This ridiculously quick and easy recipe for yeast-free cinnamon rolls is made with no eggs, no butter, and in just about 30 minutes. It’s the fastest, simplest way to get these sweet rolls with the exact same taste and texture as traditional cinnamon rolls in a third of the time.
I love cinnamon rolls and I’m not alone. When I make any of my cinnamon roll recipes (like my Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls or Vegan Cinnamon Rolls), they’re generally gone in less than 24 hours. Here’s my issue with that: these recipes take up to two hours to whip up.
Sometimes, I have time to make a 2-hour recipe, sometimes the kids’ pressure is just to great (you know what I’m talking about, right?). For the last little while, I’ve been trying to develop a recipe that tastes like cinnamon rolls, and has the same texture as traditional cinnamon rolls, but take a lot less time.
Why You’ll LOVE These Yeast-Free Cinnamon Rolls
- Only 5 ingredients
- Ready in about 30 minutes
- Perfect, soft, light, fluffy texture
- Super easy icing
- Classic cinnamon roll taste
If I had to give a con to all these pros, it’s that they are gone too fast. Nine of them with a family of four are gone in less than a day.
Ingredients and Substitutions
A simple recipe for me is one that is quicker to make than the classic (check, it takes only 30 minutes), and also that is made with fewer and easier-to-find ingredients. This recipe only takes 5 basic ingredients!
- Self-Rising Flour – Self-rising flour is essentially a combination of all-purpose flour and baking powder. If you can’t find any or don’t want to go to the shop for that, you can make your own. All you have to do is combine two teaspoons of baking powder for every cup of flour. I haven’t tried this recipe with gluten-free flour. In my experience, using GF flour in such baking recipe makes the dough too dense and gummy. But if you’ve tried it successfully, leave a comment below!!
- Vanilla Yogurt – I’ve made this recipe with coconut yogurt and cashew yogurt. It really works with any kind of yogurt. The reason I use vanilla yogurt instead of a plain version is to give the dough a slight flavor without having to add vanilla extract.
- Vegan Butter – Any vegan butter alternative works. Measure it melted to be accurate but make sure it’s not too hot.
- Cinnamon – There’s no cinnamon roll without cinnamon, right?
- Coconut Sugar – Any unrefined sugar works, but coconut sugar is my absolute favorite because it tastes better.
How To Make No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
Making these no yeast cinnamon rolls is really easy, the method outlined in my recipe card below is similar to how I made my Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls. Here are photos of the key steps.
Expert Tips for Perfect Rolls
Since I can’t include absolutely everything in the recipe card, I’ve kept just below my 7 top tips to make this recipe perfectly every single time.
- The dough is flavored and sweetened by the vanilla coconut yogurt. If you use unflavored yogurt, I recommend adding 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the dough and 1/4 cup of sugar for flavor. If you use yogurt that is lower in fat, the dough is dryer. But the recipe still works well with any kind of yogurt.
- For the filling, you can use brown sugar, brown erythritol for a low-sugar option, or coconut sugar for a no-refined sugar option.
- The dough should be soft, elastic, not dry. Don’t add too much flour if it’s sticky. Instead, oil your hands and work the dough with oiled hands.
- You can bake the cinnamon rolls individually in a muffin baking pan. Make sure you grease the hole or they will stick.
- Cutting the dough with a dental floss string is the best way to nicely cut the rolls. Since this dough is softer than regular a cinnamon roll recipe, a knife would damage their shape as you cut them.
- Don’t add cinnamon sugar to the first inch on both edges of the longest side of the rectangle of rolled dough. This non-coated dough will allow the cylinder to stick when rolled. If there was sugar on the edge, the rolls wouldn’t hold their shape as well.
- Roll the cylinder very tight to prevent the cinnamon filling from running out.
More Yeast-Free Baking Recipes
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Yeast-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups Self-Rising Flour - (note 1)
- 1 cup Vanilla Plant-Based Yogurt - (note 2)
- 5 tablespoons Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted) - melted (note 3)
Filling
- 3 tablespoons Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted)
- ½ cup Coconut Sugar - (note 4)
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the self-rising flour, vanilla yogurt, and melted plant-based butter. If your yogurt is unsweetened, you can add 1/4 cup of sugar to sweeten the dough.
- Stir with a rubber spatula, and when it starts to look crumbly, lightly oil your hands and knead to form a dough ball. If it is too wet, add a bit more flour. If too dry, add a bit more yogurt. You can also prepare this cinnamon roll dough in a stand mixer using the dough hook attachment. Work at speed speed 3-4 until a dough ball forms.
- Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough on it. Sprinkle extra flour on top of the dough and roll into a 12.5-inch x 10.5-inch rectangle shape.
- Spread the softened butter evenly onto the rectangle.
- In a small bowl, whisk cinnamon and coconut sugar. Sprinkle the mixture and press it evenly onto the buttered dough.
- Roll from the long side to form a cylinder.
- Use a serrated knife or an unflavored dental floss string to cut 9 pieces from the cylinder.
- Place each roll with the swirl facing up on the prepared baking dish.
- Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until golden brown on top.
- Cool down at room temperature on a wire rack before icing.
- To glaze, stir 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of almond milk and drizzle on top of the rolls.
A-MAZ-ING. This was just great. Thank you!
Thank you!
This was really delicious and quite easy, the kids really loved it. Thanks.
Thank you!