This shortcut recipe for quick no yeast cinnamon rolls makes buttery, homestyle rolls that fluff up beautifully—and in record time! Since you’re skipping the yeast, you can also skip the traditional dough rising and kneading and have cinnamon rolls in about 40 minutes. They’re perfect for the times you crave homemade cinnamon rolls, and don’t want to wait!
You know when you wake up and think, “I wish I could have homemade cinnamon rolls right now,” and then you remember you have to wait a million hours for dough to rise and you cry into your boring bowl of cereal? …No? Just me?
I’ve been on a quest to develop a recipe for quick cinnamon rolls that maintain all the flavor and fluff without the patience and work that yeast requires. (Because, in reality, I’m tired but still want to bake something. LOL.) My homemade cinnamon rolls take about 4 and 1/2 hours, or need to be prepped the night before. Even my easy cinnamon rolls require patience, rising, and kneading.
So if you want from-scratch cinnamon rolls NOW, make today’s no yeast version.
These No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls Are:
- Convenient if you’re busy and tired but still want homemade cinnamon rolls.
- Ready in less than 45 minutes.
- Soft, fluffy, and buttery.
- NOT dense! Surprisingly not dense at all!
- Packed with sweet brown sugar and cinnamon spice.
- Slathered with tangy cream cheese icing.
- Perfect as a special breakfast without all the work and waiting.
Plus, there’s NO kneading, NO rising, and the dough comes together in just 1 bowl. And you can bake them in a pie dish, cake pan, or even as cinnamon roll muffins. This recipe is dynamite.
Key Ingredients & Why This Recipe Works
I used my easy cinnamon rolls dough as the starting point for today’s no yeast version. It’s a popular recipe and I knew it would be perfect as the foundation. From there, I made the following changes:
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Since we’re skipping yeast, we need to replace it with another leavener. (Unless you want to eat cinnamon hockey pucks for breakfast!) I tried the dough with only baking powder at first, but quickly learned the dense rolls benefitted from a little baking soda as well. With the crutch of baking soda, the next batch browned a little nicer and fluffed up more.
- More Melted Butter: Like my chocolate chip cookies, this recipe excels with melted butter! The melted butter helps create a chewy bread-like texture, plus it seeps into every nook and cranny so you can really taste the buttery goodness. Compared with my regular cinnamon rolls recipe, I added a little extra butter for more flavor.
- Cold Buttermilk: Since we’re using a little baking soda, we need an acid in the dough. Buttermilk does the job, plus it also adds a little tang, a little fluff, and a little softness. (Like it does in pancakes!) And grab the buttermilk right from the refrigerator because cold milk keeps the otherwise soft and buttery dough workable.
Baking soda, melted butter, and buttermilk are also key ingredients in my no yeast bread recipe.
After a few trials and errors, I was shocked with the final result. These no yeast cinnamon rolls taste similar to the yeasted version and only took me about 40 minutes total. Obviously they’re not as flaky and doughy as the traditional, but I don’t think anyone would EVER notice or complain that there’s no yeast. (My 10+ taste testers ooh’d and ahh’d without batting an eye!)
Here are all of the ingredients you need for the dough & filling:
How to Make Quick No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
You can go from craving to eating warm, gooey from-scratch cinnamon rolls in record time. Here’s how my recipe works:
- Make the dough: Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add in the wet ingredients. The dough should be quite soft, but not overly sticky.
- Shape the cinnamon rolls: Roll the dough into a 10×14-inch rectangle. This measurement doesn’t need to be exact, so don’t stress. Spread butter on top and then sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 12 pieces. Place in a greased pan.
- Bake: Bake until the rolls puff up and look golden brown, about 22–26 minutes.
- Make the icing: While the cinnamon rolls bake, make the icing using cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Eat: Slather the icing on your warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
Here are step-by-step photos so you know what to expect:
The assembly steps are exactly like regular cinnamon rolls, only without the rise time.
Before cutting, you can mark the 14-inch log with a knife to ensure you have 12 even rolls. That’s what I usually do:
Success Tip: Expect a Soft Dough
Do not incorporate more flour than you need in this dough. I want you to embrace a soft dough. Instead of mixing more flour INTO the dough to make it workable, use extra flour when shaping the rolls. If the dough is sticking to your counter and rolling pin as you work, dust it all with more flour.
Bottom line: Mixing in more flour than you need could result in crumbly, dense rolls. Instead, use it when assembling the rolls.
Cream Cheese Frosting
This cream cheese icing uses a little more butter and a little less confectioners’ sugar than the icing I typically use on cinnamon rolls. But I love that it doesn’t use gobs of confectioners’ sugar; it’s a nice creamy, buttery, tangy blanket for your rolls. You could also try the maple version used on these pumpkin cinnamon rolls, or for a simpler topping, try this vanilla icing instead.
Can I Bake These as Cinnamon Roll Muffins?
Yes! If you love the slightly crusty, chewy exterior of a cinnamon roll that’s been baked closest to the edge of the pan, try baking these no yeast cinnamon rolls as muffins. After cutting your 12 rolls, place them in a greased standard 12-count muffin pan. Each roll gets that crusty edge all the way around, and they puff up beautifully when they bake. Such a fun recipe!
If you ever need an even quicker and easier option, these mini (no yeast) cinnamon buns use packaged crescent dough.
And if you’re on a roll (ha!), try these cinnamon roll cookies too. 😉
See Your No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintQuick No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This shortcut recipe yields a dozen classic, homestyle cinnamon rolls that fluff up beautifully—without any yeast, kneading, or rise time. They’re perfect for the times you crave homemade cinnamon rolls, and don’t want to wait!
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 and 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for rolling
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, cold*
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
Filling
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, extra softened
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 ounces (113g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (80g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and grease a round 9-inch pie dish or 9-inch cake pan. (See Notes for muffin pan instructions.) For extra buttery rolls, I like to grease the baking dish with 1–2 teaspoons of melted butter instead of non-stick spray.
- Make the dough: Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Add the egg, buttermilk, and melted butter. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a dough forms. Dough will be very soft and slightly sticky. If it’s too sticky and wouldn’t roll, add more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until dough seems workable. Do not add more flour than you need; a soft dough is good.
- Place dough on a floured work surface and, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 10×14-inch (25x35cm) rectangle.
- Fill the rolls: Spread softened butter (the softer it is, the easier it is to spread!) all over the dough. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle all over the top. Roll it up tightly into a 14-inch log. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 12 rolls; each roll is slightly wider than 1 inch. Arrange rolls in the prepared pan.
- Bake the rolls: Bake for 22–26 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. If you notice the tops are getting too brown too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil and continue baking. If you want to be precise about their doneness, their internal temperature taken with an instant read thermometer should be around 195–200°F (91–93°C) when done. Remove pan from the oven and place pan on a wire rack as you make the icing. (You can also make the icing as the rolls bake.)
- Make the icing: In a medium bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the butter and beat until smooth and combined, then beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until combined. Using a knife or icing spatula, spread the icing over the warm rolls and serve immediately.
- Cover leftover frosted or unfrosted rolls tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: If absolutely needed, you can make the dough and assemble the rolls the night before. Cover and refrigerate, then bring to room temperature before baking as directed. The rolls don’t puff up quite as nicely since the baking powder initially activates once wet. For best results, bake right away.
- Freezing Instructions: Baked rolls can be frozen for up to 2–3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up before enjoying.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Pie Dish or 9-inch Cake Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Wooden Spoon or Rubber Spatula | Rolling Pin | Cooling Rack | Icing Spatula
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is required for this recipe, but in a pinch you can make your own DIY version of buttermilk if needed. Add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 3/4 cup. Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Cinnamon Roll Muffins: You can bake these rolls in a greased standard 12-count muffin pan. No need for muffin liners. Bake time is about 20 minutes.
- Icing Alternatives: If cream cheese isn’t your favorite, you could top the rolls with vanilla icing, the brown sugar icing from these pumpkin donuts, maple icing from maple cinnamon rolls, or even the caramel icing from apple cinnamon rolls. Lots of options!
Certainly very tasty but like some others, mine turned out more similar to biscuits than fluffy rolls. I’ll definitely be making them again, especially with how quick and easy they were.
Thank you Sally for this quick cinnamon roll recipe! They came out great and so quick! I baked them in a pie plate but next time will use a muffin pan because I found it a bit difficult to remove each one discretely, they kinda melded together. Nevertheless they were gone in 2 days.
Hi Sally,
Tried this recipe and it turned out great. I did the muffin tin ones, just the right size. They were light and fluffy for a bun lol. Will definitely be making them again.
These were great! Made them this afternoon and only a few are left. Thanks, Sally ~
i haven”t yet made these but they remind me of the pinwheel scones my Mum makes.
Thank you so much for an easy, fun to make cinnamon roll recipe!
These are so yummy especially the frosting.
I have tried a few of your recipes so far and have been really impressed with each one! I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes! Thank you Sally!!
Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Grace!
I have never made bread of any kind from scratch, but this recipe makes it seem really easy! Thank you for that.
This recipe is amazing! My family loooves homemade cinnamon rolls, but the yeasted rolls I usually make take so much time! These came together so quickly & are absolutely delicious. Will definitely be making these again!
This recipe was a hit! Super quick to make and it came together in no time! Instead of the cream cheese frosting, I used a vanilla buttercream frosting, it was wonderful!
Okay guys, cinnamon rolls have been such a big hit or miss for me. Not sure why, but one time they are great and the next they are not. I stopped trying for the last few months because I was tired of wasting everything. Then I see this recipe yesterday! I just finished making them and, OH MY GOODNESS Y’ALL! They are perfect and delicious! I am so excited to have a break from yeast haha. Thanks so much! You never ever ever EVER let us down, Sally. Your site is the only one I use anymore. Because of you, I am getting so much better at baking!
So thankful to have this awesome yeast-free cinnamon roll recipe to make! They turned out great. Amazing how quick and easy, too!
I was skeptical about no yeast cinnamon rolls. But these were fabulous! I even LOVED the outside of the rolls, a really satisfying, buttery crunch. I can see myself making these way more often than regular cinnamon rolls simply because of the time saved without sacrificing flavor.
I can’t wait to try them. Would it work the same way if I tried to make them gluten free?
Hi Emilie, we haven’t personally tested these rolls that way so we can’t speak to the results. However, a few readers have already reported success doing so with a 1:1 gluten free flour. Let us know what you try!
I made these this morning for a treat for my kids! Used the buttermilk alternative since I didn’t have buttermilk on hand. I could have baked them longer (which is a me problem!), but other than that they were good! I loved the cream cheese frosting!!
I loved this recipe so much. It was one of the best cinnamon roll recipes I’ve made. It was very quick and easy. Thanks Sally for the recipe.
I too saw this recipe after already figuring out breakfast – this is going to be this weekend’s breakfast for sure! Or maybe even dessert this week, if my kitchen is ever cool enough with this heat wave.
hi! would i be able to replace the buttermilk with plain yoghurt? also don’t have any milk atm so i can’t make the diy version
Hi CC, you need liquid in this dough so I do not recommend yogurt. (Even thinning down yogurt with water or something probably isn’t ideal.) To avoid a major fail, I would wait until you have buttermilk or the buttermilk alternative.
I love cinnamon rolls a lot, but this is the first non yeast cinnamon rolls I have made but they turned out amazing!! Best cinnamon rolls ever!
It’s really hard to be impressed with any cinnamon roll that isn’t Sally’s Melt in Your Mouth Maple Cinnamon Rolls, but… I was very surprised! Made these tonight, and they were so easy and so yummy! My husband loves homemade buttermilk biscuits, so he actually preferred these over any yeast roll I’ve made. 🙂
These were so good! You are not the only one to cry for cinnamon rolls over your sad (and soggy) breakfast cereal. I also love all things cinnamon rolls except the waiting. I live in a warm, humid area so baking with yeast is a pain almost year round. I’ve wasted many ingredients trying to satisfy my cravings at home. Recipes come out as hockey pucks or pools of goo due to the weather.
This was a great recipe for my toddler and I to try. It was easy to put together. He stirred and poured. I weighed, rolled, and cut. Main takeaways: work quickly (think buttermilk biscuits), DO NOT add flour, and don’t overbake! I used a thermometer to test for doneness. Thank you for including that metric! The internal temperature of breads will make or break you, every. single. time. I had a hard time rolling the dough because it was too warm. I put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes and it did the trick.
Ours came out like light, fluffy biscuits (southern USA style) and the filling has the perfect ratios. We eat our cinnamon rolls with a pat of butter, no icing was needed in the eating of these cinnamon rolls. Soft, fluffy, and all around yummy. Thanks again, Sally and team!
First time doing the baking challenge. I just finished baking two batches (one gluten free). I had to taste both to compare. Sometimes GF can be a bit on the dry side but I have to say the GF came out great. Great recipe.
Definitely satisfied the cinnamon roll craving! Super soft and fluffed up nicely in the oven. Not as flaky as the yeast one but a close second, at least taste wise!
Hi Sally, I’m excited to try this recipe and wondered if, instead of having to add the extra flour, putting the dough in the refrigerator for a bit firms it’s up so it’s not as sticky? Thanks for the great recipes!
Hi Anne, yes, that can work as well if you have a little time to chill it!
I can’t wait to make these. I love being in the kitchen but so far this summer I haven’t been doing much baking….or cooking for that matter. These seem like they are easy to make and don’t require a lot of time. I’m sure my family would love to be my taste testers.
I wonder if these can be made in a slow cooker.
Sally, how did you know we were craving cinnamon rolls but I was absolutely not craving the long wait time, will be making these on Friday so we can enjoy them over the weekend! How do these rolls taste compared to the yeast recipe? Thank you!
Fluffy and soft (not dense at all), just not as puffy and flaky! Make sure you keep the dough soft and don’t add too much flour. I hope you all enjoy them!
These came together fast!
Can gluten free flour be used in this lovely recipe?
Hi Lee, we haven’t tested it so let us know if you do! In the meantime, here are all of my gluten free recipes.
Hi Lee! I just finished making two batches, one GF and with with regular flour. They both turned out delicious. Surprisingly I like the GF better. I used King Arthur GF measure for measure flour.
Can you replace the Buttermilk for milk?
Buttermilk is required, however you can make the buttermilk substitute detailed in the notes if needed. (Which uses milk!)
Super easy and quick! I must’ve done something wrong because mine came out more like a dense biscuit, rather than light and fluffy. But will try again another day!
Lactose challenged here what can I use instead of buttermilk?
Hi! Not sure if you were still looking for this information, but there are milk alternatives that can be turned into “buttermilk” using the vinegar/lemon juice method mentioned in Sally’s recipe above. I’ve used soy with success in past recipes, but I know there were others mentioned when I searched the internet. Good luck and happy baking!
Sally, a quick tip I learned from America’s Test Kitchen- use dental floss to cut the rolls; helps with compression. Totally regretting not opening my laptop before breakfast- I SO would have made these. Oh well….. lunch is just a few hours away!!!!!!!!!
Wonderful recipe – love. FYI if you’re having trouble finding buttermilk I recommend Bob’s Red Mill powdered buttermilk. I keep mine in the frig and mix up what I need. It’s great tasting convinent. For some reason out here in desert sw major city finding some diary products can be hit or miss. I love Bob’s products and Sally’s wonderful recipes a great combination. And now I can make delicious cinnamon rolls.
Instead of making 12, can I make 6 larger rolls? What do you think the baking time would be?
I haven’t tested it, so I can’t be certain. The bake time would be longer, so keep a close eye on them until they are browned. You could also test with an instant read thermometer; their doneness temperature would be the same as the smaller version in the written recipe.
I had been thinking about the buttermilk powder. Have you tried it yet in this recipe? I will be curious to hear your results.
I love haviing dry buttermilk on hand. Here’s another brand The Saco Pantry cultured buttermilk.
Probably the ugliest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made but super fast and easy, AND delicious.