Let’s face it: Even if Red Lobster is more your parents’ scene, there’s one item on the menu that’ll live rent-free in your head forever: those Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Raise your hand if you’ve ever left your kids with a sitter so you could spend date night at the Red Lobstah bar, gorging on CBBs while throwing back Blue Moons. (In which case, same.) Well, TikTok just pulled through in a big, big way with a Cheddar Bay Monkey Bread recipe.
The best part of this recipe is that it offers so much for so very little. On the surface, Cheddar Bay Monkey Bread is simply a cheap, easy way to make your favorite free family restaurant bread. It’s cheesy, buttery, and garlicky — all flavors that offer the ultimate comfort — but this recipe need not be a midnight craving secret. While the typical sweet monkey breads are wildly popular at bake sales, why not opt for this savory version full of familiar flavors instead? Be the envy of all your mom friends at the co-op preschool‘s bake sale when your CBB monkey bread not only sells fast but ignites a veritable frenzy from people who “need your recipe right now.” By the time your mini-me starts kindergarten, people from the neighborhood will come to the bake sale solely to buy one of your Cheddar Bay Monkey Breads.
Or just make it to go with dinner. (Every single night.) The video makes it look pretty easy, after all.
The Recipe
The TikTok video and attached recipe belong to Chef Hayden Haas, @Delishaas on TikTok. In fact, if you’re looking for some serious food inspo to drool over, his page is full of delicious ideas that could easily be replicated for busy weeknight family meals at home. Bonus: On his popular Instagram account, he even includes the recipe for a soup that pairs perfectly with these puppies. For now, however, let’s just focus on the Cheddar Bay Carbs. Er, monkey bread.
You’ll Need:
- Cooking spray
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp old bay
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 3 tbsp grated parmesan
- 1/2c shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 c fresh mozzarella pearls
- 1 package of Grands biscuits, cut into quarters
- Fresh or dried chives for garnish
Alternatively, if you really want to save some time while simultaneously going all in on the Cheddar Bay Biscuit goodness, you could sub out the standard Grands for a premade Red Lobster CBB mix.
What to Do:
Set the oven to 350 degrees. Let your opened can of biscuits sit at room temp for 10 minutes. Coat a medium casserole dish or bundt pan with cooking spray. Then melt butter, add all additional ingredients, and toss together before putting into your pan or dish. Or, if your dish is big enough, Chef Haas says you can throw all the ingredients directly into the pan and then toss until everything is coated and the cheese is equally distributed.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown. After 30 minutes, do the “poke test” with a fork or toothpick to check for doneness. Once you remove the dish from the oven, sprinkle it with chives.
What is monkey bread?
If you made it this far without knowing what monkey bread actually is: props. Monkey bread is, in essence, anything where you take the bread dough and cut it into pieces before popping it into the pan. It’s a “pull-apart” bread loaf once it’s cooked. It gets the name “monkey bread” because the act of picking off little globs of bread looks a lot like a monkey grooming his friend and picking off bugs (um, yum?). While monkey bread is most famously done for breakfast or dessert as a cinnamon bread, the options are nearly limitless. You might have seen pepperoni pizza monkey bread or strawberry monkey bread before. This Cheddar Bay Biscuit version, however, might actually be the best.
