Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls + Video
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Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls are easy to make for a delicious cinnamon roll breakfast without ever leaving home! Topped with copycat Cinnabon frosting, these soft sweet rolls with a thick, cinnamon-sugar filling will be gone before you know it.
Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
A fabulously soft, sweetened bread made with egg and buttermilk is the base for Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, and it’s also the base for ours.
We make our filling with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and a little cornstarch to thicken up the filling (so it doesn’t all ooze out, thanks to a great tip from a recipe message board).
The copycat Cinnabon frosting is, of course, the star of the show! A vanilla cream cheese frosting with a hint of lemon to really make it stand out.
If you enjoy the flavors of sweet cinnamon and sugar, we also have recipes for Cinnabon Cinnamon Stix, cinnamon sugar donuts, French toast, and homemade cinnamon swirl bread.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Active Dry Yeast – You’ll need the regular packets, not the instant kind, for homemade Cinnabon cinnamon rolls.
If it doesn’t get nice and foamy when mixed with the water and sugar, it has died and you’ll need to start over with a fresh packet.
Also, be sure your water is right between 110-120°F — using a kitchen thermometer will help.
If it’s too cold, the yeast won’t bloom. Too hot, and you’ll kill it. - Buttermilk – This ingredient adds moisture and tanginess, plus it helps make these quick homemade cinnamon rolls extra fluffy!
If you don’t have any on hand, you can make an easy substitute with regular milk and lemon juice or vinegar. - Eggs and Butter – Bring these to room temperature before starting the recipe, even for the portion of butter that needs to be melted.
Ingredients incorporate a lot better when they are the same temperature, and the butter will melt faster and more evenly if it’s already warm.
Homemade Cinnabon Icing Recipe
Whip together a mixture of softened cream cheese and butter, then mix in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt.
The secret ingredient in this Cinnabon icing recipe is lemon juice!
It perfectly complements the cream cheese and helps balance the sweetness in the rolls.
Be sure to use freshly squeezed citrus — bottled lemon juice is too sour and often has a bitter aftertaste.
Kitchen Tools You Will Need
Quick Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Without a Stand Mixer
No mixer? No worries! You can mix the dough by hand instead.
- Activate the yeast. Add water, yeast, and sugar to a large bowl. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
Once the yeast blooms, stir in the buttermilk, eggs, and butter. - Form the dough. Stir in the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Then, add the salt and flour and mix until you can no longer stir with a spoon.
- Knead. Turn dough out onto the floured countertop and knead for 3-5 minutes. Once the dough is no longer sticky, proceed with the remaining instructions.
Make Ahead Instructions
The easiest way to prep this cinnamon roll breakfast recipe is to do most of the work the day before you want to serve the rolls.
Then, all you have to do is pop your quick homemade cinnamon rolls in the fridge and bake them fresh the next morning!
OVERNIGHT PREPARATION:
- Make and assemble the dough. Follow the recipe all the way up until the baking step.
- Cover and refrigerate. Place the unbaked cinnamon rolls into the baking pans and place them in the refrigerator. The dough will slowly rise overnight.
- Bake. The next morning, remove the pans of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator and bake.
NOTE: They may need a few extra minutes in the oven to account for the cold dough, so be sure they are cooked thoroughly before you pull them out. - Make copycat Cinnabon frosting. Prepare the Cinnabon icing recipe while the rolls bake, then slather over the top while hot!
Cinnamon Roll Breakfast FAQ
Yes! In fact, it’s the perfect “warm place” for this very purpose.
Preheat your oven to 200°F, then turn it off. Place the dough inside and shut the door, then check it after about 45 minutes. It’s ready once it has doubled in size.
Feel free to add some extra warming spices like ground ginger, cardamom, or nutmeg to the filling.
You could also add or swap flavors in the Cinnabon icing recipe to make it more interesting! Use orange juice instead of lemon, or substitute maple syrup for the vanilla extract.
For a pop of extra sweetness, sprinkle raisins or dried currants over the filling before rolling up the dough!
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls + Video
Ingredients
Rolls
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup water warm, 110-120°F
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Filling
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, softened
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 stick, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Pour water and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (see cooks note if you do not have a stand mixer), sprinkle yeast over top, and stir. Allow yeast to bloom for 5-10 minutes. Once it is nice and foamy, it is ready. *It should look like the ‘head’ of a beer poured too quickly and smell yeasty.
- In the meantime: melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a microwave-safe bowl.
- Once the yeast mixture is aromatic and looks like the head of a beer, add buttermilk, eggs, and butter to the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix on low and add 4 cups of flour, one cup at a time. Add salt. Once the flour is mixed in, add remaining flour slowly until dough becomes a ball. Mine takes 5 ½ cups total. Knead dough on medium-high for 5 minutes. Add more flour a tablespoon at a time as needed, if bread is too sticky to come together. The dough should be tacky when you pull it out of the mixer, not sticky.
- Lightly dust countertop with flour. Turn dough out onto the countertop. Knead a few turns, shape dough into a ball.
- Add 1 tablespoon butter to bowl and heat in microwave until melted. Place dough into bowl upside down, flip the dough over and cover loosely with plastic wrap and drape bowl with a towel. Set bowl in a warm place in your kitchen. Allow dough to rise for 60-90 minutes until nearly doubled in size.
- Meanwhile combine light brown sugar, cinnamon, and corn starch in a medium bowl. Stir with a fork until well combined. Set aside.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough a few turns, then using a rolling pin, roll out into an 18” tall x 24” wide rectangle. Spread softened butter around dough leaving the bottom 1” border uncoated.
- Sprinkle the buttered dough with brown sugar mixture, leaving the bottom 1” uncoated. Use your rolling pin to gently press sugar mixture into the dough (so it doesn’t fall out as you roll it).
- Starting at the top, tightly roll dough toward you, using the last 1” to seal roll. Cut dough roll in half and then cut those halves in half, giving you 4 pieces. Cut each of those pieces into 1/3rd. You will have 12 pieces.
- Grease (2) 9”x13” baking dishes. Place rolls in pans evenly spaced out, 2 rows of 3 rolls in each. Make sure to put the end pieces upside down. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and drape a towel over pans. Set pans in a warm place and allow rolls to rise another 60-90 minutes until rolls have doubled in size.
- Preheat oven 350°F.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Halfway through baking time rotate the pans.
- In the meantime prepare frosting; add cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer (or stand mixer) until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Set aside.
- Remove rolls from oven. Spread ¼ of frosting over each pan of rolls. Allow to cool slightly and repeat. Serve and enjoy!
Video
Donna’s Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published November 2013, updated and republished July 2023
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I think you just helped me perfect my cinnamon rolls! I never thought to use corn starch to thicken up the filling, brilliant!!! Thanks so much!
I think you just helped me perfect my cinnamon rolls! I never thought to use corn starch to thicken up the filling, brilliant!!! Thanks so much!
How in the world do u get that dough to roll out to that size, I ended up cutting it in half and doing half at a time and still it keeps shrinking back on me grrrrrr HELP
If it shrinks back that much it may need to rest. The gluten causes that snap back. I would lay a clean cloth over the dough and come back to it in 10 minutes. It can be frustrating. I hope it came out well. Let us know how it goes.
Hi! This recipe looks delicious! I can barely wait to give it a try. If you have time, would you consider this technical baking/prep question — would be possible to freeze these in the middle phase (after the rolls are prepared, but before the second rising), then slow thaw/rise in refrigerator overnight, then wake and bake? I have three kids, and their patience starts to wane (especially if they can smell the cinnamon), so pre-making would spare them some of the agonizing wait time and would prevent rising at real bakers' hours to start the prep. I see, in the posts, that many have frozen after baking, but I'd like to serve them freshly baked, if possible, but there's no hope that A) I could get up at 3:30 to make sure kids have them while still getting out the door for school in time B) kids could wait 3 hours past the point of asking 'what are you making?' 🙂 I'd hate to try it out and waste the first batch. Thanks in advance for your help!
Valerie, from my experience it seems perfectly rational that it would work. I have not tested it, though so I can only assume it would work. If you do give it a shot, let me know how it worked out and if I try it I will post about it. Enjoy!
How much table salt do I use if I dont have kosher?
I highly recommend buying kosher salt. I love the way it is absorbed into the food and how easy it is to grab to season food. However, if you prefer table salt use 3/4 teaspoon for every 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Enjoy!
Thank you! (I've wondered that for other recipes!)
When using your hands, keep kneeding till is squeaks and is nice and soft, like a babies bum
Did you get a chance to try it yet? I also wondered if you could use a bread maker.
I am making these now and I used my bread maker,and it seems to be working fine!! I just add the liquids first then dry.I set my machine on dough/knead and it does the hard stuff for me.I allow it to do the 2nd rise then take it out and shape it then let rise again. Hope this helps
Awesome to hear the bread maker is a great options. Enjoy!
When I made this they where not as goosy as the cinnabon makes theys how can I make mine as goosy thanks
What do you mean? The rolls or the topping? Can you tell me what pan you baked these in? If it is a dark pan that could effect the doneness of the final product. Email me and I can help you figure it out.
The recipe states it makes 12 cinnamon rolls. Yet in the directions it says to grease two 9" x 13" pans and place the rolls evenly 2 rows with 3 in a row. That's only 6 rolls in each pan? The picture shows it to have all 12 in one pan. I am confused. Please help.
The photo is of one batch that I made. It was baked all in one pan but when I made them in 2(9×13) pans they were able to spread out properly. Follow the directions, they are accurate. Enjoy and let us know how it goes.
Your Cinnabon recipe sounds great and I'm excited to try it out! You said to use all purpose flour but I will use a bread machine. Should I replace it with baking flour?
You should still use all purpose flour in a bread machine. If you use a different flour it would make it a different texture. If you read through the comments you will see other readers that have used bread machines. Enjoy and let us know how it goes.
Donna, thank you for the advice. Usually I use bread flour for the bread machine, but this time I tried it out with all purpose flour. I'm not sure what went wrong but the dough was too runny to roll so I decided to pour it in a cake pan and mixed in the filling. The texture was more like a cake but the taste is great! Next time, I will use the bread flour and see the difference.
How much flour did you add? There shouldn't be enough liquid to make this batter pourable. I would love to discuss the recipe and help you resolve the issues you encountered. Although, cinnamon roll cake sounds divine!
Yes, the cake was scrumptious and thanks for the great recipe! Now that you mentioned, I think I made a mistake and used 5 cups of flour. Next time, I will make sure I measure correctly.
These look delicious but I have one question: when you say to leave one inch free of butter and cinnamon sugar before rolling, is that an 18 inch edge or a 24 inch edge? In other words, how long is the finished roll before cutting into individual rolls, 18 inches or 24 inches? Thanks!
After reading your recipe and the amount of work involved to make the cinnabons, I went out to the store and bought them…………..
I was searching for a good cinnamon roll recipe and came upon your website. I spent the day making these and they were absolutely WONDERFUL! Thank you so much for this GREAT recipe. Better than any that I saw on Food Network, The directions were perfect and easy to follow. This is a keeper! I doubled the icing just to be sure I had enough for both 9×14 dishes. I baked on convection bake and they were beaufitul – just like at Cinnabons!!! Thank you SO MUCH!
Question: Although the dough rose fine, when I added the sugar to the yeast /water, it seemed to stop the yeast from blooming like it should, even after waiting 7 minutes. Should the sugar be added with the buttermilk mixture instead or is this supposed to happen?
I am so happy to hear you loved our recipe. They are spectacular and addictive so best to share with others. LOL
About the yeast, is it possible that the yeast was old? I have not had any problems making the recipe as written. Email me if you have any more questions. donna {at} tsrifood {dot} com
Sugar helps the yeast to "bloom". I always put a tablespoon of sugar in my yeast/hot water mixture. Was taught that by my grandmother and mother.
This looks sooo yummy!
Is it possible for me to use instant dry yeast? Here in the part of the world where I am instant dry yeast is what we use. Measurement and procedure if possible? Thanks
I found this on the King Arthur website: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/yeast.html
Can I use active dry and instant yeasts interchangeably?
Yes, they can be substituted for one another 1:1. We've found that active dry yeast is a little bit slower off the mark than instant, as far as dough rising goes; but in a long (2- to 3-hour) rise, the active dry yeast catches up. If a recipe using instant yeast calls for the dough to “double in size, about 1 hour,” you may want to mentally add 15 to 20 minutes to this time if you're using active dry yeast.
When dough is rising, you need to judge it by how much it's risen, not how long it takes; cold weather, low barometric pressure, how often you bake, and a host of other factors affect dough rising times, so use them as a guide, not an unbreakable rule.
Remember, bread-baking involves living things (yeast), your own personal touch in kneading technique, and the atmosphere of your kitchen; there are so many variables that it's impossible to say that “Dough X will double in size in 60 minutes.” Baking with yeast is a combination of art, science and a bit of magic; stay flexible, and your bread (and you!) will be just fine.
One time when you might not want to use instant and active dry yeasts interchangeably is when you're baking bread in a bread machine. Since bread machines use a higher temperature to raise dough, substituting instant for active dry yeast 1:1 may cause bread to over-rise, then collapse. When baking in the bread machine, and substituting instant yeast for active dry, reduce the amount of instant yeast by 25%.
This really looks delish!
Is it possible to use instant dry yeast? In my part of the world we use instant dry yeast. I hope you can help me with measurements and procedures. Thanks so much.
do these need to be refrigerated after? I made these and they are incredible! i made the dough the night before and after it rose the first time i put it in the fridge and made the rolls in the morning. worked out great!
I keep them covered with a towel or plastic wrap on the counter top. So happy you enjoyed them
Hi. I would like to know if there is any way these could be made in a non dairy version? cant have milk, perhaps soy milk?
I have not tried that, but if you do please let us know how it goes. Enjoy!
I saw your recipe on FB & although I made the gingerbread cinnamon rolls from The Law Student's Wife, I thought your lemon icing would be a wonderful addition! I was not wrong! So much so that I had to make a second batch of rolls & frosting to satisfy my 3 boys! Since we love lemon & it complements gingerbread so well, I grated a little zest into the icing the second time I made it. Wow! This will definitely be my new icing! The extra time whipping it truly makes it fluffy! My boys scraped their plates clean!
That is awesome! I am so happy that you loved it. Now I am going to have to pop over and check out her gingerbread cinnamon rolls too.
My husband is a sucker for his mother's caramel rolls, but I decided I wanted to try something new. When we finally dug in, he told me they were the best frosted cinnamon rolls he's ever had. And I agree! Even better than Cinnabon, which is hard to beat for me! Yum!
SCORE! So happy you loved them. These are our favorite cinnamon rolls, but I am intrigued about caramel rolls. I must look this up.
I made the dough and it didn't seem to turn out correctly. I followed the directions exactly and the dough came out very dry and flaky.I decided to add more water and it started to come together more. Hopefully it turns out, this is my first attempt at cinnamon rolls and this recipe looks awesome!
These look sooooo good. I hate to ask such a silly question, but I,m new to using yeast and I'm confused about this, "Pour water and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, sprinkle yeast over top, add sugar and stir." Do I divide the sugar since it only states 1/2 c sugar only once in the ingredients. I'd love to try these.
Hi Kay, not silly at all. It was an oversight. I corrected it to read "Pour water and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (see cooks note if you do not have a stand mixer), sprinkle yeast over top and stir. "
Let us know how it goes. Enjoy!
AWESOME recipe! I've made it SOOO many times, but due to my family/friends being picky eaters, I now use this recipe to make a 'Center of the Roll' type super-gooey monkey bread. Nobody in my family/circle of friends will eat the edge pieces because they're the harder bits and a lot of them – unless the buns are drenched in icing – won't even eat most of the tops either! What I did was slice the dough (before the last rise) into 128 pieces and set aside 16 pieces. I then coated the 112 remaining pieces in butter and the cinnamon sugar mixture. Once each piece was coated and CRAMMED in the pan, I took the 16 pieces from before and rolled them together and out into a very thin (thickness of a quarter at MOST) sheet of dough, coated one side with butter and placed it on top of the balls (butter side down). Let rise and bake as the recipe states. Once they're done, I invert the pan and voila! 112 tiny pieces of joy. If the balls have sat long enough on the top sheet (because it's now the bottom after inverting…), they're usually happy to eat it as well because it's now soaked up all the joy! Exactly the same recipe, the only change is the preparation before baking.
Bryce Johnston – Edinurgh, Scotland
The yeast blooming technique and the proofing are a miracle! I have always had such a hard time with breads turning lumpy or too dense, and when I turned out the ball of dough after the first rise, I could not believe how silky and bright the texture was! Thank you!
Are you putting the dough in the remaining tablespoon of butter to rise? I'm not sure what you are doing with it.
Actually you will use it in this step… add 1 tablespoon butter to bowl and heat in microwave until melted.
Enjoy and let us know how it goes!
so are we physically melting the butter and then putting the dough onto of the melted butter… turning it over and then waiting for it to rise… with all that melted butter in the bowl… or are we waiting until the dough has risen twice the size then putting the melted butter onto of the rolled out dough???