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Quick 45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls are made with homemade dough filled with ground cinnamon, and a brown sugar mixture rolled and baked in less than an hour. Drizzle a sweet glaze over the top, making this the VERY BEST breakfast!
Fluffy and soft cinnamon rolls taste even better than Cinnabon and are ready in just 45 minutes! Try these strawberry cinnamon rolls, these delicious overnight cinnamon rolls, and of course, these tasty caramel apple cinnamon rolls. There are so many delicious ones to try!
A Reader’s Review
Thank you for sharing this recipe. Just tried it. First time I’ve ever made cinnamon rolls from scratch. Very easy and quick to make. These rolls taste sooo goood!
Quick 45-Minute Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
I love cinnamon rolls but sometimes I want them NOW and not in a few hours. Waiting for the dough to rise, then for them to bake… I don’t have time for that! Which is where this recipe comes in handy! This recipe was inspired by my friend Layla at Gimme Delicious!
These delicious cinnamon rolls only take 20 minutes to rise. Then you can put them together and be eating them before you know it! My kiddos love helping me make these in the kitchen! If you are looking for more quick and easy recipes to make for breakfast check out this The Best Breakfast Casserole or these yummy Perfect Crepes!
What you need to make Quick 45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls
Don’t let the ingredient list scare you! Most of the ingredients are right in your refrigerator and pantry. Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all of the exact ingredient measurements.
Dough
- Flour: This adds thickness and combines it all together.
- Sugar: You need sugar for a sweet taste.
- Salt: The salt adds just enough to help the yeast rise.
- Instant Yeast: This makes it so that your dough can rise at a quicker pace.
- Water: Water softens the dough and creates a sticky, gooey texture.
- Milk: You can use whatever milk you have on hand. I used one percent milk, which gave these a creamy and smooth texture with a hint of flavor.
- Butter: I used unsalted butter in this recipe.
- Large Egg: The egg will combine it all together.
Filling
- Butter: The butter is melted and used to combine the cinnamon and brown sugar tougher.
- Cinnamon: You can’t have a cinnamon roll without cinnamon!
- Brown Sugar: I love how this brings a little sweetness to the cinnamon rolls.
- Heavy Cream: This keeps the cinnamon rolls rich and moist.
Glaze
- Powdered Sugar: It dissolves quickly and makes this icing glaze come together.
- Vanilla Extract: A splash of vanilla makes the perfect blend of icing and tastes SO good!
- Milk: This combines with powdered sugar to form the glaze.
- Cream Cheese: The cream cheese gives a delicious flavor to them.
How to Make Quick 45-Minute Cinnamon Rolls
These cinnamon rolls are SO good and melt in your mouth. Trust me! These cinnamon rolls will not last long and are always a huge hit! Watch the glaze fall into the cracks and in-between the cinnamon rolls getting ooey-gooey.
Dough
- Whisk: In a large bowl whisk the flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together. Set aside.
- Combine: In a small bowl combine the water, milk, and butter together and heat in the microwave until the butter is melted, about 30-45 seconds.
- Knead into Ball: Use a fork to stir the liquid into the dry ingredients. Add the egg and knead by hand or with a stand mixer for 5-6 minutes, until the dough is no longer sticky. Form the dough into a ball and return to the bowl. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Preheat Oven: Turn on the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9×9 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Filling
- Combine: In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll the Dough: Once the dough has rested, dust a clean surface lightly with flour and roll out the dough into a 15×9 inch rectangle.
- Cut: Spread the softened butter over the dough and dust evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the dough up tightly and cut into 9 even pieces.
- Cover: Place the rolls into the prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
- Drizzle: Turn off the warmed oven and place the pan of rolls inside. Let them rise for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes have passed, remove the foil or plastic and drizzle the ¼ cup of cream evenly over the top of the buns.
- Bake: Return the buns to the oven and turn the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops of the buns are golden brown
Glaze
- Beat and Combine: Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, 2 tablespoons milk together until smooth. Add more milk as needed. Let the rolls cool for 20 minutes or so before spreading the glaze over the top.
Tips for Making Quick 45-Minute Cinnamon Rolls
There are several tips for making quick 45-minute cinnamon rolls, but simply following the recipe is straightforward and will help make the best of the best cinnamon rolls! Watch how easily these cinnamon rolls come together.
Dough:
- Liquids: Any liquid, like water or milk, should all be warm to keep the yeast active.
- Rising the dough: For a quicker rise, turn the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it reaches 200 degrees Fahrenheit then turn the oven off and let the dough rise in the oven.
- Yeast: It is best to use active dry yeast. You will want to make sure it is fresh too. If it is old, it doesn’t work as well, and your cinnamon rolls may turn out flat.
- Proof the yeast: You can proof the yeast by simply adding water, yeast, and sugar to it. You can tell good yeast by it being foamy after dissolving in the mixture. If it is not foaming, discard that yeast mixture. Your cinnamon rolls will not rise.
Rolls:
- Rolling out the Dough: The thinner you roll out your dough, the more layers and rings it will have rolled up.
- Rolled Dough: After the dough is rolled into a log shape, use non-flavored dental floss to help you cut the cinnamon rolls. The dental floss is a clean cut and helps the rolled dough from flattening and squishing.
- Spray your wrap: When letting your cinnamon rolls raise or anytime they are covered, spray the aluminum foil or plastic wrap before covering your cinnamon rolls. This will avoid the covering from sticking to the cinnamon rolls.
- Filling Variations: Try pumpkin pie spice to the mixture or use fruit fillings to add a little more flavoring.
- Using a Bread Machine: This will work in a bread machine too! Simply add all dough ingredients into the bread machine. Set the bread machine on the dough cycle. Once it is done, let the dough rise for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Glaze:
- Storing the Icing: go ahead and make the icing ahead of time if you need to. Just keep it covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Icing Variations: Change the flavoring on the icing by adding either almond extract or cinnamon to add a little different flavor to your cinnamon rolls.
- Frosting: Let your cinnamon rolls cool for a couple of minutes, but it is best to frost while they are hot, and the frosting can melt on them into each of the layers.
45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls FAQs
Here are a few questions that you may have when making cinnamon rolls. Hopefully, these frequently asked questions and answers can help make these cinnamon rolls easier for you.
- What type of yeast should I use? It is best to use high active yeast when making cinnamon rolls. Traditional yeast does not rise quickly enough compared to the high active yeast.
- What flour is best? All-Purpose flour is best for baking. If you need to use bread flour or gluten-free flour, that will work as well. The texture and taste may be altered a bit using anything besides All-Purpose flour.
- Why didn’t my cinnamon rolls rise? There are a lot of variables on this question. To start, it could simply be your yeast. It may be old and expired and not functioning properly for yeast. If your liquids were not hot when combining could also dilute and kill the yeast. There may not have been enough time for them to rise. If you are baking in the wintertime, you may need a little more time to rise the dough since it is colder than normal. To help, place them in the oven, by a window with sunlight, or simply give them a little more time than an hour.
- Sticky Dough: Add a tablespoon of flour until it is no longer sticky on your fingers.
- Why do my cinnamon rolls seem to fall after baking? Kneading too much can cause the cinnamon rolls to fall apart after baking. I like to use a mixer to do most of the work and prevent me from over-kneading the dough.
How to Store Leftover Cinnamon Rolls
Quick 45-minute cinnamon rolls don’t last long! I haven’t had a chance to even freeze these or store more than 24 hours. They are that good and always a family favorite.
- Bake Ahead of Time: This is always a great idea when making the next day for breakfast. Simply follow the instructions before baking your cinnamon rolls. Once sliced and in a pan to rise. After they have risen, make sure they are covered and placed in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Before baking your cinnamon rolls, remove them from the refrigerator and let rise once again for about one hour. Then follow the instructions and bake accordingly.
- To Freeze: These are great for freezing. The glaze can either be left off until warming up or leave it on while it is in the freezer. Following the cinnamon roll instructions, bake, frost, or freeze your glaze separately. Then let cool, cover, and place as a pan or individually wrapped cinnamon rolls in the freezer for up to 1 month. When ready to eat, let your cinnamon rolls thaw overnight on the countertop or refrigerator.
- To Reheat: When ready to warm up, place in the oven for best results and warm up on low until the frosting has melted through, or use a microwave to warm up in 15 to 30-second intervals. Try not to overheat in the microwave, leaving these overcooked and dry.
More Cinnamon Recipes to Try
Cinnamon rolls are the absolute best! They make the best breakfast, brunch, and snack for anyone! My kids go crazy over these and they love them so much! Try some more of these delcious cinnamon recipes. Good luck picking your favorite!
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Quick 45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 package instant yeast (1 packet = 2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
Filling:
- 1/4 cup salted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream for drizzling over buns before baking
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
Instructions
Dough
- In a large bowl whisk the flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast together. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the water, milk, and butter together and heat in the microwave until the butter is melted, about 30-45 seconds.
- Use a fork to stir the liquid into the dry ingredients. Add the egg and knead by hand or with a stand mixer for 5-6 minutes, until the dough is no longer sticky. Form the dough into a ball and return to the bowl. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Turn on the oven to 200 degrees fahrenheit. Spray a 9×9 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Filling
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Once the dough has rested, dust a clean surface lightly with flour and roll out the dough into a 15×9 inch rectangle.
- Spread the softened butter over the dough and dust evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the dough up tightly and cut into 9 even pieces.
- Place the rolls into the prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
- Turn off the warmed oven and place the pan of rolls inside. Let them rise for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes have passed, remove the foil or plastic and drizzle the ¼ cup of cream evenly over the top of the buns.
- Return the buns to the oven and turn the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops of the buns are golden brown.
Cream Cheese Glaze
- Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, 2 tablespoons milk together until smooth. Add more milk as needed. Let the rolls cool for 20 minutes or so before spreading the glaze over the top.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Daaaaaaaaaaamn. These are goooood. I forgot to add the milk on top but they still came out amazing. Was not 45 mins but was done for a mid morning snack. Thanks!
The original recipe was 45 minutes and so good and easy. It’s def been changed and it’s not as quick and I preferred the original to this version. Is there a way you can post the original as well? It was perfection.
You can get it on the wayback machine! That’s what I did, and screenshotted for future use. Just pull a snapshot from before the edit date in July. I went back to 2020 to be safe. https://web.archive.org/web/20200516224046/https://therecipecritic.com/quick-45-minute-cinnamon-rolls/
This recipe works perfect for me every time! It could be altitude if it does not.
Thank you so much!
NO WAY is this a 45-minute recipe, more like 90 from start to finish, but it is Absolutely Fabulous! This is not a “spur of the moment” breakfast item, but if you want to get up a little early and surprise the family, they will absolutely LOVE these cinnamon rolls. Don’t expect any leftovers 🙂
I’ve done overnight cinnamon rolls before and these blew them out of the water, absolutely delicious! Good enough to sell in a bakery. I didn’t have an egg so I read on the internet I could substitute with 1/4 cup of garbanzo bean juice (sounds gross I know, but it was incredible!). Thank you so much for this recipe, it’s been marked as my fave!
I miss the original version of this recipe! Please bring it back! It was perfection!
Not enough flour! Soup dough, I had to add so much extra flour like 3.5 cups total.
I did too, it was so runny. I blamed the bad yeast first time but second time it was definitely still too liquid so had to add way more flour and knead for ages.
Oh no! This was my go to cinnamon roll recipe and I see it has been changed! Can you please send me the original? I don’t remember the dough having white sugar and definitely didn’t use heavy cream or cream cheese for this before either. Thank you!
Same! I loved this recipe and it’s so different now. I’d love a copy of the original as it was my go-to!
This recipe is superb. It’s easy, relatively quick, and makes really, really good cinnamon rolls. My only gripe is these take way longer than 45 minutes to make, and if I was making these for the first time and was in a time crunch, I’d have been annoyed. I don’t understand the point of such a misleading title other than to deliberately trick people into picking this recipe over others… but nevertheless, these are more than worth the time. Excellent recipe.
These are absolutely my go to from now on! Delicious and oh so easy. I did reduce the cinnamon by half as I didn’t like how heavy it was with cinnamon.
I baked these this morning and the recipe was quite clear and not overly complicated. I was curious as to the purpose of the drizzle of cream after proofing. Also, this step is listed on the technical recipe, but not on the preamble so caused some double guessing.
Made these this morning for my mom. Oh who am I kidding, for me too. They are delicious and the recipe is easy to follow. Mom asked what smells so good and when she saw them said they look store bought. Definitely a keeper. Thank you for sharing such an awesome treat!
My boyfriend and I made these and it turned out pretty good!! We didn’t add the cream cheese in the glaze but it still turned out amazing. My mom who is quite picky with sweets like these even said it tasted nice.
Would recommend!!
These tasted amazing and where so yummy when they where wa from the oven.
Really really great cinnamon rolls! So delicious. My only issue was that these take WAY longer than 45 minutes. Based on how long you have to proof them in the oven and how long you have to bake them, that would leave you 5 minutes for gathering ingredients, measuring, mixing, kneading, shaping, etc. Not possible. It took me over an hour start to finish. But, they do taste great!
Amazing cinnamon rolls! My whole family loved it! Thanks for taking your time to create and post great recipes!
Easy and delicious. I made these this morning for Valentine’s Day. I followed the recipe as written, except I made 2 changes in the directions. I put the bowl of flour, sugar, and salt into the microwave for 40 seconds. Then removed it from microwave whisked in the dry yeast.(I wanted a warm environment for the yeast). The other, after microwaving the milk mixture for 40 seconds, I whisked the egg into it before adding to flour mixture. They rose beautiful! Tasted great! Were easy to make. Quick cinnamon roll from start to finish! Will be my new go to common roll recipe from now on !!! Happy Valentine’s Day.
I like the way you think— I will be following your tips! I’m excited to eat this recipe