Growing up my mom always made something she called pull-apart garlic bread. It was pieces of bread dough covered in garlic butter, piled in a loaf or Bundt pan, and baked until golden brown. It was incredibly delicious, I’m sure not healthy, and something I asked for often – I mean who doesn’t like any version of garlic bread? I really hadn’t had anything like it since, until a recent girl’s trip to Phoenix, Arizona.
Upon arriving at Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn for brunch we all ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the cocktails as we debated what type of Bloody Mary or mimosa to try. One thing we didn’t debate over, however, was the need to try the monkey bread on the menu. It was sweet, sticky, and the perfect way to start off brunch. Thank goodness we ordered more than one! I immediately knew that there would be many other versions of monkey bread in my near future.
If you haven’t had monkey bread. In it’s simplest, and most traditional form, monkey bread is a pull-apart sweet and sticky, usually cinnamon and sugar based, baked pastry. We can thank our previous first lady, Nancy Reagan, for making it popular in the 1980s when it was first served at the White House during the holidays! Pieces of bread dough are dipped in cinnamon, sugar and butter, and baked. The melting butter and sugar creates a delicious caramel that coats each piece of dough. As I’m always looking for ways to re-invent my favorites, I decided that I’d need to try a savory version of monkey bread as soon as I got back from my trip.
For my first savory monkey bread, I chose an Italian flavor profile – garlic, basil, sundried tomato and Parmesan cheese. The results were incredibly delicious so I’m sharing my version with you here, but feel free to change things up and use your favorite flavor profile whether it’s everything bagel seasoning, dill, rosemary, chives, etc., the options are really endless. Savory monkey bread is the perfect accompaniment to any meal and is guaranteed to liven up the bread basket on your table! In full transparency, I cheated and used pre-made biscuit dough to make this a quick recipe, but you could certainly do this with homemade bread dough if you have the time and patience.
Savory Monkey Bread
Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe
Servings: 12-16
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Inactive Time: 40 min
Total Time: 55 minutes
2 16 oz cans of biscuit dough
1 stick + 1 Tablespoon of butter
4 oz parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup basil, finely chopped
8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 oz sundried tomatoes, in oil, finely chopped
1. Melt 1 stick of butter and divide among 3 bowls.
2. Mix finely chopped basil into 3 tablespoons of melted butter.
3. Mix finely chopped garlic into 3 tablespoons of melted butter.
4. Mix finely chopped sundried tomatoes into 3 tablespoons of melted butter.
5. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces (you should have about 64 pieces).
6. Divide biscuit dough pieces into three even piles.
7. Coat 1/3 of biscuit dough in basil/butter mixture, 1/3 in garlic/butter mixture and 1/3 in sundried tomato/butter mixture.
8. Arrange one layer of dough (all three flavors) in the bottom of a buttered Bundt pan.
9. Sprinkle with 2.5 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese.
10. Arrange another layer (all three flavors ) of dough and sprinkle with another 2.5 Tablespoons of parmesan cheese.
11. Arrange a final layer (all three flavors) of dough and sprinkle with another 2.5 Tablespoons of cheese.
12. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
13. Invert and serve while warm.
If this savory monkey bread has you ready to up your baking game, we’ve got lots of baking classes coming up, and we’d love to see you whether it’s in your kitchen or ours! Join us for: