If you’ve been on the hunt for the best gluten-free cinnamon rolls, look no further. This cinnamon roll recipe creates the softest, fluffiest cinnamon rolls that you would never know are gluten free. Whether you’re gluten-sensitive or just looking to try something new, these gf cinnamon rolls will not disappoint!
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease years back, I was determined to create recipes that tastes like the classic version. It’s a struggle to find gluten free recipes that don’t sacrifice texture and flavor. But, recipes like these cinnamon rolls, my fluffy crescent rolls, sourdough bread, and delicious french toast are 100% gluten free and have that authentic taste!
Why this recipe is the best
- Unmatched texture: Made with the perfect blend of gluten free flours, these cinnamon rolls have the soft, fluffy texture that you would expect from a traditional cinnamon roll.
- Oh so perfect filling: Thanks to our special, tried and true technique, these rolls are packed with more cinnamon sugar filling than you ever though possible.
- Different versions: You’re able to make this recipe vegan or dairy free without compromising on taste and texture. Same with our gluten free monkey bread.
- Perfected overtime: Over the years this recipe has been tested and perfected by my family so you know it’s the best of the best!
What you need to make gluten free cinnamon rolls
- Flours: You will need a blend of brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, and arrowroot powder.
- Yeast mixture: Yeast, sugar, and water.
- Eggs
- Butter: Unsalted or salted will work.
- Sugar: You’ll need brown sugar and powdered sugar for the frosting
- Cinnamon: A given!
- Frosting ingredients: Cream cheese, sugar, butter, and vanilla.
- Other: See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients.
Can I use a gluten-free all purpose flour?
No, you cannot use a gluten free all purpose flour blend for this recipe. I’ve made this recipe over and over again, trying different flours and I can promise you that the texture does not turn out the same if you try to use a gf flour blend. Please follow the ingredients as directed for best results.
If you’d like to use gluten free all purpose flour, I recommend making these fall apple cider cupcakes, a fun and zesty lemon drizzle cake, or this family favorite chocolate orange cake.
How to make gluten free cinnamon rolls
Prepare the filling: The day before, or at least two hours ahead, combine 1 pound slightly melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Shape it into a block, then freeze it.
Make the dough: Mix the wet ingredients in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Gradually add the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Roll out the dough: Place plastic wrap on the counter in one large rectangle and sprinkle with rice flour. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle.
Add the filling: Using a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter/sugar block over the dough until evenly coated with all of the filling.
Roll and slice: Starting at one end, roll the dough into a cylinder, tucking in the edges as you go. Slice the dough into 10 equal pieces.
Rise and bake: Place the cinnamon rolls in a greased pan and let them rise for roughly one hour. Then, bake for 22-24 minutes or until golden brown.
Pro Tip: Spray your hands with nonstick spray before handling the dough. This will prevent your hands from sticking.
How do I prevent cinnamon rolls from becoming too dry?
The easiest thing to do it to make sure you don’t over bake your cinnamon rolls. When your kitchen is filled with a delicious, cinnamon roll smell, you’ll know they’re done!
It also helps to use enough butter in the filling. You can even brush the rolls with extra melted butter right after they come out of the oven for extra softness.
My expert tips
- Sticky dough – The dough will be sticky; that’s how it is supposed to be. Otherwise, you will have overly dry dough once it’s baked.
- Soften butter – Learn how to soften butter quickly for this step.
- Rice flour for surfaces – When flouring the counter and rolling pin, rice flour works best.
- Save frosting – Only frost what you plan to eat immediately. Save the remaining frosting for the next time you plan to eat a cinnamon roll.
- Extra filling -After frosting, drizzle with the leftover brown sugar and butter sauce from the baking pan for extra flavor!
- Don’t overfill the pan – Don’t try to place all the cinnamon rolls in one pan. Place 6 in a greased 9×13 pan and 4 in an 8×8 pan for best results (Shown below).
Can you make them dairy-free?
Yes, these can be made dairy free with vegan butter, full-fat coconut non-dairy milk, and vegan cream cheese. We’ve done it before, and they are fantastic! For best results, use the full-fat coconut milk as it helps the recipe come together the same. For another dairy free treat, you can also make our divinity candy.
Storage
Storing – These gluten-free cinnamon rolls are fantastic right out of the oven but they are also good at room temperature the next day. Once they have cooled, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezing – These freeze well in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To unthaw, let them sit at room temperature in the airtight container. When you are ready to eat, microwave for 45 seconds, then spread cream cheese frosting on thick.
More gluten free goodies
- Easy and perfect red velvet cake mix cookies
- Homemade white chocolate christmas candy
- Cute peanut butter reindeer cookies
- Soft pumpkin spice cupcakes
- Delicious banana cake with frosting
- Fluffy gluten free blueberry muffins
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Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup white sticky flour sweet rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour or starch (they are the same thing)
- 1 cup potato starch
- 1/2 cup arrowroot powder
- 3 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon gelatin
Yeast Mixture
- 1 tablespoon rapid rise active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup warm milk or 1 C water and 3 T buttermilk powder
Wet Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons ground or milled chia
- 1/2 cup warm water
Filling
- 1 pound butter
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 8 oz packages cream cheese soft
- 1/2 cup butter soft
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free vanilla
Instructions
- The day before combine 1 lb butter, 2 C brown sugar and 4 T cinnamon well then shape into a block that can be frozen and grated then freeze it (if you cant do the day before, freeze for at least two hours)
- Place 2 T milled chia and 1/2 C warm water in a cup, let soak 2 minutes
- Meanwhile, dissolve yeast and 1 T sugar in warm milk, let sit to proof
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine all flours, starches, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, sugar and gelatin
- In another bowl, mix the soaked milled chia and yeast mixture together with eggs, coconut oil, butter and apple cider vinegar then slowly add that mixture to the flour mixture in stand and combine until well blended
- Roll the dough out to a rectangle shape about 18×24 inches on plastic wrap that is heavily sprinkled with white rice flour and grate the frozen butter brown sugar mixture onto the dough evenly, it will be a large pile
- Starting at one end, roll the dough into a cylinder and as you go, tuck the edges in with your hands so it stays even (this will keep from dough hanging out on the ends and gives you an even roll)
- Slice into 10 equally sized pieces and round them out into nice circles with your hands
- Place 6 in a greased 9×13 pan and 4 in a 8×8 pan and let rise for 1 hour on bread proof or 100 degrees
- Once risen, bake at 350 degrees for 22-24 minutes
- Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by whipping the butter, softened cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar together until smooth and creamy
- Remove from oven and frost what you plan to eat immediately
Nancee Hoffmann says
I am wondering if you can substitute flax seed for the ground or milled chia? Will there be a noticeable difference in taste or consistency? Just hate when the cinnamon rolls I make fall flat the day after removing from the oven.
Chandice says
Totally get that…I would not recommend changing it. The chia is incredible for texture in these. They are so worth it! 🙂
MRD says
These were amazing! I am not gluten-free, but have many special people around me that are! I wanted to freeze these and give them to a friend as a birthday present. Have you figured out a way to do that and have them turn out well? Thanks!
Chandice says
Thank you so much for the comment. 🙂 Please feel free to hit that 5 stars so Google shares us with more folks. I usually par bake or just freeze them uncooked. When you pull them out, you can then finish baking them just like normal.
Cathleen says
Wow! I can’t believe these are gluten free! I am so excited to make them over the holidays, thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Chandice says
You bet! I hope you love them as much as we do!
Liz says
These look delicious! A must try!
Jessica says
While I don’t follow a GF diet personally, I have a close friend that does. I’m going to pass this recipe along to her or maybe just surprise her with a prepared pan of them. I’m sure she will love them. They look truly fabulous! I’m excited to try as well.
Gwynn says
These cinnamon rolls were a delicious addition to our holiday brunch menu this year!
Terry says
These sound like a dream come true! Any chance for the ingredients in metric? I’ve learned that with gluten free baking it’s best to weigh your ingredients for best results.
Chandice says
Absolutely, working on it now…
Sarita Shanley says
My husband was diagnosed with celiac 3 years ago. Since then it has been trial and error on baked goods (mostly errors!). One thing that he loved before his diagnosis was cinnamon rolls. I am very happy to say that he was practically in tears this morning when he tried these. He has really missed some things but my heart is warm knowing that he has cinnamon rolls again. Thank you for a great recipe. Absolutely delicious!
Chandice says
This just made my day! So glad your husband was pleased. Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
Katie says
Hi! I followed the recipe exactly, but my rolls didn’t rise at all within the hour on oven bread proof. Any ideas on what could have gone wrong or how I can fix?
Thank you!
Chandice says
I’ve never heard that. Did you make sure to proof your yeast before adding it to the dough? Maybe your yeast was no longer good.
Katie says
Hi!!! Yes, it proofed perfectly in the bowl. Brand new package of yeast. After about an hour and a half in the oven, I ended up putting boiling water in the oven with them and it worked after another hour. It’s been pretty cold, so I’m wondering if the air is too dry in our house??? It was strange, but it worked eventually! They were delicious.
Planning to make again for Christmas. Any advice on making ahead of time and then baking fresh Christmas morning?
Katie says
Hi!! Yeast was brand new and proofed well in the bowl. I think maybe our air was too cold/dry! I ended up adding boiling water to the oven and gave them another hour and they fluffed up pretty well! They ended up being delicious!
Planning to try again for Christmas morning – any advice on making them ahead of time and baking fresh morning of?
Breanna says
I have had celiac for half my life and have tried many different recipes. These are by far the best cinnamon rolls. Me and my mom make them at least once a month. We freeze and eat throughout the month.
Chandice says
Awww! You have NO idea how much this comment means to me!! My mom and I love making them together too. 🙂
Janet O. says
Another baked good that I made so often prior to my celiac diagnosis. I haven’t tried a gluten free recipe for these yet. My attempts with GF dinner roll recipes left me discouraged. I am going to make your crescent roll recipes first, and then I will be trying these cinnamon rolls! My celiac sister is going to be thrilled–and so am I!! 🙂
Chandice says
I am so glad to hear this! You will love them 🙂
Jaimee Johanning says
These are amazing! I’ve tried 3 or 4 GF cinnamon roll recipes and they all claimed to be the “BEST!” They were all good, but still left us a little disappointed. Today, we found a winner. My family declared them perfect and couldn’t think of a single improvement! They were soft and squishy and just delicious! I did not plan ahead enough so I wasn’t able to freeze the butter, so I ended up just melting the butter and mixing it with the cinnamon and sugar (I only used 2 sticks of butter-instead of 4) and spreading it on the dough, and they still turned out perfect. Thank you!
Chandice says
Hi Jaimee, I am so so happy to hear this! Thanks for taking the time to let us know. They are definitely our favorite too. 🙂 So glad it worked with less butter and not having to freeze. I will add that tip to the post. If you haven’t tried our crescent rolls yet, I highly recommend them!
Amanda LaRose says
These are absolutely incredible!!!!! Thank you! My husband, who is not gluten free, liked these more than my regular flour cinnamon rolls which are also amazing! I also sprinkled white rice flour over the top before rolling because the dough was so sticky.
Chandice says
Aw thanks Amanda, I absolutely love receiving messages like this! Have you tried our crescent rolls?
Amanda LaRose says
These are absolutely incredible!!!!! Thank you! My husband, who is not gluten free, liked these more than my regular flour cinnamon rolls which are also amazing! I also sprinkled white rice flour over the top before rolling because the dough was so sticky.
Erin says
I’ve made these twice now and they truly taste the closest to “real” cinnamon rolls of any GF recipe! Love how bready and delicious they turned out. Grating the butter is genius too!
Debra Robinson (Mary Probst’s sister) says
Just made these cinnamon rolls, for the second time, for my daughter-in-law! They are the best!!! So grateful to have this recipe! Thank you!
Chandice says
Oh this makes my heart so happy! We are so glad you love these, thank you for taking the time to leave this message. It made my day! 🙂
Tera says
Seriously amazing!!
Chandice says
I am so glad you guys like them!
Brooke Besendorfer says
They’re so delicious and soft!!
Chandice says
Thank you, I am glad you liked them! Yes, I definitely love how soft and buttery they are too! 🙂
Abbey says
I always struggle with getting the right texture in my gluten free baking, and the apple cider vinegar definitely helps! Thanks for all the detailed tips. Really great recipe!
Chandice says
I am so glad the detailed tips helped you. Once you have a really good gluten-free cinnamon roll, you can never go back, right? 🙂
Cindy G. says
These rolls were a lot of work to make but they are AMAZING! I made the recipe as directed using all of the different flours, etc. The only thing I did differently was made only half of the frosting. Next time, I will put more of the rice flour on the plastic wrap when I roll out the dough. It kind of stuck to the wrap but that was my fault, the recipe said to use a lot! So glad I found this recipe!
Chandice says
This just made my day! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this reply and rating Cindy. I always love hearing others experience with my favorite recipes. I hope it becomes a new family classic for you. 🙂 If you love this, you will also love our crescent rolls and buttermilk biscuits…