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Did you know you can make an Easy Monkey Bread recipe with cinnamon rolls? This is one of the easiest ever breakfast or brunch Pillsbury cinnamon roll recipes – We’ve been making this recipe for Christmas morning breakfast for over 19 years and we look forward to every bite!
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
When Jordan was four I decided to make Monkey Bread for Christmas morning breakfast. I’d made pancakes the year before and spent an hour flipping while everyone else relaxed and drank coffee, so I wanted something I could make ahead of time and just pop in the oven. That was when I discovered Monkey Bread and I’ve made so many versions ever since (like lemon blueberry and strawberry monkey bread) but this is my absolute favorite!
This is one of the BEST Monkey Bread Recipes you’ll ever eat – PLUS it works in a bundt pan OR a 9×13-inch pan! Once you learn how to make monkey bread with cinnamon rolls you’ll never go back to monkey bread with biscuits!
5 Simple Ingredients
- Canned cinnamon rolls (I use Pillsbury Grands! Cinnamon Rolls, the larger rolls that come 5 to a can)
- Butter – Unsalted or salted is fine
- Brown Sugar – be sure to pack it!
- Granulated Sugar and Ground Cinnamon – to roll the cinnamon roll pieces in!
Variations
- Add some vanilla extract to the icing to give it more flavor – or any extract!
- Make cream cheese frosting instead so you can have cinnamon roll monkey bread with cream cheese!
- I love making cinnamon roll monkey bread with apples or blueberry.
- I’ve also substituted the cinnamon-sugar mixture with pumpkin pie spice.
- Sprinkle chopped walnuts or pecans into the pan when you’re adding the cinnamon roll pieces.
How to make Easy Monkey Bread
- Simply cut each cinnamon roll into 4-6 pieces.
- Add dough balls to a large plastic bag with cinnamon sugar. Toss the bag around to coat the pieces.
- Place the cinnamon roll pieces in prepared pan. Mix melted butter and light brown sugar and pour the buttery brown sugar sauce over the canned dough.
- Bake and then drizzle the top with the icing that came with the rolls!
Expert Tips
- Remove the bread from the pan to serving platter within 10 minutes of it coming out of the oven so it doesn’t stick to the pan!
- Don’t want to use cinnamon rolls? Make it with canned biscuit dough with this exact same recipe.
Storage
Store leftover bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can even freeze leftover pull-apart bread!
FAQs
You can prep this up to 24 hours ahead. Cut the cinnamon rolls and toss them with cinnamon sugar then store in the refrigerator. When ready to assemble, melt the butter and mix with brown sugar and place everything in the pan.
Easy Monkey Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cans (5 rolls each) Pillsbury Grands! Cinnamon Rolls
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter , melted
Instructions
- Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Open each can of cinnamon rolls. Reserve the icing for later. Cut each roll into 4 pieces.
- Place the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a gallon size resealable bag. Add the cut up cinnamon rolls (the pieces will fall apart a little) to the bag. Seal and shake to coat the pieces with cinnamon sugar.
- Stir together the brown sugar and melted butter.
- Place rolls in pan and drizzle with melted butter mixture.
- Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until the top is a dark golden brown and the rolls are cooked through.
- Cool 5 minutes then invert the monkey bread onto your serving plate. Do this carefully: the pan is hot! Drizzle cinnamon roll icing over the top of the monkey bread and serve warm.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- 9×13-inch: 30-40 minutes
- Loaf pan (9×5-inch): 30-40 minutes
- Muffin tin (regular size): 10-20 minutes
These were so yummy and so much easier to make than my original recipe using butterscotch pudding and frozen dough balls. Took them to brunch on Mother’s Day and everyone loved them. Thank you!
I can’t wait to make alot of your recipes because you make everything looks so good and so yummy and easy I know how to make a lot of desserts from homemade scratch the way my Grandma and my Mom taught me but unfortunately they would never let me write nothing down and they are both gone now cuz they didn’t use recipes they knew it all but I’m trying and I guess I’m doing okay cuz my family sure loves everything I made so far
I made this last year and the family loved it–thank you! I am wondering if I can make ahead (tonight) and then throw in oven in the morning. Would you recommend or not? Thanks!
Great idea using cinnamon rolls thanks
Gotta go get some sweet rolls
this Monkey Bread can also be made in a Instant Pot with a 6 cup Bundt Pan
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