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Savory Monkey Bread (Easy to Make + Customize)

BySamantha Skaggs December 1, 2023

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Savory Monkey Bread is quick and easy to make and totally customizable, thanks to refrigerated biscuits that are dipped in garlic butter and coated in herbs and cheese for a monkey bread that’s as festive as it is delicious!

I first shared this gorgeous Savory Monkey Bread recipe back in 2013, inspired by a Food Network tweet that stopped me mid-scroll. Since then, this monkey bread recipe has become a holiday menu staple and a lovely option to jazz up dinner rolls for special dinners. And the best news is that, despite how fancy it looks, it's deceptively easy to make!

Ingredients

Most everyone already knows how to make sweet, gooey, traditional monkey bread. But what's required to make Savory Monkey Bread?

Refrigerated biscuits. Flaky, homestyle, or regular buttermilk will all work, but this recipe was developed using jumbo sized biscuits. If I can find it, I prefer using an organic brand such as Annie's or Immaculate Baking Company for more natural/straightforward ingredients. You could also substitute refrigerated breadstick dough in lieu of biscuits.
Butter. Melted. Either salted or unsalted are fine. Or you could substitute olive oil, if you wish.
Garlic salt. To flavor the butter.
Coatings. Feel free to get creative! You can use fresh herbs, grated or shredded cheeses, slivered or diced nuts, spices, and more! I recommend choosing about five different coatings to alternate on the rolls for a truly impressive presentation. And remember that you need to use some sort of cheese on about half of the pieces since that's what holds the monkey bread together once you unmold it!

What's especially great about this recipe is that it's so customizable. The Savory Monkey Bread photos in this post depict coatings of fresh chopped parsley, fresh chopped dill, chopped slivered almonds, grated Parmesan (mix with paprika for deeper color), and shredded cheddar. Keep in mind that very delicate herbs, such as basil, will likely darken over the baking time, so you may want to avoid using those.

Close-up of monkey bread coated with fresh herbs, slivered almonds, cheddar, and Parmesan.

How to Make Savory Monkey Bread

(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)

Making Savory Monkey Bread is fun and easy!

Preheat the oven and generously grease a nonstick bundt pan.
Cut each biscuit in half.

Roll each biscuit half into a ball.

Rolling biscuit into ball for monkey bread recipe.

Stir garlic salt into melted butter, drop in a biscuit ball, and roll around until coated.

Whisking garlic salt into melted butter for Savory Monkey Bread.

Roll each butter-coated biscuit ball in alternating coatings, pressing to adhere.

Parmesan coated biscuit for Savory Monkey Bread.

Dill coated biscuit for Savory Monkey Bread.

Parsley coated biscuit for Savory Monkey Bread.

Monkey bread biscuit coated with almonds.

Monkey bread biscuit coated with cheddar.

Arrange and layer the biscuits in the bundt pan so that the various coatings are alternated.

Bundt pan of coated biscuits for Savory Monkey Bread recipe.

Bake monkey bread until biscuits are done and surface is golden, covering with a sheet of foil if the monkey bread starts getting too dark before it's done.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then run a thin, soft rubber spatula around the edges and down the sides of the pan to loosen any stuck cheese. Invert the pan onto a plate. The bread at the top/open side of the pan ends up being the prettiest part. So after you flip the bread out onto a plate, flip it one more time onto your serving platter.

Savory Monkey Bread inverted onto platter.

This combo of herbs, cheeses, and nuts truly makes for a Savory Monkey Bread with great flavor and visual appeal!

Variations

If you're up for experimenting, I can think of a few yummy variations of this Savory Monkey Bread:

A combo of oregano, parsley, and Parmesan would be yummy to accompany an Italian meal.
A combo of cilantro, Monterrey jack, and taco seasoning would make for a nice a Mexican theme.
Wrap each biscuit around a small cube of cream cheese (plain or seasoned), boursin cheese, or even mozzarella for pull-apart monkey bread with gooey centers.

Furthermore, you can choose to mix your cheese and herbs and then coat each biscuit ball with the same mixture...

...or you can keep all of the coatings separate and alternate your biscuits, like I did here today.

Do keep in mind that some herbs and spices are stronger than others. The dill I used in my monkey bread variation was a bit overpowering, but my family loves dill so it didn't bother us at all (in fact, my boys fought over the dill-covered rolls). But something like rosemary would fall under the umbrella of a little bit goes a long way.

Monkey bread with herbs, nuts, and cheese pulled apart.

Dried vs. Fresh Herbs

Dried herbs are about three times more potent than fresh. So I don't think I'd roll a ball of dough in straight dried herbs. However, I would consider stirring a sprinkle of dried herbs into grated Parmesan (for example) and then coating a dough ball in that.

Also, some fresh herbs -- such as basil -- are more delicate than others and may darken in the oven. This monkey bread recipe has been tested using fresh parsley and fresh dill, so exercise your own discretion when experimenting with other herbs. 🙂

Monkey bread recipe showing herbs and cheese being pulled apart.

There you have it...a fun, festive take on dinner rolls that will liven up your weeknight meals, dinner parties, or holiday tables, from Thanksgiving to Christmas to Easter!

This Savory Monkey Bread is sure to garner oohs and ahhs, and your dinner guests will never believe how quick and easy it is to make.

Meaning, of course, that you are under no obligation to tell them... 😉

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