This easy monkey bread recipe is a citrusy version of monkey bread with a Prosecco and orange juice glaze. Perfect for a Sunday brunch with enough Prosecco left for plenty of Mimosas!

My all time comfort food for breakfast or brunch is a Streusel Coffee Cake, because what can be better than streusel. But I love to experiment, so the last time I had a house full of people I tried out this easy monkey bread recipe I found over on Show Me The Yummy and everyone loved it. It looks like it would take a lot of effort, but this is deceivingly simple.
The conversation of Mimosa’s came up recently because where I live, you can’t get a Mimosa or any other alcohol on Sundays until after 1pm. Brunch on Sunday is so much better with a Bloody Mary or Mimosa.
The result is that there are very few brunch places on Sunday, and I don’t want brunch after 1pm. (Good news, our crazy legislature is considering changing this law and we may get the Brunch Bill out of it, fingers crossed!)
So open up a bottle or can of Prosecco or Cava and bring out the orange juice, you need to make Mimosa monkey bread.
Perfect for Spring or an Easter Brunch and super easy to make. Don’t worry it doesn’t really use that much Prosecco, just 6 tablespoons, still plenty left for Mimosas. Most Monkey Bread recipes use a very sweet brown sugar and pecan base but this version is much lighter tasting, (calories are probably the same).
Butter and sugar, of course, but then orange zest and orange juice instead of brown sugar and pecans. It’s a given that you have to have it with Mimosas. What else are you going to do with the bottle of Prosecco you have left over!
If you love a citrus flavor with your sweet rolls, and have extra orange zest and juice, then try some orange sweet rolls, no Prosecco but wonderful for a brunch. Another favorite is Dollywood Cinnamon Bread.
Why you’ll love Monkey Bread Recipe with Biscuits
- There’s only 6 tablespoons of Proseco in the recipe so you have plenty left over for Mimosas.
- Monkey bread is easy to eat, you can slice it or just pull off a bite.
- It looks impressive and makes a wonderful breakfast, brunch or dessert item!
Easy Monkey Bread ingredients
- Refrigerated biscuit dough – you can buy the cans at your local grocery. The flaky ones don’t work as great, so stick to the regular dough.
- Oranges + orange zest – you’ll want both the juice of the fresh oranges and the outside peeling for extra orange flavor!
- Prosecco – you can also use a rosé sparkling wine, or if you want to make it non-alcoholic, ginger ale or any clear carbonated beverage will work.
- Sugar, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla
How to make Monkey Bread with Biscuits
If you haven’t made Monkey Bread before, it’s just refrigerated biscuit dough that you cut into quarters and then shake with a sugar mixture. You put them in a bundt pan and pour a butter sauce of some type over it. It’s so easy. Some recipes you can pull apart with your hands, and you can with this one, but the glaze on top makes it a little sticky. I prefer to slice it.
Step 1
Grease a 9-10 inch bundt pan with butter.
Step 2
Place sugar and orange zest in a gallon size ziplcock and shake to combine. Toss quartered biscuit dough in the bag and shake until the biscuits are coated. Place in the bundt pan.
Step 3
In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, orange juice, 3 tablespoons Prosecco and vanilla. and pour it over the biscuits.
Step 4
Bake for 30 minutes until the biscuits have cooked through. Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a plate. Once it’s out of the bundt pan, pour a glaze of powdered sugar, Prosecco and orange zest over the monkey bread and serve.
Pro tip: In the event you don’t want to open a bottle, I found these cute little cans on special at Whole Foods. They convinced me to try a taste at the grocery, (it was 10am) but I’m so glad I did. This was a sparkling Rosé by Presto which was only slightly sweet and would be nice to sip on its own. So feel free to try any type of sparkling wine for this recipe.
Orange Monkey Bread Variations
- Try adding some pecans with the sugar mixture before adding the biscuit dough.
- If you’re a chocolate fan, try adding some chocolate chips.
- If you want to make this more like a traditional monkey bread, simply reduce the granulated sugar to a half cup, then add in a half cup of brown sugar with a half tablespoon of cinnamon along with the orange zest, to coat your biscuits before placing them into the pan.
Easy Monkey Bread Recipe tips
How to store Prosecco
Prosecco should be stored in the refrigerator with a wine stopper. The cold air will slow down the release of air bubbles. It will only stay fresh for about 24 hours, after that, it will taste flat. Unlike Champaign which will last for 3-5 days, Prosecco will only last a day.
How to make a Mimosa
Now that you have a bottle of Prosecco open, what better time than to make Mimosas. These light fresh cocktails are so easy to make. I like to start with a 50/50 ratio of Prosecco or sparkling wine to orange juice and adjust according to your taste. Pour the Prosecco in first and top with orange juice.
Monkey Bread with Canned Biscuits FAQs
Monkey bread is a sweet breakfast pastry made of biscuits rolled in sugar and then baked in a bundt pan.
It’s name comes from the method in which this bread is eaten – pieces of gooey, sugar dough are picked off from the side, like a monkey grooms a fellow monkey.
Monkey bread can be baked in any pan you like – the shape of the bundt pan makes it pretty when plated but you could use a loaf pan.
Place the leftovers in an air tight container and it can be refrigerated for about a week.
Yes you can reheat monkey bread. Preheat your oven to 350º and let your bread warm from the inside out for 5 minutes.
The top of the monkey bread will be golden brown and bubbly. You can also tap on the top and tell whether the biscuits are cooked through or not
Traditional monkey bread tastes like a cinnamon roll, this version tastes like an orange flavored cinnamon roll.
More sweet treats to enjoy
If you loved this recipe, give it a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating! Also, snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #butterandbaggage and tagging me @butterandbaggage.
Orange Monkey Bread with Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 16.3 ounces Refrigerated biscuit dough cut each biscuits into quarters
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 oranges + orange zest
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons orange juice or juice of the fresh oranges
- 3 tablespoons Prosecco
- ½ tablespoon vanilla
ICING
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons Prosecco
- ½ tablespoon orange zest
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9-10 inch bundt pan with butter.
- Place sugar and 2 tablespoons of orange zest in a gallon size ziplcock and shake to combine. Place quartered biscuits in the bag and shake until the biscuits are coated. Place the sugared biscuit dough in the bundt pan. Pour in any extra sugar.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, orange juice, 3 tablespoons of Prosecco and vanilla. Pour over the biscuit dough in the bundt pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until biscuits have cooked through. Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a plate.
ICING
- Whisk together powdered sugar, Prosecco and orange zest and pour it over the cooked bread that has already been removed from the pan.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- You can use Prosecco, Sparkling Rosé or any sparkling wine.
- You can leave out the Prosecco all together or substitute with ginger ale.
- You can make this in advance, it is delicious at room temperature or warm.
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