You know how one taste, or sound, or smell can take you right back to your childhood? Monkey bread is that way for me. It was one of those rare breakfasts that mom would make for a special treat.
So soft, so fluffy, and so dripping with gooey cinnamon/butter/sugar.
So GOOD!
But of course, it wasn’t gluten-free.
It use to make me sad to think that we had to give up our favorite comfort foods when we went gluten-free.
How silly! You don’t have to give anything up! You just have to learn to make it with different ingredients.
This particular recipe uses primarily whipped egg whites to make up the fluffy batter. Pretty ingenious when you think about it! The protein in egg whites give structure, and help – almost make – the batter rise.
The method here is a little different than traditional monkey bread – or at least, different from the way we use to make it. Since you’re dealing with a batter-like dough that can’t really be handled, you’ll be shrinking the butter, cinnamon, and sugar over the dough, rather than dipping the dough in it. And honestly, that just makes it so much less messy to make!
So yeah, this gluten-free recipe is a total win!
Gluten-Free Monkey Bread Recipe
PrintGluten-Free Monkey Bread
Do you love monkey bread? This delicious gluten-free recipe is the perfect sweet treat.
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon oil (I use light olive oil)
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ cup rice flour (I use white rice)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoons guar gum
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Filling Ingredients:
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Grease a medium-sized loaf pan.
- Beat the egg whites until frothy (not stiff, just frothy).
- Add the remaining dough ingredients and stir until quite thick. (This may take a minute). Set aside.
- Combine the filling ingredients with a fork until crumbly.
- Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough in the loaf pan. Sprinkle the filling on top and keep layering until the dough and filling are gone.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until bread is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool, then invert onto a serving plate.
- Enjoy!
Get Your Garden Cheat Sheets!
Want to know exactly when, where, and how to plant your vegetables? Sign up to get our FREE companion planting guide, and garden planting cheat sheet printable.
N says
Is there really only 1/2 cup of white rice flour?
Elise says
Yep! 🙂
Rhonda says
Do you think there’s an alternative for the butter that would work?
Elise says
Coconut oil would work, although you may have to improvise with sprinkling it on the dough as the mixture with coconut oil and sugar may be softer (not crumbly) than butter would be.
Faith says
Hey. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I just tried making it but the portion of dough was really really small. I’m not sure if it was something I did wrong, but I could only make 12 small balls with the dough.
Elise says
Yes, it’s a pretty small batch, but fortunately, it’s easy to double, triple, or even quadruple! 🙂
Zoe whelan says
Can you specify please which are the dough ingredients and which are the filling ingredients. Thank u
Elise says
Hi Zoe, if you look at the ingredient list, you’ll see that there’s a distinction between dough and filling ingredients. I bolded it just now so hopefully it’s more visible. 🙂
Stacy says
You said that the recipe makes a small amount… Is that a single batch you’ve shown in the picture?
Elise says
That’s a triple batch, and for reference, it’s a 9×5″ loaf. 🙂
Lexi says
Do you think it could be made without the eggs? Or with some type of egg substitute? Would egg replacer work? We can’t have eggs at our house.
Elise says
I honestly don’t know, since I haven’t tried it. I think it may work with an egg replacer that coagulates – i.e. the kind you can make scrambled eggs with, but I wouldn’t try it with flax or chia seeds.
Cheona says
Hey there! It may not work in this recipe, but I’ve had luck with making a flax egg and adding the same amount of tapioca starch as flax and mixing well. The tapioca starch thickens and solidifies things much like a regular egg. Again, don’t know if it will work in this recipe, but I’ve had luck in small batch items ( think cupcakes, not a whole cake)
Shannon says
Could you use a paleo flour blend in place of the rice flour?
Jean says
Can I use xantham gum in place of the guar gum?
Elise says
yes
Sam says
After mixing all ingredients I had a better, not a dough. Help?
Carla says
Me too!
Rachel says
Mine as well. I followed to directions to a ‘T’ but it was like cake batter. Impossible to drop in balls.
★★★
Sarah says
Hi Elise- I have tried many monkey bread recipes and none seem to work. I am looking for wars to trying your this Christmas morning, it look incredible!!! I was wondering if you ever try this with cup4cup Gluten free all purpose flour? I only ask because sometimes rice flour tastes grainy and gritty. Perhaps you have a brand that you prefer?
Elise says
I haven’t, but I haven’t found the rice flour to be gritty in this recipe.
Sarah says
Well then great!!! Thanks so much, I can’t wait to try it!
De says
Just made it. Wish I’d realised the picture was a triple batch but this is the easiest and fluffiest gf dough I’ve ever made in a half hour. Delish
★★★★
Carmen says
Very disappointed that the batter was like cake batter:(
I do not like wasting my GF flour because it is so expensive. Did anyone else have this problem?
Jackie says
Yes! It was so runny just like cake batter.
Sandra says
Hi Jackie and Carmen,
I found that adding more flour and mixing the batter longer helped with the consistency. (I used additional white rice flour, and potato starch and tapioca flour as thickening agents.) Hope this helps!
Granny says
I would really like to see photos of how foamy the egg whites needed to be, and how thick to expect the batter to be.
My youngest GrandBaby and I made this and it did not turn out at all.