Today I’m sharing a super easy vegan monkey bread recipe that doesn’t use any yeast! This sweet cinnamon pull-apart bread is ready in less than an hour and is a scrumptious treat for brunch or dessert. If you’ve never had monkey bread, is basically balls of dough that are coated in a buttery cinnamon-sugar coating and baked together in a bundt pan. This monkey bread is completely eggless, yeast-free, and dairy-free but completely delicious!
what you’ll need
What’s great about monkey bread is that it’s actually quite simple to make. This recipe uses less than 10 ingredients, and they are:
- White Lily Self-rising flour
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Vegan salted butter
- Almond Milk
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Brown Sugar
how to make monkey bread
Instead of yeast, I’m opting for self-rising flour. Opting for no yeast cuts the time it takes to make this recipe down a ton. Self-rising flour is critical to this recipe since it helps the monkey bread puff up nicely and results in fluffy baked dough balls. My favorite brand of self-rising flour is White Lily. To help activate the self-rising flour, you’ll also need to make vegan buttermilk. The acid in the vegan buttermilk will help activate the baking powder and soda in the self-rising flour.
Vegan buttermilk is super simple to make. All you need is dairy-free milk of choice- I prefer almond milk – and apple cider vinegar. Mix 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into 1 1/2 cup of almond milk, then let the mixture curdle for about 10 minutes at room temperature.
making the dough
The dough in this recipe is essentially a sweet biscuit dough. The first step in making it is to combine the self-rising flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon together. Then, similar to if you were making biscuits, cut in the vegan butter until the mixture resembles a crumbly texture. Next, make a well in the center and add the vegan buttermilk & vanilla and stir until a soft dough forms. You may need to use your hands to gently knead the dough to make it come together.
the cinnamon sugar coating
Once the dough starts coming together, lightly flour your surface and roll the dough to be 1” thick. Using a knife, divide the rectangle into 40 equal-sized pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball.
When you’ve rolled the dough into small balls, go ahead and melt vegan butter in a small shallow bowl. Once the vegan butter is melted, stir in the vanilla extract. In another small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar. To get all of the cinnamon flavors in every crevice of the monkey bread, you’re going to roll every dough ball in the mixture.
First, dip each ball into the melted butter, then roll it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. You’ll want to repeat that process for all of the dough balls. When coating the dough, be sure not to let the dough sit for too long in the butter mixture. This will make the dough soggy. You want just enough butter on the outside of the ball to allow the cinnamon coating to stick.
baking the vegan monkey bread
As you roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar, lay them in your greased bundt pan until it’s full. This recipe makes enough dough to fill a standard bundt pan about 3/4 of the way full (see the image above). When baked, the dough will rise and puff up.
If you have any remaining butter or cinnamon sugar, you can pour it onto the top of the bundt pan. And now it’s ready to bake! This monkey bread will bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I recommend checking the monkey bread after about 30 or 35 minutes and if it appears to be browning too much, cover it with aluminum foil.
tips & tricks
No, I don’t recommend substituting a different type of flour in this recipe. Self-rising flour is critical for helping the monkey bread rise.
Monkey bread is typically made in a bundt pan. I’m using a nonstick pan by Calphalon that was pretty inexpensive from TJ Maxx. If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can use an angel food cake pan (tube pan), or a loaf pan. Note, that if you’re using a loaf pan, the baking time may need to be decreased slightly.
This monkey bread is delicious with fresh, tart berries or alongside savory brunch items like a vegan omelette or tofu scramble.
Looking for more vegan sweet treats? Check out these recipes!
French Toast Casserole
VEGAN CRANBERRY BABKA
VEGAN UBE CINNAMON ROLLS
FLUFFY AND CRISPY ‘BUTTERMILK’ BELGIAN WAFFLES
ALMOND BLUEBERRY BISCOTTi
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to know! Leave a rating and comment below!
Vegan Monkey Bread (Yeast-Free)
A super easy vegan monkey bread recipe that doesn't use any yeast! This sweet pull-apart cinnamon bread is ready in less than an hour.
Ingredients
Dough:
- 5 cups Lily’s self-rising flour (675g)
- 3 tsp baking powder (12g)
- 1 tbsp sugar (15g)
- 3/4 cup vegan salted butter (170g)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup vegan buttermilk, 1 ½ cup almond milk mixed with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (375g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, (4g)
- ½ tbsp cinnamon, (3g)
Coating:
- 2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon (15g)
- 1 tsp vanilla (4g)
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar (188g)
- 8 tbsp vegan butter, melted (113g)
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp dairy-free milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Make the coating:
- Place the melted butter in a shallow bowl. Stir in the vanilla.
- In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Set aside.
- Prep your bundt pan by spraying it with nonstick spray.
Make the Dough:
- In a large bowl, combine the self-rising flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Cut in the vegan butter until the mixture resembles a crumbly texture.
- Add the vegan buttermilk and vanilla and stir until a soft dough forms. You may need to use your hands.
- Lightly flour your surface and roll the dough to be 1” thick. Divide the rectangle into 40 equal-sized pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
- Dip each ball into the melted butter then roll it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Repeat and stack the balls in layers in the bundt pan until it is full.
- Pour any remaining butter onto the bundt pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar on the top.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 350F. If the top appears to be browning too much, cover with aluminum foil.
Make the Glaze:
- While it bakes, mix together the powdered sugar vanilla and the dairy-free milk. Set aside.
- Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Flip upside down and then top with the glaze.
Notes
This monkey bread is best on the first day. Store it wrapped well in plastic wrap or in an air-tight container. It can also be frozen.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 325Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gSodium: 390mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 1gSugar: 35gProtein: 2g
Nutritional info is an estimate.
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