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These gluten-free cinnamon rolls are out-of-control delicious! They taste like Cinnabon copycats, but with zero gluten. They’re soft and tender with a perfect swirly filling and cream cheese frosting. Perfect for Christmas morning breakfast or anytime!
What Makes This Recipe So Good?
- We love having cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, and these are perfect when you are catering for overnight guests. For a stress-free morning, you can also make these ahead of time.
- These cinnamon rolls taste just like the ones from Cinnabon, but they are 100% gluten-free. Because they are GF, they won’t rise as much as dough with gluten would, but I promise you they taste exactly the same! The cream cheese frosting is to die for! Seriously, it’s so good, this is the only cinnamon roll recipe you will need!
- They can be made ahead of time and reheated for an easy breakfast or brunch option. Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days; 5 days in the fridge. To reheat, warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Microwaving produces more moist and more tender reheated cinnamon rolls than the oven.
Can You Freeze This Recipe for Later?
Absolutely! I’m all for getting ahead of the game. I recommend doing this one of two ways:
- You can freeze the rolls, baked but unfrosted. Later, you can thaw them out, warm them for just a few minutes in the oven, and ice them while warm.
- If you’d rather freeze the cinnamon rolls completely iced and finished, you can do that, too. Just allow them to cool, cover them with plastic wrap and foil, and pop them in the freezer.
Chef’s Tips
- Make sure your warmed milk and melted butter are not too hot; they should feel warm to the touch but not hot.
- Gluten-free flour behaves differently from brand to brand! You may experience different results based on your gluten-free flour. Use the recommended flour from Bob’s Red Mill for the best results.
- If your dough seems overly sticky or unmanageable, gradually add in more flour. Start with just one tablespoon, and add more by the tablespoon as needed.
- Take care not to over-bake the gluten free cinnamon rolls! It’s easy to do and will throw off the taste and texture.
For More Gluten Free Recipes
- Gluten Free Stuffing
- Gluten Free Cornbread with Honey
- Perfectly Crispy Gluten Free Fried Chicken
- Gluten Free Paleo Blueberry Muffins
- Perfect Paleo Brownies (Gluten Free)
- Crispy Gluten Free Onion Rings
- Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls (Cinnabon Copycat)
These gluten free cinnamon rolls are out-of-control delicious! They taste like Cinnabon copycats, but with zero gluten. They're soft and tender with a perfect swirly filling and cream cheese frosting
cinnamon rolls
Equipment
- Large bowls (2)
- Stand mixer with bread hook (or knead by hand)
- Medium bowl
- Fork
- 9×13 baking dish
- parchment paper
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 cup warm milk or alt-milk (like almond, oat, macadamia milk), warmed to 110°-115°F, see Notes
- 1 packet active dry yeast 2 ¼ teaspoons
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled until just warm to the touch, about 110°-115°F, see Notes
- 2 eggs whisked
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 ½ cups Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour see Notes
- 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum only if flour doesn't contain it already, see Notes
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Cinnamon Filling
- 1 packed cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, or margarine
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add the white sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl if you prefer to knead by hand) and pour warm milk over. Stir to combine. Sprinkle the yeast over and set aside until bubbly or frothy; you should see a sort of film on the top of the mixture at least. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Add the melted butter (About 110º F; warm to the touch but not hot) to the yeast mixture. Stir in whisked eggs and apple cider vinegar. Add in gluten-free flour, baking powder, salt, and xantham gum if your gluten-free flour does not contain it (See Note). Attach the bread hook to the mixer and mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes or until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl and is soft. It should not feel dry but a bit sticky. See Note to mix by hand.
- Lightly oil a large mixing bowl and transfer dough to bowl. Cover and place in a warm spot. Let rise 1 hour. If your spot is cooler, it may take a little longer to rise, but the dough should be a bit puffier and should leave an indentation when poked. It will not double in size.
- Meanwhile, make the cinnamon filling. In a medium bowl, add all ingredients and use a fork to mix very well. Alternately, beat all ingredients together with a stand mixer and paddle attachment.
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly coat a 9×13” baking dish with softened butter or cooking spray.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper to about 12×18” and lay on the counter. Scrape the dough on top. Press the dough to fit the parchment sheet; the dough should be about 12×16” as well. It’s OK if it doesn’t quite fit the entire sheet.
- Evenly spread the cinnamon filling on the rectangle of dough, leaving ½” bare at one end (short side, not long side).
- Carefully, use the parchment sheet to begin tightly rolling the dough. Use the parchment to fold over the first 1” or so of the short side with filling all the way to the edge. Continue rolling the dough by folding the parchment over to the other side. It will roll naturally.
- Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces. Place evenly into baking dish and bake 25-30 minutes. They will not puff up like cinnamon rolls with gluten in them but will become a bit fuller and should be a little golden brown. Do not overbake!
- Meanwhile, make your cream cheese frosting. Add cream cheese and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and beat until completely combined. Cream cheese should be totally smooth with no solid lumps. Add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt; beat on medium speed until combined.
- When cinnamon rolls are finished baking, remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes before slathering tops with cream cheese frosting (A butter knife or offset spatula work well). Serve with additional cream cheese frosting.
Video
- IMPORTANT: Make sure your warmed milk and melted butter are not too hot; they should feel warm to the touch but not hot. If they’re too hot, they can kill the yeast. Check them with a thermometer before each step in which they come in contact with the yeast for foolproof gluten-free cinnamon rolls!
- Flour: I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour. Gluten-free flour behaves differently from brand-to-brand, so you may experience different results based on the type of flour you use. Use the recommended flour from Bob’s Red Mill for best results.
- Xanthan Gum: If your gluten-free all-purpose flour blend does not have xanthan gum, add 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum to the mixer when adding flour blend and baking powder. The recommended gluten-free flour (Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour) already has xanthan gum and does not need this ingredient added.
- Sticky Dough: If your dough seems overly sticky or unmanageable, gradually increase the amount of flour. Start with one additional tablespoon of flour, adding more as needed to make the dough workable.
- Mixer: If mixing by hand instead of using a stand mixer, add all ingredients as directed in steps #3 and #4 to a large mixing bowl. Stir with a spatula until mixed well. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 1-2 minutes. You are not creating gluten by kneading this dough, but kneading will help incorporate all ingredients as smoothly as if you used a stand mixer.
- Frosting: This recipe makes plenty of cream cheese frosting because I’m pretty sure that’s the best part! You will not need all of the frosting when glazing the cinnamon rolls in the baking dish; keep for serving and reheating!
- Storage & Reheating: Keep in an air-tight container at room temperature up to 3 days; 5 days in the fridge. To reheat, warm in the microwave about 30 seconds. Microwaving produces moister and more tender reheated cinnamon rolls than the oven.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1cinnamon rollCalories: 536calProtein: 6gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 245mgPotassium: 56mgTotal Carbs: 74gFiber: 5gSugar: 47gNet Carbs: 69gVitamin A: 632IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 143mgIron: 2mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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found this recipe on Pinterest. I have been GF for 15+ years and feel like I have tried every GF Cinnamon roll recipe there is, because cinnamon rolls and donuts are what I miss more than anything once having to go GF.
1. First, this recipe is the BEST GF cinnamon roll recipe I have ever had/made! I highly recommend. While, it may be a bit time consuming (letting dough rise etc), it is actually very simple to follow.
2. B/c of the time it takes to let the dough rise etc, I did not want to have to wake up at 4a on Christmas morning to start making these rolls, so I did a few experiments on my own.
Last night, I made the full recipe. I cut all of the dough into rolls, however, I only baked 1/2 of the rolls. They turned out absolutely delicious!. We did not eat all of them, so I put the uneaten ones in the fridge along with 1/2 of the rolls that were not cooked. I woke up this mooning and cooked the remaining 1/2 of the rolls. They turned out just as good as the ones I made last night! I also, reheated the one rolls that were cooked and not eaten last night (I did not ice all the ones I baked last night – I only iced the ones I planned to eat last night). The reheated rolls seemed a bit drier than the fresh baked rolls. My family voted there was no difference in the fresh baked rolls I made last night and the rolls I baked this morning. However, the feedback was there was a little bit of difference in the rolls I baked last night and reheated this am – but still very delicious!!!!!!
Hope this helps anyone who had the same questions as me! I am going to make the recipe on Christmas Eve, cut my rolls, put in a pan and store in fridge over night. Will remove from fridge and bake Christmas morning! A perfect GF Christmas Breakfast.
also, I used Cup for Cup GF flour, so did not have to add xantham gum.
Thanks for sharing, Courtney!!!
Thanks so much for sharing this! I plan on making these for Christmas morning and will use your experience as a guide. I plan on making the rolls the night before and refrigerating them overnight to bake on Christmas morning!
We hope you’ll like it!
we used Cup 4 Cup Flour . Best GF Cinnamon Rolls by far. We have a Gluten Allergy and have tried so many recipes. We missed our Christmas Morning Rolls. But no more.
In the morning, did you bake the rolls when still chilled (directly out of the refrigerator) or did you bring the unbaked rolls to room temperature prior to baking?
Oh my gosh. Just made these! Made 9 large rolls and a couple small ones in a different baking dish. Will freeze the big pan and then frost and have for Christmas. Have to say I could hardly wait to frost and take a bite of the small one. It was so good! Thank you so much for the recipe. Blessings to you and yours
We are so glad you enjoyed the cinnamon rolls!
Can I use King Arthur gluten free all purpose flour mix?
Sure! Just make sure to check for xanthan gum in the flour mix!
In describing Bob’s Mill GF baking flour it appears that you need to add xanthum gum on one hand and don’t on the other. If you need to, how much? Also, if you warm your oven using the warm setting, could you put the dough in the oven for it to rise?
We recommend adding at least one teaspoon per cup of gluten free flour. 🙂
I made this and it was extremely sticky- any recommendations
The dough is naturally pretty sticky, so we usually keep a bowl of water next to us to prevent our hands from sticking. 🙂
We couldnt wait for an hour so we put it in the oven at lowest temp (170F). Let it sit for about 30 min while prepping the rest. This turned out to be the best ever!! Thank you so much for this recipe.
For sticky dough we just added a little more oil around the dough.
Our dough did not rise at all. We used fast acting yeast. Could that have been the culprit? We need a good gluten free cinnamon roll recipe but ingredients are too expensive to keep experimenting… help!
So sorry to hear that! Was it covered with plastic wrap with enough warmth around it?
Check the temperature of the milk before you add the yeast. Wait to make sure it bubbles before adding the flour. Our fist batch of yeast was a dud so we only wasted 1 cup of mil and 1.2 cup of sugar. Seriously this is the best GF recipe we have ever used.
Is there any point in this recipe I can stop and refrigerate the dough overnight? Or does it need to be baked the same day?
We have not tried it, but let us know how it goes if you do that because we are interested. We will probably test that soon. 🙂
Is this possible to make the dough the night before but not bake until the nect morning, or does it have to be prepared and baked in the same day? Thanks!
We have not tried refrigerating it overnight, but we will be testing that soon! 🙂
Hi! These look delicious!! I’m wondering if I can make my dough ahead of time (night before) and allow it to rise at room temp or in the fridge until the morning when I am ready to bake?
We have not tried refrigerating this gluten free dough overnight, but we will be trying it in the future!
Anyone have insight on using an egg replacer like Just Egg or flax eggs?
We have not tried using egg replacers in this recipe, but curious how it could work! Since the flour is gluten free, it already is a bit more sticky than traditional flour. We worry that the dough will not bind as well with regular eggs, but you can definitely let us know!
Made these and was THRILLED with the results. Had to do some substitution for instant yeast and it was still utterly delicious! Great texture as well.
Thanks for the awesome review!