Copycat Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls are gooey, buttery cinnamon iced buns, loaded with all the cinnamon and sweet icing of your favorite mall treat made right in your own kitchen!
We love our Easy Cinnamon Rolls because they’re done, start to finish, in just one hour (seriously!) but when you want the perfect Cinnabon Copycat look no further. And if you want more Copycat Recipes you are on the right site!
CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS
Cinnabon makes some of the best Cinnamon Rolls ever but who wants to fight the mall crowds, and parking lots, just to get one? This is one of my favorite copycat recipes to date, it was hard to resist eating the rolls fresh from the oven, so perfectly gooey and delicious they hardly needed the sugary, rich icing.
Now you can start your weekend mornings with a Cinnabon roll and a cup of coffee, enjoying all the sweet cinnamon filling taste without every stepping foot outside. Serve your rolls with a generous helping of their thick, creamy icing.
Or you can serve up homemade Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls at your next Christmas party, wrap one up as a tasty on-the-go brunch, or snack on them after a long day at work.
If you love visiting Cinnabon but you prefer a Caramel PecanBon, you are in luck! Below I have a copycat version of their famous sticky bun that is sure to please every sweet tooth you know.
Why is the prep time so long for cinnamon rolls?
The cook time is pretty short, the longest part of the process is watching the dough rise, which can take up to an hour. You just have to put the dough into a mixing bowl, lightly cover it, set it in a warm place for an hour. The prep time for this particular Cinnamon Rolls recipe has a slightly more complex prep than other recipes, and you can use a bread machine to make the dough if that’s easier for you.
WHAT KIND OF ICING DOES CINNABON USE?
The classic icing on top of Cinnabon’s Cinnamon Rolls is a simple but delicious cream cheese frosting that is extremely easy to make.
It only calls for 5 ingredients, and is as simple as mixing them together and drizzling the frosting over to the tops of the still warm rolls. My version is pretty close to the original Cinnabon recipe, so you’ll have the familiar gooey treat you love.
HOW TO MAKE CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS
- In a small bowl add the warm milk and yeast and stir to combine.
- To your stand add the sugar, margarine, eggs, and salt on medium speed.
- Add two cups of the flour and milk/yeast mixture and mix well.
- Add 1 ¼ more cups flour and mix until a soft dough is formed.
- Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes until the dough is smooth.
- Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until it doubles in size.
- Roll dough into a 15×20-inch rectangle on a floured surface.
- Spread the margarine on the dough and top with cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Roll the dough up and cut it into 12 rolls.
- Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and place the rolls in the pan in a single layer.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Uncover the pan and bake in the oven until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.
- While rolls are in the oven, mix the frosting ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Allow the rolls to cool for 10 minutes and spread the icing over the rolls.
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CARAMEL PECAN CINNAMON ROLLS
One of the most popular variations on the classic Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll is the Caramel PecanBon. This is an easy variation, since all you need to do is top a fresh Cinnamon Roll with pecans and Cinnabon’s delicious caramel sauce. The sauce is really easy to make, just follow these this Cinnabon frosting recipe.
- INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- DIRECTIONS
- Bring brown sugar, butter, and milk to a gentle boil and cook until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; add vanilla extract.
CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS FAQS
- Whats the difference between a cinnamon roll and a cinnamon bun? A cinnamon roll is a spiral shaped pastry with icing. A cinnamon bun is similar to a sticky bun and usually has chopped nuts mixed into it.
- Why do my cinnamon rolls shrink? It’s normal for cinnamon rolls to shrink a little because of the moisture evaporating from the dough in the oven, but they shouldn’t get too small.
CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS TIPS
- When you’re kneading the Cinnamon Roll dough, always work on a flat, floured surface. The flour keeps the dough from getting too sticky and ripping itself apart as you work it. You should keep the flour nearby when you’re kneading the dough so you can add a little to your hands and the rolling pin as you need it.
- When rolling out your dough make sure to flour your rolling pin as well as the surface.
- To clean up after kneading, you can dust the work surface with the remaining flour to loosen any dough that’s stuck. This makes scraping it up with a kitchen towel much easier.
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HOW LONG ARE CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS GOOD?
- Serve: You can keep Cinnamon Rolls for up to 2 days at room temperature before they get stale. You should keep them sealed in plastic wrap or in an airtight container to keep them fresher longer.
- Store: Cinnamon Rolls are good in the fridge for up to 1 week, as long are they’re wrapped in plastic wrap or in a sealable bag. Remember to allow your cinnamon rolls to cool down to room temperature before you refrigerate them.
- Freeze: You can freeze Cinnamon Rolls for up to 3 months. You just need to make sure they stay sealed to prevent moisture from getting in.
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 cup warm milk , or buttermilk (this is in their ingredients list)
- 2 eggs , room temperature
- 1/3 cup margarine , melted
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
Filling:
- 1 cup brown sugar , packed
- 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup margarine , softened
Icing:
- 1 8 ounce package cream cheese , softened
- 1/4 cup butter , softened
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl add the warm milk and yeast and stir to combine.
- To your stand add the sugar, margarine, eggs, and salt on medium speed.
- Add two cups of the flour and milk/yeast mixture and mix well.
- Add 2 more cups flour and mix until a soft dough is formed.
- Swap out the regular whisk attachment to a dough hook and let it knead the dough for 4-5 minutes until the dough is smooth.
- Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until it doubles in size.
- When the dough is done rising, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Roll dough into a 15x20-inch rectangle on a floured surface.
- Spread the margarine on the dough and top with cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Roll the dough up and cut it into 12 rolls.
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and place the rolls in the pan in a single layer.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Uncover the pan and bake in the oven until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.
- While rolls are in the oven, mix the frosting ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Allow the rolls to cool for 10 minutes and spread the icing over the rolls.
Nutrition
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I just have a question before I try making these. So you mentioned the cream cheese frosting, but what has always stood out most to me about Cinnabon is the brown sugar butter ooey gooey sticky goodness throughout it. So I guess I’m just wondering if this recipe has that part of it. I’ve found safeway has some pretty good cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting for a affordable price, but still crave Cinnabon and the store bought freezer section Cinnabons just don’t cut it.
Brown sugar butter ooey gooey sticky goodness is what this recipe is all about !! Let us know what you think and thanks for the 5 star vote of confidence Jessica!
Made these today, follow each step to the letter! The rolls are VERY GOOD , but short of Cinnabons. Still I did enjoy these a lot.
My husband thinks that these are better than Cinnabon, plus they are a lot less expensive. I really enjoyed the shortened wait times.
This is definitely a keeper in our family and I’ve already passed it to others.
(Note: I used unsalted butter instead of margarine, and only had white all purpose flour, and the results were great.)
Made these today!!! They are amazing!
Yay!
Let me tell you this is BETTER than cinnabon! OMG the best cinnamon roll I’ve ever had!! WOW im so impressed!!
Wow, thanks!!
I have reread the recipe a few times to be certain not to skip a step, but I fail to find all of the flour used. I see 2 cups, then 1 1/2 cups; 3 1/2 total. What about the other cup of flour?
So sorry your comment was caught in my spam filter. I’ve edited the recipe card to read correctly now. Thanks for catching that.
Can I make these and then bake them a few days later? Want the dough to be ready to go… store in fridge for a few days?
You can store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Hope this helps!
Do you use fresh yeast or dry yeast? I live in Germany and the fresh yeast comes in cubes, the dry kind packaged in portions for 500 g of flour.
I used dry yeast for this recipe.
CRAVING these right now! Can always go for a good cinnamon roll!
Always a good time for one.
Thank you so much for the recipe. My husband and friends loved it. I was thinking about making it again and adding pecans and was wondering how can I add them? Thank you
Oooh, like a Pecanbon!! Sounds amazing! The easiest way to incorporate them would be to sprinkle them over the top before they go in the oven and then again once you put the topping on.
This is awesome!! My husband LOVES Cinnabon…but he hates cream cheese frosting. Now I can make his favorite rolls and substitute a different frosting! Thanks!!!
Sounds like a total win!
I’d love to make these but I don’t see a recipe for the icing. Probably a no-brainer, but I’ve never made it.
The icing ingredients are listed separate in the recipe card and at step 15 are the instructions to make. Hope this helps! Let me know how they turn out!
Do you have to use margarine or can you use butter in the rolls?
I noted margarine because that is what Cinnabon uses, you can certainly use butter. 🙂
Do you put the Carmel sauce on before baking or after? Thank you
Love love love all your recipes.
You’ll want to pour on the sauce after the cinnamon rolls have baked. Enjoy!!
Recipe calls for 4.5 cups of flour but throughout the recipe there are only instructions to use 3.5 cups?
I’ve edited it to read correctly now. So sorry for the delay.
I really want to make these, but do they freeze well? If they don’t freeze nicely, is it okay to half the recipe? I’m a novice baker and I really shouldn’t be making/eating such.
Thank you.
They do freeze well. The easiest way is to freeze them after baking and frosting. You can always bake in 2 smaller pans, that way one is ready for that same day, and another is good to go and ready to reheat later. If you want, you can always make extra icing when you reheat them since some may melt reheating in the oven. Hope this helps!!