aside.
    • In another bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugars and set aside.

    Prepare the monkey bread:

    • Spray the bundt pan with baking spray.
    • Flatten dough gently to remove excess air bubbles.
    • Pull apart or cut pieces of dough about an 2 inches in size. I usually get 48 pieces of dough. I don't bother to roll the dough into balls and just dip as is but you can roll each one into balls for a uniform look.
    • Dip each ball of dough into the melted butter to coat.
    • Roll each piece into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Make sure it's all coated. I use a fork to toss them in the sugar and to scoop them up. The excess sugar falls through the tines of the fork. Arrange the balls in the bundt pan as you go.
    • Combine remaining melted butter and sugar and pour over the top of the dough evenly. Get it in between the balls and it will melt beautifully coating them when baking.
    • Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm draft free place.

    Bake:

    • Postition the oven rack one position below the center to prevent the top of the monkey bread from getting too dark. Preheat oven to 350°.
    • Place bundt pan on a foil lined baking sheet to catch any possible drips and bake for about 40 - 45 minutes but check after 40. It should look golden brown on top with no doughy spots.
    • Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a serving plate. Cool for at least 30 minutes before eating. If drizzling with icing, make sure the monkey bread is completely cool or the icing will melt.

    Making the icing:

    • Combine confectioners' sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. If too thick, add the second tablespoon. Drizzle over cooled monkey bread.
    • Serve the monkey bread by pulling each piece and devouring it. You can also slice it but that may take away from the fun of pulling it apart.

    Notes

    *This can be done a day ahead. I made this at 3pm and didn't take out of fridge until 11am next day for second rise and it was just as delicious. If making a day ahead, you can reduce the amount of yeast from 1 tablespoon to 1 teaspoon.
    **You can warm eggs by placing them in warm water for a few minutes.
    Did You Love This Recipe?Buy Me A Cup Of Coffee Thank You!

    Nutritional Information

    I don't post the nutritional value because I don't trust the accuracy of the nutritional apps. I’m not a nutritionist and don't want to post misinformation.

    Did you make this recipe?Tag @thegeneticchef and use #thegeneticchef and tell me about it!

    More Delicious Breakfast Treats

    • Golden chunks of coconut granola.
      Easy Crunchy Not-Too-Sweet Coconut Granola
    • A cup of Peruvian hot chocolate.
      Peruvian Hot Chocolate
    • A cranberry muffin on a cooling rack with more in background.
      AMAZING CRANBERRY MUFFINS
    • Closeup of oats, pecans, and pumpkin seeds.
      ADDICTIVE CRUNCHY PUMPKIN SPICE GRANOLA

    See More Breakfast →

    More Breads

    • Bread stuffing in a casserole dish.
      OLD-FASHIONED BREAD STUFFING
    • Pumpkin buttermilk biscuits on a board.
      QUICK EASY PUMPKIN BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
    • A slice of cornbread on a white plate.
      EASY PERFECT SKILLET CORNBREAD
    • Corner view of crusty beer bread.
      A SIMPLE DELICIOUS BEER BREAD

    NEVER MISS A RECIPE!

    Reader Interactions

    Did you make this recipe? Let me know! Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Natalie

    I'm Natalie a.k.a The Genetic Chef. Here you will find from scratch family recipes coupled with humor, helpful tips, and product recommendations.

    More about me →

    Like what you see? Please show your support by buying me a cup of coffee. Thank you!

    Categories

    AMAZON ASSOCIATES DISCLOSURE

    The Genetic Chef is an Amazon affiliate. If you click through to Amazon from my website, I get a small commission at no cost to you which helps me keep this site going. Thank you for your support!

    Visit My Shop!

    Product Recommendations

    Vitamix 5200 Blender

    Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor

    KitchenAid Stand Mixer

    Breville Smart Oven Pro

    Le Creuset 7-1/4-Quart (Dutch) Oven

    Duralex Stackable 9-Piece Bowl Set

    Lodge 10.25 Inch Cast Iron Skillet

    Nordic Ware Baker's Half Sheet

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    Privacy Policy

    Subscribe

    Contact

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2025 The Genetic Chef

    Foodie Pro Theme

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required