With rich cream cheese icing and a cinnamon-sugar filling, these fluffy sourdough cinnamon rolls deliver tangy flavor, a tender texture, and warm, gooey sweetness.
These sourdough cinnamon rolls start with healthy, fermented grains for increased digestibility, incredible texture, and extra flavor. Lightly sweetened sourdough wraps up ribbons of cinnamon sugar filling, adding the warmly spiced flavors to each bite. Baked until golden, each roll is topped with cream cheese icing, which is technically optional but highly encouraged. We enjoy this silky frosting over other sourdough recipes, like sourdough coffee cake, sourdough bread pudding, or sourdough lemon pound cake.
By mixing and fermenting most of the ingredients overnight, this recipe comes together quickly the following morning with basic pantry staples.
These easy sourdough cinnamon rolls serve well for a slow Saturday breakfast or a busy Christmas morning. Make these ahead of time, if needed! Ferment and assemble, then pop them in the refrigerator (up to 12 hours) or freezer (they’ll last months this way) to bake when you need them. Simply thaw, rise, and bake for perfectly fresh rolls!
If you are new to sourdough but enjoy the health benefits and tangy taste, make sure to check out all my sourdough recipes, including how to make your own starter.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Tender and sweet – These sourdough cinnamon rolls are soft and fluffy, with layers of brown sugar and cinnamon butter generously spread between the dough.
Long-fermented goodness – The overnight fermentation makes these rolls more digestible and nutritious, not to mention tender and tangy.
Perfect for special occasions – Warm, gooey cinnamon rolls with a decadent cinnamon roll icing elevate any occasion! Plus, they can be started the day before, then baked the day of.
Ingredients
Active sourdough starter – This is a sourdough starter that has been fed 4-12 hours before starting the recipe and is nice and bubbly.
All-purpose flour – I use freshly-milled hard wheat or unbleached all-purpose flour. If you’re interested in working with whole grains, I have lots of information on the blog on milling your own flour at home.
Butter – Use very soft butter for the filling. If it’s too firm, it won’t spread well; if it’s melted, it will seep into the dough.
Oil – Use a neutral oil like avocado oil or melted coconut oil.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Tools You May Need
Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Step 1: Add active sourdough starter, water, flour, oil, honey, and eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Mix until the dough forms a ball, then knead for a few minutes on medium speed until smooth and glossy. A pinch of the dough should pass the windowpane test.
Step 2: Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly. Ferment in a warm place for 8-12 hours or overnight. Note: I ferment dough with raw eggs for my sourdough brioche all the time without an issue. If this makes you uncomfortable, you can ferment the dough for four hours at room temperature and then refrigerate it overnight.
Step 3: The next day, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the dough. Knead in the stand mixer or on a floured work surface for approximately five minutes until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Step 4: Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll it into a roughly 12×15-inch rectangle. It should be about 1/4-inch thick. You want the dough to be rolled evenly so that it bakes evenly.
Step 5: In a separate bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until smooth. Spread the softened butter mixture evenly over the dough.
Step 6: Roll the dough up as tightly as you can, starting at the long end. When you get to the end, pinch the edge into the main roll to prevent leaking. Slice the rolls with a sharp knife, bench scraper, or thread. Alternatively, you can slice the rectangle of dough into 12 equal strips, then roll them up individually.
Step 7: Place the unbaked rolls into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the rolls are lightly browned and the dough is cooked through. Allow them to cool a bit before applying the icing.
Step 8: While the rolls bake, prepare the cream cheese icing. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add 6 ounces of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of maple syrup or honey, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Stir well. I use an immersion blender to get the icing really smooth. Pour over the warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
Tips
- Start the night (or up to 24 hours ahead) before you want to bake these sourdough cinnamon rolls, so the dough has a chance to ferment and build more flavor.
- The temperature of your kitchen will affect the fermentation. Find a warm place, such as inside the oven with the light on (heat off), on top of your fridge, or near some mild heat source.
- If you’re avoiding unfermented grains, use einkorn flour to dust the surface of the counter when rolling out the dough.
- I find that string or unflavored dental floss works best for slicing the cinnamon roll dough. A sharp knife also works, but is more likely to smush the rolls and lose some of the shape.
- Grease your baking dish generously or use parchment paper for no sticking.
- Keep the rolls spaced a bit apart so they have room to expand.
- This recipe has been edited to reflect changes made over the years of making this recipe. Some people had issues incorporating the eggs on the second day, so I changed this and started mixing them into the dough the night before. This works very well.
Recipe FAQs
Unfrosted cinnamon rolls can be covered and kept at room temperature for 2-3 days or frozen for several months. Store frosted cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator for up to four days. Let frozen rolls thaw and rise before baking.
Yes. Prepare the dough according to the directions. Form the rolls and place in a baking dish, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for up to 12 hours or in the freezer for several months. You don’t want to leave the rolls in the fridge too long, or they may overproof. Allow to rest on the counter for two hours before baking if refrigerated, and overnight if baking them from frozen. Bake according to directions.
If you want to skip the long fermentation process, just use sourdough discard that has been fed recently in place of the active starter. Add all the dough ingredients and knead the dough until it becomes smooth, glossy, and passes the windowpane test. Follow the recipe from Step 4 on.
Yes. If allowed to rise too long, they will overproof and won’t hold their shape.
When making cinnamon rolls, avoid adding too much flour, overproofing the dough, using melted butter for the filling, overfilling the dough, and overbaking the rolls.
Baker’s Timeline:
You can make these or start them at any time. I like to start doughs at night time so they can rise all night. In the morning, they are ready to shape, boil, and bake.
Feed sourdough starter with flour and water.
Add all the ingredients to a stand mixer (minus the baking soda, baking powder, and salt) and knead until smooth and glossy. Cover tightly and ferment overnight.
Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Knead well until the dough is no longer sticky. Roll out the dough, prepare the filling, and spread. Form rolls, then bake for 20-25 minutes. Prepare and apply icing.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Long Fermented Biscuits
- Sourdough Peach Cobbler Recipe
- How To Make Sourdough Waffles
- Sourdough Chocolate Rolls
- Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter, bubbly and active 113 grams
- 1/2 cup water, 118 grams
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, 560 grams
- 1/2 cup neutral oil, 113 grams
- 1/2 cup honey, 168 grams
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 1/2 cup softened butter, 114 grams
- 1 cup brown sugar, 200 grams
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 16 grams
Cream Cheese Topping:
- 6 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, 120 grams
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey, 168 grams
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 10 grams
Instructions
- Add active sourdough starter, water, flour, oil, honey, and eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Mix until the dough forms a ball, then knead for a few minutes on medium-low speed until smooth and glossy.
- Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly. Ferment in a warm place for 8-12 hours or overnight.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the dough. Knead in the stand mixer or on a floured work surface for approximately five minutes until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll it into a roughly 12×15-inch rectangle. It should be about 1/4-inch thick.
- In a separate bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until smooth. Spread the softened butter mixture evenly over the dough.
- Roll the dough up as tightly as you can. When you get to the end, pinch the edge into the main roll to prevent leaking. Slice the rolls with a sharp knife, bench scraper, or thread. Alternatively, you can slice the dough into 12 equal strips, then roll them up individually.
- Place the unbaked rolls into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the rolls are lightly browned and the dough is cooked through. Allow them to cool a bit before frosting.
- While the rolls bake, prepare the cream cheese icing. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add cream cheese, heavy cream, maple syrup or honey, and vanilla extract. Stir well. Pour over the cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
Notes
- The temperature of your kitchen will affect the fermentation. Colder is slower; warmer speeds things up. Find a warm place, such as inside the oven with the light on (heat off), on top of your fridge, or near some mild heat source.
- If you’re avoiding unfermented grains, use einkorn flour to dust the surface of the counter when rolling out the dough.
- I find that string or unflavored dental floss works best for slicing the cinnamon roll dough. A sharp knife also works, but is more likely to smush the rolls and lose some of the shape.
- Grease your baking dish generously or use parchment paper for no sticking.
- Keep the rolls spaced a bit apart so they have room to expand.
- This recipe has been edited to reflect changes made over the years of making this recipe. Some people had issues incorporating the eggs on the second day, so I changed this and started mixing them into the dough the night before. This works very well.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Trust the process! I looked at my do in the morning and it looked almost the same. Added the baking soda and powered. Rolled and cut them up and they came out GLORIOUS! I made cream cheese frosting instead, but they were so soft without being chewy! Highly recommend!
Ok, so I am wanting to get these put together, cut, and placed in the pan this evening. Can I do that and then take them out in the morning for a few hours before baking? I’m just starting to get into sourdough baking.
Yes. That should work!
Hi! I’ve made this recipe a few times before and they always turn out amazing! One question on the bake temp/time. I made these at home but plan to bake them in the mountains tomorrow at a much higher elevation. Should the oven temperature and/or time be adjusted?
You may need to adjust the time and temperature. I’ve not personally tried it, since I don’t live at a high elevation.
Hi!!! I would love to sub freshly milled flour for the AP. Should I still aim for 540 grams of fresh flour, or would you increase that a bit? Is hard white best for cinnamon rolls (that is what I’ve been using in my breads), or would soft white be better?
Thank you!!!
I would love to know this as well, wanting to add fresh ground and I don’t know if soft or hard is best here.
I just made these cinnamon rolls using half fresh ground soft wheat (pastry flour) and half AP flour. My dough was VERY sticky, and I ended up adding about 3/4 to 1 cup additional flour to make it so that I could handle it. My stand mixer ran forever trying to get the dough to the point that I could windowpane it, but it never did. I was pretty sure that the cinnamon rolls would be hockey pucks, since the dough was heavy and didn’t rise at all. I was so surprised to end up with beautiful, delicious cinnamon rolls! My girls kept saying that they were the best cinnamon rolls we’ve ever made, and I agree. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I’m wondering the same thing. I know she has wrote on her YouTube before about how she used to make them with FMF.
Yes you can make them with freshly milled flour. Feel free to adjust the recipe as needed!
I love the recipe! If wanted to make double batches do you think it would be okay to freeze or store in fridge if you not going to make the for a couple of days?
Yes, that would be fine!
I have tried this recipe twice now and both times the dough does not rise (even after 12+ hours).
my home is around 66-68 degrees and my starter is very active. i have simultaneously used the starter to make successful boules.
can you help me trouble shoot this? i have seen nothing but rave reviews for these cinnamon rolls- and having baked the first batch (despite not rising), i know that the flavor is great! just need some help with the texture.
thank you so much!
This recipe does call for baking powder to help them rise, which you will add the second day!
I accidentally added all ingredients at once – I was wondering why everything wasn’t working. Did I ruin it? Help!
t may interfere with the fermentation process of the grains. It also may lose its rising strength. I would just add more baking powder and baking soda after fermentation. Another option would be to add a little yeast and just make this a quick “discard” version.
Can I knead by hand if I don’t have a mixer?
Yes, it will take around 30 minutes of kneading by hand. Make sure it passes the windowpane test.
In the video you prefer adding eggs the next day just prior to baking, while in the written directions you mention that you add eggs to ferment overnight. Is the video the most recent?
Thank you : )
You can do either! It’s whatever you feel most comfortable with.
Like others have mentioned, my dough also did not rise. I am not a novice to baking sourdough and I knew as soon as the dough was mixing that it was not going to work well. Using the ingredients as indicated, the dough was very firm/dense. There must be a factor contributing to it working for some and not others. I suspect the addition of eggs but am not willing to try the recipe again to find out. :/
I’m sorry that you had troubles with the recipe!
I also experienced this! Its too expensive to try again!