4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Treat
Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
Pull-apart pieces of cinnamon roll in a buttery caramel glaze
Toss quartered cinnamon roll dough into the slow cooker with three simple ingredients and let it work. What comes out is soft, sticky, pull-apart sweet bread that the whole family hovers around — and there’s no oven and no kneading involved at all.
About This Recipe
Canned cinnamon roll dough does all the hard work here. Cut into quarters, the pieces bake into individual pull-apart bites, and because the slow cooker traps steam rather than drying things out, the inside stays impossibly soft. Brown sugar and butter melt down into the bottom and coat everything in a caramel glaze, while the icing from the can goes on warm at the end so it melts into every crevice.
Ingredients
The 4 Essentials
- 2 cans (12.4 oz / 350g each) refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, quartered (reserve the icing)
- ½ cup (115g) butter, melted
- ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Optional Extras
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 2 tbsp heavy cream (for the glaze)
- ¼ cup raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Line the slow cooker. Butter the insert well, or line it with parchment paper for easy lifting later.
- Cut the dough. Separate the cinnamon rolls and cut each one into quarters. Set the icing packets aside at room temperature.
- Coat the pieces. Toss the dough quarters with the melted butter, then with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla until evenly coated.
- Fill the pot. Tumble the coated pieces into the slow cooker in an even layer, scattering the nuts and raisins between them if using. Pour over any butter and sugar left in the bowl.
- Cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 2–2½ hours, or on HIGH for about 1¼ hours, until the pieces are puffed and cooked through in the center.
- Vent the steam. Lay a paper towel or clean kitchen towel under the lid for the last 30 minutes so condensation doesn’t drip onto the top and make it soggy.
- Glaze it. Turn off the heat, let it cool 10 minutes, then warm the reserved icing with a splash of cream and drizzle it generously over the top.
- Serve warm, letting everyone pull pieces straight from the pot.
Tips for Success
- A towel under the lid is essential — without it, condensation makes the top wet.
- Check the center pieces for doneness; the edges cook faster than the middle.
- Don’t overfill the pot or the middle stays raw while the edges brown.
- Parchment lining makes it possible to lift the whole thing out in one piece.
- Add the icing after cooking, never before — it burns and turns bitter.
- Best eaten warm the same day; reheat leftovers for 15 seconds in the microwave.
