Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

The amount of cinnamon rolls we’ve been making lately is completely out of control. Lots of cinnamon. Lots of flour experimentation. Lots of coconut and date sugar. We had to get this vegan cinnamon rolls recipe just right, though.

After lots of trial and error, we’re confident you’ll be happy with the result!

Heads up: This post contains affiliate links! If you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission, which helps keep the lights on. Thank you! 🙂

How to make cinnamon rolls vegan

Traditional non-vegan cinnamon rolls call for ingredients like milk, butter, cream cheese, eggs, and sometimes heavy cream.

So, when making cinnamon rolls vegan, obviously these ingredients need to be substituted.

In this recipe, we swapped milk for plant-based milk, and butter for plant-based butter.

Instead of making a cream cheese frosting, we combined powdered monk fruit with almond milk for a sugar-free, much healthier version.

We didn’t swap eggs or heavy cream with any plant-based versions, we just cut them out all-together. And, trust me… it came out more than delish without them.

Are these cinnamon rolls difficult to make?

Why doesn’t anyone make cinnamon rolls? Because they’re usually complicated, sensitive, and time consuming. That’s why.

We get it. We knew we wanted to come up with a delicious vegan cinnamon rolls recipe, but personally, part of me dreaded it. The thought of waiting around and dealing with finicky yeast wasn’t, well, attractive.

But these cinnamon rolls are different.

✔️Only 9 ingredients (including the dough, filling, and glaze)
✔️Straightforward
✔️No difficult methods
✔️No complex steps
✔️No fancy equipment

Just soft, fluffy, gooey goodness.

But I do have to warn you, they’re not quick to make. You have to wait for the dough to rise two separate times (once for an hour, and once for 30 minutes). So there is a full hour and a half of waiting around.

The waiting time is well worth the wait, though, when you’re biting into one of these warm, gooey, doughy cinnamon rolls with glaze drizzled all over it.

So, just set aside one lazy morning for prep, and keep in mind this vegan cinnamon rolls recipe requires less than 30 minutes active time!

What’s in a vegan cinnamon roll?

Because this recipe takes quite a bit of time to make, I was determined to keep the ingredients to a minimum, and was able to do so by narrowing down what you really need in a cinnamon roll and forgetting the rest. 

Here’s what you need:

Almond milk, unsweetened
Coconut sugar (or date sugar)
Active dry yeast
Vegan butter
Unbleached, all-purpose flour
Cinnamon
Salt
Powdered monk fruit

Are vegan cinnamon rolls healthy?

While we wouldn’t call these cinnamon rolls a health food, they are certainly healthier than traditional, non-vegan cinnamon rolls!

Having said that, the quality of the dairy substitutes you choose to use for this recipe can make all the difference in terms of how healthy it is.

We used homemade almond milk made in our Almond Cow for these vegan cinnamon rolls. If you don’t already know about Almond Cow, it’s an amazing plant-based milk maker that makes any plant-based milk in less than 5 minutes. Because we were able to make it ourselves, all we used were almonds and water, which is much healthier than so many store-bought versions loaded with additives and preservatives.

You can use my discount code “NATALYA” for a discount if you decide to purchase one! 😊

As for the plant-based butter, there are many vegan butters on the market, and most are not healthy in the least bit. Lots of them contain things like palm oil, coloring, and more.

We recommend checking ingredients and finding one with minimal, clean ingredients. Our personal favorite is Miyokos Cultured Vegan Butter. The only ingredients are: Organic Coconut Oil, Filtered Water, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Cashews, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt, Cultures.

And, instead of making a cream cheese frosting, as mentioned above, we combined powdered monk fruit with almond milk for a sugar-free, much healthier version. If you haven’t already heard of monk fruit, your life is about to change.

Monk fruit is a sugar-free sweetener that is 150 to 200 times sweeter than sugar. It’s also more commonly known as luo han guo. 

We normally use Lakanto’s Golden or Classic Monkfruit when we want to make a sugar-free dessert. The golden looks like brown sugar, and the classic looks like cane sugar! If you want to make the filling of the cinnamon rolls sugar-free, we recommend using either of these.

But for the cinnamon roll glaze, we highly recommend their Powdered Monk Fruit. It looks just like white powdered sugar, and it works perfectly! Plus, it’s a way healthier alternative to traditional powdered sugar.

The only part of the recipe that cannot be sugar-free is the dough, as real sugar is necessary to activate the yeast.

How to make vegan cinnamon rolls

This vegan cinnamon rolls recipe does not require a stand mixer or a bread machine. All you need is a mixing bowl, a whisk, a mixing spoon, a rolling pin, and your hands.

Basically, with any cinnamon roll recipe, the idea is that first, you let the yeast activate in milk and sugar for about 15 minutes.

Then, you add butter, flour, vanilla, and salt, mix it, and cover it for an hour.

You then add the dough to a well-floured surface, and knead until it doesn’t stick to the surface, adding more flour if needed.

Then, you roll it out, add butter, sugar, and cinnamon (as the filling), and roll the dough to form a log.

At that point, all you have to do is cut the log into individual rolls, transfer them to a baking dish, cover again for another 30 minutes, then bake them until they’re golden! Voila.

How to make vegan cinnamon roll icing

Although a glaze isn’t really necessary, it’s an easy last-minute addition that will make you feel like you’re at Cinnabon. In other words, highly recommended for cinnamon roll heaven.

As mentioned above, instead of powdered sugar, I used powdered monk fruit for this recipe (a sugar-free sweetener, also known as lo han guo).

All you need is almond milk and powdered monk fruit. Mix it with a whisk and it turns to glaze! Magic.

How long can I store these for?

You’ll want to keep these vegan cinnamon rolls stored at room temperature (covered).

They’ve never lasted more than 2 days in my house, but I’d say you can enjoy them within 2-3 days, or keep them refrigerated (and covered) for no longer than one week. 

If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag your photos with @healthiir on Instagram! I’d love to hear what you think. 🙂