Monkey Bread Muffins
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Indulge in the delicious combination of cinnamon rolls and monkey bread with this easy-to-follow recipe for Monkey Bread Muffins. They start with refrigerated cinnamon rolls and turn into delicious pull apart muffins. Perfect for breakfast or a tasty snack!

What’s better than monkey bread? Monkey bread in muffin form, of course! These deliciously sticky sweet muffins are one of the best treats for brunch, breakfast and even dessert. They’re incredibly easy to make and the flavor is out of this world. The fact that they’re in the easily shareable form of a muffin is just extra special!
You only need six simple ingredients to make easy monkey bread muffins. Really! It’s a totally no-fuss recipe that always turns out so delicious. A gooey, sweet, caramel-like muffin topped with a homemade cream cheese icing. What could get better than that? Fair warning — keep these ingredients on hand. Because once you make them, you’ll definitely need a second batch…and maybe even a third!
Why You’ll Love these Monkey Bread Muffins
- These monkey bread muffins can be made in under a half hour. Quick, tasty and wonderfully tasty!
- Use canned cinnamon roll dough to make monkey bread muffins. It’s so easy and the brown sugar caramel-like syrup makes the store-bought dough extra gooey and yum.
- Make these for brunches, breakfasts, potlucks and more. They’re a crowd favorite that everyone enjoys!
Ingredients for Monkey Bread Muffins
- Cinnamon rolls – Grab a can of store-bought cinnamon rolls for an easy peasy way to make monkey bread muffins.
- Cream cheese – Make the most creamy and delicious icing with cream cheese. It’s the best flavor to pair with the sweet cinnamon sugar mixture inside of the monkey bread muffins.
- Butter – The key to making these warm muffins extra sticky sweet is a melted butter and brown sugar mixture.
- Milk – Use a little splash of milk to thin out the brown sugar sauce that you’ll pour over the muffins before baking.
- Powdered sugar – This is the easiest way to sweeten the glaze and also thicken it up a bit.
- Brown sugar – Make a delicious brown sugar syrup to pour over the monkey bread muffins before baking.
Products Needed
How to Make Monkey Bread Muffins
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease 7 cups of a muffin tin, set aside.
- Cut each cinnamon roll into 8 or 9 pieces, if the layers start to fall apart a little that’s ok! Just press the pieces back together. Divide the pieces between 7 muffin cups, pressing them together as you place them inside.
- In a small saucepan, bring butter, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of milk to a boil. Stir until smooth and thoroughly combined. Pour the brown sugar mixture evenly over each of the muffins.
- Place muffins in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit and then bake for 10-12 minutes, until puffed up and cooked through. Meanwhile, prepare the icing.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Add more milk or powdered sugar, if necessary, to reach your desired consistency.
- Cool the muffins just slightly before carefully removing from the pan. I run a knife around the outside of each one to help them come out of the pan easier.
- Drizzle or pour cream cheese icing over the top of each muffin.
- Allow the icing to set a bit, and then serve!
How to Store Monkey Bread Muffins
While I doubt there will be any leftovers (they’re too tasty to just eat one!), you can absolutely store anything that you did not eat. Since these have cream cheese frosting, they should be stored in the fridge.
FRIDGE: Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.
FREEZER: While these aren’t the easiest to freeze, leftovers will keep for about 3 months when stored in a freezer safe container.
I recommend popping a muffin in the microwave or toaster oven before serving to make it gooey and warm again.
What to Serve with Monkey Bread Muffins
These easy monkey bread muffins go well with all of your favorite breakfast treats. Whether its simply bacon and eggs or something extra hearty like crescent roll breakfast casserole, these sticky sweet muffins pair wonderfully with those savory dishes!
Need to serve a lot of people at brunch? Then make a double batch of this monkey bread muffins recipe and serve with some sheet pan eggs and air fryer sausage links. Easy peasy and so tasty!
Can I use biscuit dough instead of cinnamon roll dough?
If you’ve got refrigerated biscuit dough on hand, it’s a great substitute for cinnamon roll dough! To achieve a similar flavor, you should roll the biscuit pieces in some cinnamon sugar (just mix together a bit of white sugar and ground cinnamon) before stuffing them into the muffin pan. Keep in mind that the texture will be a bit different, but they’ll still be quite tasty!
Can I make monkey bread in a loaf pan?
If you don’t have a muffin tin, I recommend using a bundt pan instead. However, that will require more ingredients, so follow my cinnamon roll monkey bread recipe instead. However, with this muffin recipe, a small loaf pan would probably work just fine!
Pro Tips for the Best Monkey Bread Muffins
- To ensure the muffins easily pop out of the muffin pan, make sure you spray the muffin cups with cooking spray before stuffing them with cinnamon roll chunks!
- Easily drizzle the icing over the top of the muffins by adding it to a piping bag or squeeze bottle.
- Feel free to use homemade cinnamon roll dough to take this easy monkey bread muffin recipe to the next level!
What’s not to love about cinnamon rolls in monkey bread form? These easy muffins are a special treat! I hope you enjoy!
More Cinnamon Roll Recipes You’ll Love!
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies are quite possibly the most overlooked holiday cookie. They have to go on your Christmas baking list!
- These easy Cinnamon Roll Pancakes will make breakfast time so delicious.
- If you love cozy coffee drinks then you have to check out my recipe for a Cinnamon Roll Latte.
- Combine tasty fall flavors with classic cinnamon rolls in this Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls recipe.
Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 17.05 ounces refrigerated cinnamon rolls (1 can)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon milk
Icing:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted if lumpy
- 2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
Muffins:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 7 cups of a muffin tin, set aside.
- Cut each cinnamon roll into 8 or 9 pieces (if they start to fall apart a little that’s OK. Just press them back together). Divide the pieces between 7 muffin cups, pressing the pieces together as you place them in.
- In a small saucepan, bring butter, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of milk to a boil. Stir until smooth and combined. Pour the brown sugar mixture evenly over each of the muffins.
- Place muffins in preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until puffed up and cooked through. Meanwhile, prepare the icing (see below).
- Cool the muffins just slightly before carefully removing from the pan. I run a knife around the outside of each one to help them come out of the pan easier. Drizzle or pour cream cheese icing over the top of each muffin.
Icing:
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Add more milk or powdered sugar, if necessary, to reach your desired consistency.
April says
I did these and they were perfect!! They didn’t hold together like I would’ve wanted but the taste made up for it!
Sarah Hill says
So glad you enjoyed these! Thank you so much for commenting and rating!
Rachel says
These look amazing! I have two questions though.
Have you ever made these in mini-muffin tins?
Could you make these ahead and serve them the next day?
Kelley @ Chef Savvy says
These look AMAZING! I had no idea you could make monkey bread in a muffin tin! My mom would love this!
Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel says
I’m willing to bet that I could inhale the entire batch of these muffins if they were in front of me. Love them!
Teresa says
This sounds great! I have a question though…What do you do with the frosting that is already included with the canned cinnamon rolls?
Allison Mattina says
Hi Teresa! Great question. I didn’t use the icing that came with my cinnamon rolls. Feel free to skip making the icing and use what comes with the cinnamon rolls, if you don’t want to waste it.
Danielle | The Creative Bite says
I will take a batch of these this weekend, they look amazing!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I could eat the whole batch, seriously!!
Kelly says
I love the cinnamon roll flavors in here! Looks incredible and perfect for fall!
tonya says
My “Mini Me” would love this recipe! This is right up our alley! Thanks for sharing this one Allison!
Anu-My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
Oh my gosh! I am so much in love with apples. And these gorgeous, delicious, cinnamony muffins are calling my name. Oh, that cream cheese icing so so YUM! AH-MAZING share!