These no yeast cinnamon rolls are the easiest homemade cinnamon rolls you’ll ever make. With no dough-punching & no waiting for the dough to rise, the hardest thing about these cinnamon rolls is waiting for them to come out of the oven!
This is one of my older recipes on the blog (originally published April, 2015), and also one of my favorites. My old pictures didn’t do justice to these amazing easy cinnamon rolls, so I’m updating the pictures and re-publishing today. Originally I was going to re-write the whole post, but instead I’m leaving about 90% of the original writing, because it just didn’t feel right to change it. I left the old photos at the very bottom of the post, too, in case you wanted to have a laugh.
I present to you: The lazy girl’s cinnamon roll recipe.
No yeast. No dough-punching. No two-hour rise time followed by another hour of rise time.
Nothing but cinnamon-y, gooey, need-a-fork-to-eat-it goodness <3.
I (obviously) enjoy baking, and considering that you’re reading this I assume you don’t hate spending time doing it either. I’ve even previously posted a recipe for orange sweet rolls that require all of those heinous, time-consuming things mentioned above, taking over 3 hours from start to finish.
However… if you want cinnamon rolls for breakfast on a Saturday morning, you shouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn just to have them ready before it’s actually lunch time. These cinnamon rolls can be ready in less than one hour (probably faster if you spend more time actually baking and less time sampling the cinnamon filling… or is that just me…).
Since these rolls don’t use yeast they have a softer, flakier texture to them, which is perfect for those of us who love melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls that require a fork to enjoy.
And wait! We haven’t even discussed the frosting yet!
That lovely, crowning cream cheese-based, sticky frosting that any cinnamon roll would just be sad and naked without. Pour this cream cheese frosting on heavy over these cinnamon rolls while they’re still warm, and enjoy!
If you try these out, I’d love to know how you like them! Please leave a comment or tag #sugarspunrun on Instagram!
Easy Cinnamon Rolls (no yeast required!)
Ingredients
Rolls
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
- 3 Tablespoons sugar (38g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons butter + additional 2 Tbsp butter for baking cold
- 3/4 cup milk (178ml)
Filling
- 2/3 cup brown sugar (133g)
- 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (25g)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 Tbsp butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing*
- 4 oz cream cheese softened (115g)
- 4 Tablespoon butter softened (57g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar (400g)
- 2 Tablespoon milk (30ml)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375F
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Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix.
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Using a pastry cutter (or fork and knife if lacking) cut butter into dry mix
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Add milk and mix until all ingredients are combined.
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Dump dough onto a very well floured surface and roll until it forms a cohesive ball. Continue to flour the surface you are working with as needed.
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Generously sprinkle flour on the top of the ball of dough and place a large piece of wax paper on top. (If dough is too sticky, work in more flour until it is manageable)
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Use a rolling pin to roll dough out to roughly a 10x12" rectangle.
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Remove the wax paper and make your filling by combining brown sugar, flour and cinnamon and then stirring in butter and vanilla. This will be very much like a paste.
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Spread the filling over the rectangle of dough, leaving about 1/4" of space as a perimeter around the filling.
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Carefully roll dough starting with one of the 12" ends and rolling tightly.. Press the edge of the roll into the dough so that it sticks.
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Cut the log, spacing your cuts about 1" apart. If the log is not holding its shape well, transfer it to your freezer for about 10 minutes and then try to cut again (it should hold it's shape this way so you will have mostly round cinnamon rolls)
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Place 2 Tbsp of butter into a 9" pie pan and set it in your preheating oven for a few minutes until the butter has melted. Remove from oven.
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Place your cinnamon rolls in baking dish, they do not need to be touching, they will spread to fill their surrounding area.
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Bake on 375F for 28-30 minutes (beginning to lightly brown around edges). Prepare your icing while the rolls are baking.
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With mixer, combine cream cheese and butter and vanilla.
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Gradually add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
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Add milk, stirring until combined.
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When cinnamon rolls are finished, remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before spreading icing over rolls.
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These cinnamon rolls are nice and soft. Keep in mind that the warmer they are, the harder it will be to separate one from the other. But if you go in for one cinnamon roll and end up with one and a half, it's really not the worst thing that could happen, right?
Recipe Notes
*This recipe makes a lot of frosting! If you don't like much frosting on your cinnamon rolls, feel free to cut it in half.
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This recipe sounds pretty easy and delicious. Only one question, does it require baking powder or baking soda? In the ingredient list it says powder, in the actual directions it says soda. Since I know they react differently, I want to make sure I use the correct ingredient. Thank you!
Hi Alyssa! These require baking POWDER. Thank you for catching that for me, I will fix it in the recipe immediately! Hope you love these cinnamon rolls as much as I do! 🙂
Good evening: Sam.
Every time I’ve made a yeast bread it turns out to be better used as a door stop, now my church wants me to make two desserts for a Christmas party, I’m going to use your cinnamon roll recipe. I haven’t yet figured out what the other dessert will be, but both have to be ready by Dec. 20 Th. wish me luck.
Harold, your comment about your bread being a door stop made me laugh out loud! I have confidence you won’t have that problem with this recipe! Best of luck, please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions about the recipe that I may be able to help you with, and I hope you’ll let me know how it turns out for you! 🙂
Hi! I am a mother of 7. We had supper pretty early and of course the kids and my husband were craving for something. I got to the kitchen, searches for a recipe of cinnamon rolls without yeast and alas! I found yours on the top of the list. I started at 8h00 and the cinnamon rolls were cleaned up by 9h15. You are a lifesaver! As a beginner baker thee were easy and delicious. Well done! I have soooooo pinned this recipe. Thank you!
Woohoo! So glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe, Tasmeen! Thank you for the kind feedback! 🙂
Can I use gluten free flour?
Hi Z, unfortunately I have never used gluten free flour and so I can’t say for sure how this would affect the outcome of the recipe.
Hi Sam, I just found your recipe and I’m hoping it will save me. I started a batch of cinnamon rolls to to have ready for Valentine’s Day breakfast, and accidentally added the yeast to a too-hot milk mixture, and killed the yeast! And now I am all out of yeast. So I am going to try these tomorrow morning. I actually do have a question…can these be made the night before and refrigerated un-baked?
Thanks!
Hi Leah,
Oh no, I’ve had way too many similar experiences with yeast, so I feel your pain! These should be fine made the night before and refrigerated unbaked. I hope you love them!
I just tried these with GF flour and they came out dry. I think next time I’ll add a little milk and that *should* solve the problem.
Made these for a potluck and they came out just perfect! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them! Thank you for commenting, Anne! 🙂
I just made this for a late night snack and it turned out great!!!!!! I will use this recipe for many different things now. I always love trying new things and this is one recipe that I will keep and pass on to others. Thank You so much for posting this.
It is a very versatile dough, for sure, I’m currently developing another recipe with it now, even. I’m SO glad that you liked it, Hope, thank you so much for commenting!! 🙂
I am looking for a loaf roll, no yeast, that I can bake WITHOUT cutting it into the “rolls”- I want to cut it after it is baked, would this recipe work?
Hi Rachel,
I’ve never tried it that way so I can’t say for sure, unfortunately. It would probably be a bit messy, but i think any recipe baked this way might be. If you do try it, it would have to be baked for longer, for sure, to make sure that the center gets baked and isn’t gooey. Sorry I can’t be more helpful in this scenario, but if you do try it this way I would love to hear how it turns out!
I had thee hardest time actually rolling it into the rolls. I had flour everywhere and it still stuck to the counter. So thie morning we called them cinnamon globs. I probably just needed more flour im sure, but they smell amazing and the icing is perfect!
Yikes! Sorry it was so sticky, sometimes I find if my butter isn’t cold enough it needs a lot more flour. I’m glad you enjoyed them otherwise! Thank you for commenting!
They were wonderful! The icing was enough for two batchs of rolls so i froze the rest and will try them again! I cant wait for my husband to get home to try the one i saved from the kids! Thanks!
Fantastic! Thank you so much for letting me know how you liked them! 🙂
Hi! I found you off Imgur and I made these this morning. They’re delicious! Didn’t take too long to make and were just amazing! Thank you!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you liked them, and thank you for commenting 🙂 🙂
Oh my!! I think my 10 year old grandson and I will make these Sunday morning as he spends Saturday night with Nana!! He is learning to bake with me, and neither of us have the patience to wait for yeast rolls.. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.. 🙂
I hope you both love them, Pauline! Also, I love your name — Ninja Nana! Your grandson must have a lot of fun with you 🙂 🙂
Thanks for commenting!
My sister and I made these today, we definitely making these again. They are amzining. We also use dough for ham and chesse buns also strawberry buns all turn our great. Thank you so much. As person who is allergic to yeast, this opens many doors for me to bake now.
I’m so glad you liked them! Great idea to use with the ham & cheese buns, too! So glad that you enjoyed the recipe, Courtney, and thank you for coming back and commenting! 🙂
These are fantastic!! I didn’t even need the frosting they’re perfect by themselves adding the frosting would make them completely sinful.. I’ve never made them before but now that I have it will be a special treat for my kids on holiday mornings.
I’m so glad to hear it, Karey! Thanks for commenting and letting me know how you liked them, it means a lot to me!! 🙂
Baking your cinnamon rolls has filled the house with a delicious smell – too delightful for words. I approached this recipe with some trepidation as I’d never made rolls before but this was easy in preparation and beautiful in outcome. You have a gift for the delicious: thank you for sharing it.
I replaced the cream cheese with sour cream as I had no cream cheese in the house. It isn’t as thick but it does add a certain something if you don’t mind getting your fingers dirty as the sourness is appealing to my taste buds.
I also have made your worst chocolate chip cookies a few times – I just love them, as does everyone else I feed them to.
Is there any possibility of you publishing a book? It would be the perfect Christmas gift.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cinnamon rolls so much, Lucy. I love the sour cream substitution, I think I would like the flavor of that very much. Glad to hear that you have enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies as well!! I currently have no plans for publishing a book, but perhaps sometime in the future. If I do, I’ll definitely let you know! 🙂
These are mind blowingly amazing! I am 8 months pregnant and woke up this morning CRAVING cinnamon rolls! I had no time to mess around with yeast and I’m not a morning person so to Google I went. I was so hopeful when I realized I had all the ingredients! So easy to whip together (especially since I made my husband do the dough work). They are the best cinnamon roll’s ever! PERFECT ooey gooey rolls. We will be making them for Christmas morning. My only suggestion is that the recipe makes WAY a lot of icing. We used about half of it and it was still too much – will know next time. Eternally grateful! You are a genius! 🙂
Oh yeah, most of my recipes really ought to have a warning in bold saying: “CAUTION, THE AUTHOR OF THESE RECIPES REALLY, REALLY LIKES ICING”, whoops! But I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the cinnamon rolls so much, thank you for commenting!! 🙂
Oh there is a warning about cutting the icing in half, I just didn’t do it because how can you ever have too much icing? Now I know to trust you. Haha. How do you think these would hold up if prepared to right before baking and then frozen? Wondering if I could make a couple batches for the freezer, pull out thaw and bake later? I’ve never really gotten into freezing things but with baby #2 on the way it seems like a good idea.
I’ve never tried this, but I think it would work just fine if they were wrapped tightly before freezing. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it works out!
Sam, these were awesome, and my family loved them. I had some trouble getting the cinnamon filling to spread out over all of the dough. I think next time I need to make more of the filling. Overall this recipe was a home run. Thanks for posting it!
(It’s actually the second one of your recipes that I made. The first was the candied pecans. I think I’ve made five batches of those and they were wonderful.)
I’m so glad to hear that you and your family enjoyed them (and the candied pecans!), David! Thank you so much for commenting to let me know! 🙂
Can I make these the night before? Any changes?
You can make them the night before, I’ve done this plenty of times. You can either wrap the pre-cut “log” tightly in clear wrap and then cut that into rolls the next day (that may be easier as it makes it easier to cut the slices), or you can slice them first and cover them with clear wrap and cook them the next day. No changes! I hope you love them, Dawn! Happy Thanksgiving!
You’re awesome!!!! Thank you so much for the quick response. Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings!
I am making these right now and they smell so good that I just want to take them out of the oven and eat them raw right now! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Those cinnamon rolls are SO good, I hope you love them, Natalie! 🙂
I am thinking of making these for Christmas morning. My first time making cinnamon rolls! I am wondering if I can add 1/2 cup toasted pecans to the filling mix? Will this alter the outcome?
Oh yum, that sounds delicious Stephanie! You can definitely do that. Hope you love the cinnamon rolls!
I would like to make these a few days ahead for Christmas morning. Could I make them and freeze before baking, or would it be better to freeze them after baking and reheat them? If I did bake first, should I frost them before freezing? They look delicious, but I’m cramped for time right before Christmas morning.
I would make the dough, fill it, roll it, & slice it and then wrap tightly and freeze. Then bake on Christmas morning. You can make the frosting a day or two in advance, too, but keep that sealed in the refrigerator (not freezer) and allow it to come to room temperature before using (stir well before spreading). Hope this helps!
Thanks for your reply. I am assuming I would bake them frozen and add some extra minutes baking time?? If you suggest defrosting them first, please let me know. Good suggestion to make the frosting ahead and have ready after they come out of the oven–yummy.
Yup, I would bake from frozen, just as you said 🙂
I hope you love them!
i only have baking soda is it okay since it is such a small amount if i can use the soda instead?
I would not recommend using baking soda instead, it would not turn out the same.
Hello! I’m actually 13 (14 next month), and I tried your fried donut hole recipe and they were great! (Even though I used a pan, instead of actually searching up what a saucepan looked like)
Anyway, I had a few questions:
1. How exactly do I know when the rectangle is 10×12? I know it says roughly, but I don’t think I’m that good of a baker yet to estimate dimensions haha.
2. Could I make a cinnamon/vanilla-flavored pastry cream for the filling?
3. Is it possible to roll the dough without a rolling pin?
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your recipes with everyone and to personally answer questions!
Hi Jeff! So glad you are enjoying the recipes!
To answer your questions:
1) Honestly, I use a ruler. If you don’t have one use a standard sheet of paper. A standard sheet of paper is 8×11, so use the long side (11″) to judge, and make one side slightly (about an inch shorter), and another side slightly (about an inch) longer to make the rectangle.
2) I think pastry cream would be delicious with this dough, but I don’t know that it would bake well inside it. I don’t think I’ve baked pastry cream before, I’d certainly be interested to hear how it turns out if you do try it, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it.
3) I’ve used a well-cleaned, empty, beer bottle to roll dough in one of my more desperate hours before, and if you have a glass bottle like that or something similar lying around you could probably make do, but you’d really be best off using a rolling pin.
I really hope this helps answer your questions, and I hope you love the cinnamon rolls! 🙂
Tried these and it tasted good but didn’t turn out so.
I doubled the filling because cinnamon rolls don’t usually have much and I like lots of it.
It didn’t want to roll which was fine but the problem I ran into was getting them out of the pan. They turned out great but how does one get them out of the pan in one piece?
I tried turning the pan over but they stuck to it and wouldn’t move. Then when I turned the pan back the entire middle ones were destroyed.
This was the first time making these and I’ll try again soon but I would like to know how to easily get them out and apart before I try again. Are you not allowed to double the filling? :/
Hi Jeremy,
I think that doubling the filling was probably the problem here.
You should just be able to use a small spatula to lift them out of the pan one at a time (maybe use a butter knife to cut around the border of each cinnamon roll, first). They shouldn’t stick to the bottom of the pan because of the butter that you melt in the pan first… I’m wondering if the excess filling cooked onto the bottom of the pan, and that’s why they stuck.
I wouldn’t recommend turning the pan upside down because these aren’t quite sturdy enough for that, especially when warm, I think if you use less filling you would have better success.
I haven’t tried it this way myself, but you could experiment and maybe you could even find success increasing the recipe by 50% rather than completely doubling it.
Good luck with your next attempt, and let me know if you have any more questions!
I haven’t made these, but I just wrote down the recipe and am going upstairs to make it with my three little girls right now! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your detailed steps and explanation. I find that too many recipes do not give instructions well and leave me with a million questions which cause me to make a misstep somewhere along the way. Each time I had a question you answered it in the very next step; good recipe writing is hard to find and I plan to check out more of your recipes since I know you give excellent directions!!
Elisabeth
Today was the first time I’ve made homemade cinnamon rolls and they were delicious! Thank you for the recipe. My family was very happy.
I love hearing this, I’m so glad that you and your family enjoyed these. Thank you so much for commenting, Veronica! 🙂
I made this guys yesterday… aaaaand we loooove them!! Easy recipes, delicious rolls!!
I made them in 2 different baking pans so they weren’t to crowded…. besides that The only kinda confussing part for ME was the +2tsp if baking cold… haha.
Thank you to this easy to follow recipe!!
So glad you enjoyed them, Gabby! sorry about that weird +2 tsp part, looks like my recipe plugin mixed some things up so I’ll have to fix that, thank you for pointing it out! 🙂
We give these a 10 out of 10! Delicious recipe, and easy to make. I wanted to let you know that I made the dough in my food processor and it came out wonderfully. I put all the dry ingredients in and pulsed to combine. Added the butter and pulsed until crumbly then added the milk still pulsing. Then I rolled the dough by hand and the rest was yummy history!
Food processor is a great move, it really gets the butter worked in well. Thank you for commenting!! 🙂
I agree with Elisabeth. You give excellent directions. I haven’t cooked them yet but today I’m going to make them for everyone at the office for in the morning so I hope putting them in the microwave for 15 seconds won’t hurt them. I love doing that with melted butter and a glass of milk. Sad part about this is I’m at work and I can’t take a nap. I will let you know how they came out and what the ladies think. I am going to add chopped pecans on top. Thank you again and I’m going to try more of your recipes as well.
Thank you!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. I’ve reheated them the next day for my coworkers before and they seemed to do fine. The chopped pecans sound like a great addition!
Thank you for commenting! 🙂
Surprised ~ no egg needed here? Looks almost too good to believe. Will make very soon.
I hope you love them!
these were very good although mine turned out to be a little bit too dense and doughy in the middle. But I think that was my fault, I didn’t roll the dough thin enough so it was very thick in the middle. Great recipe though, and everyone loved them!
Glad they were a hit overall! 🙂
I helped my mom make these a few days ago. They turned out great! They didn’t last very long , ha ha.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Anthony! They never last long in my house, either 😉
Hi! I tried out this recipe once and it was perfect! I wanted to know how I would be able to cut it short to maybe 4, 5, or 6 cinnamon rolls. The first time I made it, it was a bit to much for my family. Please tell me if there is.
Hi Amber! I’m glad you enjoyed them! You could definitely half the recipe, but you would need a smaller baking pan to bake them in.
Thank you very much for this lovely recipe!!! Would be gorgeous for our Easter Brunch… Do you think I could bake it ahead of time and freeze it?
Best wishes!
So glad you like the recipe, Connie! I wouldn’t recommend baking it ahead of time and then freezing, but I think it would be OK to prepare the dough up to step 10 or 11 and then tightly wrap that and freeze, then bake the day of. You could even prepare the cream cheese frosting in advance, but keep that refrigerated and then set it out to come to room temperature before spreading on the cinnamon rolls. I hope that helps! 🙂
I made this for my in-laws in France today. Thanks for the metric conversions! They were very much appreciated! I did not include the icing (I didn’t find Philadelphia at the French supermarket) but instead used a half recipe of the filling as a crumble for the top. Then we poured Creme Anglaise all over them. Ahhh!!! So good!
I’m so glad to hear that everyone enjoyed, Kelly! The Creme Anglaise sounds absolutely AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know how they turned out!
Thanks so much for this recipe which really was everything you said it would be. Quick and easy and sooo delicious. Had to cobble together a glaze with what I had available and they were still a hit. This time I have what I need to make the icing as well.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed them, Diana! Thank you for writing!!
Just made these and its a keeper for sure. I halved the recipe and got 4, and baked them in a muffin tin with great results. And with no yeast or risings necessary, it can’t get any easier!
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed, thanks for writing, Ezra!!
these were sooo good!! Though in my opinion, because of the icing it got too sweet, so we had it alone!! It tasted like heaven!!
So glad you enjoyed!