Hamdi Saidani Pioneer Woman savory breakfast monkey bread is pull-apart buttermilk biscuits layered with crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese, and everything bagel seasoning, baked in a Bundt pan in about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Ree’s exact recipe comes from Food Network, made during The Pioneer Woman episode “Breakfast Bakes 4 Ways.” She flips the traditional sweet monkey bread into a savory breakfast by scrambling eggs in bacon grease and layering them between herbed biscuit pieces and melted pepper jack cheese.
The biscuits must be the non-flaky kind. Flaky biscuits separate into layers when you cut them into sixths, so the pieces fall apart in the pan and you lose the pull-apart texture. Standard buttermilk biscuits hold their shape through tossing and baking, giving you clean, cheesy bites every time.
Pioneer Woman Savory Breakfast Monkey Bread
Description
Bacon, scrambled eggs, and pepper jack cheese tucked between herbed biscuit bites in a Bundt pan. Flip it out onto a plate and pull it apart for a breakfast that feeds a crowd with zero forks needed.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Set it to 375F (190C).
- Cook the bacon. Add the chopped bacon to a skillet over medium heat and cook until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set on a paper towel-lined plate. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of grease from the skillet.
- Scramble the eggs. Whisk the eggs with the hot sauce, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour into the skillet with the reserved bacon grease and scramble over medium heat until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
- Prep the biscuits. Separate all the biscuits and cut each one into sixths. Add to a large bowl with the melted butter, chives, parsley, and everything bagel seasoning. Toss until every piece is evenly coated.
- Layer the Bundt pan. Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray. Arrange half the biscuit pieces in the bottom and slightly up the sides. Spread half the cheese over the biscuits, then add all the scrambled eggs and bacon. Top with the remaining cheese, then the remaining biscuit pieces.
- Bake. Bake until golden all over, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove and let sit for 10 minutes in the pan.
- Flip and serve. Invert onto a serving plate, garnish with extra parsley, and slice or pull apart to serve.
FAQs
Why does Ree scramble the eggs in bacon grease instead of butter?
The reserved bacon grease adds smoky flavor directly into the eggs, so every bite of the finished bread tastes like a complete breakfast. Butter would work technically, but you lose that bacon flavor that ties the whole dish together.
Two tablespoons of grease is enough to coat the skillet without making the eggs greasy. Ree drains the rest before adding the egg mixture, so the scramble stays fluffy and light rather than heavy and slick.
Why cut each biscuit into sixths instead of quarters?
Smaller pieces create more surface area for the butter and everything bagel seasoning to coat, so you get flavor in every single bite. They also pack more tightly in the Bundt pan, which eliminates air gaps that would leave you with a loose, crumbly bread.
Sixths are also the right size for pulling apart with your hands. Quarters are too large to eat in one bite and too small to tear in half cleanly, so you end up with awkward pieces that drop their filling.
Can you use a different cheese instead of pepper jack?
Pepper jack gives you heat and melt in one ingredient, which is why Ree chose it. If you want a milder version, shredded Monterey Jack or Colby Jack melts the same way without the spice.
Sharp cheddar works but melts slightly less smoothly, so you may get pockets of firmer cheese instead of the gooey stretch pepper jack creates. Avoid pre-shredded blends with anti-caking powder because the coating prevents clean melting between the biscuit layers.
How do you keep the monkey bread from sticking to the Bundt pan?
A generous coat of nonstick cooking spray in every groove of the pan is the only step you need. The melted butter on the biscuit pieces adds a second layer of insurance, so the bread releases cleanly when you flip it.
Let it rest the full 10 minutes before inverting. Flipping too early means the cheese is still molten and will stick to the pan and tear the bread apart. Those 10 minutes let the cheese firm up just enough to hold everything together during the flip.
Can you prep this the night before and bake it in the morning?
You can assemble the layered Bundt pan the night before, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Add 5 to 10 extra minutes to the bake time since the pan will be cold going into the oven.
Cook the bacon and scramble the eggs fresh that night so they are ready to layer. Do not toss the biscuits with butter and seasoning until you are ready to assemble, because sitting overnight in melted butter makes the coating soggy and the biscuit pieces stick together in a clump.
