Easy Pecan Monkey Bread Recipe

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If you have been looking for a wonderful dessert bread recipe, this is it! This Easy Pecan Monkey Bread recipe is a favorite for breakfast and brunch but it also works fabulous as an after dinner dessert!

One of my favorite things about this EASY Pecan Monkey Bread Recipe is that it really is so easy to make and it takes just a few ingredients. You can of course, make it with or without pecans – but I have to say, the pecans do add wonderful flavor! My kids call this cinnamon monkey bread, and it’s been a favorite since they were little.

It’s perfect for Christmas morning as a holiday breakfast and also happens to work perfectly as a yummy vanilla ice cream topped dessert all year round. I’ve tried similar recipes made with the refrigerator biscuits and this one is just as easy, but just tastes a bit more like the cinnamon pull-apart bread that grandma used to make.

Ingredients for Making Easy Pecan Monkey Bread

• frozen yeast dinner rolls
• butter
• white sugar
• ground cinnamon
• brown sugar (both light or dark brown sugar works)
• vanilla extract
• chopped pecans
• Nonstick cooking spray

See full ingredient amounts in the printable recipe card below

How to Make Easy Pecan Monkey Bread

Spray a bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray

Evenly distribute the chopped pecans in the bottom of the prepared bundt pan

Melt ½ cup butter (1 stick) in a pan or microwave

Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl

Add each of the frozen dough round balls into the bowl of melted butter and cover thoroughly, then coat evenly with cinnamon sugar mixture.

Put the coated bread dough balls in the bottom of a greased bundt pan and repeat until the bottom of the pan is covered in a single layer of coated rolls. 

Sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar if desired then repeat the previous steps with the remaining bread balls of dough.

Cover the bundt pan with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until the rolls have doubled in size.

This could take up to four hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

When the rolls have risen, top with more cinnamon and sugar if desired. 

*if you are making these for holiday mornings, you’ll definitely want to make them in advance.

Make the Sugar Topping for your Monkey Bread

Now comes the best part! Creating the caramel sauce type sugar topping – this is different than the cinnamon-sugar mixture you made earlier – but trust me, this is the good stuff that all adds up to make a buttery brown sugar sauce that will make this easy monkey bread recipe over the top amazing!

Melt the remaining ¼ cup (half stick) of butter in a pan or microwave and combine with brown sugar and vanilla. 

Pour the butter and brown sugar mixture evenly over the bread and each piece of dough. You can kind of move the bundt pan around so that the caramel sauce covers all of the dough pieces.

Bake for about 35 minutes on the middle rack of your oven until golden brown. The caramel on top of the biscuit pieces should look dark and gooey and they should now resemble cinnamon rolls.

Let cool for 10 minutes then remove the bread from the bundt pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack. 

Pro Tip: Place the bundt pan on a cookie sheet or baking sheet on the lower rack of your oven before baking to catch any potential drippings.

This is such a delicious sweet treat that everyone will love! The first time you make it, you won’t believe how wonderful it makes your home smell!

Looking for more easy recipe ideas? I’ve shared so many over the years and if you love this yummy monkey bread recipe, you might also love these other favorite awesome recipes: 

Easy Chocolate Pecan Pie Recipe

Caramel Poke Cake Recipe

Homemade Snickers Snack Cup Recipe

We love recipes like this easy Monkey Bread Recipe because they become like a family tradition and they bring back so many memories each time we bake them. If you’ve ever wondered how to make monkey bread, this would be a great recipe to start with.

My kids learned how to make monkey bread when they were quite little, in fact – it was one of the first recipes that we made together and while this isn’t monkey bread from scratch, it’s a type of monkey bread that anyone can make and as close to truly homemade monkey bread as I’ve made. (except for the time that I tried to make the Pioneer Woman monkey bread recipe – but I’m nowhere near her skill level so this is the monkey bread recipe that will get passed down in our family recipe books, lol!)

I do have another monkey bread recipe made with canned biscuits, that you might enjoy AND I’ve also got a fun single serve monkey bread recipe.

Print the Recipe for this Easy Pecan Monkey Bread