I make these homemade cinnamon rolls every year for the holidays. Soft, gooey, and easy to make, they're always a hit with family and friends!
When I was growing up, my family always ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning. They were easy to pop in the oven as my sister and I excitedly unwrapped presents, and they were delicious – gooey, soft, and smothered in sweet cream cheese frosting.
As an adult, my Christmas morning excitement no longer comes from what presents are under the tree. I look forward to sharing a relaxing day with my family, and cinnamon rolls still seem like the perfect way to kick it off.
I make this cinnamon roll recipe every year for the holidays. It’s super easy, and the homemade cinnamon rolls are so much better than any you’d get at the store. Soft and gooey all the way through, they’re jam-packed with brown sugar and cinnamon. A big slather of vanilla glaze adds the perfect sweet finishing touch. Make them for any holiday you celebrate, for a cozy weekend brunch, or whenever you’re craving something sweet!
How to Make Cinnamon Rolls
My cinnamon roll recipe is simple – it calls for straightforward pantry ingredients, and you don’t even have to get out the stand mixer to make it! Here’s how it goes:
First, make the dough. I wanted my cinnamon roll recipe to be dairy-free, so I use coconut oil and almond milk in the dough instead of melted butter and cow’s milk. These cinnamon rolls are every bit as rich and delicious as regular ones, but they’re totally vegan!
After you’ve stirred the dough together, knead it! At this point, the dough will be sticky and springy. Knead it on a lightly floured surface until it becomes smooth. Then, form it into a ball and place it in a large bowl greased with coconut oil. Cover the bowl and set it aside for one hour, until the dough has doubled in size.
Next, it’s time to roll! Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to shape it into a large rectangle. This shape doesn’t have to be perfect, but the straighter the edges are, the more uniform your cinnamon rolls will be. Brush the rectangle with coconut oil and cover it with brown sugar and cinnamon, leaving a border around the edges.
Then, roll again! Starting at a short end of the rectangle, roll the dough tightly into a log.
When you’ve rolled up the dough, slice it into 12 even rolls. Place them in a large greased baking pan, cut-side up. Cover the rolls, and set them aside to rise for one more hour.
Finally, bake the cinnamon rolls at 350° for 25-30 minutes, until they’re lightly golden brown. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes.
While they cool, make the glaze. Like the rolls, the glaze is totally dairy-free! It’s a delectable mix of almond milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Slather it on the rolls, serve warm, and enjoy!
Cinnamon Roll Recipe Tips
- Make sure your almond milk is at room temperature. Because I make these cinnamon rolls with melted coconut oil instead of softened butter, it’s crucial that your milk is at room temperature when you’re stirring together the wet ingredients for the dough. If it’s not, the melted coconut oil will solidify. I like to measure the almond milk and pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds before mixing it with the other ingredients.
- Let the dough rise somewhere warm. Yeast responds to warmth, so, for an extra productive rise, stick the dough somewhere warm. We like to put ours on a sunny windowsill!
- Add the glaze when the rolls are still warm, but not hot. If the rolls are too hot when you add the glaze, it will melt. If they’re too cold, it won’t spread and ooze over them. I find that letting them cool for 10 minutes brings them to the perfect temperature. They’ll still be warm when you eat them, and the frosting will soften over them without completely melting.
- Make them ahead! To make these cinnamon rolls ahead of time, follow the recipe from start to finish, stopping before you add the glaze. Allow the rolls to cool completely before freezing them for up to a month. Covered in foil, they reheat perfectly in a 350-degree oven. Add the glaze right before you eat!
More Favorite Brunch Recipes
If you love these homemade cinnamon rolls, try one (or more) of these brunch recipes next!
- Easy Shakshuka
- How to Make a Frittata
- Avocado Toast (5 ways!)
- Healthy Breakfast Casserole
- Cinnamon French Toast Bake
- Classic French Toast
- Banana Pancakes
- Stovetop or Baked Oatmeal
- Classic Mimosas
Or, check out this post for more great brunch recipes or this one for 60+ healthy breakfast ideas!
For more vegan recipes, visit this post for 85 of our favorites!
Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the yeast
- ½ cup warm water, 110°
- 1 (¼-ounce) package active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar
Dough
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil, plus more for brushing
- ½ cup almond milk, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
Filling
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1½ tablespoons cinnamon
Glaze
- 1½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 to 4 tablespoons almond milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Grease an 8x11 or 9x13-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, stir together the water, yeast, and sugar. Set aside for 5 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy.
- Make the dough: In a medium bowl, combine the coconut oil, almond milk, sugar, and salt. Stir in the yeast mixture. Place the flour in a large bowl, then add the wet ingredients and stir until combined. The mixture will be sticky. Use your hands to roughly knead the mixture, then turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead 3 to 4 minutes until smooth, sprinkle with more flour if needed, and form into a ball.
- Brush a large bowl with coconut oil and place the dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Make the filling: In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Punch down dough and roll out on a floured surface into a 20x14-inch rectangle. Brush with 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar to within ½ inch of the edges.
- Starting at one of the short 14-inch ends, roll tightly into a log, then slice into 12 rolls. Place the rolls into the baking dish cut-side up, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons almond milk, and vanilla until smooth. If it’s too thick, add more almond milk.
- Bake the rolls 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then drizzle the glaze on top and serve.
Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows.
Made them today: absolutely amazing! Easy to make and delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe! x
How do we freeze these prior to baking? And how long would they last in the freezer? Sorry if this has been asked; I flipped through a lot of comments and did not see freezing before baking.
Thanks!
Hi Madison, I freeze them after baking, not before.
My glaze had turned out more of a sugary-texture rather than like in the photo of almost like frosting texture. How do you fix this issue?
Hi Angelina, if it’s too thick, whisk in more almond milk until it’s glaze-like and a spreadable consistency. If it was lumpy, it helps to sift the powdered sugar first.
Amaaazing recipe my family and I absolutely loved it, better than the non-vegans we tasted 😀
This is amazing! The measurements are exact and the dough is easy to make, doesn’t require too much kneading and is a delight to work with. These got so much praise from my family and I’m definitely going to make them again with different fillings. Thank you!
I’m so glad everyone loved them!
I used just the dough recipe because I wanted to use up a jar of mince meat for the filling and they turned out really well, lovely soft buns, I used ‘butter’ instead of the coconut oil because I didn’t have any.
Thanks for coming up with a dairy free version of these! I can make these and not be sick! Can’t do dairy! Made my school life fun. My drink choices with lunch were either milk or the drinking fountain so I learned to eat without drinking!
I am not a vegan but I am dairy free for my baby while breastfeeding. While I lean more vegan in my everyday meals I have never been one to bake vegan. I have made prob 6-7 non vegan recipes for cinnamon rolls and these surpass every recipe I have made! Made them for a Christmas treat and my husband and I were both wow’d by how good they are. Will be using this recipe for good! Thank you!
Hi Mikaela, I’m so glad you both loved them!
I’m sure the recipe is great, others have been successful, but mine didn’t rise, they are in the oven for 30 minutes and haven’t browned and they are sort-of wet and flat (couldn’t put on side where cinnamon shows). Followed the recipe to the letter, not sure why it didn’t work out. 🙁
Hi Cecily, if they didn’t rise, your yeast may be expired. Some stores lately have been selling expired yeast.
I used 1:1 flour and that did not work. Dang it! Doing a round two with regular flour because everything else about the dough was looking so good.
I haven’t had success with gluten free 1:1 flour in yeasted recipes like this.
Is there a substitute for coconut oil and almond milk?
you could use melted butter and regular milk
This may be a dumb question, but if I freeze these to bake a few days later, should I thaw them first or put straight into the hot oven?
Either way, looks great and I can’t wait to make them!!
Hi Adam, I haven’t tried freezing the dough so I’m not exactly sure how it’ll go – but I’d let them thaw overnight in the fridge, then let them sit out at room temp for 1 hour before baking. (It might be a big cinnamon-y mess at this point, no guarantees :)). I don’t think they’ll bake properly if they go straight to the oven from the freezer.
This all being said, they do freeze well after they’re baked. I’d suggest baking them all off and then freezing whatever is leftover.
Made these this morning, they turned out great! I ended up trimming the edges to make it more of a perfect rectangle. We rolled out the leftover dough pretty thin and made a small pizza with it! So lunch was lots of carbs!
BEST cinnamon roll recipe ever! I’ve not an experienced baker, and these came out perfectly. Thank you for the great recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them!
What a perfect Holiday treat! My kids LOVE cinnamon rolls so this is perfect – thanks!
Should the almond milk be unsweetened?
Hi Josie, either sweetened or unsweetened are both fine here – whichever one you have!
Would this work with oat milk?
This recipe is pure magic. My mom used.to make the BEST cinnamon rolls ever and after she passed away, I felt like I would never taste them again. But this recipe, after years of searching, hits the exact spot. Plus everyone who eats them is obsessed. I’ve now made it five times since the first because they keep getting requested. Really delicious recipe which has room for your own adaptations but also is straight up delish as is
Amazing recipe! The smell fills my entire house. Definitely recommend!
Hi! I’m dying to make this recipe but where I live I can’t find active dry yeast. Has anyone done it with instant dry yeast? Is it possible to get a good result?
Hi Lorena, instant dry yeast will work just as well!