These vegan cinnamon rolls are hands down the best you’ll ever taste. Soft and puffy and packed with cinnamon sugar deliciousness. Simple recipe with spectacular results.
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.
You’ll also love our vegan blueberry scones and our vegan crepes.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan butter – can be salted or unsalted. The buttery flavor is really important to make the best cinnamon rolls. So coconut oil is not a good swap for the vegan butter. 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.
- Light brown sugar – or dark brown sugar will both work great here.
- Soy milk – could be switched for almond milk.
How To Make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
Prepare the dough:
- Add all purpose flour, yeast, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and mix it together.
- Add vegan butter and soy milk to a microwave safe bowl 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 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 the dough 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 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.
Top Tip: Ideally your dough 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.
Roll Out The Dough:
- 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.
Brush on vegan butter, cinnamon and sugar:
- Brush on 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. You want to roll it lengthways so it’s a long tube rather than a short fatter one.
Cut out the rolls:
- Once rolled, you can use dental floss to cut the tube into 12 cinnamon rolls. You can use either dental floss or a serrated knife but I was amazed at how well dental floss works.
Top Tip: 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.
- Place your cinnamon rolls into a 9×13 baking dish greased with non-stick spray. 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.
- Place into the oven and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes until the tops are golden. 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.
Recipe Tips
Measure your flour correctly. If you have a food scale then simply weigh out your flour for the most accurate results. If you don’t have a food scale then use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup.
The Frosting. We love the simple powdered sugar and soy milk combination for this icing sugar glaze. However, if you prefer a cream cheese frosting with your cinnamon rolls then try our vegan cream cheese frosting instead.
Vegan Cinnamon Buns Q&A
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.
You can make the recipe up until the point that you cut them into rolls and place them into your baking dish. But then instead of letting them rise in the dish, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The next day, bring them out and let them rise and come to room temperature (about 60 minutes) before baking.
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.
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.
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.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour (375g)
- 1 Tbsp Instant Yeast
- 2 Tbsp White Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Butter (45g)
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml)
For the Filling:
- ¼ cup Vegan Butter (56g) Melted
- ¾ cup Light Brown Sugar (150g)
- 1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
For Brushing:
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Butter (30g)
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar (120g)
- 1 ½ Tbsp Soy Milk
Instructions
- Add the flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- After 60 minutes the dough should have risen quite a lot. Flour a surface and roll out the dough into a large rectangle.
- 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.
- 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.
- Roll the dough, lengthways, into a tube shape. Roll it as tightly as you can.
- 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.
- 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.
- After 60 minutes you will see that the rolls have expanded.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Brush the tops and sides of the rolls with melted vegan butter.
- Place into the oven to bake (uncovered) for 25 minutes until lightly browned on top.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a bit before adding the frosting.
- 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.
- When the rolls are still warm to the touch (but not crazy hot) add the drizzle. Use a teaspoon to drizzle on the frosting.
- Serve the cinnamon rolls while still warm for the most delicious results.
Video
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. Weigh the flour for the most accurate results or use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife.
- Soy milk. You can switch the soy milk for almond milk if you prefer.
- Make Ahead: You can make the recipe up until the point that you cut them into rolls and place them into your baking dish. But then instead of letting them rise in the dish, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The next day, bring them out and let them rise and come to room temperature (about 60 minutes) before baking.
- Storing: Keep your cinnamon rolls 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.
- Freezing: Freeze the baked rolls and then let them thaw in the fridge and bring them to room temperature on the countertop or warm them up before enjoying.
Hi, can i make the dough one day before I’m actually gonna bake it? And leave it to rise Overnight? Thanks and greetings from Germany:)
Hi Franzi, yes you can. What you would do is make the recipe up until the point that you cut them into rolls and place them into your dish. But then instead of letting them rise in the dish, you would cover the dish with plastic wrap and then refrigerate. The next day, bring them out and let them rise and come to room temperature (about 60 minutes) before baking.
Can I use spelt or white whole wheat bread flour? Thanks! I’m trying to stay away from “enriched” flours / all purpose fl.
Hi Anne, I think you could use either of those, but it might have a slightly different texture.
We made this today for our son who is vegan. He loved them as did we. The recipe was easy to follow. Looking forward to trying a few of your other recipes. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed them Deb! Thanks a million!
Hii! Is there any substitutes for the butter? Maybe frozen oil or olive oil?
Hi Hannah, no there isn’t a sub, but you could use homemade vegan butter.
These are amazing! I love making them and telling people after they compliment the bake, “AND they’re vegan too!” I add sultanas to the sugar mix and use lemon juice instead of soy milk in the icing to create a more zesty, fruity roll, kind of a cross with a chelsea bun. Thanks for another fab recipe 🙂
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing Angel!
I absolutely love this recipe! I tried on the weekend and everyone loves it
Can I use this dough to make croissants?
Hi Betty, I have no idea! I have croissants on my list as something to tackle one day but I haven’t got to it yet. 🙂
Oh my goodness please make croissants :)) !
Haha, I’m super keen now! Just put it further up my list so that it happens soon! 🙂
Do u not need baking powder I have plain flour
All purpose flour is called plain flour in the UK. Baking powder isn’t needed because we use yeast in this recipe.
First time I made these but with normal butter and dairy milk. They turned out delicious.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Kalpana!
Can I half this recipe or will it not be proportionate?
Sure! That should be fine!
My first attempt at cinnamon buns let alone VEGAN cinnamon buns and they turned out beautifully. Will definitely be making these again. Apologies in advance to my waistline 🙂
Awesome! So glad they came out well! Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
Alison, I don’t know how you do it but all of your recipes always tick all the boxes for me: they are vegan, quick, made with simple ingredientes, easy to follow and they always…ALWAYS turn out great.
I want to thank you because every time I follow your recipes I know it will be a success. It will never be a waste of ingredients, no disappointment, and that’s simply fantastic.
I’m one of your biggest fans, I keep recommending your website to friends and family all over the world.
Please keep up your wonderful work and all the best!
Thank you so much Kat that is so kind of you! We really appreciate it! xoxo
Me again! These are delicious and I love making them but I find I always have to use double the flour – should I be concerned? I’m following the recipe to a T. Thank you x
Hi Sophie! So glad you enjoy them! I have NO idea what is happening there though! Are you weighing the flour?
I was! Must be my maths as it’s been fine since!! These are gorgeous. Do you think it would be okay to preprepare and rise the dough and keep in the fridge or an airtight container until the following morning or is it best used straight away? 🙂
Hi Sophie, so glad the issue resolved! You can make these in advance. You would proceed with the recipe up until the point that you cut the rolls and place them into your dish. But then instead of letting them rise in the dish, you would cover the dish with plastic wrap and then refrigerate. The next day, bring them out and let them rise and come to room temperature (about 60 minutes) before baking. ????
Hi,
I am new to your site so apologies if this is a silly question.
Are the tbsp measurements American or UK?
Thanks in advance – excited to try these!
Hi Erin, we use US measures, so it’s 15ml for a tablespoon. I think UK measures are the same, it’s the Australian measures that are different.
Alison, I’d like to make this but am in Australia, for the yeast quantity could I weigh out 15 grams instead of using my Tablespoon? Thank you.
Hi Marie! You can definitely do that!
Just tried these yesterday, they are perfect ! They’re so fluffy and delicious *^*. I might tone down the sugar a little bit next time but they already taste amazing. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Awesome! Thanks so much Agathe!