Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread with Pecan Caramel Sauce is a gooey, rich, and delicious treat you will want to share with family and friends. It combines the flavors of classic cinnamon rolls with a fun pull-apart style bread.
This recipe is sponsored by Karo® Syrup. Celebrate sweet moments together with Karo®!
It was a chilly day in Colorado back in the 90s, and I was on a school field trip. We’d just visited a classmate’s house with an epic Christmas train display (yeah, 90s nostalgia, right?). But the real magic happened when my classmate’s mom whipped up a batch of monkey bread.
As soon as I stepped through the door, I was hit with the most amazing smell – warm, sweet cinnamon filling the air. And the taste? Pure love at first bite. Imagine warm, gooey, cinnamon-infused bread. This recipe is just like that.
The star of the show is, of course, those fluffy cinnamon rolls that, when baked, become irresistibly soft and fluffy. As if that weren’t enough, the buttery, caramel pecan sauce adds a divine touch of complexity to the bread’s overall taste. It’s a drool-worthy and memorable treat that’s bound to leave you craving more.
What is Monkey Bread?
Monkey bread is a fluffy, gooey, and delicious cinnamon and sugar-coated pull-apart bread served as a sweet treat for breakfast or dessert. It is typically made using biscuit dough and baked in a bundt pan.
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
In a twist, this Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread recipe is made with store-bought refrigerated cinnamon rolls. The dough is cut into quarter slices and tossed in more cinnamon and sugar. However, you can also use store-bought canned biscuits instead. A honey butter flavor or sweet Hawaiian would be delicious!
Ingredients
- Cinnamon rolls: Any regular-size store-bought refrigerated cinnamon rolls will do; pick your favorite. For example, Annie’s Organic, Great Value, or Pillsbury. This recipe uses three 12.4-ounce cans. Alternatively, some brands, including Annie’s and Pillsbury, make large-size or Grands that come in a 17-ounce can. If you choose to go with these larger-sized rolls, you only need to use two cans.
- Sugar: Granulated white sugar is used to coat the dough pieces and helps to create gooey, sticky texture.
- Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is used to coat the pieces of dough. It may seem redundant to toss cinnamon roll pieces in more cinnamon; you can substitute it for clove or nutmeg or omit it altogether.
- Salted butter: Salted butter is used to melt dark brown sugar and create a syrupy mixture that will get drizzled all over the dough before baking. If you use unsalted butter, you can add a pinch of salt to cut some of the sweetness.
- Dark brown sugar: Dark brown sugar is melted in salted butter to create a rich and sweet syrup for drizzling the dough before baking. You can use light brown sugar for a less rich flavor.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract enhances the flavor. Other extract flavors that would be nice to try are almond, maple, or rum.
Pecan Caramel Sauce Ingredients
- Light Corn Syrup: Karo Syrup is a pantry staple in our house! It’s a superior quality ingredient (loved by most chefs), and whenever we use it to make pralines, caramels, pies, sauces, etc., we get consistent results every time. This sauce is rich and buttery, and Karo Syrup helps to balance the sweetness and give the sauce a smooth texture.
- Pecans: Pecans are native to the southern United States and are super crunchy with a buttery taste. Our recipe calls for chopped pecans, but you can also use pecan chips, which are tinier pieces of chopped pecans and great for baking.
- Salted Butter: Salted butter helps to cut some of the sweetness. It doesn’t add a salty flavor, so if you want a salted caramel sauce, you can always sprinkle sea salt flakes on top at the very end.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is added to melted butter and corn syrup to create caramel.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract (imitation) is added for flavor. If using pure vanilla extract, increase the amount by 1/4 teaspoon for a more robust flavor, if desired.
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
- First, preheat your oven to 400 F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan, and set aside. Greasing and flouring the pan will help to prevent the dough from sticking to the sides.
- Remove the refrigerated dough from the cans and cut each roll into quarters. Place the pieces in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon in a separate medium bowl and whisk together. Pour the mixture over the dough and toss until each piece is well coated.
- Arrange the dough in the prepared Bundt pan, ensuring that the pieces are evenly distributed across the pan.
- Next, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla until fully incorporated. Then pour the syrupy mixture over top.
- Set the Bundt pan in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the dough has risen and is golden brown.
- Allow it to cool until warm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Set a serving plate on top of the Bundt pan and carefully flip it over to invert the cake onto the serving plate.
- While cooling, make the sauce.
How to Make Pecan Caramel Sauce
- First, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat.
- Once butter is melted, add Karo® Syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla, stirring until the sugar is blended. Next, add chopped pecans and stir.
- Increase heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and let the sauce simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the sauce cool for 3 to 5 minutes until it’s thickened a little more.
- Finally, pour the sauce over the cinnamon roll monkey bread and enjoy! For a Salted Caramel Pecan Sauce, sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top to finish.
What to Serve with Monkey Bread
Monkey bread is a pull-apart style bread, which is meant for sharing! This is especially fun when sharing with our kids. However, you can also slice and serve with friends and family.
Marrekus loves to eat it for dessert with a bowl of creamy homemade vanilla ice cream. You can also enjoy it for breakfast or brunch with a cup of coffee.
Reheating Directions
You can reheat it in the oven or microwave. We recommend using the oven if you reheat more than 1 or 2 slices.
- To reheat in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 F. Set it on a sheet pan or oven-safe baking dish and heat for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
- To reheat in the microwave, set 1 slice on a microwave-safe plate or bowl for around 30 seconds.
How to Make Monkey Bread with Canned Biscuits
First, preheat the oven to 400 F, then grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. Properly greasing or lining the pan can help prevent sticking and ensure an easy release of the monkey bread.
Remove the refrigerated biscuit dough from the cans and cut each biscuit into quarters. Place the dough pieces in a large mixing bowl and toss with cinnamon and sugar.
Arrange the cinnamon and sugar-coated dough in the prepared Bundt pan, ensuring that the pieces are evenly distributed across the pan. Properly stacking and layering the coated dough pieces in the pan is important for creating the monkey bread’s pull-apart effect.
Next, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla until fully incorporated. Then pour the syrupy mixture over the dough.
Set the Bundt pan in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the dough has risen and is a light golden brown color. Allow it to cool until it’s warm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Set a serving plate on top of the Bundt pan and carefully flip it over to invert the cake onto the serving plate.
How to Make Monkey Bread Without a Bundt Pan
Use a standard 9-inch round cake pan, a tube pan, a loaf pan, a baking dish, or even a muffin pan for cute miniature versions.
Just remember to properly grease and flour whatever you use so that the dough will not stick to the sides of the pan. Modify the recipe ingredients according to the size of your baking vessel.
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread with Pecan Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 12.4-ounce cans of cinnamon rolls
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pecan Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Karo® Light Corn Syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan, and set aside.
- Remove refrigerated dough from cans and cut each cinnamon roll into quarters. Place cinnamon roll pieces in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon in a separate medium bowl and whisk together. Pour cinnamon sugar mixture over cinnamon roll pieces and toss until each piece is well coated.
- Arrange cinnamon roll dough in prepared Bundt pan, making dough is evenly distributed across pan.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla until fully incorporated. Then, pour the syrupy mixture over the dough.
- Set Bundt pan in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until dough has risen and is a golden brown color.
- Allow Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread to cool until warm to the touch, about 10 minutes.
- Set a serving plate on top of Bundt pan and carefully flip it over to invert the cake onto the serving plate.
- While cooling, make Pecan Caramel Sauce.
Pecan Caramel Sauce
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat.
- Add Karo® Syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla, stirring until sugar is blended.
- Stir in chopped pecans.
- Increase heat and bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat and let the sauce simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Remove saucepan from heat and let cool for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it’s thickened a little more.
- Pour sauce over Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread and enjoy!
This monkey bread is sooo delightful and the sauce goes perfectly with it. I’m sort of a lazy cook so I was thankful for the option to make this with canned biscuits. Big plus!
Perfectly sticky-sweet and so delicious. It also looks beautiful! Definitely making this for holiday brunch ; )
My paternal grandmother Nana used to make Monkey Bread so this brings back so many good memories. This version sounds incredible.
I’ve only started baking bread recently and this monkey bread has to be one of my favourites so far. It’s so soft and sweet and pairs well with the pecan topping. I’m looking forward to making this again!
This monkey bread is everything! Drizzling the pecan sauce on top was to satisfying and the taste exceeded my expectations!
This was even better than it looks (and it looks amazing)! I love anything with pecans and brown sugar. I had to make sure I didn’t eat the entire thing in one day.
I loved this Monkey Bread. The Karo Syrup made the sauce foolproof and delicious. I’ll definitely be making this for holiday brunches.
OMG this monkey bread is so amazing! The sauce on top makes all the difference!
This monkey bread was absolutely divine! I’ve been looking for a recipe for a while and once I saw these pictures it was a must! Turned out amazing! Thank you!!
The brown sugar sauce was so easy to make! Thanks for the Karo syrup tip.
Oh my goodness! These were so delicious, and absolutely addicting! My kids devoured them as soon as they came out of the oven!