Crock Pot Monkey Bread with Canned Biscuits
Crock pot monkey bread is the lazy weekend breakfast I make when I want something gooey and impressive without babysitting an oven. Made with refrigerator Grands biscuits, cinnamon sugar, and a buttery brown sugar caramel, this casserole crock pot version is fix-it-and-forget-it — pull-apart, sticky, and ready in about two hours.
Five simple ingredients get you on the way to one of our favorite caramel pull-apart bread. I have made this in the oven but recently decided to try it in my favorite casserole crock pot.
I’ve made monkey bread in the oven for years, but the casserole crock pot is now my go-to for holiday mornings and houseguests. You can start it before everyone’s awake and serve it warm straight from the crock. Below I’ll walk you through the steps, plus how to keep the center from staying doughy (the #1 thing people ask).
Crock Pot Monkey Bread Ingredients
The ingredients for monkey bread are biscuits, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. The staples no matter how you make it.
To make this monkey bread recipe just make sure you have all these ingredients on hand.
- Pillsbury Grands refrigerator biscuits – These are the large biscuits that come 8 biscuits to a can.
- Butter – Real butter is a staple in this recipe. No imitation of the real butter will work. Salted butter will work just fine.
- Brown sugar – Light brown sugar is the go-to sugar for this recipe. However, if you have only dark brown sugar on hand, you can use that too.
- White sugar – Simple white sugar is key for anything that is coated in cinnamon and sugar.
- Cinnamon – Your favorite cinnamon is fine for this recipe.
- Pinch of salt – Table salt will work just fine. Or sea salt works too.
How to Make Crock Pot Monkey Bread
To start, quarter two cans of large buttermilk refrigerator canned biscuits. I just run a knife through a stack of them to quarter them. Then add them to a ziplock bag of cinnamon and sugar. Give them a good shake and set aside to get started on the caramel sauce.
Just like the oven-baked monkey bread, the caramel sauce just needs butter, brown sugar, a little water and salt, and a good boil.
Then you just pour half on the bottom of the greased crock pot and save half for the top of the biscuits. I then place a small bowl in the middle of the sauce to allow for more edges to help cook the middle of the monkey bread.
Just drizzle the caramel sauce over top. As the biscuits bake, the sauce will warm and spread all over the biscuits. The ooey, gooey biscuits will be ready in just two hours.
Get your coffee brewed and ready for a large plate of monkey bread to go along with your monkey bread. Now, the edges will be a little crustier than the inside, so eat around the edges before diving in the middle. If you like brownie edges, you will like monkey bread edges too.
Why Isn’t My Crock Pot Monkey Bread Cooking in the Middle?
Give it time. Crock pots vary. If your middle is still raw at 2 hours, keep cooking and check every 20 minutes. Older or larger crocks can need closer to 3 hours.
The center is always the last part to cook, and it’s the most common monkey bread problem. A few fixes:
- Use the water-bowl trick. Place a small oven-safe bowl with a little water in the center of the crock before adding biscuits. This creates an extra hot edge so the middle cooks through instead of staying raw.
- Don’t overcrowd. Quartered biscuits should sit in an even layer with room to expand. Packed-in dough steams instead of bakes.
- Vent the lid. Lay a thin, tight kitchen towel under the lid to catch condensation that drips down and keeps the top doughy.
Tips for Making Crock Pot Monkey Bread
- The center is the last thing to cook, so put a small bowl with water in the middle to give another hot edge for the biscuits to touch.
- If you want a less sticky top for a more crusty top, place a thin kitchen towel pulled tight under the crock pot lid.
- Want to make this in the oven? No problem! You can make this monkey bread recipe in a bundt cake pan and bake on 350° for 45 minutes.
Casserole Crock Pot Breakfast Recipes
Crock Pot Monkey Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cans of refrigerator large biscuits like Grands
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 stick of butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cut biscuits into quarters and set aside. Pour sugar and cinnamon into a large ziplock bag and set aside with cut biscuits.
- In a small pan, melt butter, sugar, water and salt together. When mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and pour ⅓ of sauce in the bottom of a greased casserole crock pot.
- Place the cut biscuits in the bag of sugar and cinnamon. Shake to cover the biscuits and then put the biscuits evenly over the sauce in the crock pot.
- Finish by pouring the remaining sauce over top of the biscuits.
- Place the lid on the crock pot and cook for 2 hours on high heat.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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Have you ever prepared this ahead of time and let sit in refrigerator until ready to cook? Wondering if it will become too soggy? thanks
Eunice…I am GF also, and there is a site on pinterest called Lifeafterwheat (also lifeafterwheat.com), but I found it on pinterest, she has a crescent roll recipe that she uses for cinnamon rolls. I’m going to try this crockpot monkeybread recipe with the crescent rolls from lifeafterwheat. I made her crescent roll recipe and they were delicious. Good Luck.
This is the first recipe I’ve tried in my casserole crock. Its been on for 3 hours and I’ve still got raw dough on top. I just flipped it over to try and cook it through. The flavor is fine, the cooking method isn’t.
I only have a regular crock pot. Can you make the monkey bread in it instead of a casserole crock pot
?
I have not tried it in a regular crock pot. However, Recipes that crock has done something similar and it worked just fine in 6 qt crock pot for 2.5-3 hours. https://www.recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-cinnamon-roll-casserole/
Husband eats gluten free. Do you have recipes for him? Chris said to say hello – got this site from her.
Eunice…I am GF also, and there is a site on pinterest called Lifeafterwheat (also lifeafterwheat.com), but I found it on pinterest, she has a crescent roll recipe that she uses for cinnamon rolls. I’m going to try this crockpot monkeybread recipe with the crescent rolls from lifeafterwheat. I made her crescent roll recipe and they were delicious. Good Luck.
Does the cook time increase if I double the recipe?
Does the cook time increase if I double the recipe
That is a tough question. My guess is the middle may not be done but the outsides might be. You will definitely need more time.
Which sugar do you melt and which one do you toss the biscuits in?
White sugar with the cinnamon and brown sugar with the butter for melting.