Whole Wheat Vegan Monkey Bread (Refined Sugar Free!)

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This Vegan Monkey bread is a healthier take on a breakfast classic! It’s not only made with whole grains but also free from oil and refined sugars.

Whether you’re planning a holiday breakfast, delicious brunch, or just feel like treating yourself, this Vegan Monkey Bread is the one you’ll want to make.

I mean, can we all just appreciate this doughy, cinnamon-y, sticky glory for a second?!

Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased

If you’re unfamiliar with Monkey Bread, it’s typically made of cut biscuits, doused in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Not very vegan-friendly…or heart-healthy, for that matter.

This version (like all recipes on From My Bowl) has a healthier twist. We’re going to make our own “biscuit” dough, and avoid the use of oil and refined sugar while we’re at it! This recipe is still indulgent, but I love how it’s a little better-for-you too.

Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased

My mom has made Monkey Bread for Christmas breakfast in the past, so I always associate it with the holidays. Truth be told though, I’d happily eat this treat year-round. It’s great for serving large groups of people, and while the Bread itself is sticky, it comes apart easily – you don’t even need a knife to cut it!

Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased

This recipe is also a collaboration with my friends Jasmine and Chris of Sweet Simple Vegan! This month we’re teaming up to share Holiday Breakfast Ideas. After you finish reading over this recipe, be sure to head on over to their page and look at their delicious Vegan Strata!

Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased
A Few Final Thoughts:
  • As I mention in the recipe notes, you can really use any glutinous flour that you’d like for this recipe. If you’re going for a more fluffy and traditional flavor, I would suggest white AP Flour. I used Whole Wheat Pastry flour for my recipe and loved the results.
  • If you’d like to get even fancier, feel free to make a quick vegan icing sugar to drizzle over your bread, as I did for the photos. Just mix about 1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar with 1-2 tsp of a Vegan Milk and you’re good to go! If you’d like to keep this Refined Sugar free, you can also drizzle with some melted Coconut Butter…YUM!
  • Like most Monkey Bread, this is best served warm and soon after it comes out of the oven, as the pastry will dry with time. Reheating the leftovers and drizzling a little extra sauce or icing on top seems to help with this as well.

Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased

If you’re looking for more brunch recipes, you’ll also love my Cinnamon Roll Pancakes or Potato Pancakes!

Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂

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Whole Wheat Vegan Monkey Bread

This Vegan Monkey bread is a healthier take on a breakfast classic! It’s not only made with whole grains but also free from oil and refined sugars.

  • Prep Time: 80 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 105 minutes
  • Yield: 8 people 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the Dough:

  • 2 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast (2 small packets)
  • 1 1/2 cup Warm Water
  • 1/3 cup Coconut Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Nut Butter (I recommend Almond)
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 45 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, see notes for subs
  • 1 tbsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Salt

For the Cinnamon “Sauce”:

  • 1/2 cup Maple Syrup, or other Liquid Sweetener
  • 1/4 cup Unsweetened Plant Milk
  • 1/3 cup Nut Butter
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

  1. In a large, non-metal bowl, combine the Yeast and Warm Water. Sprinkle the Coconut Sugar on top of this mixture, and let sit for around 5 minutes, to let the yeast bloom.
  2. Add the Nut Butter and Vanilla Extract to the bowl and whisk well.
  3. Next, add 2 cups of Whole Wheat Pastry flour to the bowl, along with the Salt and Cinnamon. Mix well. 
  4. Continue to add the flour in 1 cup measurements, eventually mixing the dough with your hands and transferring to an even, floured surface. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until it is firm and only slightly sticky. (Note: I used 4 cups of flour for this step)
  5. Rinse out the large bowl, and place the ball of Dough into it. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes, until about doubled in size.
  6. In the meantime, prepare the Cinnamon Sauce. Add all ingredients to a high speed blender and process until a thick, smooth liquid forms.
  7. Grease a large Bundt Pan, and preheat the oven to 350F.
  8. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead it a few more times. Then, form dough “balls” by taking about 1 tbsp of dough and rolling it between your hands. Keep in mind that these will expand in the oven as they bake! Place each ball into the Bundt Pan, and continue until you have used up all of the dough.
  9. Reserve 1/3 cup of the Cinnamon Sauce, and evenly pour the remainder over the Monkey Bread. Then bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes. 
  10. Let cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then remove carefully. I would suggest using a butter knife to separate the edges of the dough from the mold, then flipping onto a plate.
  11. Drizzle the remaining Cinnamon Sauce on top of the Monkey Bread, as well as any icing sugar, if desired. Serve warm.

Notes

Coconut Sugar may be substituted for any other granulated sugar of choice.

This recipe will work with any Nut or Seed Butter, but keep in mind that this will affect overall flavor. For this reason I would recommend Almond & Cashew Butters for this recipe, or Sunflower Butter if you have an allergy.

This recipe will also work with Spelt Flour or All-Purpose Flour. I would not recommend using regular Whole Wheat Flour for this recipe, as the bread will be too dense. Also, I have not tested this recipe with GF flours so cannot guarantee good results.

I used a silicone Bundt Pan to avoid greasing it.

 

 

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Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased Healthy Whole Wheat Monkey Bread - Vegan Holiday Breakfast #vegan #plantbased

About the Author

Hey there, I’m Caitlin! I make easy-to-follow, wholesome, and budget-friendly vegan recipes that are mostly gluten-free and refined sugar-free. I’m also an avid yogi, love the great outdoors, am chocolate-obsessed, and enjoy eating almond butter straight off of the spoon.

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Comments

  1. Hello! This sounds wonderful! I’m looking for something ready and not super sugar filled for Christmas morning. Could this be made with frozen bread dough? I’m trying to make it as fast as I can with excited kids! Thanks!

  2. hi Caitlin, I just found you on YouTube. This looks absolutely delicious. Do you think I can substitute something else for the nut butter? love your channel and site!

    1. Hi! You can use another seed butter if you’d like – I have not tested the recipe any other way, but I also think you could use a vegan butter or oil. I would reduce the oil to 1/3 cup though x

  3. Hi Caitlin! Do you know/have any experiences with substituting oil/butter in recipes with nut butter? Can you just swap them 1:1? I really like how you aim to use unprocessed (or less processed) natural ingredients, and I just wonder if there is any trick to apply this idea to other recipes (I want to bake a chocolate cake, and the recipe calls for coconut oil, if you want to see: https://tasty.co/recipe/fudgiest-dairy-free-chocolate-cake), I do not expect you to check the recipe, just if you want to make a qualified guess 🙂 )
    Best, Mathilde (from Denmark)

    1. Hi Mathilde! Generally you can sub with nut butter, but the recipe will be more dense. You will also need to use more nut butter than oil (as the fat content per volume is lower)

    1. I have not tested this recipe using a liquid sweetener, so I don’t think you can substitute maple syrup for coconut sugar. You can sub any other granulated sweetener though x

  4. do you think this will work without the sauce? (as like a plain loaf) i know it won’t be as decadent HAHA but i wanna make this nowww & i don’t have any plant milk in my kitchen lol

  5. This definitely belongs on my vegan recipe bucket list! In the video, it looked like you used sunflower seed butter, but I could be wrong! But either way, this monkey bread looks absolutely perfect!

  6. I’d never heard of monkey bread before – it looks and sounds delicious. I can definitely get on board with eating anything involving cinnamon for breakfast. I don’t have a bundt pan – there’s no reason why I couldn’t use a rectangular loaf tin is there?

  7. 5 stars
    Hi Caitlin, do you think that Biscoff speculoos spread would do the job in place of the nut butter for the cinnamon sauce?

    Thank you! 🙂