Name: Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 24 Rhodes dinner rolls (, almost thawed); 2/3 cup sugar; 2 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 cup butter ((one stick)); 2/3 cup brown sugar

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Made with frozen dinner roll dough, Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread really is the best. The fluffy chunks of bread are covered in cinnamon and sugar and baked in a gooey, butter sauce that makes this perfect for breakfast or dessert!

I made this Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread for our Sunday school class. Because I was putting it together on a Sunday morning (easily the CRAZIEST day in our home) I didn’t have any plans to blog the recipe.

But as I was on my way to choir practice before church, I sent my husband a message asking him to snap a photo just in case.

I’m glad he did, because this turned out so well and several people asked for the recipe. But since it was just a cell phone picture and it’s now several years old, I decided to give this post little love with some updated pictures. 🙂

The thing that sets this recipe apart from all other Monkey Bread recipes is that it’s made with frozen yeast rolls, rather than refrigerated biscuit dough. There’s also NO butterscotch pudding required-just a buttery brown sugar mixture that caramelizes while baking. YUM.

I’ve tried other brands, but I get the best results with Rhodes dinner rolls from the freezer section. (And no, this isn’t a sponsored post.) 😉

The result is tender bites of bread, covered in cinnamon and sugar, rather than dry biscuits. I honestly don’t like Monkey Bread made any other way. Unless you are going to go with homemade dough like this Garlic Butter Pizza Monkey Bread. *chef’s kiss*

I got the idea from Elle’s Studio and even made it in a baking pan like hers the first time I tried this recipe, but I believe it cooks much more quickly and evenly in a Bundt cake pan. Besides, it looks prettier this way. 🙂

Stick with a good quality Nordic Ware Bundt pan like this one to get an even bake and make it easy to remove.

Most bags of Rhodes rolls (found in the freezer section) will come with 36 rolls in a bag. This recipe calls for just 24 rolls, though. The fuller the pan, the more likely you will get a sticky mess spilling over the sides, so stick with 24 if you’re making Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread in a Bundt pan.

Start by cutting the rolls in fourths and then rolling them in a sugar and cinnamon mixture. This works best when the rolls are mostly thawed, but still partially frozen. It makes it easier to cut them up while still holding their shape.

Then toss the pieces of dough into a well greased pan and pour the butter and brown sugar mixture all over the dough. After that, all you have to do is bake and you’ve got a gorgeous pan of monkey bread that tastes so much better than the kind made with biscuit dough.

This monkey bread is a “special occasion” breakfast and always gets popular around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who loves to bake for the holidays! If you want to really take it up a notch, try making Cream Cheese Stuffed Monkey Bread.

Can I make this into an overnight monkey bread recipe?

Yes! Prepare the recipe as directed, but then cover and refrigerate overnight. If you leave them out on the counter, the dough will rise way too much. In the morning when you’re ready to bake, pull it out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then bake as directed.

Do I need to thaw the frozen rolls first?

Nope. Well, at least not all the way. I pull mine out and let them sit at room temperature for a little while so they start to get soft around the outside. But having them still partially frozen helps make it easier to cut them into fourths. By the time you have finished cutting them up and rolling them in the cinnamon and sugar, they should be thawed out.

Do I need to let the dough rise?

You can, but I don’t. 🙂 If you leave them in the refrigerator overnight, they will rise a bit even in the cold. This yields a slightly softer, fluffier bread after baking. If you go straight from prepping to baking, they will cook just fine. You’ll end up with nicely defined chunks of bread that are perfect for a “tear and share” loaf.

More “special occasion” breakfast ideas:

Reindeer Pancakes for Christmas
Overnight French Toast Bake (perfect for busy holiday mornings like Thanksgiving!)
17 Christmas Breakfast Ideas

Made with frozen dinner roll dough, Rhodes Rolls Monkey Bread really is the best. The fluffy chunks of bread are covered in cinnamon and sugar and baked in a gooey, butter sauce that makes this perfect for breakfast or dessert!

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