There’s just nothing in my house that says “special breakfast” quite like my favorite Giant Cinnamon Rolls. They’re the ultimate indulgence and the kind of soft, gooey, oversized rolls everyone requests for Christmas morning, birthdays, or honestly any day we feel like celebrating. They look impressive, but they’re really not that hard to make.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: My Favorite Giant Cinnamon Rolls
- Ready In: 55 minutes
- Serves: 12 cinnamon rolls
- Calories: 501 cal
- Protein: 5.8g
- Fat: 22.7g
- Carbs: 71.1g
- Why You'll Love It: There’s just nothing in my house that says “special breakfast” quite like my favorite Giant Cinnamon Rolls. They’re the ultimate indulgence and the kind of soft, gooey, oversized rolls everyone requests for Christmas morning, birthdays, or honestly any day we feel like celebrating. And the best part? They look impressive, taste incredible, and yet… they’re really not that hard to make.
About This Recipe
Making these giant cinnamon rolls is surprisingly simple: mix up a soft, gorgeous dough in your KitchenAid (or by hand!), let it rise, roll it out, and slather it with plenty of butter and cinnamon sugar. Slice it into big, beautiful spirals, nestle them into your pan, let them puff up, and bake until golden and irresistible. It’s a process that feels cozy and nostalgic, but truly, anyone can do it.
Now, when it comes to frosting, I’ve lived on both sides of the debate. I always thought I was firmly in the “the thicker the frosting, the better” camp… until I tested this recipe a few times and realized that a simple cream cheese glaze is actually perfection. It melts into all the warm nooks and crannies, giving you that glossy, silky finish without overpowering the buttery, decadent roll itself. It might look like it won’t be enough, but it always is. And of course, if your heart tells you to make extra glaze, follow your heart.
And if you’re wondering whether these cinnamon rolls are macro-friendly… absolutely not. Not even a little. And honestly? Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is not to be trusted. Macro-friendly cinnamon rolls would be a sin—or should I say, a SIN-amon roll. If you need a macro-friendly treat, grab a protein bar or make baked oats. These rolls are meant to be pure, unapologetic indulgence, just the way cinnamon rolls should be.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Milk: Whole milk is best, but any milk you have on hand will work.
- Butter: Softened so it mixes easily into the dough and spreads smoothly in the filling.
- Granulated white sugar: Sweetens the dough and helps with browning.
- Salt: Just a touch to balance the sweetness and enhance flavor.
- Instant yeast: Gives the dough its rise, no need to activate separately; it mixes right in.
- Eggs: Bring them to room temperature so they incorporate smoothly and help create a soft, tender dough.
- All-purpose flour: Spoon and level (or weigh) for accuracy so your dough stays light and fluffy rather than dense.
- For the filling: Softened butter, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon. The classic trio that melts together into the gooey, caramel-like swirl inside each roll.
- For the glaze: Powdered sugar, melted butter, vanilla, milk, and cream cheese. Whisked into a silky cream cheese glaze that melts into every nook and cranny of the warm rolls. Greek cream cheese works perfectly, too!
Dietary Adaptations
Gluten-free: Use 1:1 gluten-free flour like Cup4Cup Multipurpose flour.
Dairy-free: Use plant-based milk, dairy-free cream cheese, and plant-based butter.
How to Make:
Ok so first, I do feel like they are always the best when I make them same day. But you will never see me waking up at the crack of dawn to get these baked in time for breakfast. So either we have our cinnamon rolls later in the day, OR we use one of these two methods:
Option 1: Make cinnamon rolls days ahead and freeze to halt the rise
Make them in advance, even days ahead. Get them to the point where you’ve got them cut into rolls and placed on the pan. Cover and freeze them before you let the rolls rise. If your freezer can’t fit your sheet pan, you’ll need to break them into a couple of different pans at this point.
Remove from the freezer the night before you want to bake them, place the pan of the frozen rolls on the counter and let them thaw and rise overnight. From my experience they needed at least 8 to 10 hours to rise from frozen, but you might want to check on them a little before that to be sure! When you can tell they’ve risen substantially and are nice and puffy and touching each other, pop them in the oven and bake!
If they look like they’re not rising fast enough in the morning, you can place them in a barely warm oven (heat to 200 and then turn OFF) to help get them going.
Option 2: Make cinnamon rolls the night before and pop in the fridge to slow the rise
I’ve also made them Christmas Eve and then placed the whole pan, before letting them rise, in the refrigerator overnight. Pull them out the next morning and let them rise longer on the counter if needed. Or preheat the oven right away for baking if they’re already puffy! The only risk here is I don’t know how long they will last in the fridge before they rise too much and fall. I’ve only done this when I made them late at night and got them in the fridge after 10 pm. I pulled them out around seven and preheated the oven and they were ready shortly after to bake!
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My Favorite Giant Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 1 half sheet pan (13×18)
Ingredients
For the Rolls:
- 2 cups whole milk any milk will work
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. instant yeast
- 2 eggs
- 6 cups flour
For the Filling
- 1/2 cup +2 tbs softened butter
- 1¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1¼ Tbsp. ground cinnamon
For the Glaze
- 2¼ cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp. melted butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2-3 Tbsp. milk
- 2 oz. cream cheese or greek yogurt cream cheese works great!
Instructions
- Microwave milk for 2-3 minutes until it’s bubbling. Pour the milk into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
- Add the butter, sugar and salt. Mix on low speed until the butter is melted. Let the mixture cool until warm but not hot. Add the yeast and eggs and mix until combined.
- Gradually add about half of the flour. Switch to dough hook attachment and add the rest until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Knead for 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a large bowl sprayed with nonstick spray. I like to spray a fine mist on the top of the dough too so I can cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, about one hour.
- Roll the dough into a large rectangle, (horizontal in relation to your body) about 18×12 inches. Spread softened butter over the dough.
- Stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the dough. Pat it in slightly with the palms of your hands.
- Starting with a long end, roll up the dough as tightly as possible, pinching the seam lightly to seal.
- Using a serrated knife, cut a shallow slit in the roll at the half point, then cut a slit in the center of each half so you’ve got 4 equal portions, and cut slits for 3 cinnamon rolls in each of those portions … until you’ve got 12 cinnamon rolls. I like to do shallow slits to make sure they’re even before I cut all the way through. Cut with a gentle sawing motion.
- Place the rolls evenly spaced on a large, parchment-lined, rimmed sheet pan (13×18). Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 to 90 minutes depending on how warm your kitchen is.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 24-26 minutes until light golden brown.
- For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, vanilla, milk, and cream cheese until smooth. Drizzle over warm rolls. It almost seems like it won’t be enough but it’s perfect!
Notes
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
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Do you think this recipe would work with a paleo flour? I am grain free and would LOVE to be able to enjoy a cinnamon roll!!!!
I’ve never made bread or cinnamon rolls. Just too afraid to try. Oh my goodness, I’m a baker. 😉 these were easy & are beautiful & easy.
I think this may be the BEST breakfast dessert I have EVER tasted! Took me about 3 hours total to make with the waiting for the dough to rise twice, but it was actually an enjoyable process early on Christmas morning. I am quite shocked I was able to make this on my first try but if you follow the instructions, it was actually really simple. The rolls are HUGE and so so decadent. I mean, special decadent. Definitely a treat for a special day. Love that I now have a new favorite to make that the whole family enjoyed. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Made these for the first time for Christmas morning.My daughter took a bite, her eyes lit up, and she proclaimed that I just signed up to make these cinnamon rolls every Christmas for the rest of my life!😋
Ok, I took a huge risk making these for Christmas morning. We have a family recipe we’ve all made for decades and to switch it up felt a bit like sacrilege. Especially for Christmas morning!
Now I’m so glad I did. Fabulous cinnamon rolls. This will be our new family tradition.
And don’t worry if your dough feels too soft (and a bit too sticky) when rolling it out. It really does make the softest, fluffiest rolls over!!!
I have so many questions. How long do you mix the mixture before switching to dough hook? How long do you mix using dough hook? Aren’t we missing the step about blooming the yeast? Don’t you need to let it sit with the warm milk for about 5 minutes? I’m concerned my dough won’t come out right. It is so sticky right now….and it would be such a waste to have to toss it 🙁
You’re overthinking it. The dough is sticky. Mine was. But once you transfer it to sprayed bowl, it will be perfect and easy to roll when ready. I switched to dough hook half way through the flour. As for the yeast, there is a difference between active yeast and instant. If you use instant, as recommended here, you wont need to let them bloom. It was my first time making those, and I am not a baker, but they came out so so good! Everyone loved them!
Does anyone have the directions to make these ahead of time and bake the next morning?
The make ahead directions are below the rest of the recipe for overnight or freezer.
I’ve made these cinnamon rolls many times now as they are always a crowd pleaser! They really are pretty easy to make and always come out just perfect! I’m not a baker so I’m always nervous I’ll screw them up but they’re fool proof! They are giant, soft and pillows, just the right amount of sweet and cinnamon! So good!
The best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made. Great recipe!
This was my first time making cinnamon rolls from scratch- the instructions were easy to follow. We were going to each eat half because they’re so large, and we all ended up having our own. The hardest part was rolling them up tightly. I will be making these again soon!
The first time I made these I didn’t have instant yeast so I used active dry yeast. I’ve now tried to mix up two batches today with instant yeast and they have both been a sticky disaster. So I’ll be sticking to active yeast from now on.
That said, these are amazing. My kids have been talking about them for months since I made them the first time.
I just started this recipe and realized I only had active dry yeast. Did you make any adjustments to the recipe for active dry?
Best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made. And I have tried all the recipes out there. This turns out every time. Ive done all in one day and in the fridge over night. Both fluffy and perfect everytime.
At what point do you put them in the fridge! I’d love to start it the night before.
Fabulous! So easy! Thank you!
These have been on a regular rotation at our house since making them the first time! My MIL and a friend that went to culinary school both said that they were the best cinnamon rolls that’s they’d ever had! And that’s a HUGE component from them both! I even got asked if someone could pay me to make more!
Since we have a small family, when I make a full batch I will freeze about half of them by wrapping tightly in Saran Wrap, then aluminum foil and then in a freezer bag. Let them sit in the fridge overnight and pop them in the microwave the next day for 15-30 seconds and they taste fresh from the oven!
I had so much hope for these. I’m NOT a baker and I actually hate it! I was determined to do this and failed miserably. The dough was so sticky that I could not manage it. I wish there was a video showing all the steps ☹️ I had to throw it in the trash. I’m giving it a 3 because I’m sure it was my fault but I really don’t know what I did wrong! 😢
What type of flour did you use? Try bread flour.
What kind of flour did you use? Try bread flour!
Love this recipe! However, I was wondering if it would be possible to substitute almond milk in place of regular milk? I wanted to make them for a friend is is lactose intolerant. Thank you!!
I’d love to know if this will turn out well with DF milk too! Preferably coconut milk or oat milk.