These dairy-free cinnamon rolls are a beloved pantry recipe that you can now find in the 2nd Edition of Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook! Today, I’m sharing the updated version of this recipe as a sample from my book, along with some new photos. If you’ve loved this recipe for years, don’t worry, the base recipe is still the same! I just added more options, better directions, and extra tips with the cookbook version.
I don’t consider icing optional when it comes to cinnamon rolls. This photo shows the Rich Vanilla Icing drizzled on once these double-the-cinnamon rolls had cooled.
The Best Darn Cinnamon Roll Recipe That Just Happens to Be Vegan
Believe me, these cinnamon rolls are loved by all, whether they’re dairy-free or not. I’ve served them countless times on holiday mornings, for weekend brunch, and when Tony and I are simply craving a bakery indulgence.
Despite being void of eggs and butter, these dairy-free cinnamon rolls are incredibly tender and delicious. Honestly, you won’t know the difference between these and those fluffy store-bought cinnamon rolls. In fact, Tony swore that these were much better. As verified by the quantity he ate before I could even take a picture!
As you may have guessed from the name, these dairy-free cinnamon rolls have a double dose of cinnamon spice with extra in the filling and some added to the dough, too. I’m a firm believer that you can’t have too much cinnamon in cinnamon rolls.
You want to give the rolls a little room to rise in the pan, but not too much. I like how the layers start to squish upward a bit as they bake and crowd one another.
A Boon for Dairy-Free Bakers
You might be expecting just creamy recipes in Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook. This book does contain many, many recipes for homemade dairy substitutes, creamy sauces and soups, and much more. But I also love baking. And if you’ve already gone dairy-free, then you know that dairy is used in a lot of baked goods!
So the 2nd Edition of Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook includes classic recipes and coffeehouse favorites, like these Overnight Double-the-Cinnamon Rolls. Other treats include Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins, Baked Cake Maple Donuts, Strawberry Danish Scones, Flaky French Croissants, Iced Lemon Loaf, Never Enough Chocolate Chip Cookies, and … I could go on all day!
This is one of my older photos, but it shows the Buttery Maple Glaze drizzled on while the dairy-free cinnamon rolls are still warm.
Reader Raves
Emilee gave these a try and had a happy success:
Thanks for these! I made them with an egg and just 1/2 cup banana and they were fabulous! We ate one pan and froze the rest to take camping, and they were just as good the second time around.
Emma successfully swapped the banana for applesauce:
Just thought I’d tell you that apple sauce works brilliantly as a substitute for the banana and gives an excellent sweetness to the dough.
Sharon shared the following on Facebook:
Love this recipe when I discovered it a few years ago on Pinterest. My family loves them and so easy to make. Great to find a recipe that tastes great when you have someone with a dairy and egg allergy. I tend to put more cinnamon than recommended in the filling but that’s down to individual taste.
See the comments on this post (below) for more Reader Raves and tips!
Those layers are so tender and flaky that it’s hard to stop at one cinnamon roll! But they are fulfilling and generously sized.
Special Diet Notes: Double-the-Cinnamon Rolls
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.
- ½ cup warm plain or unsweetened plain dairy-free milk beverage
- 2¼ teaspoons (1/4-ounce packet) active dry yeast
- 2¾ cups bread flour or 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon + 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup mashed ripe banana (can sub pumpkin puree or applesauce)
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil, melted dairy-free buttery spread, grapeseed oil, or another baking oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar (can sub coconut sugar)
- ½ cup firmly-packed brown sugar (can sub coconut sugar for less sweet)
- 3 tablespoons chilled dairy-free buttery spread (can sub Bakeable Butter from Go Dairy Free)
- Rich Vanilla Icing or Buttery Maple Glaze (Recipes below!)
- Put the warm milk beverage in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes to proof and ensure the yeast is active
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt.
- Add the banana, ¼ cup oil or melted buttery spread, sugar, and half of the flour blend to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Gradually stir in the rest of the flour until soft dough forms.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Add more flour when needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. You should end up with fairly soft dough that is just slightly sticky.
- Return the dough to the mixing bowl, lightly cover the bowl, and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size. (See Rising Tip below.)
- Grease a 9×9-inch or 11×8-inch baking pan. (See Pan Size Tip below.)
- Punch down the dough. Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, 3 tablespoons buttery spread, and remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Roll the dough into a large rectangle that’s about 18 inches wide and ¼-inch thickness (fairly thin). If it springs back too much, just let it rest for another 5 minutes before rolling.
- Sprinkle or spread (if the buttery spread is melty) the brown sugar mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 1-inch margin on one of the long sides. Starting from the other long side, tightly roll up the dough, pinching the seam to seal.
- Turn the roll seam side down, and slice it into 12 equal-size rolls (about 1 ½ inches wide).
- Place the slices cut side down in your prepared baking pan. Lightly cover the rolls with plastic wrap. Place the pan in the refrigerator overnight. (If you want to bake them today, let rise in a warm draft-free place for 30 to 60 minutes, or until about double in size.)
- In the morning, pull the cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator, and place them on top of the stove while you preheat your oven to 375ºF.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cinnamon rolls are lightly golden brown.
- Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
- Pull apart the cinnamon rolls and individually drizzle them with the Rich Vanilla Icing or Buttery Maple Glaze just before serving.
- Store un-iced cinnamon rolls covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, or individually wrap them and freeze to enjoy later. Once iced, the rolls are best if eaten the same day. The icing will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, but whisk it again before using. If stiff, you can warm it for just a few seconds in the microwave, or whisk in a little more water.
Pan Size Tip: If you don't have a pan that size, you can place 9 of the rolls in an 8-inch round or square pan, and the remaining 3 rolls in muffin cups. You want to give them a little bit of room to rise, but not too much. They should still squish together a little when rising.
Buttery Maple Glaze Recipe: In a medium bowl, whisk together ¾ cup sifted powdered sugar, 1½ teaspoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon melted dairy-free buttery spread, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Whisk in water, just a teaspoon at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency.
Rich Vanilla Icing Recipe: In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1½ teaspoons melted buttery spread, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. If needed, whisk in additional water, just 1 teaspoon at a time, until it reaches a drizzly consistency.
For More of My Recipes, Get Go Dairy Free!
60 Comments
Hi Alisa, thanks for this recipe. It looks fantastic ! I have a question, can I let it rise overnight? Do you think I’d have to adapt anything, if I wanted to make it at night to bake it in the morning? Thanks! Happy Holidays!
Hi Jackie, I think I answered your question elsewhere, but yes, the make-ahead instructions are in there to bake them in the morning! That’s how I always make them 🙂
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I personally feel like I can taste the coconut so I made it next time with almond milk. I also use earth balance spread and it’s loves. They are light fluffy and amazing. Best part we can add extra sugar for a desert or just as is for the prefect breakfast roll. My dairy free daughter truly thanks you for giving her cinnamon rolls back. Also try adding flavors to your frosting lemon is our favorite so far.
Thank you for such detailed feedback Amanda. Glad that your family is enjoying these cinnamon rolls and great idea to add flavors to the icing!
Hello! I plan to make these for Christmas breakfast! I’m not a fan of the flavor of coconut, so I wondered if when you bake it with coconut oil if there is a hint of flavor or, if like the banana, you can’t taste it! I have a buttery spread on hand, but it may be easier to do coconut oil! Thanks!
You definitely won’t taste the coconut oil in the rolls or in the icing, and most don’t notice it in the filling either, but I usually use buttery spread in the filling. It just gives it more of that traditional cinnamon roll filling taste.
Can I just thank you for such a great and easy recipe. I used koko (coconut milk) and pure sunflower spread. They turned out amazing with my 2 year old allergy wee man living them saying they were so yummy. We are df sf and ef. I even used a Cinnabon frosting using violife creamy, pure sunflower, icing sugar, vanilla essence and lemon juice. Happy family here in Scotland
That’s wonderful and you are more than welcome! The frosting sounds like an amazing finish!
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Can I use eggs? How would I replace the banana with an egg. At the bottom you only give other fruits/veggie option but what if I want to actually use an egg. I only need dairy free…
You can use eggs, I just haven’t tested so I couldn’t tell you the exact amount. I would probably test with 2 eggs and add more liquid as needed.
I am making these!!! Maybe tomorrow. Yay for winter break! 😉 I have been looking for a good cinnamon roll recipe.
I love the sound of these, and might use the gluten free variation above – happy to see that works!
perfect make ahead rolls! YUM!! I love the banana addition. Saving for a brunch recipe! xxoo
Ive only just started vegan baking and I made these and non of my flat mates are vegan but soon as they saw these and smelt them within 5mins they were all gone I will be saving this recipe and have been begged to make them again today they are amazing!! Thank you
That’s so great! And thank you for the feedback Natalie!
These seem to be incredibly healthy compared to most baked goods.
I usually keep the sugar and butters/oils minimal in my recipes.
I’m also low on sugar at the moment, so this is perfect.
Any Guess if I can sub a Gluten Free Flour mix (which has the gums in it) for the flour? I had a sudden craving or cinnamon rolls and they need to be GF, DF and Egg Free. So I think this recipe might work the best. 🙂
Ooh, since they are egg-free, too, I don’t want to make any promises. But if you try it, please let me know how it works out (would definitely use one with gums or other binders)!
Reporting back. This recipe is so good. I used 2.5 C of flour, and added in a bit of flour while kneading. I used a Gluten Free mix from Costco called Cloud 9 and coconut milk. Other wise I followed the dough the same. For the filling I used brown sugar, coconut oil and lots of cinnamon. They only rose a little so they are denser than wheat ones, but the taste was so good.
I actually omitted the cinnamon to the dough and made half into buns. Again dense, but good taste and texture. which I loved.
So bottom line they work but you can’t expect them to taste like your old favourite, but I’ve learned that already being Gluten free. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Thank you so much for providing your feedback on baking them gluten-free Laura! I’m sure this will help out many people!!
Thank you. I was wondering about gluten free flour.
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I’m not much of a baker, so I was nervous to try something like this, but they turned out soooo yummy! (I ate 2 just to make sure that they were really good 🙂 ). I used the pumpkin instead of banana, coconut oil for the dough and Earth Balance instead of margarine for the filling.
Will make another batch tonight and bring the rolls to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow 🙂
Yay – and the pumkin sounds delicious!
This is an excellent cinnamon roll recipe, vegan or no! Turned out amazing. The dough was a tad bit on the dry side while mixing , so followed your advice and added in a tablespoon or two of liquid more – I used applesauce, actually, just to try something different.
So glad you enjoyed it Kristin! We love this recipe in our house, too.
Alisa, I also used applesauce instead of mashed bananas. I also used sunflower oil instead of coconut oil and wholewheat flour instead of white and it was absolutely delicious, a really perfect breakfast 🙂
Awesome! So glad you liked the recipe and thank you for sharing your adaptations Netta.
These were fantastic!! Have you tried freezing the cooked product, or the dough?? Just wondering if it would work?
Tina, I know that the dough freezes well. Haven’t tried with the finished product, but it should work!
I want to make a King Cake for Fat Tuesday and it will need to be dairy free. Do you think I can use this recipe and instead of making individual cinnamon rolls, make a ring like a King Cake?
Marianne, having never made nor eaten a King Cake, I can’t give you a definite “yes, it will work!” In looking up other King Cake recipes, they do appear to be a cinnamon roll type base, so in that case, I would assume this recipe would work fine.
This recipe makes absolutely THE BEST cinnamon rolls I have ever had, homemade or bakery made. The dairy-free and egg-free aspect does not detract from the overall result. My entire family aggreed that they were the best ever. I think I ate like four all by myself. I simply cannot have them in the house. Keep the great recipes coming!
Is the amount of “milk” correct? I tried this recipe and the dough was WAY too dry, it was flaking to bits! 🙁 Usually there is a higher ratio of liquid to flour in cinnamon roll recipes. Any suggestions as to what happened?
Hi Sara, you added the banana and oil correct? I’ve made them many times and many readers have emailed me on success with them – never a problem, it is a pretty supple dough. Add a little more liquid if the dough is too dry for you – a tablespoon at a time until if feels more pliable and cohesive.