Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Easy Recipe

Level up your monkey bread with this extra easy Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread.

We’ll use Pillsbury Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls to simplify the process. You’ll never make monkey bread the same way again!

– Ashton
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Recipe

Sometimes you’re just rushed for time — it happens to literally all of us! This easy cinnamon roll monkey bread is my super-quick shortcut for when you don’t have hours to spare. We’re talking simple ingredients, canned cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator section, and a result so gooey and delicious that your family will think you worked all morning. It’s the perfect breakfast for a special occasion OR just a random Tuesday, honestly. This pull-apart cinnamon roll monkey bread is also a great holiday morning treat — think Christmas morning breakfast while the kids open gifts in their pajamas. Be still my heart! 🎄

What You Need to Make This Easy Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

You’ll need three cans of cinnamon rolls — I love using Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls or the Cinnabon cinnamon roll dough for extra cinnamon flavor. Both are ah-mazing! You can also grab canned orange rolls if you want to mix things up. Beyond that, the exact measurements are all in the recipe card below, but the basics are: melted butter, dark brown sugar, honey, and a tablespoon of cinnamon mixed with a cup of sugar for coating. That cinnamon sugar combo is everything. Oh, and don’t skip the baking spray — nobody wants their beautiful ooey, gooey sticky bread welded to the pan, lol. Room temperature butter melts faster in the microwave, just FYI!

How to Make Pull-Apart Bread Step by Step

Okay, here’s where the magic happens! Cut each of the canned cinnamon roll dough pieces in half and roll each half into dough balls. Toss about half of them into a zip-top freezer bag filled with your cinnamon sugar mixture and shake to coat — so fun, honestly. Layer them into a greased bundt pan (also called a fluted tube pan). Repeat with the remaining dough balls. Then microwave your stick of butter with the dark brown sugar and honey, and pour that gorgeous caramel sauce right over the top of the monkey bread. The cooking time is around 20 minutes — keep a close eye on it toward the end so the tops go golden brown without burning. Then drizzle the packaged glaze — or a homemade glaze if you’re feeling fancy — all over. Voila! Classic monkey bread, done!

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Recipe

Making Monkey Bread from Scratch

I love a good shortcut recipe when I don’t have the time or energy, but for those times you want truly homemade monkey bread, I got you covered! You can follow the same basic outline here — just swap the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for homemade biscuit dough or a quick yeast dough, cut it into small pieces, and coat in the cinnamon sugar. You’ll want a little rise time for that soft, fluffy sweet bread texture. Same kind of pan, same standard directions, same lots of glaze at the end. 😍 If you love this cinnamon roll version, you’ll also want to check out this Cranberry Bliss Pull-Apart Bundt — it’s another one of my favorite versions of pull-apart bread for the holiday season!

How Do You Know When Monkey Bread is Done?

Good question — it can be a little tricky! You don’t want the middle doughy and you definitely don’t want the outside burned. Gently press the top of the entire monkey bread. Very little resistance means the center is still raw — keep baking and re-test in 5-minute increments. If you’re reheating leftover monkey bread, pop it in the microwave in 15-second increments until warmed through. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature. Pro tip: this recipe also works in a loaf pan or even a jumbo muffin tin for cinnamon roll monkey bread muffins — prettiest presentation ever for a fun family dessert! Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or alongside fresh fruit and your favorite French toast for a perfect dish.

More Monkey Bread and Cinnamon Rolls Recipes

Can we talk about how this type of recipe is just the entire universe’s gift to breakfast lovers?! 🙌 Whether you’re after a delicious snack, a holiday tradition treat, or just one of those delicious recipes that makes everyone at the table go quiet (you know the ones), this bubble bread delivers every single time. Pair it with some cinnamon hot chocolate and you’ve got the most perfect Christmas morning breakfast situation ever. Also obsessed with this Holiday Breakfast Ultimate Guide for even more excellent ways to wow your crew. And if you’ve spotted the pizza monkey bread recipe or baklava monkey bread floating around my Instagram stories — yes, those are real and yes, you absolutely have to make them. Check the recipe card below for the entire recipe with exact measurements!

Related Recipes

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Recipe

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes

Level up your monkey bread with this Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread. This recipe is extra easy because you don't have to start from scratch. Instead we'll use Pillsbury Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls to simplify the process. You'll never make monkey bread the same way again!

Ingredients

  • 3 cans Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls dough
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp. honey

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400º. Grease a bundt pan well, and set aside.
  2. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a large zip to bag.
  3. Open the cans of cinnamon roll dough. Cut each cinnamon roll in 2 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place about half of them into the zip top bag. Shake to coat the dough.
  4. Place the coated dough balls in the bundt pan. Place the remaining dough balls into the bag and repeat coating. Place all of the dough in the bundt pan.
  5. In a small bowl, microwave the butter, brown sugar, and honey for 1 minute. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the dough balls in the bundt pan.
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until dough on the outside is brown and the center feels “set” when you lightly push on it.
  7. Allow to stand for 5 minutes and then invert onto a plate. Drizzle Cinnabon frosting over top before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 305
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58 thoughts on “Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Easy Recipe”

  1. That sounds great but you don’t tell us how to make the Cinnabon frosting that we are supposed to drizzle on top???

  2. I’m trying to pin or save this recipe via zip list so I can find it for Christmas morning but can’t seem to do it. Help!

  3. This looks fantastic! However, if, for some crazy reason, I was reading your lovely blog from Australia, what would be a good substitute for 3 cans Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls dough? Hope you can help! Thanks for your time! 🙂

  4. Quick question. Can the prep be done the night before? Want to make Christmas morning but don’t want to be working while opening presents!! Thanks.

  5. Someday you will be a diabetic. It’s a sure thing, mark my words!
    But, lol, I’m on this site because I’m a rebellious diabetic already!

  6. Quick question – if I think 3 cans of this stuff will be WAY too much for my little family, and want to scale it down, what sort of pan do you think would work for 2 cans? Just a smaller cake pan maybe? Thanks!

  7. Love your idea of frosting, any good frosting (white) drizzled over monkey bread after done would be great. I have been making monkey bread from a recipe I found in newspaper 25,yrs ago or more. I use four cans pillsbury dough. Here in californiavpillsbury has a 4 pack just for use monkey bread lovers. I am makingv 3 of them for Christmas gifts. I am gonna frost one &try it. Main key is to stay with the oven at 15 min. & keep watch on it don’t cook much more than 20 -25 mins. If you have an acurate oven less is betters so it is gooey. I made one for my sons work & the small staff & w owners ate it & my son called us in few mins of dropping it off saying they ate it all and wanted more & he didn’t get ny. He said someone btrought one they made &. It was horrible. He told them his mom made killer monkey bread. They keep begging so I am taking 2 over for them fresh made & hot…….love your recipes & website….keep up the good work.i am from Tennessee & my mom moved back there & made my monkey bread. & everyone thought it was amazing…….. Merry Christmas & thanks. ………Linda waters

  8. Ok – YES DELICIOUS!!!
    And makes the house smell so wonderful on Christmas morn!!!
    Many wonderful memories and conversations will be made over this monkey bread in our family.

    Thanks for posting this, I totally pinned it.

    -Patty (fanta4two.com)

  9. Well my new years resolution was going well…until this made it onto my pinterest feed. Worth the entertainment for my two little girls, though…it’s in the oven baking. Can’t wait to indulge!

  10. I really like the recipe, except that after 25 minutes the dough is still raw…so far mine has been cooking for 40 minutes and it still wont stay together

    • I have found there can definitely be some variation with different bundt pans and even between gas vs electric ovens! I’ve baked it for up to an hour and 10 minutes in a gas stove when I used 4 packs of cinnamon rolls instead of 3. If you cover it with foil and continue to bake it, testing for doneness with a toothpick every ten minutes (after about 50 minutes), it’ll turn out alright!

  11. Hi, I had 3 different cinnabon packages in my store, did you use the 5 roll packs (not grands), the ten roll packs (not grands), or the 5 roll pack that are grand biscuits? Thanks in advance!

    • Honestly… I’m kind of thinking it was an 8 pack… which doesn’t match up to what you said, so I’m probably remembering wrong! But, really, it doesn’t matter too much. Just be sure to cut the dough down into approximately 2″ chunks, and don’t fill the bundt pan more than halfway with dough 🙂

  12. Did this yesterday using Cinnaon’s new mini bites and it was a huge success! Didn’t have to cut them p and ended up with lots more little bites. Thanks for this easy and awesome recipe!!

    • Hard to answer this as I NEVER feel like the store bought rolls are dry! I didn’t think this turned out dry either…. but I’m thinking you and I may have different dry “meters” 🙂 Sorry I can’t be more help!

  13. These came out so gooey, and delicous. I didn’t add the canned frosting, because they were perfect as is. Thanks for the great recipe!

  14. Made this last night DELICIOUS!!! Looking for more great recipes on it site. Thanks for the recipe an it was easy.

  15. I made this recipe tonight with my 4 year old daughter, and I have to say… This turned out AMAZING!!! Thank you for this creative and fun recipe! The only change I made was using maple syrup instead of honey, honestly because I was out of honey and it was too late to run to the store again. I’m excited to have this in my recipe files! Thanks again!

  16. Of course! It’s in the Pillsbury biscuits case with all other doughs (pizza dough, cookie dough, Grands biscuits). It’s called Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls Cinnabon Style…some have cream cheese icing, some don’t. Look for it!

  17. I had a lot of cinnamon & sugar left over after coating the dough. I wondered if you did as well & what, if anything did you do with it…throw it out?

  18. I think it would serve a lot of people better if you link (you don’t even have to create) a recipe on how to make the cinnabon dough from scratch. Thanks!

    • That’s a totally different recipe than what I’m trying to showcase here. If you’d like, I have two from-scratch doughs in my sidebar that could be used in place of the canned dough 🙂

  19. This is the most delicious monkey bread recipe I have ever tried and I’ve tried lots of them. I have made it many times and it’s often requested by my adult daughter when she wants something special cooked by mom. My office co-workers are always excited when it’s my turn to bring the “treats” to our Friday morning meetings because I usually bring this. Yumm!!

  20. Thank you for sharing this recipe – it is absolutely the best!! I came across the recipe probably about 4 months ago and have made it at least a dozen times or more for family, friends & co-workers and everybody has raved about it. It’s so easy and tastes so good!! Thanks again for sharing it!

  21. do we have to use the brown sugar/butter glaze!? just wondering cuz im pregnant, its late and dont wanna run to grocery store just for brown sugar lol 

  22. Hello! I made this last night and it was a huge hit! One problem I had though was I thought there was too much of the brown sugar sauce on it and it made it too caramely. Is that normal for it to harden up like that or did I do something wrong?? Everyone else liked it anyway, but I’m wondering if there’s a way to fix that problem. Thanks in advance. 🙂

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