Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls Recipe: Soft & Extra Fluffy

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Nothing quite like the aroma of these freshly baked homemade gluten free cinnamon rolls. This recipe is topped with a gooey icing and served warm, they’re a delicious treat for any time of day!

inside of a cinnamon roll on a white plate

Looking for more gluten-free recipes? Check out these gluten free breakfast sandwiches, these gluten free dairy free dinner rolls, these chocolate chip cookies without flour, and this coconut bread.

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Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls Recipe at a Glance
Ingredients for Gluten-Free Cinnamon Roll Dough
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Dough
How to Roll Out the Dough
Rising & Baking
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment & Tools
Storing
Tips for Making the Best Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
FAQs & Troubleshooting
More Gluten-Free Rolls
Recipe

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls Recipe at a Glance

What better way to celebrate Christmas morning, or any other special occasion, than with a fluffy cinnamon roll?! This extra soft gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe is a dream come true for anyone with celiac disease. And with this gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe, you'll have plenty to enjoy yourself and to share as this recipe makes a double batch of dough. So if you only need 7-8 cinnamon rolls you can either save the remaining dough (see the "Storing" section below), or go ahead and make a big batch of them. Here are some other reasons to love this recipe:

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These cinnamon rolls taste like regular cinnamon rolls you’d find in a bakery. They really do. They’re soft, fluffy, with a perfect texture that's the ideal level of sweet.
They use our gluten free all purpose flour blend, so there’s no measuring all different kinds of flours and starches.
They are dairy free as written! They use vegan butter and vegan cream cheese for the cream cheese frosting. By the way, the cream cheese is absolutely delectable on these cinnamon rolls. It’s like they are made for each other.

Ingredients for Gluten-Free Cinnamon Roll Dough

The simple ingredients list includes a gf flour blend and some pantry staples.

Roll Dough:

Gluten Free Flour Blend: This is one of the best all purpose gluten-free flour blends for this recipe. It contains white rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, and potato flour.
Sorghum Flour: The sorghum flour is a higher protein and fiber flour and balances out the flour blend.
Granulated Sugar: White sugar sweetens the dough.
Baking Powder: Adds lift to the dough.
Instant Yeast: Needed for the dough to rise.
Whole Psyllium Husks: Used as a thickener and improves the texture of the dough.
Xanthan Gum: Xanthan gum is a binder in this recipe.
Salt: Added for flavor.
Almond Milk: Almond milk is needed as part of the wet ingredients.
Water: Needed for the liquid portion of ingredients.
Vegan Butter: Adds much needed fat to the recipe.
Eggs: Adds lift and texture to the rolls.

Filling:

Brown Sugar: The brown sugar blends for a delicious filling.
Cinnamon: An essential ingredient for cinnamon rolls.
Vegan Butter: Make sure it's the stick version of vegan butter.

Frosting:

Vegan Cream Cheese: Vegan cream cheese is the basis for the frosting.
Vegan Butter: Needed to help blend the cream cheese.
Powdered Sugar: Essential for the frosting to come together.

Exact measurements and directions for making the best gluten-free cinnamon rolls are in the recipe card below.

Note on this recipe:

Make sure to use room temperature ingredients and measure by weight where weight is given. More on how to measure by weight can be found here.

How to Make Cinnamon Roll Dough

STEP ONE: In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the psyllium husk and warm water, stirring until it's combined.

STEP TWO: Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl of a stand mixer and combine.

STEP THREE: Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

wet ingredients added to the dry ingredients in a bowl

STEP FOUR: Add the wet ingredients - warm milk, melted butter, room temperature eggs and psyllium husk gel - to this well in the large mixing bowl.

STEP FIVE: Use the standard beater and mix on low speed to combine, then turn to medium speed and beat the dough for 5 minutes.

2 portions of dough wrapped in plastic wrap

STEP SIX: Place two pieces of plastic wrap on a surface and divide the dough onto the two pieces. Wrap each piece and flatten slightly into a disk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

How to Roll Out the Dough

STEP SEVEN: Prepare your work surface by sprinkling a large sheet of parchment paper generously with starch - potato starch, tapioca starch or cornstarch works fine. Place your rolling pin and pizza cutter or sharp knife nearby.

STEP EIGHT: In a small bowl, mix the filling ingredients until well combined.

STEP NINE: Use a well floured rolling pin or place a piece of parchment paper over the dough and roll out to 11" x 12". Feel free to trim and reposition the edges of the dough to get to that 11" x 12" size.

STEP TEN: Make score marks along the top, about 1 ½ inches apart, to mark where to slice the dough for the rolls.

STEP ELEVEN: Use the back of a spoon and spread the filling to within ½ inch of the edges.

using a pizza cutter to slice cinnamon rolls

STEP TWELVE: Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, slice each score mark into strips.

STEP THIRTEEN: The final strips should be about 1 ½ inches wide. If you'd like to trim off the edges of the side cinnamon rolls to make even-shaped rolls, do that now.

STEP FOURTEEN: Roll up each strip tightly. It makes no difference whether you start at the top or the bottom of the strips. Use a butter knife or small metal spatula if the dough is sticking to the parchment paper.

Rising & Baking

STEP FIFTEEN: Place the rolls in a greased 9" baking pan and allow them to rise in a warm place until 50% larger.

STEP SIXTEEN: This is after the rolls have risen.

STEP SEVENTEEN: Bake the rolls at 350F for about 30 minutes.

pan of cinnamon rolls spread with frosting

STEP EIGHTEEN: While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by mixing the cream cheese and powdered sugar, adding milk as needed. Spread it on the warm rolls.

Substitutions

Gluten free flours: This recipe has been tested multiple times with this gluten free flour blend. I would not recommend substituting single flours like almond flour as it completely changes the dough. Other blends like Bob's Red Mill or Better Batter may work but they have not been tested.

Sugar free: The sugar can be substituted with Swerve sweetener (it's in my Amazon store). I have not tested substituting for the powdered sugar in the frosting, but the frosting may be omitted if you are needing to cut down on the sugar.

Yeast: The instant yeast may be substituted with active dry yeast but it will need to be proofed. Use ½ cup of the almond milk and warm it to 100F. Add the active dry yeast and let it proof for 5 minutes. Use the yeast mixture with the rest of the wet ingredients. Alternatively, these yeast free cinnamon rolls contain no yeast at all.

Whole psyllium husks: I would not recommend substituting the whole psyllium husks as the powder form does not work as well.

Dairy ingredients: Regular butter, cream cheese, and milk may be substituted for the dairy free versions.

Other dairy-free options: Coconut milk may be used for the almond milk.

Egg-free: To make these egg-free cinnamon rolls, use flax eggs or chia eggs in place of the eggs.

Variations

Using both sections of this dough makes enough for 16 good sized cinnamon rolls. If you'd like the recipe to make more rolls, cut the dough strips into ¾-inch strips and it will make 20 rolls.

Alternatively, you can cut the strips to about 1 ¾-inch strips and make 14 fluffy gluten free cinnamon rolls.

Some other ideas for adding to the roll filling:

Chopped nuts - walnuts or pecans
Finely chopped raisins
Finely chopped dried cranberries

Some other ideas for the frosting:

Replace it with a powdered sugar/milk glaze
Replace the almond milk with orange juice and add some orange zest
Skip the frosting all together

Equipment & Tools

These tools will help you tremendously when preparing these gluten free cinnamon buns:

Stand mixer
Rubber spatula
Digital scale
Flat, metal spatula
Rolling pin
Pizza cutter
9" baking pan
Parchment paper

All of these tools can be found in my Amazon store.

Storing

There are several options for storing these cinnamon rolls, both the unbaked dough and the baked rolls.

Storing the unshaped dough, right after mixing: After mixing, the dough is shaped and wrapped in plastic wrap. At this point it may be refrigerated overnight.

Storing the shaped rolls: After the rolls have been rolled up and placed in the pan, the pan may be covered with plastic wrap and then foil and refrigerated overnight for baking the next day. Remove them from the refrigerator and allow the rolls to rise until they are touching and look a bit fluffy. This may be 30 minutes or may be 1 hour. Bake as directed.

Storing the baked rolls: For best results, only frost what you will eat right then. Unfrosted cinnamon rolls may be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days. They may also be wrapped and frozen in a freezer bag for longer storage. Frosted cinnamon rolls tend to mold faster than unfrosted ones.

Tips for Making the Best Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

Room temperature ingredients

With the exception of the milk, which should be warmed to 100 F, the other ingredients for making these cinnamon rolls should be at room temperature. This is very important so that the ingredients mix together well.

Tip for warming eggs: To quickly bring an egg to room temperature, place it whole into a glass of warm water. Depending on the temperature of the water, you may only need to keep it in there for a minute or so. Follow this post on warming eggs for more information.

Dough texture

After all the mixing has been done, the soft dough will look uniform and should stick together nicely. It won’t be as solid as gluten bread dough, but it should be soft and holds its shape when positioned on the sheet of parchment paper.

Rolling out the dough

One of the keys to the lightest, fluffiest gluten free cinnamon rolls is to prepare your work surface properly. Rather than use additional flour to flour the surface, I recommend using starch. Starch performs better when working with this gluten-free dough.

Slicing the rolls

Rather than slicing one long cylinder of dough, slice each roll individually. After spreading the filling on the rolls, use a pizza cutter to slice the rolls length-wise. Then roll them up and place them in the pan.

This way the rolls stay nice and tight.

Spreading icing over hot cinnamon rolls

After baking, the rolls should be a lovely golden brown. Wait just a couple minutes and then spread the icing over the warm cinnamon rolls. It will seep in between the rolls and make for an amazing, ooey gooey cinnamon roll.

FAQs & Troubleshooting

How can I make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the counter too much?

Before turning the dough out of the bowl, position a large sheet (or use two sheets overlapping if needed) on top of counter. Then sprinkle it with a bit of starch. This will allow you to easily roll out the dough, but prevent it from sticking.

Can I make this egg free?

This recipe may be made egg-free. I have a list of vegan egg substitutes here. Or reference this complete guide to substitutes.

Can I make the dough the night before?

Actually, you can make the whole recipe the night before and then just pop them into the oven to bake the next day. After placing the rolls into the baking pan, cover the pan with plastic wrap and place it into the refrigerator. The next day, take the pan out and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Then bake as usual.

What’s the best way to slice cinnamon roll dough?

For best results, slice this dough after you've spread it with the butter/cinnamon filling. Use a pizza cutter and slice the rolls length-wise, then roll them up individually. This way you can control the dough so it stays together.

More Gluten-Free Rolls

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Recipe

baked cinnamon roll lifted out of the pan

Christine