No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
Fast cinnamon rolls with a tender biscuit-style dough leavened by baking powder — no rising, no proofing, warm in under an hour.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Bake
- 22 min
- Yield
- 8 rolls
- Level
- easy
The quick answer
No-yeast cinnamon rolls skip all rising by using baking powder instead of yeast, so they go from bowl to oven in about 15 minutes and are done start-to-finish in under an hour. Expect a tender, slightly biscuit-like crumb rather than the airy pull-apart texture of a yeast roll.
When the cinnamon roll craving hits and you don't have yeast (or the patience to wait for it), this is the recipe. A soft baking-powder dough comes together in one bowl, gets rolled around the usual butter-and-cinnamon filling, and goes straight into the oven — no rise, no proof, no waiting. The trade-off is honest: these are a touch more biscuit-like and less pull-apart-fluffy than an enriched yeast roll, closer in spirit to a tender scone or drop-biscuit spiral. What you lose in cloud-like crumb you gain in speed, because you can have warm, frosted rolls on the table in well under an hour.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2½ cupsall-purpose flour — plus more to dust
- 2 tbspgranulated sugar
- 1 tbspbaking powder — fresh, for good lift
- ¾ tspfine salt
- 4 tbspcold unsalted butter — cut into cubes
- 1 cupwhole milk — cold
Filling
- 4 tbspunsalted butter, very soft
- ⅔ cuppacked brown sugar
- 1½ tbspground cinnamon
- 1 pinchfine salt
Vanilla glaze
- 1 cuppowdered sugar
- 2 tbspmilk — plus more to thin
- ½ tspvanilla extract
Instructions
Heat the oven to 375°F and butter a 9-inch pan. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Cut the cold butter into the flour with your fingers or a pastry cutter until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Mixture resembles damp sand with pea-size butter bits.
Pour in the cold milk and stir just until a shaggy dough forms. Do not overmix or the rolls turn tough.
Dough is soft and a little craggy, no dry pockets of flour.
Turn out onto a floured counter and pat or roll into a 12x9-inch rectangle.
Even thickness, about 1/4 inch.
Spread with the soft butter, then sprinkle the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt right to the edges.
Roll up snugly from the long edge and cut into 8 rolls. Arrange cut-side up in the pan.
Spirals are visible and evenly spaced.
Bake until puffed and golden on top and set in the center.
Tops are golden brown and a roll springs back when pressed.
Cool a few minutes. Whisk the glaze until pourable and drizzle over the warm rolls.
Glaze sets to a thin, glossy coat.
Make ahead, store & reheat
- Make ahead
- This dough is best baked right away — baking powder starts working the moment it hits the milk, so it won't hold well overnight. If you need a head start, whisk the dry ingredients and prepare the filling in advance, then combine and bake when you're ready.
- Storage
- Store covered at room temperature up to 2 days. The texture is best the day they're baked.
- Reheating
- Microwave a single roll 15 seconds, or warm the covered pan at 300°F for about 8 minutes to freshen the crumb.
- Freezing
- Freeze baked, unglazed rolls up to 1 month. Thaw, warm, then glaze.
Substitutions
- Buttermilk (reduce baking powder to 2 tsp and add 1/4 tsp baking soda) instead of whole milk
- Cold coconut oil, cut in the same way instead of cold unsalted butter
Troubleshooting
- Rolls turned out tough or dense
- Overmixing develops gluten and overworks the dough. Stir just until it comes together and handle it gently — a few lumps are fine.
- Rolls tasted a little bitter or soapy
- That's too much or old baking powder. Measure level and use a fresh, in-date can for clean lift.
- They spread and lost their spiral
- The dough was too warm or wet. Keep the butter and milk cold and don't roll the dough thinner than about 1/4 inch.
- Rolls were dry or crumbly
- Biscuit-style dough dries out with too much flour or too long in the oven. Add only enough flour to make it workable, pull the rolls as soon as they're golden and set, and glaze while still warm.
- Rolls didn't rise much
- Baking powder loses its punch over time. Use a fresh, in-date can and get the shaped rolls into a fully preheated oven promptly, since the leavening starts working the moment the dough is mixed.
Tools I reach for
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- Rolling PinRolls the dough into an even rectangle for tidy spirals.
- 9x13 Baking DishThe classic pan for a soft-sided pull-apart batch of rolls.
- Digital Kitchen ScaleWeighing flour is the single biggest fix for dry or dense rolls.
- Saigon (Vietnamese) CinnamonThe boldest, sweetest cinnamon for a deep filling flavor.
Frequently asked questions
- Do these taste like real cinnamon rolls?
- They deliver the same buttery cinnamon-swirl flavor, but the crumb is more tender and biscuit-like than the airy, pull-apart texture of yeast rolls. Think warm cinnamon scone in a spiral.
- Can I make them without any leavening at all?
- No — the baking powder is what makes them rise and stay tender. Without it you'd get a dense, hard spiral. Just be sure yours is fresh.
- Why is my dough so sticky?
- Flour varies in how much liquid it absorbs. Add a tablespoon of flour at a time until the dough is soft but workable, and keep your counter lightly floured.
- Can I use self-rising flour instead?
- Yes. Self-rising flour already contains baking powder and salt, so leave both out of the recipe and just use the flour, sugar, butter, and milk. The lift will be a little gentler, so roll the dough on the thicker side.
- Can I make these dairy-free?
- Yes — swap the butter for cold vegan block butter or coconut oil and use an unsweetened plant milk. Cut the fat in while it's cold the same way, and thin the glaze with plant milk. The texture stays tender and biscuit-like.
- Do I have to use baking powder, or can I use baking soda?
- Baking powder is the right choice here because the dough has no acidic ingredient to activate baking soda. If you switch to buttermilk you can use a little baking soda alongside less baking powder, but with plain milk, stick with baking powder.
Nutrition (estimate): 1 roll (of 8) · ~360 kcal. Nutrition is an automated estimate and will vary with brands and exact quantities.
Food safety: don't taste dough containing raw flour or raw egg. Refrigerate anything with cream cheese frosting, and reheat leftovers until piping hot.
Frostings & glazes to pair
- Vanilla Bean GlazeA glossy, pourable vanilla bean glaze that sets into a thin sweet shell over cinnamon rolls, sweet buns, and scones.
- Cinnamon Roll Icing Without Cream CheeseA buttery, vanilla-forward icing made without cream cheese — smooth, sweet, and perfect when you want the classic look without the tang.
Helpful guides
- Why Are My Cinnamon Rolls Dry? (And How to Fix It)The real reasons cinnamon rolls turn out dry — over-baking, too much flour, and over-proofing — plus exactly how to fix each one.
- How to Reheat Cinnamon RollsThe best ways to reheat cinnamon rolls — microwave, oven, and air fryer — with exact times and temperatures so they taste freshly baked.
- The Best Cinnamon for Cinnamon Rolls (Saigon vs Ceylon)Which cinnamon makes the best cinnamon rolls — Saigon vs Ceylon vs Cassia, how strong each tastes, how much to use, and which to buy for a bold, warm swirl.
More cinnamon rolls to try
- One-Hour Cinnamon RollsWarm, frosted cinnamon rolls from scratch in about an hour using extra yeast and a single warm rise — no overnight wait.
- Classic Homemade Cinnamon RollsSoft, fluffy, bakery-style cinnamon rolls from scratch with a gooey brown-sugar filling and cream cheese frosting.
- 15-Minute Air Fryer Cinnamon RollsA quick small batch of soft cinnamon rolls that bake up golden in the air fryer basket in about 10 minutes — no oven required.
- Bisquick Cinnamon RollsFast, no-yeast cinnamon rolls made with Bisquick baking mix — a soft biscuit-style dough you can roll, fill, and bake in about 30 minutes, no rising required.