Monkey bread is a very popular dish in Canada and North America, and it is the star of breakfast food on cold autumn and winter days. 

The monkey bread always brings me back to the holiday season when I used to wake up and find it served on the table alongside a delicious hot chocolate.

The only problem with this dish is that if you are celiac or gluten intolerant you cannot eat it, but don’t worry, I bring you the solution!

This recipe for gluten-free monkey bread is very easy to make and the result is similar to regular monkey bread!

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What is Monkey Bread?

Monkey bread was brought to the United States by Hungarian immigrants in the late 19th century. Already in the middle of the 20th century, it began to be sold in Jewish and Hungarian bakeries, but it still did not manage to be the famous dish that it is today.

Nowadays Monkey Bread is a staple in Canada too!

Its first rise to fame was in the 1970s when the Betty Crocker brand included the monkey bread recipe under the name “Hungarian coffee cake” in one of its most famous cookbooks.

Then in the 1980s, the then-first lady of the United States Nancy Reagan included monkey bread as an essential meal for Christmas in the White House.

In the present day, this dish is still one of the favorites of many American families to celebrate Christmas morning, or it is even served as an afternoon snack or dessert during Easter.

Things You’ll Need for Gluten-Free Monkey Bread

Here you will learn how to make monkey bread from scratch, and thankfully the ingredients are easy to find and the equipment required is present at any house! 

You’ll just need a saucepan, a bundt pan, or any other similar pan with edges that contain the monkey bread dough, and a hand or stand mixer. 

The ingredients are also pretty easy to find at any store and you might even have some of them in your pantry! The key ingredients are gluten-free flour, buttermilk, butter, and there are many replacements that you can make.  

Ingredients

• 4 cups (480g) gluten-free flour (any blend of your choice)
• 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter (cold and cubed)
• 1 ½ cups (340g) buttermilk 
• 1 cup (200g) white sugar
• ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

How to make Gluten-Free Monkey Bread – Step by Step Guide

1. The first step on this gluten-free monkey bread recipe is to preheat the oven at 180°C (350°F) for at least 15 minutes. With a brush and oil or melted butter grease a bundt pan and set it aside.
2. Now mix together the dry ingredients; gluten-free flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. To the previous mix add cubed and cold butter, one cube at a time, and mix it with a stand or hand mixer until it reaches a sand-like consistency. I personally recommend using the hook attachment if your mixer has one, if not, anyone will work!
4. Then slowly add buttermilk and form a lumpy ball, the dough should be loose so don’t over mix. You will see that the dough has some lumps but don’t worry! That’s how the gluten-free dough usually forms.
5. Cover the dough with a lid or plastic wrap and let it rest on the fridge for 30 minutes. This is only for the dough to rest since no gluten will develop and the dough won’t double in size as a regular dough, but it is still a very important step.
6. After that grab a little bit of dough with your hands and form small dough balls. In a small bowl mix white sugar and cinnamon, then set it aside.
7. Coat the dough balls with the cinnamon-sugar mixture, make sure each ball is completely covered since this prevents them from sticking to one another. Then place each ball into the bundt pan.
8. In a saucepan melt the sticks of butter and brown sugar, cook the mixture until the ingredients blend in together completely. It should have a liquid consistency and a brown caramel color. Pour on top of the dough covering as much of the dough as you can.
9. For the last step bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 to 40 minutes. Once the time went by removing it from the oven, let it cool for 15 to 30 minutes, and place the monkey bread on a plate.

Substitution of ingredients

The easiest replacement that you can make to this recipe is to change the gluten-free flour for regular all-purpose flour.

Of course, once that you make this change it won’t be gluten-free anymore, but it can work if you and your guests can eat food with gluten.

If you don’t want to make the dough or don’t have the time for it, I recommend you to try the easy Monkey Bread with Pre-made Pillsbury Dough, where you replace the homemade dough with the Pillsbury dough. If you are lucky you might find some gluten-free dough at a local store and use that one.

You can also make a pizza Monkey Bread! Instead of making a caramel liquid sauce, and using cinnamon and sugar, you just have to arrange the dough balls and pour some tomato sauce and once that it bake for 20 minutes add some cheese on top, then cook for 20 minutes more. You can use any topping of your choice such as ham, olives, anchovies, etc.

There are a lot of easy monkey bread recipes and one of them is vegan monkey bread, which is really good but I recommend you making it with regular all-purpose flour instead of gluten-free since it might have a hard consistency.

To make this vegan monkey bread you just need to replace the butter and buttermilk with their vegan versions!

If you want to try out other monkey bread recipes, have a look at my monkey bread with 1 can of biscuits or my recipe for monkey bread with crescent rolls.

Tips on Serving Gluten-Free Monkey Bread

Honestly, this dish can be served on any occasion, since it is very delicious and if you have guests at home you will definitely amaze them.

I personally love making it for breakfast, so when the rest of the family wake up they feel the house filled with a delicious cinnamon aroma.

I recommend serving it on a large plate and letting everyone grab their own ball of monkey bread, just make sure no one eats your piece!!

How to store Gluten-Free Monkey Bread

Gluten-free monkey bread can last up to 3 to 5 days stored in the refrigerator without any problem!

You should only take it out 30 minutes before, or heat it in the microwave or in the oven since warm has a much better taste.

You can also keep it in the freezer and freeze it for a week! There is no contraindication and you could even keep it there for a longer time, but due to the quality of the flavor, I recommend that you only freeze it for a week.

You can also freeze the monkey bread before cooking it, for this, you must put the dumplings in the bundt bread, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze it for up to 7 days. Then you have to let it de-freeze and cook it for 40 minutes.

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