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Monkey Bread with Walnuts and Vanilla

A super easy monkey bread recipe made with store-bought biscuit dough and studded with rich walnuts that’s ready in a flash and sure to please.

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Monkey bread with walnuts and vanilla shown on a black platter with a silver serving spoon

This post is in partnership with California Walnuts. All opinions are our own.

The “Monkeyiest” Monkey Bread Recipe (Also the Easiest!)

Sticky, cinnamon-y and dotted through with crunchy walnuts, this ultra-easy monkey bread recipe is a real sanity saver. Whether you need a last-minute brunchy treat or a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, this monkey bread recipe is a trusty one. Because we built it around store-bought biscuit dough, just like our moms did, the prep is almost zero. Biscuit dough is one of those wonderful things that is refrigerated and freezes really well, so using that shortcut here saves you time without sacrificing flavor in the slightest—who doesn’t love that?! Might we suggest you add this gooey, rich, nutty monkey bread recipe to your Christmas morning traditions—it’s got all the yummy, warmly-spiced goodness that we crave, but it’s simple enough that it won’t interfere with your very important plan to have a really lazy Christmas day. Win, win! Try our Baked French Toast for another Christmas morning win!

Ingredients for Monkey Bread with walnuts and vanilla including biscuit dough, butter, cinnamon, walnuts, brown sugar

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Everything You’ll Need To Make Monkey Bread

Just seven ingredients are all you need to make our vanilla-walnut monkey bread recipe! You might even have most of this stuff on-hand already, which is the best case scenario -especially at the holidays. Here’s everything you’ll need to make this recipe:

  • Chopped walnuts. Take note! To keep your walnuts really nice and fresh, store them in the fridge after purchase. And if you’re not planning to use them right away, store them in the freezer. More on storage can be found here.
  • Refrigerated biscuit dough
  • Sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Salted butter
  • Brown sugar
  • Vanilla extract
Profile shot of walnut monkey bread with a few pieces of monkey bread on a silver spoon

Three Reasons We Love Walnuts

We really love walnuts, and there’s something about their satisfying crunch and slight richness that makes them especially suited to the holidays. They always find their way into our holiday baking, and this monkey bread recipe is no exception. Here are a few of the reasons we love them:

  1. Their soft texture makes them perfect for baking, especially when the baking is pillowy, buttery monkey bread!
  2. While great for baking, their mild flavor makes them a great source of protein and fiber for savory dishes as well. A great example of this is our Walnut Bolognese!
  3. Lastly, with all their nutritional benefits and almost sweet flavor, we love them most just on their own. The perfect any-time-of-day snack if you ask us.
walnuts layered in a bunt pan
walnuts and biscuit dough layered in a bundt pan
butter, brown sugar and vanilla melted in a silver saucepan with a wooden spoon
Prepared walnut monkey bread with vanilla and cinnamon sugar all layered in a silver bundt pan
Baked walnut Monkey bread in a bundt pan
Monkey bread with walnuts and vanilla shown on a black platter

How To Make Monkey Bread with Walnuts and Vanilla

Our monkey bread recipe has a bit of a shake-n-bake vibe, and honestly we’re kind of into it. Shaking the biscuit pieces with cinnamon sugar is also a fun job for little hands, so go ahead and get the kids involved if you feel like it! This recipe is pretty hard to mess up, so it’s a good one for the whole family. Here’s how to make vanilla-walnut monkey bread!

  1. Cut each biscuit into four pieces
  2. Toss the dough with cinnamon sugar to coat
  3. Layer the dough, then walnuts, then dough, then walnuts into a buttered Bundt pan
  4. Melt butter and stir in brown sugar and vanilla
  5. Pour that mixture over the layered dough and walnuts
  6. Bake! about 35 minutes.
  7. Cool and serve!
Monkey bread with walnuts and vanilla shown won a platte with glasses of milk and small plates for serving

Tools You’ll Need :

More Easy Holiday Baking Recipes To Try!

Don’t Even Monkey Around With Other Monkey Bread Recipes

Because it just doesn’t get much easier or more delicious than this! Try this vanilla-walnut monkey bread recipe, and let us know how you like it, OK? Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!

Monkey Bread with Walnuts and Vanilla

  • Serves: 10
  • Prep Time:  15 min
  • Cook Time:  35 min
  • Calories: 498

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 2 16 oz packages refrigerated biscuit dough
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup salted butter, cut into tablespoons slices
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
  2. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with ½ cup of walnuts, set aside.
  3. Mix the white sugar and cinnamon in a large zip top bag. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Place 10 biscuit pieces into the bag with the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Shake until each of the pieces are completely coated. Add the sugar coated biscuits to the prepared pan. Topping with ½ of the remaining walnuts. Continue until all the biscuits and remaining walnuts are in the pan.

  4. In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter has melted, stir in the brown sugar and vanilla extract. Stir until combined, but not long enough for it to separate, about 1 minute.
  5. Carefully pour the brown sugar mixture into the Bundt pan over the biscuit pieces. Shake it back and forth a few times to ensure that the walnut pieces are well coated and don’t stick to what will be the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Loosen edges of the pan with a spatula. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories498
  • Protein5 g
  • Carbohydrates65 g
  • Total Fat26 g
  • Dietary Fiber1 g
  • Cholesterol48 mg
  • sodium521 mg
  • Total Sugars42 g

Monkey Bread with Walnuts and Vanilla

Questions & Reviews

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  • Brianna

    Hey you guys! Looking forward to making this for thanksgiving…


    I would love to make mini bite sized ones.

    What would you suggest I do besides mini Bundt pans? Or is that the only smaller option?

    Love you guys! Hope you can help!!

    mini bundt pans would work best but you could always use a cupcake tins if that's what you have on hand. Hope you enjoy!

  • AR

    Could you substitute pizza dough for the biscuit dough? Looks like an awesome recipe!

    That would not work in this recipe, sorry AR.

  • Trisha

    Can you please tell what refrigerated biscuits you used. There are such a variety out there and some, I imagine, wouldn’t give a satisfactory result. Thanks.

    Any should work fine but you could get pillsbury.

  • Caitlin

    How should I store this? I need to make it the day before and serve

    Store in an air tight container at room temperature

  • Janet

    Can I make this the night before, refrigerate and bake in the morning?

    No. The butter needs to be nice and melted when it goes into the oven. It would get hard if you made it the night before.

  • Karle

    Awesome!

    Thanks you Karle!

  • Jeff

    This is addictively delicious. I substituted pecans for walnuts. I highly recommend that. Thanks for the recipe.

    I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Jeff! Pecans are a wonderful sub!

  • Kelli

    THIS MONKEY BREAD IS AMAZING AND SO EASY!!!!!I love eating monkey bread, but have a hard time finding it at *most* coffee shops, bakeries, etc. I was looking for a good recipe and knew you guys would not let me down. It's a fool-proof crowd pleaser! Highly recommend!

    Thank you! I am so glad you love it!