Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

I made vegan cinnamon rolls! 

And I have never been more proud.

Hahaha, seriously though, I thought it would be quite a big deal to make cinnamon rolls from scratch, but really it’s so easy. 

But I have to warn you, it’s not quick. You have to wait for the dough to rise two separate times. So there is a full two hours of waiting around. It’s not a fast recipe. 

Super easy, but not fast. 

You won’t mind though, when you have one of these warm from the oven with icing drizzled all over it, you’ll be smiling all over your face. 

There are quite a few process photo collages below! I really wanted to show you the steps so you can find it as easy as I did. 

The full recipe is at at the end of the post, but the post itself is packed full of tips so please do read it before you make the recipe and they will come out perfectly. 

How to make vegan cinnamon rolls

You have to start out with making your dough. 

So you add some all purpose flour, yeast, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and mix it together. 

Then you add some vegan butter and soy milk together and warm it in the microwave. You want it to be just warm to the touch but not hot. The vegan butter will be getting slightly melty but not all the way melted. 

If it’s hot to the touch then let it cool down a bit first, you want it warm not hot. 

Pour in the vegan butter/soy milk mix into the mixing bowl and mix into a dough. Then flour your hands and add some more flour on top of the dough and then start kneading, adding more flour as needed. 

Knead it for around 3 minutes until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands, and is nice and pliable. The time it takes is not precise, it would depend on how strong your hands are and how fast you knead, so go more by feel than time. 

Then you want to spray the mixing bowl with non-stick spray, you can use the same mixing bowl, just clean it first, and then place the dough back into the bowl, cover it with a tea towel, and leave it to rise. The purpose of the non-stick spray is so that your dough doesn’t stick to the bottom of the dish. 

Ideally it should rise in a warm place. So if ‘room temperature’ is on the warm side you’re good. I had to move my bowl out of the way of the air conditioning! Just keep that in mind, if the room is very cold, ideally you want to put it somewhere warmer to rise. 

When your dough has risen, now it’s time to roll it out. 

Flour a surface and roll the dough out into a big rectangle. Well, that’s what you’re aiming for. As you can see ours was more of a giant circle, but you know… close enough. 

Then you brush on some melted vegan butter. When you’ve brushed it on every corner, and there is melted butter left over, pour the rest out into the middle of the dough and spread it out with your brush. You want it on quite thick. 

Then comes a mix of brown sugar and cinnamon and you want to sprinkle that generously over the surface of the dough.

And then you start rolling it into a tube shape. 

Did you say dental floss?

You want to roll it lengthways so it’s a long tube rather than a short fatter one. 

Once rolled, you can use dental floss to cut it into 12 cinnamon rolls. Either dental floss or a serrated knife but I was amazed at how well dental floss works. 

It’s best to use a plain unwaxed unscented dental floss for this. And after making these cinnamon rolls this is now an essential item in my baking cupboard. 

You just slide the dental floss under the roll of dough, cross it over the top and then pull. 

As you can see, my cinnamon buns were slightly different sizes, but that’s okay!

You put your cinnamon rolls into a 9×13 baking dish greased with non-stick spray and then you cover them and leave to rise for another hour. Space them out a bit as they will spread out more as they rise. 

When they have risen, brush the tops with melted vegan butter and place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes until the tops are golden. And as you can see they rise more in the oven so they fill the space beautifully. 

Let them cool for a little bit and then drizzle with frosting. The frosting is a simple mix of powdered sugar and soy milk. 

Vegan Cinnamon Buns Q&A

Can I make these gluten-free? Hmmm, I have no idea. I haven’t tried these as gluten-free and gluten-free flours do behave quite differently when making a dough. You could try it with a gluten-free all purpose blend but I don’t know exactly what the results will be.  

Can I use coconut oil instead of vegan butter? Maybe, but the buttery taste is quite important to these. If you have an issue with getting vegan butter, then try our homemade vegan butter recipe. It is based on coconut oil but has all the buttery flavor. 

Can I use a different sugar? I think any sugar would work well here and that includes coconut sugar. I like brown sugar for this because of the rich flavor. Don’t try using a liquid sweetener though like maple syrup, that will not work. 

How do you store them? Keep them covered at room temperature where they will keep perfectly for around 2-3 days, or you can keep them covered in the fridge where they will stay good for up to a week. 

Can I freeze them? Yes you can. Freeze the baked rolls and then let them thaw in the fridge and then bring them to room temperature on the countertop or warm them up before enjoying. 

You will love these vegan cinnamon rolls! They are:

• So delicious!
• Cinnamon sugar goodness!
• Soft and puffy
• Freshly baked
• Simple!

Keep them stored at room temperature (covered) and enjoy within 2-3 days or keep them covered in the fridge where they will stay good for up to a week. 

More vegan desserts!

If you love that cinnamon sugar combination thing – who doesn’t – then you’ll also love our vegan apple crisp, our vegan apple cake and our vegan pumpkin cake. 

If it’s more dessert for breakfast that you’re after then our vegan apple muffins or vegan crepes will be happy to oblige. 

Our vegan snickerdoodles are another recipe you won’t want to miss as is our vegan bread pudding.

So let us know what you think of these vegan cinnamon rolls in the comments and please rate the recipe. It helps us so much, thanks a million.

Sign up to our email list while you’re here! We’ll send you a gorgeous recipe ebook containing 10 delicious vegan dinner recipes (entirely free) and you’ll be the first to know when new recipes are posted to the blog. 

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

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★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

• Author: Loving It Vegan
• Prep Time: 135 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
• Yield: 12

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Description

Vegan cinnamon rolls! Soft and puffy freshly baked rolls packed with cinnamon sugar deliciousness. Super simple with spectacular results.

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Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 3 cups (375g) All Purpose Flour*
• 1 Tbsp Instant Yeast
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 Tbsp (45g) Vegan Butter
• 1 cup (240ml) Soy Milk*

For the Filling:

• 1/4 cup (56g) Vegan Butter (Melted)
• 3/4 cup (150g) Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

For Brushing:

• 2 Tbsp (30g) Vegan Butter

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup (120g) Powdered Sugar
• 1 and 1/2 Tbsp Soy Milk

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Instructions

1. Add the flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
2. Add the vegan butter and soy milk to a microwave safe bowl and microwave until warm. It should be warm to the touch but not hot. I found 45 seconds to be enough for mine to come to the right temperature but they were straight from the fridge. The butter should have softened in the milk but not melted. If you feel the milk/butter mix and it’s hot, then let it cool down a little before you add it to the dry ingredients. It must be warm but not hot.
3. Add it into the mixing bowl and stir it into a dough. Then flour your hands and get in there with your hands and form it into a big ball of dough and start kneading it. Add more flour as needed and keep kneading it until the dough is pliable and no longer sticking to your hands at all (about 3 minutes).
4. Spray a bowl with non-stick spray and place the ball of dough into the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave it to rise for 60 minutes.
5. After 60 minutes the dough should have risen quite a lot. Flour a surface and roll out the dough into a large rectangle.
6. Brush on the melted vegan butter. When you’ve brushed the butter into all the corners and edges of the dough, pour out the remaining butter into the center of the dough and then spread it out with the brush.
7. Mix the brown sugar and ground cinnamon together in a mixing bowl and then spoon this over the top of the melted vegan butter, sprinkling it evenly across the entire surface area of the dough.
8. Roll the dough, lengthways, into a tube shape. Roll it as tightly as you can.
9. Then use dental floss or a serrated knife to cut it into 12 cinnamon rolls. If the extreme edges of the roll are very uneven, you can just cut those off and then cut your 12 rolls.
10. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray and place the cinnamon rolls into the dish, spacing them out evenly. Then cover the dish and leave to rise for another 60 minutes.
11. After 60 minutes you will see that the rolls have expanded.
12. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Brush the tops and sides of the rolls with melted vegan butter.
13. Place into the oven to bake (uncovered) for 25 minutes until lightly browned on top.
14. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a bit before adding the frosting.
15. Add the powdered sugar and soy milk to a bowl and mix in until smooth. I did this with a spoon and did not find it necessary to use a stand mixer.
16. When the rolls are still warm to the touch (but not crazy hot) add the drizzle. Use a teaspoon to drizzle on the frosting.
17. Serve the cinnamon rolls while still warm for the most delicious results.

Notes

*Weigh the flour for the most accurate results.

*You can switch the soy milk for almond milk if you prefer.

*With inspiration from The Stay At Home Chef.

• Category: Dessert
• Method: Bake
• Cuisine: Vegan

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 Cinnamon Roll (of 12)
• Calories: 283
• Sugar: 24.2g
• Sodium: 262mg
• Fat: 7.2g
• Saturated Fat: 2.7g
• Carbohydrates: 49.8g
• Fiber: 1.2g
• Protein: 4.3g

Keywords: vegan cinnamon rolls