These Vegan Cinnamon Rolls taste like heaven! They’re light, fluffy, and filled with cinnamon sugar, then slathered with your choice of maple glaze or vegan cream cheese icing. Easy to make ahead and bake the next day.
Why you’ll love this family favorite recipe!
Pure happiness – How could anyone be sad eating a fluffy, soft, icing-topped cinnamon roll? Just one is the perfect way to start the day.
Vegan twist – The rolls may be dairy and egg-free, but you’ll never know it. They’re just as delectable as the rolls you’d buy from a bakery.
Make-ahead-friendly – I love prepping cinnamon rolls the night before Christmas, then baking them fresh the next morning!
It’s scientifically impossible not to be happy while eating cinnamon rolls. This means you kind of have to make these Vegan Cinnamon Rolls if you want to start your day with some sunshine and happiness! Sorry, I don’t make the rules.
In all seriousness, I can’t get enough of these dairy-free cinnamon rolls. They’re warm and fluffy, filled with cinnamon sugar, and decorated with your choice of icing: maple glaze or cream cheese frosting. The only time I can stop myself from eating more than one is if I’ve made my chocolate espresso cinnamon rolls as well (I have to save room for both, of course).
Bring them with you to brunch or bake them fresh on a holiday morning. No one will guess they’re vegan—everyone will be too busy being delighted by every bite.
Cinnamon Roll Ingredients
Yeast – I used dry active yeast. Instant yeast should work well, too.
Butter – I had the best results with Earth Balance dairy-free butter. You can use any quality brand that’s available to you, though.
Milk – This recipe works with any kind of non-dairy milk, such as almond, oat, or soy milk.
Cinnamon sugar – Brown sugar and cinnamon are mixed together for the cinnamon sugar filling. White sugar or cane sugar also works well.
Cream cheese icing – To make vegan cream cheese icing, you need vegan cream cheese, vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar. Remember to take the vegan cream cheese out of the fridge at least 30 minutes beforehand, or else it will be too stiff to mix into a smooth and fluffy frosting.
Maple icing – Your second choice of decoration (my personal favorite for winter). It’s easy to make with maple syrup (only the real stuff, please!), vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar.
This list is to provide further clarification on a few of the ingredients. See recipe card below for the full ingredient list.
Variations
- Gluten-free option – I haven’t tested it, but I imagine a gluten-free all-purpose 1:1 flour would work instead of all-purpose flour.
- Vegan butter substitute – Softened coconut oil will work in place of vegan butter, but the cinnamon rolls may taste a little coconutty.
- Double frosting – There’s absolutely nothing wrong with making both icing options and slathering one on one half of the cinnamon rolls and the other on the second half. Yum!
How to Make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Step 1: Bloom the yeast. Combine the yeast and sugar in a bowl. Slowly pour in the warm water while stirring. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Melt the butter. Meanwhile, gently melt the butter and milk together on the stovetop. Set aside.
Step 3: Start the dough. Whisk the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Combine the butter mixture with the yeast mixture, then add this wet mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Knead the dough.
Step 4: Let it rise. Lightly grease a separate large bowl with coconut oil, then place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic and let it sit until doubled in size.
Step 5: Make the filling. Combine cinnamon and brown sugar in a separate bowl. Set aside.
Step 6: Roll. Roll the risen dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured baking mat.
Step 7: Add the filling. Spread softened butter over the dough and spoon the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over top. Tightly roll up the dough, starting with the long edge.
Step 8: Cut and rise. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into even rolls. Place them into a large baking dish. Place a towel over the rolls and let them rise for 30 minutes.
Step 9: Bake. Brush the rolls with a little more melted butter, then bake.
Step 10: Make the glaze. Meanwhile, make the cream cheese icing or the maple icing by mixing the ingredients together in a bowl until smooth.
Step 11: Decorate and serve. After the baked rolls have cooled for a few minutes, drizzle the glaze over top. Serve and enjoy!
Erin’s Tips and Tricks
- I originally skipped the second rise before baking the rolls, but after a lot of practice, I found that it really does help in making your rolls nice and fluffy! Luckily, this only took about 30 minutes at room temperature.
- If your dough doesn’t rise, then it’s likely because the yeast is old or expired. It’s best to start over with fresh yeast.
- For perfectly cut cinnamon rolls, lightly flour a sharp chef’s knife in between each slice so the blade doesn’t stick to the dough.
- You can also cut cinnamon rolls with dental floss (here’s a step-by-step tutorial) if the knife is still sticking.
My Pro Tip
Perfecting The Rise
I always put my cinnamon roll dough in an oven-safe glass bowl and place it in a preheated and turned-off 200ºF oven for the first rise. It’s a nice, warm place that helps the dough double in size in about 1 hour. If this works for the first rise, then you can do it again for the second rise.
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls FAQs
Absolutely! After cutting and placing the rolls in the baking dish, cover and refrigerate them overnight (or up to 24 hours). Let them rise at room temperature or in a preheated and turned-off oven for 2 to 3 hours in the morning, then bake as usual.
Do not refrigerate the unbaked rolls for longer than 24 hours, or else the filling may start to seep out.
Sticky dough is totally normal! It’ll actually be slightly less sticky after the first rise. Adding the ¼ cup of flour to the dough and rolling it on a floured surface will take the rest of the stickiness away.
Storage
Room temperature: The cinnamon rolls will taste the most fresh within 24 hours of baking, but will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container on the counter.
Refrigerator: For longer storage, keep the rolls covered and in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freezer: The unbaked rolls freeze well for up to 1 month. The baked rolls (without the frosting on top) can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Breakfast Recipes
Glaze:
Cream cheese icing option:
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Combine yeast and sugar in a bowl and then slowly pour in warm water while stirring everything together at the same time. Allow 10 minutes for the mixture to sit and the yeast to activate.
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While waiting, melt the butter and milk together over stovetop on medium heat, stirring pretty consistently until the butter has melted. Be careful–you don’t want it to be too hot or come anywhere close to a boil. Once butter has melted, set aside.
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In a large bowl, stir flour and salt together. Next, combine butter mixture with yeast mixture and stir; then, add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and use your hands to knead the dough for approximately 3 minutes.
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Line a separate large bowl with a small amount of coconut oil and then place the dough in the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour, allowing the dough to rise and double in size. Alternatively, if your dough doesn’t seem to be rising at room temperature, you can heat your oven to 200°, turn it off, and place the covered bowl (I used an oven-safe glass bowl) in the oven until the dough has doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
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While waiting, you can make the filling, which doesn’t take long.
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In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and brown sugar and set aside. Other things you can do while waiting for the dough to rise include but are not limited to: walking your dog, catching up on emails, watching TV, sitting on Instagram–the possibilities are endless, and the time goes by faster than you’d think!
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Once the hour has gone by and your dough has risen, preheat the oven to 350°. Next, add 1/4 cup flour to your dough and stir, which will help make the dough less sticky and easier to roll. Then, flour a baking mat and place the dough on the mat. Use a rolling pin to roll it out into a rectangle, approximately 9″x14″, trimming the edges if needed. You want the rectangle to be big enough but you don’t want the dough to be too thin. Otherwise, you’ll have a difficult time rolling it.
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Next, brush melted butter overtop of dough, leaving a 1″ border around the edges. Next, spoon the cinnamon sugar mixture over top of butter and spread it evenly over the dough. Last, tightly roll up the dough long-ways.
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Use a sharp knife (it helps to carefully flour the knife so it doesn’t stick to the dough) to cut dough into 1.5″ rolls, and then place the rolls into a large baking dish OR (what I did) was placed them into two greased 10″ cake pans, cut side down.
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Place a towel over the rolls and allow them to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes. I originally skipped this step, but after a lot of practice, I’ve found that it really does help in making your rolls nice and fluffy!
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Once the rolls have doubled in size (or at least gotten significantly larger) brush rolls with a little more melted butter and then bake them for approximately 20 minutes.
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While they’re baking, make the glaze by combining all ingredients in a bowl and stirring with an electric mixer.
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Remove rolls from oven, wait 5 minutes or so, and then drizzle glaze overtop.
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Enjoy!
*Calories are per serving and are an estimation
Calories: 382kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 211mg | Potassium: 62mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin A: 78IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 2mg
UPDATE NOTE: This post was originally published in December 2016. It was updated with new text and photos in December 2025.
