These gluten-free cinnamon rolls are big, fluffy, and SOFT! Plus thanks to a secret ingredient, they’re so easy to make!
I have been a gluten-free food blogger for over 10 years and never shared a gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe until now!
I tested and re-tested this recipe to get it just right. I am so proud of this recipe and I hope you love it too!
Are you ready for the BEST gluten free cinnamon rolls of your life?
I haven been eating gluten-free since 2012 and have tried dozens of gluten-free cinnamon rolls over the years. I’ve finally perfected my recipe and I’m so excited to share it!
This gluten-free dough is made with King Arthur gluten-free bread flour, which makes all the difference in creating a soft texture and lightly chewy dough.
Trust me when I say these cinnamon rolls are JUST as incredible as regular cinnamon rolls. They’re big. They’re fluffy. They’re soft and never dry! They really are the real deal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- A tested & perfected recipe! I tested and re-tested this recipe to get these cinnamon rolls just right
- Big, fluffy, and SOFT
- Make-Ahead option – can be made the day before and baked in the morning
- Easy to make with gluten-free bread flour
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the Cinnamon Rolls
- Gluten-free bread flour: THIS IS THE SECRET INGREDIENT! I’ve been loving using this gluten-free bread flour, which contains wheat starch that is completely gluten-free. It’s easy to shape and yields a similar texture to traditional bread. It’s great for sweet breads, rolls, and any other gluten-free bread dough! I also use this flour in these gluten-free crescent rolls.
- Water and milk: I prefer whole milk for these cinnamon rolls. It gives the dough a richer flavor!
- Sugar: You need white granulated sugar in the dough, both for flavor and to feed the yeast.
- Baking powder: Any baking powder will work for this recipe! It’s an important ingredient that helps create a light, fluffy gluten-free cinnamon rolls dough.
- Instant yeast: Instant yeast can be added right into the dry ingredients. It doesn’t need to be mixed with warm water to create a yeast mixture. Be sure to get this type rather than active dry yeast!
- Eggs: Eggs create a rich, soft dough. For best results with these gluten-free cinnamon rolls, use large, room temperature eggs.
- Butter: Like the eggs, the butter creates a rich and flavorful dough. I recommend using salted butter for this recipe. It provides the best depth of flavor!
- Salt: I like to use fine sea salt for this gluten-free cinnamon rolls recipe!
- For the filling: I love a classic, easy filling with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter!
For more gluten-free special breakfast recipes, try this gluten-free coffee cake, gluten-free blueberry muffins, gluten-free scones and gluten-free baked donuts.
Dairy-Free?
These cinnamon rolls can easily be made dairy-free. You can use dairy-free milk in place of the milk. I like using Elmhurst Unsweetened Cashew milk in place of whole milk. It has a similar fat content to whole milk, and doesn’t have any added gums or stabilizers that could interfere with the rise/crumb of the rolls. I also use vegan butter in place of the butter.
How to Make Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Make the Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the gluten-free flour, granulated sugar, instant yeast, salt, and baking powder. Mix to evenly combine.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add the water, milk, eggs and melted butter. Turn it up to medium speed and mix for 3 minutes until very smooth. The dough will resemble thick cookie dough. This is normal!
- Use an oiled spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. (Refrigerating the dough makes it easier to roll out.)
- Turn out the gluten free cinnamon buns dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball.
- Sprinkle with a little flour, then roll the dough out into a 15×15-inch square.
You also might like this gluten-free pizza crust, gluten-free cinnamon sticks or gluten-free breadsticks.
Make the Filling/Shape the Rolls
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter or cooking spray.
- Spread the melted butter for the filing over the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar all over the dough. Using a pizza cutter, cut the square into twelve 1.25-inch wide strips of gluten-free cinnamon roll dough. Roll each dough strip up into a cinnamon roll.
- Place in the prepared baking dish.
Rise/Bake the Rolls
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Place in a relatively warm place and allow the rolls to rise for 45-60 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the rolls are slightly golden brown.
- Set the rolls aside to cool for 15 minutes or until just slightly warm to the touch.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Powdered sugar: Any powdered sugar will work for these gluten-free cinnamon rolls!
- Cream cheese: Be sure to set your cream cheese out and allow it to soften to room temperature before making the frosting. This will ensure the frosting is smooth and clump-free.
- Butter: I recommend using salted butter for this recipe. It provides the best depth of flavor!
- Vanilla: I prefer using real vanilla extract for this cinnamon roll frosting.
- In a large 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 powdered sugar and vanilla until combined.
- Using a knife or icing spatula, spread the icing over the warm rolls. Serve immediately and enjoy your fluffy cinnamon roll!
Maple Glaze Option
These cinnamon rolls are also delicious with a maple glaze instead of cream cheese frosting! For the glaze mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon maple flavoring, 4-6 tablespoons milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter and a pinch of salt until smooth.
Make-Ahead/Storage Instructions
MAKE-AHEAD/OVERNIGHT RISE: These cinnamon rolls can be assembled the day before and baked the following morning. Make the gluten-free cinnamon rolls as you normally would, following the steps through the “Make the Filling/Shape the Rolls” section. Cover the rolls tightly and refrigerate for 8–12 hours. (16 hours max. 8–12 hours is best, but 16 hours is okay if absolutely needed. Do not exceed 16 hours.) The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the counter for 30-45 minutes before baking. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.
STORAGE: Store these homemade gluten free cinnamon rolls in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap for up to three days. If the cinnamon rolls have cream cheese frosting, I store them in the refrigerator.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- GLUTEN-FREE BREAD FLOUR: This gluten-free bread flour is key for these gluten-free cinnamon rolls to turn out correctly. Other gluten-free flour blends will not work in it’s place.
- DAIRY-FREE: For dairy-free, gluten-free cinnamon rolls, I like to use Elmhurst Unsweetened Cashew milk. It has a similar fat content to whole milk and doesn’t have any added gums or stabilizers that might interfere with the rise/crumb of the rolls. You can also use vegan butter in place of the butter, and make the frosting with dairy-free cream cheese. My favorite brand is Kite Hill.
- I prefer the paddle attachment instead of the dough hook attachment for gluten-free bread. It tends to knead gluten-free dough more evenly!
I also use this same flour/dough recipe in this amazing, gluten-free monkey bread!
Easy, Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Video
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 4 ½ cups (680g) King Arthur Gluten-Free Bread Flour
- ⅓ cup (65g) granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast (1 packet)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup (295ml) water warm
- 1 cup (236ml) whole milk warm
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons (85g) butter melted
For the Filling:
- 1 cup (200g) brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 8 tablespoons (113g) butter melted
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces (226g) cream cheese softened
- 4 Tablespoons (56g) butter softened
- 1 ⅓ cup (160g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Or Simple Glaze:
- 3 cups (340g) powdered sugar
- 1/3 -1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the gluten-free flour, granulated sugar, instant yeast, salt and baking powder. Mix to evenly combine.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add the water, milk, eggs and melted butter. Turn the speed up to medium and mix for 3 minutes until very smooth. The dough will resemble thick cookie dough. This is normal!
- Use an oiled spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. (Refrigerating the dough makes it easier to roll out.)
Make the Filling/Shape the Rolls
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter or cooking spray.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball.
- Sprinkle with a little flour, then roll the dough out into a 15×15-inch square.
- Spread the melted butter for the filing over the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar all over the dough.
- Using a pizza cutter, cut the square into twelve 1.25-inch wide strips.
- Roll each dough strip up into a cinnamon roll. Place in the prepared baking dish.
Rise/Bake the Rolls
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Place in a relatively warm place and allow the rolls to rise for 45-60 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the rolls are slightly golden brown.
- Set the rolls aside to cool for 15 minutes or until just slightly warm to the touch.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large 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 powdered sugar and vanilla until combined.
- Using a knife or icing spatula, spread the icing over the warm rolls. Serve immediately and enjoy!
For the Simple Glaze
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the glaze ingredients until well combined.
- Spread over the slightly warm rolls. Serve immediately and enjoy!
I followed this exactly and measured with a food scale and all I can say is these are the best cinnamon rolls I have had in 10 plus years! Even my non gluten free family members loved them. This is the best texture of any gluten free baked goods I think I have had….even reheated you really can’t tell they are made with gluten free flour.
Yay! This makes us so happy! Thank you for taking the time to share your positive baking experience with us, Kristen. Happy baking!
Hi! I love all of your recipes! I just tried making these and my dough turned out so sticky! It was falling apart as I was trying to roll it into the rolls. Do you have any suggestions for next time? Thank you so much!
Hi Kristin, we’re sorry you had this experience! Two initial questions: Did you use King Arthur GF Bread Flour? (No other gf flour blend will work with this recipe unfortunately) And did you refrigerate it for those 20 minutes? (this allows the flour to hydrate and soak up the liquid) If using the correct flour blend and measurements, we would recommend chilling the dough longer so that the flour has more time to hydrate and the dough structure thickens up. If it continues to be sticky though, you could try adding a little extra flour to the dough incrementally until you are able to work with it. We hope this helps!
Made these a few times now and they are amazing! Just the GF recipe I have been looking for. Do you think I could make a loaf with this instead of smaller rolls? I didn’t see a cinnamon / sweet bread recipe anywhere on the site. Thanks!
Hi Karen, we’re so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed this recipe so much! We haven’t tried to make this recipe into a loaf before. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes! As far as existing recipes, here are the closest ones: gluten-free cinnamon roll wreath, gluten-free sticky buns, and gluten-free monkey bread. Happy baking!
Made these last year around Christmas time and they went over huge!!!! I got a request to make them again in January of this year and the same response. I am not gluten free but my friend is and sometimes I can taste the difference but not with these cinnamon rolls. I’ve already got a birthday request for them in December of this year. These are now my go to cinnamon rolls. Thank You!!
I have a question. The recipe states that 4.5cups of the KA gfbf is 680g but that is incorrect if you look at the package. It states one quarter cup is 30g.. multiply that by 18 and you get 540g weight not 680. Which one should we go by? Also Steve’s bread flour works perfect!! I don’t use the KA with the gf wheat starch in case someone has a wheat allergy 🙂 and it’s still so new it freaks people out who can have it haha
Hi Ashley, the measurements in the recipe are correct despite King Arthur’s label. We find that 1 cup of King Arthur GF Bread Flour weighs much closer to 150 grams. At the end of the day a cup measurement is subjective – and we think the manufacturer doesn’t realize gluten-free flour is denser than traditional wheat flour (traditional wheat flour is 120 grams/cup) so they provide that generalized measurement that really isn’t accurate. Erin likes to make her recipes so they will turn out for both people using cup measurements and grams measurements. Her measurement for the KA GF Bread Flour is consistent across all of her recipes, even though it’s not the same as the label on the bag. We hope this helps!
Hello!! Can the rolls be frozen to make at a different time? I am trying to think of things to prep for our beach vacation. GF is very new to me with a new diagnosis.
Hi Nancy, we don’t recommend freezing them before baking unfortunately. We haven’t tried freezing the baked cinnamon rolls, but at that stage you could try wrapping them in plastic wrap and storing them in an airtight container to freeze. Then defrost and re-warm when ready to serve. We hope this helps!
This is a really good recipe. They’re practically pillowy – I did use about a 1/2 cup more flour than directed, and honestly could’ve used a little more because my dough was very wet with just the 4.5 cups, but that happens. I think the recommended 20 minutes in the fridge before rolling isn’t long enough, though – with just the 20, I really just patted it out into a square, and it was very soft, so rolling them into pinwheels was a little sloppy. Next time, I think I’ll try flouring parchment and patting it out into a square before chilling so the dough gets colder faster and also doesn’t have too much time rising.
I did also use the heavy cream trick – pouring over about 1/2 of warm cream and tightly foiling for the first half of the bake – and that worked really well. They did take longer to bake, but I expected that.
Hi Tom, thank you for sharing your feedback with us! We’re glad to hear you enjoyed the cinnamon rolls. Happy baking!
Looking forward to making these! Have you ever substituted the milk for almond/oat milk? I’m trying to make it dairy free as well
Hi Heather, we’ve made these dairy-free using Elmhurst unsweetened cashew milk. It’s generally best to use dairy-free milks without added gums or stabilizers as those additions can mess with the rise/crumb of the rolls. And then vegan butter works in place of the regular butter too. We hope this helps!
Have you made these without eggs? Any suggestions? My husband can’t do gluten or eggs… which makes life tricky.
Thanks!
Hi Anna, we haven’t tried any egg replacers with this recipe so we can’t say how greatly the egg replacers would impact the texture. If you decide to try an egg-free version, we’d love to hear how it goes!
Made these from the newest cookbook for the first time for Easter! LOVE the cookbook and these were AMAZING! My family went crazy over them! Already planning to make again for Mother’s Day!
This cookbook has allowed me to make wonderful recipes for our daughter in law who has issues with gluten and our whole family! Can’t say enough about all the things we have tried including the pancakes!
Aww, thank you for such amazing feedback, Patty! We’re so pleased to hear how much you are enjoying the cookbook and how much of a hit this recipe was with the whole family. Happy baking!
Light, fluffy, and delicious. I made them in the evening through assembling the rolls and left them covered in the refrigerator overnight. I baked and frosted them the following morning for a lovely Easter breakfast
Hi Leah, thank you for sharing your positive experience with us! We’re so happy to hear how how much you enjoyed this recipe and that it made for a great make-ahead holiday breakfast! Happy baking!
We LOVE this recipe. What steps would I take to make these ahead but freeze them? Do I let them rise and then freeze them?
Hi Jaci, we’re so happy to hear you all loved the cinnamon rolls! Thank you for the kind feedback! We don’t recommend freezing them before baking unfortunately. We haven’t tried freezing the baked cinnamon rolls, but at that stage you could try wrapping them in plastic wrap and storing them in an airtight container to freeze.
I only have a hand mixer. Will this recipe still work? Do I need to do something differently?
Hi Kim, the stand mixer just makes the job easier. You can try a hand mixer, but sometimes they can’t handle thick dough. There’s also the option to mix it by hand. We hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi there ☺️
These look incredible! Since it’s not mentioned, I’m thinking you might not have – but worth a shot, asking. You see, where I live we’re not able to buy that flour blend. Therefore I’m hoping and wondering if you might just have a homemade blend that can substitute (so that I could be able to actually try it out)? I’d love love love to try this out!
Sincerely,
Maia-Beth ☺️
Hi Maia-Beth, thank you for your question! We don’t have a homemade blend that works like the gluten-free bread flour. Unfortunately other blends of gf flour won’t produce the same results since this recipe was designed specifically with the King Arthur bread flour. We’re sorry!
These cinnamon rolls are perfect! No one can tell they’re gluten free, the texture and flavor is excellent. The recipe turns out delicious every time. My family now requests them for birthdays and Christmas morning. Nothing could be improved upon, these are delicious!
We’re so pleased that this recipe has been such a hit with the whole family, Amy! Thank you for your kind and thoughtful feedback. Happy baking!
Hi! I was really looking forward to making these cinnamon rolls for Easter and it unfortunately didn’t work out. After the initial 20 minutes of resting it didn’t rise and was impossible to roll out. It was extremely sticky and kept sticking to my counter (even with the flour on it). I was really sad this didn’t work out I was wondering if you had any tips!!
Hi Lydia, we’re sorry you had this experience! Two initial questions: Did you use King Arthur GF Bread Flour? (No other gf flour blend will work with this recipe unfortunately) And did you refrigerate it for those 20 minutes? (The dough will rise in a warm place once the rolls are shaped, but for this first round the dough should sit in the fridge so it’s workable to roll out). We hope these ideas help and next time goes much better!
I have made these three times and each time I’ve had this issue, too! I have had to add a lot of flour on top as I roll to make it work and have followed the recipe EXACTLY. The dough is just supper wet and loose. If I figure it out, I’ll let you know!