Maple Bacon Monkey Bread

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Sweet or Salty? With this recipe you don’t have to choose! We’re calling this breakfast but honestly its closer to a dessert. This pull apart Maple Bacon Monkey Bread is sweet, savory, sticky and buttery in the best possible way!

Homemade maple-infused zest dough is rolled into little balls, dipped in butter, rolled in sugar and salty bacon and piled into a bundt pan where everything bakes into a golden, caramelized masterpiece. But it doesn’t stop there! Once it’s out of the oven, the warm, gooey monkey bread gets a drizzle of maple glaze and a sprinkle of crispy bacon bits. 

The real magic of this bread happens in the bundt pan as it bakes. The edges of the dough become crisp and caramelized from the buttery maple sugar and bacon coating, while the center stays super soft and fluffy. 

This is one of those recipes that is fun to bake but just as fun to pull apart and eat. It’s perfect for holiday brunches or any time you need a breakfast centerpiece that works for kids and adults alike. Set the gooey warm bread in the middle of the table and have everyone start pulling the pieces apart. This savory sweet masterpiece will leave everyone lingering around the table a little longer – which makes it the perfect breakfast for a slow holiday morning.

Why You’ll Love This Maple Bacon Monkey Bread

• It’s caramelized, gooey goodness! The outside of each bite-sized dough ball is gooey, slightly crisp from the caramelized buttery maple bacon coating. It’s sweet, savory and sooo delish!
• Great for sharing! Pull apart breads like monkey bread are so fun to serve when you are cooking for a crowd. Each person can grab straight from the center of the table and serve themselves.
• A beautiful centerpiece! As the monkey bread bakes, it molds into the shape of the pan, so when you dump the bread out of the pan, it makes a beautiful glazed bread. And when drizzled with maple glaze and topped with bacon bits, it’s a showstopper!

How to Make Maple Bacon Monkey Bread, Step by Step

Step 1. Preheat oven and prep your bundt pan.

Start by preheating the oven to 425°F to bake the bacon. Baking bacon in the oven is one of our favorite ways to cook bacon. It cooks each strip evenly to a perfectly crisp texture. 

We also recommend greasing your bundt pan. If you have a bundt pan with a lot of curvy edges, be sure to coat the entire surface with cooking spray or butter so that the bread removes easily from the pan after baking. 

The bundt pan is the best option for this because you’ll get good caramelization on almost every piece, it makes a statement and it is a larger vessel for holding the monkey bread dough. 

Step 2. Make the homemade maple-infused dough. Cook bacon while the dough rises.

Start by activating the yeast. Warm milk until it’s lukewarm (about 110°F) and sprinkle a couple teaspoons of active dry yeast into the warm milk. Let the yeast activate in the warm milk for about 3-5 minutes. You’ll know the yeast is active when it starts to bubble on top. 

Using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix in the other wet ingredients – maple syrup, eggs and melted butter. Once they are evenly combined, mix in flour and salt until combined. 

Increase the speed of the mixer to medium speed to knead the dough. When a dough ball starts to form remove the dough from the bowl and knead the dough by hand for about 5-10 minutes. See tips below on how to know when to stop kneading the dough. 

Grease a separate bowl with some oil and place the dough ball into the bowl. The greased bowl will keep the dough from sticking to the sides as it rises. Cover the bowl and let it rise for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size. 

While the dough is rising, cook the 6-8 strips of bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet for about20-25 minutes until it s gold an crisp. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper-towel lined plate. Use some paper towels to blot any extra grease. Once the bacon has cooled, chop the bacon into tiny bits and set to the side.

Step 3. Roll the dough into balls and coat them and fill the pan. 

Reduce the temperature of the oven to 350°F for cooking the dough. 

Once the dough has doubled in size, roll the dough into a log and cut it into even small even pieces of dough. Roll the dough pieces into round balls and coat them in butter and bacon brown sugar mixture. 

Prep two separate bowls for coating the dough. In the first bowl, melt butter. In the second bowl, stir together sugar, spices and bacon bits. (Reserve some bacon bits for garnishing.)

First dip the dough into the butter before rolling it in the sugar and bacon bits. Pile the coated dough balls into a single layer in the bottom of the bundt pan. Add more layers ontop until all the dough balls are added to the pan. Pour any excess sugar and butter over the dough and pop it in the oven.

Step 4. Bake the monkey bread, let it set 

Bake the monkey bread in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes until cooked through. Let the maple monkey bread cool for about 10 minutes before carefully flipping it onto a plate or serving platter. 

Drizzle with maple bacon glaze and a sprinkle of extra bacon bits. Serve and enjoy!!

Tips for Making Maple Bacon Monkey Bread

• Make sure the yeast activates. Heat the milk to about 110°F and pour the yeast in the milk. Let the yeast sit for about 3-5 minutes until it bubbles. If nothing happens, your yeast may not be active. 
• Give the dough enough time to rise. The dough should be roughly doubled in size after it rises. Depending on the humidity and temperature, it should take anywhere from 1-2 hours to double.
• Coat every dough ball really well. This will make each bite super caramelized and full of flavor. Dip each dough ball in the butter first and then toss it generously in the cinnamon-maple sugar and bacon mixture. 
• Generously great the burnt pan. Coat every corner and surface of the with butter or nonstick spray. This will give the edges of the bread that delicious caramelized coating and keep it from sticking to the pan after it cooks. 

How to know when to stop kneading the bread dough

The dough should require about five minutes of kneading. But to be sure, you can use one of these methods to test your dough as you are kneading. If it passes one of these tests, you can stop kneading and let it rise.

• Poke test: Poke the dough. If it bounces back, you’re done kneading.
• Window pane test: Pull off a small piece of dough and stretch it until it is very thin. Hold it up to the light. If you can see light through the dough before it tears, you are done kneading. 

Storing leftover maple bacon monkey bread

Let the bread cool completely before storing it in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

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