Sticky sweet Monkey Bread is a treat everyone enjoys, and this recipe using Rhodes Rolls makes baking this delicious dish easy and quick. With only 6 ingredients, this is the perfect treat to prepare for an extra-sweet breakfast or afternoon snack!
Monkey Bread is the kind of breakfast that is sure to pull even the sleepiest guests out of bed in the morning.
This easy Monkey Bread recipe fills the whole house with the smell of fresh-baked bread, cinnamon, and caramel. It’s like old-fashioned cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning but with double the ooey, gooey cinnamon filling.
Monkey Bread doesn’t have to be reserved for breakfast or a special occasion. It’s sweet and sugary enough to be a dessert or just a sweet after-school snack. Serve it with breakfast, brunch or after dinner!
The best part about this recipe is how easy it is. The pre-made frozen Rhodes dinner rolls do most of the heavy lifting for you. All you have to do is cut up the bread dough, cover it with a few key ingredients, and bake. This is one recipe where the effort is easily outweighed by the reward so honestly there’s no reason NOT to make it!
Why is it Called Monkey Bread?
If you are new to Monkey Bread, have no fear. There are no monkeys involved in the making of this dish.
The name Monkey Bread refers to the way it is eaten. Small pieces of dough are fused together by a sticky caramel sauce, which forces those eating it to pull them apart one by one–like a monkey would.
You can also eat this dish with a fork if sticky fingers don’t appeal to you!
Why Make This Recipe
- Easy Ingredients: Some simple frozen rolls are the base of this dish, which are then coated in cinnamon, sugar, and butterscotch pudding. You can find everything you need in your local grocery store.
- Easy Prep: There’s hardly any cooking required to achieve excellence with this dish. You could even prepare it the night before and bake it up in the morning.
- Big Flavor: There are very few people in the world who can turn down a freshly-made cinnamon roll, and Monkey Bread is essentially a deconstructed cinnamon roll–with a little extra caramel flavor.
Ingredients
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Brown Sugar: You can use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, it doesn’t matter!
- Butterscotch Pudding Mix: Look for the Cook and Serve Pudding and Pie Filling, not the instant pudding. You do not want prepared pudding, just the powder.
- Walnuts: Walnuts are optional, so feel free to leave them out if there’s an allergy in the home. They do an excellent job of balancing out some of the sweetness in this recipe.
- 24 Rhodes Rolls: Most packages of Rhodes Rolls come in packs of 36. Bake a dozen to use with dinner and then use the other 24 in this recipe! You may find other frozen rolls in your local grocery store and I’ve also seen Monkey Bread made with biscuit dough. Those may work okay, but my preference is Rhodes. You could also use homemade dough–but why complicate things?
Tools
- Bundt Pan: You could make this in a bread pan, tube pan or baking pan, but the bundt cake pan helps it all cook evenly and gives it a great presentation as well
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Prepare the Caramel
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix the brown sugar, butterscotch pudding powder, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Melt butter.
Step 2: Assemble
Grease a bundt pan. Then pour ¼ cup of the crushed walnuts into the bottom of the pan.
Cut the Rhodes Rolls into quarters. Dip each quarter of the dough balls into the melted butter and then into the brown sugar mixture. After coating each roll, place it in the bundt pan.
Repeat the process until approximately 12 rolls (or 48 pieces) have been placed in the bundt pan. Pour the remainder of the walnut pieces on top of this layer.
Continue repeating the butter and brown sugar process until the rest of the rolls are placed in the bundt pan.
Step 3: Bake
Cook for 20 minutes uncovered. Then place aluminum foil over the top of your Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread Recipe and continue cooking for an additional 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and the Monkey Bread does not jiggle when you shake the pan.
Remove from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before flipping over on a serving tray and enjoying!
Turning Out the Monkey Bread
If you wait until the Monkey Bread is completely cooled and then try to turn it out, it will be stuck in the pan. In this case, just place it back in the oven for 2-3 minutes until the pan is warmed up enough, and then you can turn out the Monkey Bread.
Do not turn out the Monkey Bread when it is piping hot, or it may fall apart. Allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes first.
When you turn over your pan there will probably be plenty of sticky caramel sauce. Be sure and flip your pan onto a serving platter or baking sheet with a wide enough edge to catch it all!
Expert Tips
- Walnuts are optional. Feel free to replace them with pecans or cashews or leave them out completely.
- A regular bundt pan will hold about 20 to 24 Rhodes rolls. Do not try to squeeze in too many rolls. The rolls will rise as they bake and with too many in the pan you will create a very sticky mess.
- These rolls are sold frozen and will need to be thawed to be cut. You can leave the entire bag in the refrigerator overnight to thaw them or separate the rolls and place them on a cookie sheet to thaw at room temperature. Thaw almost all the way but not quite. The rolls become rather sticky when thawed all the way, so just a little bit of chill left in them will make them easier to work with.
- Don’t skimp on the butterscotch, sugar, and cinnamon mixture. All that powder becomes the most delicious gooey caramel sauce so make sure each piece is coated well.
FAQS
Rhodes rolls usually require rise time before they are baked. Whether or not you allow that for this particular dish is up to you.
The frozen roll dough does not need to rise for this Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread recipe, but if you prefer a lighter, fluffier bread, you may want to give it a try. If you want to try them with risen rolls, I would suggest preparing the recipe as-is but pausing before baking to allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for about an hour.
You can also prepare this dish and then put it in the fridge to rise overnight and bake the next morning. You will notice the dough rise overnight, even in the refrigerator.
I love the look of Monkey Bread baked in a bundt pan, but if you don’t have one on hand it’s not a make or break for the recipe. You can bake your Monkey Bread in a bread pan or even make individual servings by baking it in a muffin tin.
If you choose a different pan, be sure and adjust your bake time accordingly.
This dish is best when enjoyed right out of the oven but you can absolutely prepare this recipe and let it sit in the fridge overnight before baking. Be sure and cover it in plastic wrap so the dough does not dry out.
You need to thaw the rolls enough to cut them, but this recipe is so easy, you could honestly bake them even if they are still a bit frozen. If you forgot to thaw your rolls, they usually thaw out enough to use within a half an hour.
Making sure your rolls aren’t completely thawed will make preparing the recipe a lot easier. Fully thawed rolls tend to get a bit sticky, so mostly thawed rolls hold together a little better.
Wrap any leftovers or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can heat up any leftovers in the microwave in just 15 to 20 seconds.
Hypothetically it should be good in your refrigerator for three to four days–but who can resist it for that long?
Did you enjoy this recipe for Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
Delicious Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Bundt Pan
- Aluminum Foil
- Mixing Bowl(s)
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 3.5 oz Butterscotch Pudding, unprepared
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ cup walnuts, crushed
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 24 Rhodes Rolls, thawed almost all the way
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix the 1 cup brown sugar, 2 packages of butterscotch pudding powder, and 2 tbsp cinnamon together in a medium bowl.
- Grease a bundt pan. Then pour ¼ cup of the crushed walnuts into the bottom of the bundt pan.
- Cut the Rhodes Rolls into quarters. Dip each quarter of the roll into the cup of melted butter and then into the brown sugar mixture. After coating each roll, place it in the bundt pan.
- Repeat the process until approximately 12 rolls (or 48 pieces) have been placed in the bundt pan. Pour the remainder of the walnut pieces on top of this layer.
- Continue repeating the butter and brown sugar process until the rest of the rolls are placed in the bundt pan.
- Cook for 20 minutes uncovered. Then place aluminum foil over the top of the bundt pan and continue cooking for an additional 20-25 minutes until the top is brown and the monkey bread does not jiggle when you shake the pan.
- Remove from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before flipping over on a serving tray and enjoying!
Notes
- Brown Sugar: You can use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, it doesn’t matter!
- Butterscotch Pudding Mix: Look for the Cook and Serve Pudding and Pie Filling, not the instant pudding. You do not want prepared pudding, just the powder.
- Walnuts: Walnuts are optional, so feel free to leave them out if there’s an allergy in the home. They do an excellent job of balancing out some of the sweetness in this recipe.
- 24 Rhodes Rolls: Most packages of Rhodes Rolls come in packs of 36. Bake a dozen to use with dinner and then use the other 24 in this recipe! You may find other frozen rolls in your local grocery store and I’ve also seen Monkey Bread made with biscuit dough. Those may work okay, but my preference is Rhodes. You could also use homemade dough–but why complicate things?
- Walnuts are optional. Feel free to replace them with pecans or cashews or leave them out completely.
- A regular bundt pan will hold about 20 to 24 Rhodes rolls. Do not try to squeeze in too many rolls. The rolls will rise as they bake and with too many in the pan you will create a very sticky mess.
- These rolls are sold frozen and will need to be thawed to be cut. You can leave the entire bag in the refrigerator overnight to thaw them or separate the rolls and place them on a cookie sheet to thaw at room temperature. Thaw almost all the way but not quite. The rolls become rather sticky when thawed all the way, so just a little bit of chill left in them will make them easier to work with.
- Don’t skimp on the butterscotch, sugar, and cinnamon mixture. All that powder becomes the most delicious gooey caramel sauce so make sure each piece is coated well.
Leave a Reply