These are the best Cinnamon Buns you’ll ever make! They are soft, fluffy cinnamon rolls with the best gooey caramel sauce in the bottom of the pan. They’re easy to make ahead and freezer-friendly!
Can’t get enough cinnamon rolls? Try this Easy Cinnamon Roll Casserole recipe, Cinnamon Roll Bites, or Healthier Cinnamon Roll Baked Pancake with Maple Cream Cheese Syrup!
Table of Contents
- Why we love this homemade cinnamon roll recipe:
- Dough ingredients:
- Sauce, filling, and frosting ingredients:
- How to make Cinnamon Buns:
- Tips for making the best cinnamon rolls:
- How to store Cinnamon Buns:
- Can I make these gluten-free?
- Frosting for Cinnamon Rolls or Cinnamon Buns:
- More breakfast bread recipes you’ll love:
- The Best Cinnamon Buns Recipe
These Cinnamon Buns are perfectly soft and fluffy, and my family’s top secret (not really) cinnamon bun sauce coats the bottom of the pan, taking them over the top. The sauce is key to making these the best cinnamon buns you’ve ever had!
With two rises, these cinnamon rolls become super fluffy! A warm cinnamon filling and smooth, and tangy cream cheese frosting make these the real deal.
Why we love this homemade cinnamon roll recipe:
- Classic: Cinnamon rolls are a classic breakfast with a warm cinnamon filling, fluffy dough, gooey caramel sauce, and tangy cream cheese frosting! It’s a breakfast treat you’ll come back to again and again.
- Make-ahead and freezer-friendly: Who doesn’t love having gooey cinnamon buns ready to eat at a moment’s notice? These Cinnamon Buns can be made a day ahead of time and baked the next morning, or you can freeze the baked rolls and reheat them later!
- Perfect for a special occasion: These buns are perfect for Christmas morning, brunch with family or friends, or any time during the year when you want a homemade breakfast treat!
Dough ingredients:
- Warm water: Activates the yeast by creating the ideal environment to start fermenting, which is crucial for the dough to rise.
- Active dry yeast: The leavening agent that makes the dough rise, giving the cinnamon buns their light and fluffy texture. You can also use instant yeast if you want the dough to rise more quickly!
- Milk: Adds moisture to the dough, making it softer and richer. It also helps with browning during baking.
- Unsalted butter: Butter is the heart of any good cinnamon bun. It makes everything richer—from the dough to the filling and frosting—giving each bite that melt-in-your-mouth texture! Use room temperature butter.
- Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, helping the dough rise, and adds that irresistible sweetness to every layer, especially when it caramelizes during baking.
- Salt: Enhances the overall flavor of the cinnamon buns and balances the sweetness.
- Egg: Adds structure to the dough and helps it to rise higher!
- All-purpose flour: This is the foundation of your cinnamon buns. Flour gives the dough its structure, helping it hold together while still being soft and fluffy.
Sauce, filling, and frosting ingredients:
- Heavy cream: I only recommend heavy cream for this sauce, because it won’t curdle when it’s cooked. This is essential for making the sauce smooth.
- Corn syrup: Corn syrup prevents the sauce from crystallizing, giving you that perfect sticky texture without any graininess.
- Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and a deep, molasses-like flavor to the filling and sauce. It also caramelizes, giving the buns a sticky, gooey texture!
- Ground cinnamon: Provides warmth and spice to the filling.
- Cream cheese: This is the base for our frosting. Make sure you’re using room temperature cream cheese, as it will mix more smoothly. Full fat or light will work great!
- Vanilla: A splash of vanilla in the frosting adds a lovely, warm flavor that complements the cinnamon and cream cheese.
- Powdered sugar: This gives the frosting its sweet, smooth finish. It melts into the cream cheese, making the frosting perfectly spreadable and delicious!
How to make Cinnamon Buns:
This Cinnamon Bun recipe is super easy to follow! Check out the recipe card for more in-depth instructions.
- Dissolve yeast in warm water until frothy.
- Combine yeast and milk mixtures with the egg.
- Add flour to the mixture.
- Knead the dough until a slightly tacky ball forms.
- Place dough in a large bowl.
- Let dough rise until doubled in size.
- Heat cream, corn syrup, sugar, and butter until boiling, then simmer.
- Pour the sauce into a pan and set it aside.
- Place buns on top of the sauce.
- Let the buns rise until doubled in size, then bake until golden brown and frost as desired.
Tips for making the best cinnamon rolls:
- Bloom the yeast: You want to make sure that your water isn’t too warm or too cold, or it won’t activate the yeast. Thankfully, you can see if your yeast is blooming before you add it to your dough. If it doesn’t bubble and froth, you may want to start again with a fresh packet of yeast.
- Let it rise: you don’t want to skimp on the rise time, as this is what makes your Cinnamon Buns fluffy and soft. I like to place my dough, covered, in the oven with the light on. It provides a warm, draft-free environment that is optimal for proofing dough.
- Roll it up tight: You want to try to keep the dough tight when you’re rolling so that all of that sugary cinnamony goodness will stay inside and not leak out.
- Use the right knife: I prefer to use a serrated knife for slicing cinnamon rolls as there will be less squishing, and your rolls will be rounder and hold in more of that cinnamon sugar filling.
How to store Cinnamon Buns:
On the counter:
The baked Cinnamon Rolls can be stored on the counter for 3-4 days without frosting. Because I use a cream cheese frosting, that can’t be left out.
If you want to store them at room temperature, simply leave the frosting in a container in the fridge and frost them only when serving.
In the refrigerator:
You can place your pan of rolled, unbaked cinnamon buns in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, up to 24 hours before baking. Place in the refrigerator before the second rise.
When ready to bake, simply leave it on the counter for 20-30 minutes while your oven preheats, then bake it as directed.
You can refrigerate the baked cinnamon buns for up to 1 week with frosting in the fridge. But I bet they won’t last that long 😉
How to freeze Cinnamon Buns:
You can freeze the prepared pan of unbaked rolls for up to 3 months, but I actually don’t recommend this because I’ve never found them as fluffy as baking them right away.
You can freeze the baked cinnamon rolls with frosting, covered tightly, for up to 3 months. This is the way I prefer to freeze them! You can also leave the frosting off and reheat them gently in the oven at 225 degrees F for 20 minutes, and they will taste fresh out of the oven!
Can I make these gluten-free?
Unfortunately, I don’t have much experience with gluten-free baking, but I encourage you to check out this Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls recipe from my friend Erin. They look incredible!
Frosting for Cinnamon Rolls or Cinnamon Buns:
There is really only one answer here: it’s gotta be cream cheese. The way the tanginess of the cream cheese complements the sweet, sticky, gooey sauce…. it’s just unreal. Crazy good.
If you want it to sink into all of those crevices, be sure to spread it on while the cinnamon buns are still warm and let it get a little melty all up on those rolls.
Since these are so ridiculously good, you can skip the frosting and just eat them as is, and I’m pretty sure you’ll have no complaints 😉
More breakfast bread recipes you’ll love:
- Peanut Butter Streusel Banana Bread — take your banana bread up a notch!
- Lemon Bread Recipe — when you want something tangy and sweet.
- White Chocolate Cranberry Sweet Rolls — a festive twist!
- Maple Glazed Apple Crisp Cinnamon Buns — when you’re feeling a little extra 😉
The Best Cinnamon Buns
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
Dough
- ½ cup warm water (between 105 and 110 F is best)
- 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup sugar (50 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 3-4 cups all purpose flour (500 grams)
Sauce
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup corn syrup
- ½ cup brown sugar (about 85 grams)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Filling
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- ¾ cup brown sugar (128 grams)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 ounces cream cheese room temperature (¼ package)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Cinnamon Bun Dough
- Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside for 5-10 minutes until frothy.
- In a medium bowl, combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt and microwave on high for 45 seconds. Whisk until butter is melted. Set aside until it is lukewarm in temperature.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or you can mix and knead by hand), combine milk mixture and yeast mixture. Stir in egg (be sure it is not cold!).
- With the mixer on low speed and the dough hook on, gradually add in just enough flour so that a soft dough ball forms. It should be soft and slightly tacky, but not sticky.
- Drizzle some oil over a large glass bowl. Place dough ball in bowl, and turn so that the dough is lightly coated in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel if desired. Let sit in a warm, draft-free place for 1.5 hours or until doubled in size (the inside of the microwave or the oven with the light on are great options!)
Cinnamon Bun Sauce
- Just before your dough is ready to roll, make the sauce.
- In a medium saucepan, combine cream, corn syrup, sugar and butter. Heat over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Lightly grease a 9×13″ pan and pour prepared sauce into the bottom. Set aside.
Cinnamon Bun Filling**
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Once the dough has risen, remove from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a roughly 14" by 18" rectangle (you can really make them as large or small as you want — a wider rectangle or square will give fewer, larger rolls. A long skinny rectangle will give more, smaller cinnamon buns).
- Spread butter over the dough and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar and cinnamon
- Roll the rectangle up tightly, starting at the short end. Pinch the dough together to form a seam at the end.
- Trim the ends and slice log in half. Slice each half in half, so you have 4 equal pieces. Cut each piece into 3 equal sections so you have 12 buns. Place in prepared pan on top of sauce.
- Cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel or piece of plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 23-27 minutes, until light golden brown on top and bubbling at the edges.
- If desired, turn out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let the caramel sauce run down into the buns. (If you are frosting them, I recommend leaving the gooey sauce at the bottom).
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Add the vanilla and sugar and beat until combined and fluffy. If desired, add a touch more sugar for a thicker frosting.
- Spread over cinnamon buns. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Emma Green says
I just tried these and they were excellent!! I made a vanilla glaze instead of a cream cheese frosting. They turned out wonderful. However, your recipe was a little misleading as you listed all the timings which add up to 3 hours and 50 minutes. The total time listed on the recipe is an hour and 20 minutes. It’s a little misleading but the recipe is delicious!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Emma! The total time is a simple addition of active prep time and cook time, so that is why the total is what it is
Laura Sisco says
Just waiting for my buns to finish baking. Very fast and easy recipe to follow. I didn’t make the sauce, just put butter and brown sugar in bottom of pan, won’t do the cream cheese icing either. We just like cinnamon buns plain. They taste delicious. The dough is so soft. Thank you, will make them again.
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Laura! I’m glad you liked them!
Donna says
Can milk be substituted for the heavy cream in this recipe?
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Donna! Milk should work, but your caramel sauce may not be as thick. Evaporated may work slightly better if you have it, but if not you can substitute milk or skip the caramel sauce if you prefer it that way
Donna says
Can milk be substituted for the heavy cream. If so will any kind suffice?
Ramona says
Easy to follow recipe ~ and DELICIOUS buns! I have used this recipe three times, it is now entered in my collection of permanent recipes. Once I used maple syrup when I was out of corn syrup and it worked great as well. Thank you!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Ramona! I’m so glad to hear that!
Brooke Garvin says
This is the first time I’ve ever reviewed. I make a lot of your recipes from desserts, main meals, instant pot.. etc and have loved every one. My mom has been making cinnamon buns for years and years and has always used a bread maker to make her dough, so I was completely intimidated to try this.
I’m happy to say it turned out perfectly! They are ooey gooey amazing. They are the best cinnamon buns (sorry mom) I have ever ate, and the recipe is very straight forward.
Just wanted to say hi and thank you from Quebec City!
Ashley Fehr says
You just made my day Brooke! I’m so glad you liked them and that they even rival your mother’s is a huge compliment! Thanks for coming back to comment 🙂
Lee says
After you cut and put in pan, do let them rise again before putting in fridge overnite or cut, put in pan and into fridge.
Ashley Fehr says
You can really do either way, as they will rise slightly in the fridge but not a lot. I would let them rise on the counter for an hour or so, then pop them in the fridge, covered
Tess says
Don’t you have to kneed this dough after adding the flour? I’ve read through the recipe and blog several times and don’t see anything mentioned.
Ashley Fehr says
You will have it in the mixer on low as you gradually add the flour. You can knead by hand if you prefer or don’t have a stand mixer, but a stand mixer with the dough hook is my preferred method as it is very easy!
Bethany says
Fabulous recipe. Made these for my husband and now I think I’ll be stuck making these forever:) Great instructions for non bakers like me.
Anna says
I’ve tried a dozen cinnamon bun recipes and this is the best so far. Ooey-gooey so yummy! Thanks
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Anna! I’m so happy to hear that!
Jill Moore says
Hi Ashley!! I stumbled across your site looking for a new cinnamon roll recipe. So glad I did! I’d like to make these soon and need to know if you would recommend doubling, maybe even tripling, the recipe? I have a very large family… ?. Or would it be better to make each batch separately?
Ashley Fehr says
You can definitely double or triple, as long as you have a big enough bowl for the dough to rise! If you’re using a stand mixer, I think doubling might work but it will be pretty full. Tripling I think would be over the top once it’s risen! I’d love to hear if you try them!
Jill Moore says
Ashley!! These are amazing!! So easy to make. After reading your comment about the dough rising, I made one batch at a time just to keep it simple and manageable. I will definitely be making these again! The whole family enjoyed! They were circling around the stove like sharks impatiently waiting.
Ashley Fehr says
That makes me so happy Jill! I’m thrilled that everyone enjoyed them so much!
Jill Moore says
Ashley! Help! So I’ve made a couple more batches since we’ve spoke and I need help. My carmel sauce just isn’t right. The one time I think I over cooked it and it turned pretty hard after cooling. Not paying attention. Then today it seems like its all been absorbed into the rolls. I have not got the carmel running down and throughout the cinnamon rolls yet. It’s just there. Today I followed the instructions to the letter. I do live in Colorado might it be an altitude issue Suggestions?? I took a pic but dont see anywhere I can attach.
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Jill! I’m so sorry to hear that they haven’t turned out quite right! Overcooking it can definitely make it hard once cooling, or not having high enough fat percentage. If the buns rise quite a bit before/during baking, they might be larger and absorb more of the sauce than usual, but I think they would still be delicious! Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with high altitude baking!
Tami says
I’ve tried so many of your recipes and they are wonderful. Have you considered publishing a cookbook?
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Tami! I definitely have considered it but it’s not quite the right time yet 🙂 Thanks for asking!
Michelle says
After rolling up the rolls and placing them in the pan do they need another rise before placing them in the oven? I don’t think I’ve seen a roll recipe that doesn’t call for a second rise but maybe this recipe is different. They look yummy! I want to make them for Christmas.
Ashley Fehr says
Oh my goodness, you’re right! I’m blaming it on holiday brain! I will update the recipe right away.
Beth says
have you ever tried using dental floss to cut them? use like a garotte an dzip, right on thru
Ashley Fehr says
I haven’t but that’s a neat idea!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Aimee! I think so!
heather says
I will definitely be making these over the holidays. One of my favorite things for breakfast or brunch! Yum!
Ashley Fehr says
Mine too! Thanks Heather!
Julie Blanner says
They were so good and the recipe was easy to follow!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Julie! I’m so glad!
Katerina @ diethood .com says
Oh my goodness, these cinnamon rolls look and sound incredible!! YUM!!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Katerina!
Jennifer says
I cannot wait to make these for my boys this weekend! Thanks so much for sharing!
Ashley Fehr says
I’d love to hear how you like them!
Larraine Adamally says
Hi my dear , my name is Larraine, and I am from SriLankan, And iam a big fan of Your recipes, and you, iam a home baker and I would love you to check out my page of fb and Instagram and please let me know what you thing of it..
thank you , and God Bless .. Larraine
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Larraine! Welcome here! I will definitely check it out 🙂