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!
Keywords: no yeast cinnamon rolls
I am never making yeast cinnamon rolls again! These were incredible. My whole family liked them as much or better than any others we have made. They are so easy to pull together. Will be making again and again. Maybe our new Christmas morning recipe. Thank you!
★★★★★
This recipe came together very quickly and had good flavor. The dough was very wet and soft, I did not add extra flour as instructed and used extra when rolling out, but it was still temperamental to work with. I loved the cream cheese frosting, it was very tangy from the cream cheese and I liked the extra frosting. You can’t beat if for how quickly it comes together!
★★★★
Baking challenge done! I read lots of reviews of people saying it was very biscuity, and I wanted to try and fix that. So I opted 1/3 cup of whipping cream over the rolls before baking. They weren’t as soft as yeast rolls (obviously) but I think the cream helped it a bit. I had to use 2x the filling because it was nowhere near enough. I made the whole recipe for the icing despite people saying there was too much because, let’s face it, there’s never too much icing. Great recipe Sally! Thank you
★★★★★
It should say added, not opted 😉
This recipe is great if you want homemade cinnamon rolls but don’t have the time and don’t want a canned version. I found they were more like sweet rolls though as the cinnamon flavor is not very strong.
★★★★
Quick and easy recipe! Are they as pillowy as yeast cinnamon rolls? No, but that’s not the point of the recipe. This recipe is for those of us who can’t plan ahead and want to make delicious cinnamon rolls last minute. Definitely would make again.
★★★★★
I just made these as a delicious treat for a Saturday morning! While no one can expect them to have the same taste/texture as a yeasted roll, they were exactly as advertised: a great fix for when you don’t want to wait! Super easy and fast. I loved that I didn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to start the rising process, but could still enjoy them for a morning breakfast. I was very careful not to add too much flour and I think that really helped keep them soft.
★★★★
Quick recipe when you need a sweet cinnamon fix. My 13 year old made these and said they were easy peasy to make. She decided on a glaze instead of the cream cheese. We used substitute buttermilk but think the real thing would make this taste even better.
★★★★★
This was such an easy solution for a cinnamon roll craving. So delicious. They were perfect for our first day of school. The texture was more like biscuits, but I would take cinnamon biscuits with frosting any day!
★★★★★
This recipe was good if you’re short on time. The consistency is more like a biscuit but the icing brings everything together.
Absolutely Delicious!
I had to bake this month’s challenge since cinnamon rolls are my daughter’s favourite and today is her birthday. Woke up early and made it with the help of my little one for her sister’s 14th birthday breakfast. She LOVED it , Thank you!
For her cake later, I made your no bake S’mores cake, which I am sure she’ll love as well.
Love your website.
Thank you!
★★★★★
Happy birthday to your daughter and thank you for including our recipes in the celebrations!
This was so delicious! We all loved it! My kiddos gobbled them right up!!! Thank you!
Great recipe, the inclusion of buttermilk is delicious and reminds me of a biscuit dough. Not like yeasted cinnamon rolls but delicious in a different way!
★★★★★
AH-MAH-ZING RECIPE! Easy to follow, delicious, and a family favorite! Will surely make it again. Btw I love your recipes, Sally! XOXO
★★★★★
This was a quick and easy recipe. I halved the amount of confectioner’s sugar in the icing, and the rolls are yummy!
★★★★
Easy and delicious recipe. I love making cinnamon rolls, but don’t always love the time it takes. This recipe solves that problem. Cinnamon rolls in under an hour.
★★★★★
As easy as you said Sally! My husband and I enjoyed them this morning. We think the dough taste and texture reminds us of a biscuit. Will make agin for sure.
★★★★
Hey Sally! I’m a sophomore in high school and I have just started practicing harder things to bake. I asked my older sisters for suggestions for a website to find delicious recipes and one of my sisters who has her own cake business suggested your blog for good recipes that are delicious and also easy to follow. I have never been disappointed! (Neither has my family 🙂 We all love your cookies and now, your ‘No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls!’ The cinnamon rolls were sooo moist! They were amazing! I’m now known as the ‘Cookie Baker’ in the family and have now beaten all of my sisters in making my Dad his favorite cookie (my five sisters and I are very competitive 🙂 My Dad rarely eats desserts to stay healthy and fit, but he can never resist your cookies! That is a huge accomplishment! Thank you so much for this opportunity. I hope to be in more of your competitions in the future!
★★★★★
Hi Sophia! Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try. We’re so happy to hear that you (and your dad) are enjoying our recipes 🙂
These were amazing!! I couldn’t wait for them to cool down to acceptable eating temperature. The dough is so soft and tender (even my kid said so!). Will definitely make again.
★★★★★
This was a really lovely recipe. I used a 9″ pan and a muffin tin and preferred the muffin tin. I also tried it with gluten-free flour and it worked out great! Both times were really yummy but the gluten-free was just a bit better. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
This is a very nice recipe, including so many of the tastes I enjoy; I.e. sugar, cinnamon, butter and more. Besides, the recipe is fast , easy and filling.
That said, it is not as light as my favorite yeast rolls, and I have never been a fan of cream cheese icing.
Nonetheless, if anyone asked me for a good cinnamon roll recipe, I would not hesitate to include this one!
This was my first challenge and it was a lot of fun! Looking forward to September!
★★★★
Super easy to make! I love how you can have cinnamon rolls in about 45 minutes as opposed to a few hours. They don’t taste the same as yeast ones; they are more soft and cakelike. They are still still delicious and great when you are short for time.
★★★★★
These were nice and fast but my husband and I were not fans of the taste and texture. They looked beautiful and like classic cinnamon rolls, but they tasted like a cake. For a fast and easy dessert or morning treat they aren’t bad, but I found them disappointing as far as cinnamon rolls go. Maybe I’m just too in love with classic yeasty cinnamon rolls.
★★
This recipe is soo delicious. Every time I try something with yeast it turns out in a sticky mess. So when I saw this one I was like I have to try this. And I can say I was not disappointed in the least. They were fast, sweet, and unique. When my family tried them they LOVED them!! Definitely a 10 out of 10 recommended!!
★★★★★
This recipe was an amazing way to make delicious cinnamon rolls without a long waiting time! My family loves cinnamon rolls, but we don’t always have the time. This was the perfect (and scrumptious) solution! 10 out of 10 recommend!
★★★★★
This is such a great recipe! I love anything that shortens time but doesn’t lack in taste or texture. Easy to follow! Unfortunately I underbaked mine a bit at 23 minutes. The inside 3 were gooey, but the outer ones were good and my tasters enjoyed them.
★★★★★
Everyone that tried them, loved them. So much quicker to make than yeasted cinnamon rolls. This was my first but not last Baking Challenge. Thank you Sally for creating a winner recipe!
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★★★★★
Very pleased with this recipe! I was skeptical about being able to roll out the dough and how the cinnamon rolls would turn out, but they were delicious! Quick and easy. Thank you for this recipe.
★★★★★
Really happy with how these turned out! They are a good alternative to traditional cinnamon rolls when you don’t have the time.
★★★★★
This was a great recipe! Very quick and easy compared to traditional cinnamon rolls! I made them early morning on Sunday and they were ready in plenty of time for breakfast!
The frosting had a strong cream cheese flavor… I usually do more of a 2:3 ratio of butter and cream cheese but it was still very good!!
I would love to try different fillings like Apple and raisins !
★★★★★
I love making cinnamon rolls, but the time commitment isn’t always possible. These are perfect! I actually really like the biscuity texture, and given the short amount of prep time, it’s completely worth it. I didn’t have cream cheese on hand, so I made a vanilla icing and it worked wonderfully. Thank you!
★★★★★