Soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls are made completely from scratch and are ready in just 45 minutes!
I shared my soft cinnamon rolls recipe a few years back and I’ve been getting so many comments and emails about them so I thought I’d share an even better recipe!
This 45-minute cinnamon roll recipe is my go-to recipe when making cinnamon rolls because it produces the softest fluffiest cinnamon rolls ever. Dare I say even better than Cinnabon! I honestly have not gone back to the old 2-hour method since because why wait 2-3 hours when they can be ready in just 45 minutes?!
What You Will Need to Make 45-Minute Cinnamon Rolls
To these delicious soft & fluffy 45-minute rolls you will need a few key ingredients.
All-purpose Flour: All-purpose flour or bread flour can be used. I use all-purpose flour since it’s what I usually have in my pantry.
Instant Yeast: This recipe uses Instant active dry yeast mixed with sugar and warm water. Instant yeast activates much faster than normal yeast and will yield better results.
Milk: I like to use whole milk but any milk of choice will also work.
Butter and an Egg: These should be at room temperature. The eggs add flavor and help the dough rise and the butter adds flavor and texture.
Cinnamon Filling: The cinnamon filling is made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and more butter. Light, Dark, or even granulated sugar works.
How to Make Cinnamon Rolls Quickly
The secret to getting the dough to rise is to preheat your oven to 200F for about 10 minutes, while you’re making the dough. This temperature is perfect for allowing the dough to rise without baking it. Be sure to turn off the oven before placing the cinnamon rolls in it to rise.
While the oven is preheating to 200F, roll out the dough and spread the cinnamon mixture on it, cut it, and place the rolls in a pan.
Cover with foil or plastic wrap and place in the pre-heat oven (that has been turned off!!) for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes the rolls will be soft and fluffy. At that point remove the foil or plastic wrap and turn on the oven to 375F and bake for 15 minutes.
As you can see below, the fluffiest cinnamon rolls. Top with some glaze, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy!
How to Store Cinnamon Rolls
Although we love to enjoy cinnamon rolls right away, if you do have any left over they can be easily stored in order to preserve the texture and flavor.
Cinnamon rolls can be stored at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. You can also freeze cinnamon rolls by wrapping them tightly or storing them in an airtight container. You can even individually freeze the rolls for quick treats. To reheat, simply microwave for 20-30 seconds or until softened.
More Delicious Cinnamon Roll Recipes
- Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls
- Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
- Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls
45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 package instant yeast, 1 packet = 2 and 1/4 teaspoons
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 1/4 cup 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk or coffee
Instructions
To Make the Dough
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Set aside. In a small microwavable bowl, heat the water, milk, and butter together in the microwave until the butter is melted (about 30-45 seconds). Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and knead with hand or with stand mixer for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is no longer sticky. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rest for about 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and turn off after 10 minutes or just before placing rolls in oven.
To Make the Filling
- After the dough has rested for 5 minutes, roll it out in a 15×9 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter on top. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle it all over the dough. Roll up the dough tightly and cut into 9 (large) even piece. Place in a lightly greased 9-inch or square pan (or cut into 12 small pieces and place in a 9×13 pan) and lightly cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
- Place the cinnamon buns in the oven to rise for 20 minutes (with the oven off). After 20 minutes, Keep the buns in the oven (REMOVE THE FOIL OR PLASTIC)and turn on the oven to 375F. Bake the cinnamon rolls for an additional 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and top with glaze.
To Make the Glaze
- Mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 Tablespoons milk together until smooth and lump free. Drizzle over warm rolls.
Video
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These came out pretty darn good and my daughter love them too! Thank you
I wasn’t satisfied with this recipe either. I am an avid baker and followed directions carefully. They did not rise much and the finished product looks nothing like the images. The icing wasn’t enough to cover the rolls and it all just melted off anyway. Will not be making these again.
hi! can i replace all purpose flour with bread flour?
Yes, it should work! 🙂
Hi for the 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup milk – should they be in room temperature or warm?
Slightly warmer than room temperature water will work fine! 🙂
Love this recipe! It’s a huge hit in my house. Made these at least 10 times and shared with neighbors.
Thank you for such a great recipe, I’ve made other recipes and they weren’t close to as good as these!
Do you have metric measurements for the recipe?
All that icing in the picture is right up my alley. I’m glad you make them the same way as I do 🙂
How many calories is each cinnamon roll?
These rolls are super easy to make. I made mine lemon with the addition of nutmeg and lemon zest in dough, lemon sugar in the middle instead of cinnamon sugar and lemon cream cheese frosting on top! So good.
Yum! How did they turn out and would you recommend your recipe?
This recipe is amazing! It works so well and is delicious. I can’t believe it only took just over one hour!
Thanks very much!!!
I’m not sure why it took you that long, Patricia! This recipe is a reader favorite and always under an hour.
Please kindly explain step 4 again as I’m a little confused 😐. After allowing the buns to rise in the cold oven, do we then just turn the oven on and start baking them?
Yes! Just be sure to remove the plastic from them prior to baking 🙂
She didn’t say a cold oven, she meant a warmed up oven that has been turned off.
Can you use skim milk for this recipe?
Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem!
Omg the best!! I uaed active dry yeast and let it bubble wIth 1/2 cup of the water and 1 tablesPoon if sugar ( i Doubled the recipe). Thanks for this. They are a hit in my home!
These are perfect! Fluffy and soft, even the ends and corners. I can’t believe how quickly they were on the table. For the sake of my jeans, I almost wish I DIDN’T KNOW how good and easy these are!
I made these in my breach machine, with regular yeast and they still turned out tender and amazingly fluffy! They rose beautifully and i chose to make a cream cheese frosting, because thats what we prefer
Can you add pecans And raisins to the filling?I made these ,first time making cinnamon rolls and they were wonderful!!!!!
Yes, pecans and raisins sound like a great add in!
They are delicious! I even messed up and added too much butter to the dough recipe.
Did you add a whole stick? Because that’s what I did 🤦♀️ But they are in the oven now so fingers crossed they turn out!
Whenever you place your rolls in the pan, should they be spread out or touching?
Spread out to leave room for rising…at least that’s what I have found to be true.
I think the Cinnamon was too oVerpowering and made it grainy. I would use less next time
Hi Layla..is this yeast rapid rIse or regular?
Thanks!,
This recipe is calling for rapid rise yeast.
This is my go-to recipe! i HAVE MADE THESE ROLLS 5 OR SIX TIMES IN THE LAST MONTH AND THEY TURN OUT DIFFERENTLY EACH TIME! I KNOOWWWWW IT’S THE HUMIDITY/WEATHER. i HAVE LEARNED TO COMPLETELY MELT THE BUTTER AND AS I ROLL THE DOUGH BEFORE CUTTING, I ADD MORE BUTTER TO THE TOP AS I gO.
wITH THIS RECIPE i HAVE LEARNED NOT TO ADD TOO MUCH FLOUR. THE DOUGH MAY SEEM STICKY AT FIRST AND IT’S OKAY TO ADD A BIT MORE IF NEEDED BUT AFTER KNEADING THE DOUGH, IT SEEMS TO SOFTEN A BIT. i RAISE MY OVEN TO ABOUT 375 TO PREHEAT BECAUSE i HAVE AN OLD OVEN THAT gOD IS ALLOWING TO KEEP ME BAKING (-: i THANK gOD!
aSLO, THANK YOU FOR THIS YUMMY RECIPE! bLESSINGS TO YOU!
So glad to hear how often you make the cinnamon rolls and thanks for the great tips!
I love this recipe. I’ve made about 7 pans and I’m making 2 more pans today. They are a hit! I followed the directions and I know it by heart now. I used rapid rise yeast, it was delicious and amazing!
Can I make these cinnamon rolls and bake them at a later date
You can make the dough let it rise, then roll tightly, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours WITHOUT placing in the oven to rise. The next morning, remove the rolls from the fridge and let rise for about an hour, preheat your oven and bake.
How long would you cook them then andAt what temp?
Doing this, how long would you bake and for how long, please?
ThiS recipe is amazing!,,, i whipped these up in no time. The dough came together nicely. They are soft anD fluffy. I used my own cream cheese frosting.. a keeper for sure.
The recipe was so easy. Mine are in the oven now. This is my sencond time making cinnamon rolls with your recipe, and I’ve never looked back.
The dough is supposed to be on the soft side but the temperature of the room and the type of flour changes the texture. I suggest adding more flour until you are comfortable enough to roll it out.
Add more flour. 🙂
This was an amazing recipe! I loved how simple it was and it only took me a little under an hour. The only thing i had trouble with was the kneading. I tried to do it by hand, but it would have taken me probably 15 minutes to knead it if i kept doing that, so I switched the dough to the stand mixer and it was ready in no time. Next time, i’ll do that from the start!
Good to know… thanks for sharing!
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I’ve convinced my friends that i should be a professional baker – primarily thanks to this recipe! I’ve lost track of the number of times i’ve made these; they’re so good and easy to make. one time the dough was a little less tender – totally my fault. i attribute it to me being heavy-handed with the flour measurement. don’t over-knead. i usually make 1.5 times the glaze because well, yum. Also, these don’t need it, but i tend to add few pats of butter to the top as i pull them from the oven, just prior to glazing. ooey-gooey decadence. thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe!
haha you made my day!!
I followed through with the recipe and I will admit that I stand somewhat corrected. Although the dough was really sticky and sloppy which made it a mess to roll, cut, and transfer to the baking pan, they did rise and they Did bake up FLUFFY, SOFT, and quite tasty. I Used another recipe For the icing as I prefer cream cheese frosting. My apologies for the tone of my first Comment (I wanted to delete but couldn’t find an option for that).
No, problem. I’m glad it worked out in the end! 🙂
Just made these and they are perfect. Soft, doughy, fluffy, not to sweet. I made sure to let the rolls rise completely, about 30 minutes. I used buttermilk instead of plain milk which I think may have contributed to the tenderness of the dough. Also, I was worried that adding a cold egg to the warm dough might prevent the yeast from working, so I warmed the egg in a bowl of warm water before I added it to the ‘. I also kneaded the dough in my stand mixer on low for the minimum amount of time and baked it for the minimum amount of time because tough, dry, homemade bread is not worth eating! Try this and you wont want to spend two hours on cinnamon rolls ever agian!
Hands down the best and easiest Cinnabon recipe!!! My family eats them up! Delicious!
I tried this today and my rolls didn’t turn out nearly as fluffy as I was hoping. Granted, it was a HUGE improvement over previous homemade attempts but not what I wanted. I followed the instructions to a T…I thought. I’m guessing maybe they didn’t rise enough? Can you suggest ways of making that happen? I am certain the difference between my POS oven and a good one could be the problem lol. I can work with that if I know what to do next time. Do I need a bit more heat or just more time in the oven to rise? I plan on making these at least 3 more times in the next month until I get it perfected.
Even though they weren’t as soft and fluffy this time around, they still tasted really great! Thank you for an easy to follow recipe!
If rising is the issue, I would leave them in the oven to rise for an additional 15-20 minutes. For the softness, don’t over-knead the dough.
Could I make them and keep them in the fridge overnight, only baking them the next morning?
You can roll them and place them in the fridge before putting them in the oven to rise.
I am super confused I turn my oven off twice? I feel like I am missing something lol
I preheat to 200 degrees turn off after 10 minutes… pop my buns in for 20 minutes on the turned off oven and then after 20 minutes while they are still in there do I turn the oven back on to 375 and bake for another 15? (And that 15 minutes includes the time it takes for my oven to reheat?)
I swear I am not trying to be a pain I am just sitting here rereading it over and over again and I am clearly missing something in translation lol!!!
Hi Leanne, I’m sorry for the confusing. You preheat for 10 minutes on 200F then turn off and let them rise in there for 20 minutes with the oven OFF. AFTER the 20 minute you turn it on for about 15-20 minutes additional minutes for the rolls to bake.
me and my daddy made them
Good job Sofia! My daughter loves making cinnamon rolls as well <3
So easy and delicious, Thanks for sharing 😃
Shirleen
follow the recipe to the T and it came out great! next time i will add more butter to the brown sugar blend, as i felt the filling was a little dry for my taste. but the dough itself was soft and nice! will use this as my go to but with more butter! thanks! so much easier
This was easy and they taste great! Don’t give up on the dough it will get less sticky 🙂
I have always wanted to make cinnamon rolls and here i found a good recipe.Thanks alot for sharing this recipe.
gorgeous and delicious cinnamon rolls that don’t take forever to make?? YESS