Deliciously gooey Easy Vegan Cinnamon Rolls come with step-by-step photos, detailed instructions, and all my top tips for perfect rolls every single time.
Vegan or not, you will love these! The golden brown, fluffy, and buttery dough is wrapped around a delicious cinnamon sugar filling. The batch is topped with my famous vegan cream cheese icing for an out of this world cinnamon roll sensation!
Ingredients Needed
These are the real deal! I promise, you won't miss the eggs or dairy in this vegan cinnamon roll recipe. The dough is just perfect and SUPER easy to make!! Here's everything you'll need:
- Milk: To make vegan cinnamon rolls, use a warm dairy free milk like almond or oat milk.
- Maple Syrup: To naturally sweeten the rolls.
- Butter: You’ll need vegan butter for the dough, filling and icing.
- Salt: Add salt to balance the sweetness and to control the yeast.
- Active Dry Yeast: Yeast is a must to help the rolls rise and get nice and fluffy.
- All Purpose Flour: For vegan cinnamon rolls that are soft and fluffy, we’re using all-purpose flour. Do NOT replace the flour with almond flour or another type of flour. Here's my recipe for gluten-free cinnamon rolls.
- For the cinnamon roll filling: A simple blend of vegan butter, sugar and cinnamon is used to fill the rolls.
- For the cream cheese frosting: Just vegan cream cheese, vegan butter and powdered sugar is all you need for an incredible cinnamon roll icing.
How to Make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Prepare the Dough: Mix the warm oat or almond milk, melted vegan butter, maple syrup, and salt. Sprinkle the active dry yeast evenly across the top of the mixture, stir gently, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
- Let the Dough Rest: Add the all-purpose flour and mix until a dough forms. Leaving the dough in the bowl, form it into a round mound and cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Allow it to sit for an hour. Expect the vegan cinnamon roll dough to nearly double in size.
- Roll it Out: After the dough has risen for an hour place it on a floured surface and roll the dough into a ¼ inch oval or rectangle (add more flour if the dough is too sticky to roll). Spread the softened vegan butter and top with the sugar and cinnamon. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Create the Rolls & Bake: Roll the dough into a log and cut the rolled dough into about 10 pinwheels. Place the pinwheels into a baking dish so that they are close but not touching. Cover them with a kitchen towel and set aside for another 30 minutes. Your pinwheels should be doubled in size. Remove plastic wrap and bake the rolls in the oven for about 35 minutes.
How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting
While the rolls are baking, make the vegan cream cheese frosting by using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to mix together the softened vegan butter, powdered sugar, and vegan cream cheese. Allow the rolls to cool and spread the icing over the rolls. Enjoy!
Expert tips & tricks
- Dough rising: While allowing the dough to rise, I like to sit the bowl of dough on top of an oven preheated to 350 degrees. The warmth from the oven helps the dough rise faster.
- Time saver: If you want rolls super quick, try these delicious No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls. They are ready in just 30 minutes!
- Milk temperature: The milk should be warm when you mix it with the yeast. Warm liquid helps the yeast develop, but if it is too hot, it can kill the yeast instead of activating it.
- Flouring your work surface: Don't forget to flour your work surface and the rolling pin. This is to prevent the cinnamon rolls from sticking to the surface or to the rolling pin.
Frequently asked questions
Definitely not! However, look no further for a cinnamon bun made without eggs or dairy! This vegan cinnamon roll recipe is just as delicious and completely dairy free.
Yes, these are freezer friendly! Follow the instructions up until it is time to add the frosting. Instead of icing them, let them cool and then wrap them in plastic wrap, then place them in an airtight container and freeze them until you are ready to eat. Once you want to eat the cinnamon rolls, let them thaw in the fridge, warm them up in the oven and ice them just before serving.
These are best right after baking, when fresh and warm. However, leftover rolls will keep for 1-2 days, covered at room temp. To keep them fresh longer, store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Simply reheat in the microwave to get them soft and gooey again!
More Cinnamon Roll Recipes to Try
- Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- No Yeast Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Blueberry Sweet Rolls
Vegan Cinnamon Roll Recipe
Ingredients
Need to make these cinnamon rolls gluten free? Click the link below!
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- 1 cup warm (not hot) oat or almond milk
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¼ cup melted vegan butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 ½ cup regular all purpose flour
Vegan Cinnamon Roll Filling
- ⅓ cup softened vegan butter
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 3 teaspoon cinnamon
Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz vegan cream cheese
- 4 tablespoon softened vegan butter
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls Instructions
- Prepare the vegan cinnamon roll dough by mixing the warm oat or almond milk, melted vegan butter, maple syrup, and salt. Sprinkle the active dry yeast evenly across the top of the mixture, stir gently, and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Note: If making these gluten-free, scroll up for a link to access the gluten-free version of this recipe.
- Add the all-purpose flour and mix until a dough forms. Leaving the dough in the bowl, form it into a round mound and cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Allow it to sit for an hour. I like to sit my bowl on top of an oven preheated to 350. The warmth from the oven helps the dough rise faster. Expect the vegan cinnamon roll dough to nearly double in size.
- After the dough has risen for an hour place it on a floured surface and roll the dough into a ¼ inch oval or rectangle (add more flour if the dough is too sticky to roll). Spread the softened vegan butter and top with the sugar and cinnamon.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Roll the dough into a log and cut it into about 10 pinwheels. Place the pinwheels into a baking dish so that they are close but not touching. Cover them with a kitchen towel and set aside for another 30 minutes. I like to sit my rolls on top of the preheating oven. Your pinwheels will nearly double in size.
- Remove plastic wrap and bake the rolls in the oven for about 35 minutes.
- While the rolls are baking, make the vegan cream cheese frosting by using an electric hand mixer to mix together the softened vegan butter, powdered sugar, and vegan cream cheese. Allow the rolls to cool and spread the icing over the rolls. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The recipes on Peanut Butter and Jilly can easily be adapted to fit a vegan lifestyle, a gluten-free lifestyle, or both depending on the ingredients you use. Please review the ingredients lists carefully and refer to our recommendations in the Notes of the recipe card to make this recipe compatible with your needs. Nutrition information provided is an estimate, and will vary based on specific brands of ingredients used and cooking methods.
Breezy says
My dough was super sticky and really difficult to roll. Any suggestions or reasoning behind this?
JillianGlenn says
You might have needed to sprinkle a bit more flour onto the dough for rolling!
Alina says
471 calories is that amount of calories per 1 roll ? ??
JillianGlenn says
Per roll!
Emma says
Do I need to add xanthan gum if the gluten free flour already has xanthan gum in it?
Enna says
I love your recipe!! I’ve been making the cinnamon rolls for the 6th time now, they turn out great every time. Thank you!
Greetings from The Netherlands!
Jillian Glenn says
Hi Enna, so happy to hear that you enjoyed the cinnamon rolls from across the big pond! Cheers!
Michelle Goulet says
Any suggestions on the best gluten free flour to use? I followed the recipe to a T and it was crumbly.
Jillian Glenn says
Hi Michelle, I'm sorry to hear that. The flour is linked in the recipe. Everyone who uses it has great results!
Renia says
Just made these cinnamon rolls for breakfast and they turned out great!!! I used a mix of coconut milk and oat milk and used a mix of brown and white sugar in the filling. Also used king Arthur GF baking flour.
Jillian Glenn says
Hi Renia, I love your modifications! So happy to hear that you enjoyed the vegan and gluten free cinnamon rolls!
Shina says
Hi Jilly, when using All purpose flour is it bleached or un bleached in your recipes?
Jillian Glenn says
Great question! My preferred all-purpose flour is King Arthur which is unbleached.
Shina says
Made these today! Yummy
JillianGlenn says
Thanks for trying my recipe!! So glad to hear you enjoyed 🙂
Allie says
Making these for mother’s day tomorrow and made them as a trial run earlier in the week. Sooo good and everyone loved them, vegan or not!
Elena says
Have you ever tried to make the dough the night before and bake in the morning?
Jillian says
Hi there!! This works pretty well with gluten containing dough. The gluten-free dough becomes a little too dry.
Jay says
Can I still use maple syrup in the non yeast rolls? Also do you have a photo of the rolls with no yeast?
Jillian says
Hi there, you can add maple syrup to the dough! You may also need to add a little more flour so the dough isn't too sticky. Sure, if you would like to see the rolls without yeast, please take a look at this post.
Lauren T. says
Hello! Can substitute the maple syrup for sugar or honey?
Jillian says
Hi there! Absolutely! Either should work great.
Sara says
Oh my gosh. I cannot believe how good these were and how they came out. I usually never have good luck with baking recipes but man these were amazing. Worth the time to make and wait to rise on Christmas. My allergy kid really appreciated these and had his first cinnamon roll this morning! I used bob bills cup 4 cup since I couldn’t find KA and it worked perfect too.
Jillian says
Hi Sara, thank you so much for trying my vegan gluten free cinnamon rolls! I'm so happy to hear that you liked them!
Christian says
I've made this recipe multiple times and it was delicious! My son loved them just as much! He doesn't like cream cheese icing so I opted on a simple vanilla icing. He said that these were the best cinnamon rolls I've made to date and I've made many lol. This was the 5th time I've made these and this time I made some changes. I decided to substitute the melted vegan butter in the dough for coconut oil, instead of white sugar I used brown sugar in the filling, lastly I upped the amount of cinnamon to 2 tablespoons instead of 2 teaspoons ( I like a strong cinnamon flavor). These were amazing! Jillian this was a home run!
Christian says
also just so people know I posted the above comment about this recipe on 2/13/2022. for some reason the date defaulted to July 31, 2020. I've been following Jillian for a couple of years and I am so happy I found her recipes!
Jillian says
Thank you so much for your comment Christian!! I'm so happy that you and your son have been enjoying the cinnamon rolls so much! Great idea to try coconut oil instead of butter and brown sugar instead of white. I'll have to give that a try myself sometime! Thanks again for trying my recipe and sharing your wonderful feedback!
Nazifa says
Not only was this recipe easy to follow, it tasted so good, couldn’t believe it was vegan