This Monkey Bread comes together quickly and is perfect for serving overnight guests! They are one of my favorite no-fail recipes! Be sure to check out my from-scratch Homemade Monkey Bread too!
Monkey Bread
This is quite possibly the easiest and quickest recipe you will ever see. (Five ingredients total!) Not only is it the easiest, but quite possibly the best tasting rolls I have ever made. The secret ingredient is butterscotch pudding. Yes, really! (Just in case you prefer an all-from-scratch Monkey Bread, try this one.)
Tips and Tricks for Monkey Bread:
I made a miniature batch of the rolls in this cute little bundt pan and it only fit about 11 frozen rolls. When baked they had all magically lined up perfectly!
Every other time I have made the bread in a regular size bundt pan, the bread twists and turns and forms itself into bite-size pull away pieces. (Or, what a monkey bread traditionally looks like.) I have also made these in an 8×8 and 9×13 pan, which work equally well.
If you let the rolls sit out for longer than 12 hours, they can start to get so huge that they deflate. 8-10 hour seems to work best.
I have also heard this bread also called ‘pull apart bread’ and of course, caramel rolls. 🙂
These rolls are delectable. Delightful.
Divine.
With a recipe as easy and inexpensive as this, you really must try them. I promise you will not be disappointed!
This Monkey Bread comes together quickly and is perfect for serving overnight guests! They are one of my favorite no-fail recipes! Be sure to check out my from-scratch Homemade Monkey Bread too!
- 20 frozen Rhodes rolls
- 1 package COOK & SERVE butterscotch pudding, do not use instant
- 1/2 cup (1 stick, 113g) melted butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Chopped Nuts if desired
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Prepare the desired pan. (I use baking spray in a bundt pan)
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Sprinkle nuts in the pan if desired.
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Add twenty frozen rolls around the pan.
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Evenly spread dry pudding mix over rolls.
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In a medium bowl combine sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Pour over rolls.
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Leave on counter, uncovered, overnight. If you want to cover spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick spray and loosely place over the pan.
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When ready to serve, place in oven and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.
If you love this recipe you will also enjoy my Homemade Monkey Bread! And ready for a SUPER amazing twist? Try my Sprinkles Monkey Bread!!
Amanda! What are you doing posting on your actual due date!
go and have a baby or something!
Just kidding! So Omri won’t be sharing his birthday with your little guy, huh? That makes me sad! I can’t wait to meet him.
Oh, and the monkey bread looks fabulous, too!
I made this last night, though i didn’t have a bunt pan so Improvised and used on 12 rolls in a 9×9 cake pan. But i didn’t half the other ingredients. I think it may have been way too much pudding mix & not enough liquid (butter)? The topping came out gritty, which I wasn’t huge on but my friend LOVED. The concept and taste were delicious, but that grit was a turn-off for me. I will play around with it the next time I make it to try to minimize the grit.
In my experience, if you follow this recipe exactly, they always turn out gritty. Instead, melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the Brown Sugar and cinnamon to the melted butter and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly. At the end of 3 minutes, stir in the butterscotch pudding mix and remove from heat. Allow to cool enough that the boiling stops and then pour the completed caramel on top of the frozen rolls.
That’s it. No grit and a perfect caramel sauce.
Monkey bread is one of my absolute favorites. LOVE it!
Can’t wait to meet your little guy!
Looks like something that all of my *monkeys* would love for sure!
Hi Amanda!
I spent an hour or more on your blog last night!
Both blogs!
Love your cakes…love your words…adore YOU!
Making this Monkey Bread for company this weekend!
Hope I can find the Rhodes rolls!
Hugs from Bainbridge!
xo
Teresa
Hi Amanda,
I hope you read this. I am very new to baking. Your blog made me get the itch. I decided to try this monkey bread for Christmas because it seems so easy. However, I was wondering– if I make it the night before at around 11 and don’t bake until I get to my mother’s house around 1:30, will it be OK? Or will the stuff rise too much and spill over the top?
Also, what about sitting in the car for an hour (or more) on the drive there?
Thanks for your amazing blog(s)!
Samantha
Hi Amanda,
I love you’re blog, in fact i’ll be making your lemon butter-cream cake for my mums 50th next month 🙂
I live in the UK and have never tried monkey bread and am also wondering what Rhodes rolls are?
Also, i’m guessing by pudding you mean a bit like a smooth mouse? We only have angel delight here in the UK. :
Don’t even sell the canned biscuits in the UK which i have seen used 🙁
Thank you 🙂
Abbie
Oh dear! So many differences… the pudding that I put in is a dry mix and the Rhodes rolls are frozen pre-made bread balls. Have fun with the lemon buttercream cake!
Thanks for your reply 🙂
I know. We miss out on so many things here in the UK 🙁 only have 2 flavours of pop tart stocked in supermarkets!!
I think our angel delight is basically the same thing. Not sure about the rolls though, i’m assuming they are uncooked?
Thank you 🙂 she will love it 🙂
Just went on the site and then searched UK sites, we don’t anything like it 🙁 I’m sure i’ll find a way 🙂
I made this recipe tonight and am going to bake it tomorrow….I substituted the butterscotch pudding for vanilla though =) sounded good to me when I seen it at the store lol! I’m excited to bake it!!!!
So you don’t have to make the pudding before you put it on the bread? Just use the powder?
So you don’t have to make the pudding before you put it on the bread? Just use the powder?
Nope! You just dump the powder right over! 🙂
Hi! Quick question – what if I want to make this for a get-together tomorrow night but have no ingredients. Could I get the ingredients tomorrow morning, make it and let it sit all day and bake it in the evening (instead of letting it sit overnight)?
Thanks!
Yes! As a matter of fact, I think 8 hours would be perfect. The bag of rhodes rolls also has “quick” directions that might work! 🙂
Fabulous! Thanks!
I LOVE monkey bread. Just a footnote: I made this for company this morning and ended up with a grease fire in the oven. I don’t have a bundt pan, so I used the largest casserole dish I owned. Evidently not big enough. If you try this without a bundt pan, throw a jelly roll pan underneath. :/ Regardless of the fire, the bread was still delicious. Enjoy!!!
Oh my word!!! I am so sorry!! What an exciting/awful way to start the day! 🙁
this is a great recipe! I have tried it a couple times and each time it was delicious, but I accidentally let it rise too long so it was slightly over baked on top and undercooked on bottom bu still great!
This is exactly how we make it every Christmas morning!!! A hit for grown ups and kids alike! Happy holidays
Delicious looking recipe! Can someone please tell me what the pudding mix is, and an alternative, as I am quite sure that I can not get it at my local market (Australia), and would love to make monkey bread. Many thanks.
Maybe this might help… http://www.food.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=334735 Looks like there are not many substitutions. Sorry!
If you add cornstarch to your sugar mixture you should get the same result. Pudding Mix – basic recipe
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
directions
VANILLA PUDDING MIX
Mix well all ingredients. Store airtight in cool, dry place. Keeps several months. Makes about 2 cups.
CHOCOLATE PUDDING MIX
Add 3/4 cup cocoa and 1/2 cup sugar to Basic Pudding Mix. Makes about 3 cups
BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING MIX
Substitute 2 cups packed dark-brown sugar for granulated sugar in Vanilla Pudding Mix. Makes about 2-2/3 cups packed mix.
VANILLA PUDDING
1/2 cup Vanilla Pudding mix (above) 2 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla
In saucepan blend well mix and milk. Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Pour into 4 custard cups or dessert dishes. Chill. If desired unmold. Delicious topped with pureed strawberries and roasted slivered almonds.
CHOCOLATE PUDDING: Use 3/4 cup Chocolate Pudding Mix (above) and prepare as above.
BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING: Use 2/3 cup packed Butterscotch Pudding Mix (above). Prepare as above, adding 2 tablespoons butter with vanilla.
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/9/Basic_Pudding_Mixes45429.shtml
Add I thought this was a secret family recipe. Our “goo” factor is a bit higher tho. It includes some heavy whipping cream.
What size box is the pudding?
3 ounces
We’ve enjoyed this recipe for years! Rather than chopped nuts, we add whole pecans so those who don’t like nuts can pull them off – for those of us who love them! At Christmas we add some maraschino cherry halves – then they taste just like the special cinnamon rolls my Grandmother used to make . . . From scratch “-)
That sounds great!
I tried making this once, was a different recipe & used a bundt pan. I followed the directions for baking it & a lot of the monkey bread was undercooked. How can I prevent that from happening? Is there anything I did wrong???
Have you ever tried this with vanilla pudding instead of butterscotch? Debating if it would make it more of a cinnamon roll type of pull around rather than a monkey bread ( caramelized thing)
I’m a Baker and for whatever reasons the baking Gods just wont allow me to successfully make monkey bread. No matter what I do, my bread turns out with hard gritty chunks of brown sugar. I cant win this one. To be clear, this is not a reflection of the recipe itself. I just think I’m cursed. Been baking for YEARS and this is the ONLY recipe that doesnt work for me EVER! So disappointed 🙁
I have made this many times, as did my Mother. Two suggestions. I coat the rolls, slightly defrosted, with the pudding mix by shaking in a large zip-lock.
Also, once out of the oven let them cool EXACTLY 4 minutes before turning them out onto a platter. The good stuff is on the bottom and can be poured over the rolls before it hardens.