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!
Instead of buttermilk, can I use regular whole milk? Or is there a substitute?
Hi Pam, Buttermilk is required, however you can make the buttermilk substitute detailed in the notes if needed. (Which uses milk!)
I was VERY pleased with King Arthur’s gluten free baking flour in this recipe! I rolled the dough out on parchment paper to make rolling them up easy. I always make a maple/coffee/powdered sugar/butter icing and they were excellent with it on top. Thank you for the recipe! The taste was FAR better than I expected for how fast they came together.
Hello Sally,
I plan to try this recipe soon. I have an abundance of bread flour and white wheat flour. Any thoughts on using either of these/or a combination of APF, BF and WWF in the No Yeast Cinnamon Roll recipe?
Thank you for your feedback.
We don’t recommend wheat flour here — the texture will be quite a bit different and may require tweaking some of the wet ingredients. You could use bread flour for a chewier texture. But for best results, we recommend sticking with all-purpose flour.
Driest dang rolls I have ever made! Followed recipe exactly, TWICE (in case I goofed up somewhere). SO DANG DRY!!!!!! What’s worse, I was making these for a charity feed, so I had to go out and buy them (at a premium) to make my commitment.
NOT HAPPY!!!!
Hi Joan, thank you for giving this recipe a try. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Hi Sally, how are you? I have just come across your recipe. I would like to try making these for someone who is vegan. Do you think I can substitute the egg with something else? Thank you and have a good day!
Hi Renee, we haven’t tested this recipe with any egg replacements, so we’re unsure of the results using substitutes. If you’re interested, here are all of our vegan recipes.
These turned out so good! Thank you so much Sally for creating this recipe. It is so much easier than the regular ones!
These cinnamon rolls are fantastic. I prefer my baked goods not too sweet so I considered making only 1/2 the cream cheese icing. So glad I didn’t. The rolls were perfect with a proper amount of icing.
I will be making more tomorrow to put in the freezer so they are always available for drop-in guests.
Made these this morning and they were a big hit! Nothing will beat Sally’s original cinnamon rolls but these are perfect and delicious for a quick treat. Mine were not dry at all as I was very careful not too add too much flour and not to bake too long. Love having this variation! Thanks, Sally!
This recipe is amazing! I have always been scared to try making cinnamon rolls, but the instructions you provided made me feel confident enough to give them a try. I was so proud when I rolled the dough and cut it into individual rolls and they looked the way they are supposed to. Thank you so much for the delicious recipe!
These turned out great and hit the spot! Easy to make and satisfied the family. Will definitely make them again!
I made half batch of the dough for 6 cinnamon rolls. To half the filling I used chai spices mix, then half with cinnamon brown sugar + orange zest & chopped dried cranberries. Topped with orange juice icing glaze and dried cranberries and orange zest to half. Not the prettiest by far, but still ok taste wise.
It was an interesting challenge and I’m glad I tried it! Texture wise it was good I would say your easy or overnight cinnamon rolls will always be my fave. Thanks for the challenge!
I had a bit of trouble with this recipe. Reading back through it, I think I might have had slightly too much flour. My dough was more crumbly and dense. Due to this, I had several mini rolls, as opposed to 12 bigger rolls. They still tasted very yummy though! The only change I would have made would have been to double the filling. Maybe it was because I had so many mini, but the filling did not go far. I did not make more at the time because I ran out of butter. (It was a day!) Overall, these cinnamon are quick to make and definitely tasty!
I have struggled to make good yeast-based cinnamon rolls. For all the time put in to come out terrible I had given up. These are so quick and easy and my husband loved them. If you are expecting a pillowy yeast roll, these are not it, but still yummy in their own right. I really like that the cream cheese frosting is not sickly sweet.
This recipe came together so quick and easy! I just made them over my lunch break. I snuck one into hubby’s office and he came out later saying how good they were! And then helped himself to another one. Definitely making these again!
I did this for the challenge and it was fun to try no yeast cinnamon roll. I make yeast kind a lot. These taste more like a biscuit then a typical cinnamon roll but it was still really tasty! And great that I didn’t have to spend all day making them!
I love how quick these were to make and bake! The icing was on par, and the rolls themselves were not overly sweet which I liked.
Tasty, quick, easy to follow recipe was a hit at our house.
I loved this recipe a lot! They are not exactly like regular cinnamon rolls as they don’t have the yeasty-ness, but they are delicious and much quicker, making them perfect for when you are short on time. I would say the dough had almost a biscuit-like texture versus the classic yeast dough. So, different but still yummy! I also thought the cream cheese icing was so good and not too sweet- I will definitely be using that with any cinnamon roll recipe I make in the future.
Sally has done it again. Simple recipe with fabulous results. We have found our new Christmas morning cinnamon roll recipe! I also really appreciate the internal temperature guide so there will be no doughy center. That’s a win!!
My 10 year old and I really enjoyed making these! We’ve had another quick go-to cinnamon roll recipe that this one wil definitely be replacing – this one beat it hands down. While perhaps not as decadent as a yeasted cinnamon roll, I did find the work to reward ratio to be better with this quick recipe. Looking forward to making these again!
Could this recipe be made with gluten free flour? I’ve loved all your recipes and I’ve had no luck with any type of cinnamon roll recipe
Hi Lexi, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, although some readers have reported success doing so. They results will be different, but let us know if you try!
The flavors were good, but it was too dry, much like a buttermilk biscuit. We’d prefer a yeast recipe so it would be more gooey.
I made this with my sister and it was a great bonding experience.
I liked the idea of baking them in a cupcake tin so it was easier to share with others without needing cutlery or plates.
I loved that the recipe was easy for cinnamon rolls ! It ended up being more of a biscuit texture- is this normal? Still delicious just not what we expected. A bit dry compared to classic rolls.
These were simple to make, but I think they would be better with regular icing, not cream cheese. The cream cheese makes the frosting less sweet, and I think the rolls need more sweetness. They are not as fluffy as yeast rolls, and are a little dry for my taste, but not bad for something so quick and easy.
What does one do when it’s 90 degrees outside, do the August baking challenge in the AC.
Oh my word these cinnamon rolls are so easy to make and are simply delicious, for sure I’ll be making these again.!!
These were really good. I loved how fast it was to make. The dough turned out really soft and not too sticky. I added extra filling and they turned out well!
These cinnamon rolls were easy to make and came together so easy. They don’t quite measure up to my ooey gooey cinnamon yeast rolls but we enjoyed these very much. Loved by all and I froze the rest for another quick and easy breakfast. Will let you know how well they freeze.
Thanks Sally for another great recipe. Enjoyed making it for the August baking challenge.
One thing I have a problem with is that I sign up for your emails but don’t get them. I have tried with my email and also my husband’s email
but no emails. I just go to your website to see what is new.
Hi Maureen! Thanks so much for the positive feedback. We’re glad the cinnamon rolls were a hit! Can you send us an email at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com letting us know about your issue receiving emails? Our team would be happy to look into it for you!
This recipe was fast and easy. While not quite the same as a homemade cinnamon roll with yeast, we both found the flavor very good and it was a nice Sunday Morning treat. I may have mixed the dough a little too long, as they were a little denser than I thought they should have been. I have to use my stand mixer because I have weak hands. The filling and the frosting were spot on and delicious. We both enjoyed these rolls very much. And plan to make them again on the next cool day.