No eggs, No cream cheese & Dairy-free, but still fluffy and chewy Vegan Cinnamon Roll recipe is here!
This Vegan Cinnamon Roll recipe does not contain any animal ingredients, so vegans and vegetarians also can enjoy 🕊
Why Is This Recipe Special?
Cinnamon rolls are big and high in calories… If you're watching your calories, this vegan cinnamon roll recipe is perfect for you. You can enjoy these vegan cinnamon rolls with 50% less guilt.
The reason for this is that they don't contain high-calorie dairy products like butter and cream, which significantly cuts calories. Also, each one is smaller, so it helps you from overeating.
We do use some sugar, though, so it's not 100% guilt-free🤐
If you're wondering if an egg and dairy-free vegan cinnamon roll really tastes that good, let's look at these two pictures.
It springs right back when you press it with your finger. It also has a fluffy texture.
Now, how do we make it?
The secret is in the ingredients…🤫
Jump to:
🌥Ingredients
A list of ingredients needed to make chewy, fluffy vegan cinnamon rolls!
To make a spicy (aromatic) cinnamon roll, spices other than cinnamon are added.
Dough
- strong flour
- pastry flour
- dry yeast
- shio koji (Click here to see how to make it)
- unsweetened soy milk yogurt (Marusan)
- cane sugar (Vegan Unrefined Sugar)
- cold-pressed sesame seed oil (any vegetable oil of your choice will do)
- cardamom powder (to taste)
Filling
- cinnamon powder
- black pepper (to taste)
- cane sugar (Vegan Unrefined Sugar)
- oil
Chewiness & fluffiness come from fermented ingredients
You can make fluffy and chewy vegan cinnamon rolls by using fermented food-shio koji and soymilk yogurt.
Shio koji brings the flavor of umami to the dough. So, the end result is a more flavorful dough than bread dough made with salt alone.
A twist with spices
If you're into spice, you'll love this! You should try adding cardamom to the dough and black pepper to the filling. Just a pinch does the trick and totally transforms the taste.
Cardamom x Cinnamon
Cardamom and cinnamon go well together, and just a little in the dough makes a pastry that's as good as the filling. If you can, use ground cardamom instead of powdered. Grinding it yourself really brings out the flavour. If you do, make sure you use less than the amount of cardamom shown on the recipe card.
Black pepper for a nutty taste
Adding black pepper to the filling also adds a subtle nutty flavor. For example, if you lightly grind it in a grinder 30 times, you will enjoy a nutty flavor without much peppery heat.
Of course, everyone has their own taste, so feel free to adjust to your own preferences. And don't worry, it can be delicious without the added pepper.
For exact amounts, please check the recipe card👇
☀️Instructions
A little tip before making
Now, let's talk about the part you've been waiting for.
First, let's leave the kneading to the bread machine and relax. You can also knead the dough by hand, but be careful because it tends to be very sticky.
Here's another tip: put the kneaded dough on a cutting board covered with parchment paper, which makes it easier to handle.
Since you can do everything from shaping to second fermentation on the cutting board, you'll have fewer messes and easier cleanup.
Let's do it!
- Knead the dough: Put all the ingredients into the bread machine and knead in dough mode.
💡Since fermented ingredients such as shio koji and soy milk yogurt are used, they tend to overferment if fermentation is done in a baking machine. Therefore, it is recommended not to use a baking machine for fermentation, but only for kneading 👌.
- First proofing: Place the kneaded dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth. Set the fermenter or oven at 40°C and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.
- Finger test: Dip your index finger in strong flour and poke a hole in the middle of the dough. When the finger is removed, the dough will be pushed back slightly, but the hole will remain firmly in place, then proceed to the next step.
💡If the dough pushes back and the holes become smaller, the fermentation is insufficient and the proofing should be continued and extended for a further 10 minutes. Repeat until the dough has doubled in its original size.
- Roll out the dough: Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cutting board or table and lightly dust with flour. Place the dough on it and roll it out with a rolling pin to about 20x25cm.
- Sprinkle filling: Combine the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Lightly grease the dough and sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough. Use your fingers to spread the filling evenly.
- Rolling: Use parchment paper as a sushi mat and roll the dough as you would a sushi roll.
- Cut: Using a scraper, cut the rolled dough into 3 cm pieces.
- Second proofing: Place the cut dough, cut side up, on a cutting board lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space between the dough pieces. Place the cutting board on a baking sheet and let the dough rise for 20 minutes in a fermenter or in the oven at 40°C.
- Preheat oven: Place a baking sheet in the oven and begin preheating to 180°C. While the oven is preheating, place the dough on top of the oven to help it rise. Again, you can leave the dough still on the cutting board.
- Baking: Once preheated, open the oven and quickly transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Slide the parchment paper off the cutting board (just like a pizza chef quickly sliding a pizza into the pizza oven!) to prevent the temperature inside the oven from dropping too low.
Reduce the temperature to 160 degrees and bake for 16 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and place all of the parchment paper on a rack to cool.
Serve with Vegan Cream Cheese if desired!
🌳How To Eat
Here are some ways to eat vegan cinnamon rolls that make them even better!
(1) Warm up: Before eating, gently warm up the toaster for about 3 minutes to make it fluffy and soft. This will enhance the aroma of cinnamon.
(2) Spreading Vegan Cream Cheese : Spreading homemade vegan cream cheese on the top will definitely double the flavor 🤤 Vegan cream cheese can be used in a lot of ways. You can put it on bagels or use it for an icing on a carrot cake. Since vegan cream cheese can't be stored for long, it's best to spread it on right before eating.
🏌️♀️ Variations
Why not arrange the fillings and make your own sweet bread?
Let me share some ideas with you.
- Add raisins - if the raisins are coated with vegetable oil or fat, soak them in boiling water for 30 seconds and squeeze to drain. After dusting the dough with cinnamon sugar, sprinkle the raisins over the dough and roll it up. You can also add rum raisins, like vegan red bean truffles.
- Add nuts - Finely crush nuts of your choice and sprinkle the nuts on top of the cinnamon sugar dusted on the dough. The crunchy texture is a nice accent.
- Substitute hazelnut paste or peanut butter - Cinnamon sugar can be replaced with a nut paste of your choice for a different flavor of bread roll.
- Substitute your favorite jam - For those who don't like cinnamon, we recommend making bread rolls with your favorit jam instead of cinnamon sugar.
🛺Tools
- bread machine
- bowl
- scraper
- chopping board
- rolling pin
- parchment paper
- ruler
- oven
- baking sheet
⛳️Storage
You can store it at room temperature for about 3 days. But be careful in the rainy season and summer months, as they're more likely to mold and get spoiled. If you're freezing it, just wrap each piece individually in plastic wrap, that's best.
If it's a bit hard after a few days, just warm it up in a toaster and it'll be soft and fluffy again.
🌈 The Secret To Success
Be careful with primary fermentation:
If you have a bread machine, it's best to let it do the kneading.
But you've got to be careful when you use the bread machine for the next primary fermentation. The bread machine kneads the dough in a small cabinet, and the motor generates a lot of friction, which raises the dough's temperature. This makes it more likely to overferment. Soy milk yogurt and salted malt, which are used in this vegan cinnamon roll recipe, can also lead to overfermentation, so you'll need to keep a close eye on the dough.
If you over-ferment your dough, it'll be full of gas, which will make it sticky and hard to work with. So if you can, it's best to do the first proofing in an oven or fermenter by taking the dough out of the machine and putting it in a bowl.
If you're using a bread machine, keep an eye on the dough to make sure it doesn't over-rise. Once the dough is well done, you can pretty much forget about it! You've got some delicious cinnamon rolls on the horizon!
☄️Questions
A typical cinnamon roll has a lot of high-calorie ingredients like butter and cream in the dough. And the filling is sweet and full of sugar. On top of that, the icing adds even more sugar.
But these vegan cinnamon rolls are made without eggs or dairy, so they're way lower in calories.
💥Vegan Recipes With Cinnamon
Recipe using cinnamon:
🪐Latest Vegan Recipes
Seasonal vegan recipes:
If you like this recipe or have already made it, we'd love to hear your thoughts in the COMMENTS 🐒. Also feel free to ask any questions or leave any requests!
📖Recipe Card
Vegan Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- bread maker
- Bowl
- scraper
- cutting board
- Rolling Pin
- parchment paper
- ruler
- oven
- baking sheet
Ingredients
Dough
- 115 g strong flour
- 35 g pastry flour
- 110 g unsweetened soy milk yogurt
- 20 g cane sugar
- 20 g cold-pressed sesame seed oil (or rice bran oil)
- 14 g shio koji (2tsp)
- 2 g dry yeast (½tsp)
- 2 g cardamom powder (1tsp・to taste)
Filling
- 3 g cinnamon (powdered / 1tsp)
- 25 g cane sugar
- black pepper (to taste)
Grease
- 1 teaspoon cold-pressed sesame seed oil (or rice bran oil)
Instructions
Dough making
- Knead the dough: Put all the ingredients into the bread machine and knead in dough mode. *Since fermented ingredients such as shio koji and soy milk yogurt are used, they tend to overferment if fermentation is done in a baking machine. Therefore, it is recommended not to use a baking machine for fermentation, but only for kneading.115 g strong flour35 g pastry flour110 g unsweetened soy milk yogurt20 g cane sugar20 g cold-pressed sesame seed oil14 g shio koji2 g dry yeast2 g cardamom powder
- First proofing: Place the kneaded dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth. Set the fermenter or oven at 40°C and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.
- Finger test: Dip your index finger in strong flour and poke a hole in the middle of the dough. When the finger is removed, the dough will be pushed back slightly, but the hole will remain firmly in place, then proceed to the next step. *If the dough pushes back and the holes become smaller, the fermentation is insufficient and the proofing should be continued and extended for a further 10 minutes. Repeat until the dough has doubled in its original size.
Shaping
- Roll out the dough: Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cutting board or table and lightly dust with flour. Place the dough on it and roll it out with a rolling pin to about 20x25cm.
- Sprinkle filling: Combine the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Lightly grease the dough and sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough. Use your fingers to spread the filling evenly.3 g cinnamon25 g cane sugarblack pepper1 teaspoon cold-pressed sesame seed oil
- Rolling: Use parchment paper as a sushi mat and roll the dough as you would a sushi roll.
- Cut: Using a scraper, cut the rolled dough into 3 cm pieces.
- Second proofing: Place the cut dough, cut side up, on a cutting board lined with parchment paper, leaving enough space between the dough pieces. Place the cutting board on a baking sheet and let the dough rise for 20 minutes in a fermenter or in the oven at 40°C.
Baking
- Preheat oven: Place a baking sheet in the oven and begin preheating to 180°C. While the oven is preheating, place the dough on top of the oven to help it rise. You can leave the dough still on the cutting board.
- Baking: Once preheated, open the oven and quickly transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Slide the parchment paper off the cutting board (just like a pizza chef quickly sliding a pizza into the pizza oven!) to prevent the temperature inside the oven from dropping too low. Reduce the temperature to 160 degrees and bake for 16 minutes.
- Cool : When done, remove from the oven and place all of the parchment paper on a rack to cool.Serve with Vegan Cream Cheese if desired!
💬Did you try this recipe? Let me know how it turned out in the comments— or mention #vegin_vegan_vegun or just tag us @veginveganvegun with your delicious creations!
How was it? Please give it a try our chewy and fluffy vegan cinnamon roll recipe!
Cinnamon lovers will also enjoy the easy-to-make vegan banana bread, oatmeal cinnamon cookies, and soy milk rooibos chai.
And if you want something sweet for breakfast, we recommend our Vegan Lemon Curd!
If you have tried making it, please let us know what you think in the comments section 🐒
あやは says
It was insanely delicious!
Thanks for the great recipe: ☀︎
Vegin Vegan Vegun! says
あやはさん
Thank you for your comment! We are always open to requests, so if there is a recipe you are looking for, please let us know in the comments section.
和子 says
The only spice I used was cinnamon, but it was very tasty! I think if I lower the temperature a little more I can make it more like white bread.
Vegin Vegan Vegun! says
Kazuko-san
Thank you for your comment;) I hope you were able to make the white bread version.
We are looking forward to your feedback.