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This classic monkey bread recipe is made with buttermilk biscuits baked in a buttery, gooey, irresistible cinnamon sugar sauce. Easy to make with 5 simple ingredients with minimal prep time!

Now that we’re living in the Land of Canned Biscuits again (a.k.a. the United States), I have happily resumed one of my favorite holiday baking traditions — weekend monkey bread! ♡

We always had to put in the extra time to make homemade biscuits from scratch for monkey bread while we were living in Barcelona. It was, of course, delicious, but not quite the simple and nostalgic version I grew up with. On a lazy December morning, I much prefer to hit the ‘easy button’ and let Pillsbury do most of the work for me.

So for anyone else who also craves this throwback sweet treat this time of year, I thought I’d repost the tried-and-true monkey bread recipe that I’ve been making for the past two decades. It’s made with just 5 simple ingredients — canned buttermilk biscuits, melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon — and it’s always so fun and easy to assemble. (Even more special for us right now with cute little toddler hands to help!)

I’ve included some extra options below for various ways to customize the recipe by adding in nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. Or you can also never go wrong with an extra cream cheese drizzle on top. However you make it, I promise this gooey sweet treat is always a winner. So grab some biscuits and let’s make some monkey bread together!

Monkey Bread Ingredients

Here are a few quick notes about the monkey bread ingredients you will need to make this recipe:

• Buttermilk biscuits: You’ll need two large (16-ounce) cans of store-bought biscuits for this recipe. I grew up always making this recipe with classic Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits, but feel free to use whatever other flavor you prefer (the honey butter is also delish). You could also use the flaky-style biscuits too!
• Sugars: We’ll use white granulated sugar here to create a yummy cinnamon-sugar mix to dip the biscuit pieces, plus brown sugar to melt into our butter sauce.
• Cinnamon: I always grew up making monkey bread with cinnamon sugar, but feel free to sub in any other warming spices or blends you might like here too. (Pumpkin pie spice, for example, would be delicious!)
• Butter: I’ve written this recipe using salted butter to help season the recipe. But if you only have unsalted butter on hand, simply melt an additional 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt with the butter.

How To Make Monkey Bread

Step-by-step instructions are included in the recipe below, but here are 5 extra tips to keep in mind when making homemade monkey bread:

1. Use a bundt pan. There’s a reason that monkey bread is traditionally made in bundt or tube pans. The design of the pan allows the biscuits to cook evenly (avoiding an undercooked center) and ensures extra gooey, caramelized eges.
2. Liberally grease the pan. That gooey cinnamon sugar coating is delicious but definitely tries hard to stick to the pan! To ensure that the monkey bread easily releases and maintains its cute shape once the pan is inverted, be sure to use cooking spray to mist every single nook and cranny before adding the dough.
3. Cut the biscuits evenly. This ensures that each dough bite will cook evenly and get coated with plenty of cinnamon sugar. You can either separate the biscuits individually and slice them into quarters, or save time and just slice the entire stack of biscuits (still in their cylinder shape from the can) into quarters.
4. Let cool slightly before inverting. This helps the caramel sauce to thicken slightly so that the monkey bread holds together once it has been inverted.
5. Don’t worry about perfection. If a few pieces stick to the pan, hakuna matata. Just scoop them out and stick them back on top of the monkey bread. It’ll still be delicious!

Monkey Bread Variations

Here are a few fun monkey bread recipe variations that you’re welcome to try too:

• Add nuts, chocolate chips or caramel bits: Layer chopped toasted pecans or walnuts, semisweet chocolate chips, or caramel bits in with the biscuits.
• Add a cream cheese glaze: Drizzle a cream cheese glaze on top for a tangy-sweet finish! Just whisk together 4 ounces softened cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1-2 tablespoons milk until the glaze reaches a drizzle consistency.
• Use canned cinnamon rolls: To up the cinnamon flavor even more, use canned cinnamon rolls in place of the biscuits. (Just be sure to use 32 ounces of canned cinnamon rolls — you may need to purchase 3 cans depending on how much each weighs.)

More Fun Breakfast Favorites

Here are a few more fun and simple breakfast recipes that we always enjoy:

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