Healthy Cinnamon Rolls (Gooey, Moist and Flavorful!)
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.If you’ve been on the hunt for Healthy Cinnamon Rolls, you have come to the right place. This is the best ever ooey-gooey cinnamon roll recipe! Made with a few healthy swaps, these easy cinnamon rolls are lower in sugar and calories than traditional cinnamon rolls, and are a delicious recipe for breakfast or brunch, a holiday dessert, a special occasion, or a sweet treat with your tea or coffee anytime of the year!
There is nothing more traditional or classic than a hot, freshly made batch of homemade cinnamon rolls. The gooey texture of cinnamon buns, the perfectly balanced sweetness of the cinnamon sugar mixture, and the creamy icing make cinnamon rolls one of those treats that is pretty much irresistible.
But while most bakery cinnamon rolls taste amazing, they are packed with refined carbs and sugar – making them delicious but not healthy enough to enjoy on a regular basis!
Which is why I created the best healthy cinnamon rolls recipe you’ll ever find – one that has all of the flavor of the traditional version, but has half the calories and sugar of the original recipe!
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These low calorie cinnamon rolls use a bunch of healthy swaps: whole wheat flour instead of refined flour, pumpkin puree to cut down on the amount of fat needed, and less sugar overall. While these are much healthier than the traditional version, they are fluffy, moist and super satisfying – and I guarantee your entire family will adore them!
👩🏽🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- Healthier cinnamon rolls than the traditional version
- Vegan option
- Gluten free option
- Made with whole grains
- Super kid friendly
- Easy to make
- Best recipe for Christmas morning or any special occasion!
🥘 Ingredients
This recipe calls for simple ingredients easily found in your pantry or your local grocery store! See below for detailed instructions and nutrition information.
For The Healthy Cinnamon Buns Dough
- Milk: Either low fat milk or unsweetened almond milk (for a vegan option) would work. I haven’t tried this recipe with unsweetened coconut milk but I imagine that should work too.
- Vegetable Oil: Any vegetable oil like sunflower oil, coconut oil, canola / rapeseed oil would work. I haven’t tried it with olive oil but I imagine it would work as well.
- Egg: 1 regular egg, or 1 flax egg (for a vegan option)
- Pumpkin Puree: Allows you to use less butter in this recipe without losing any of the moisture! Make sure to use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Vanilla Extract, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Nutmeg: For flavor and warm spice.
- Sugar: You can use unpacked brown sugar, coconut sugar, or for low sugar cinnamon rolls – use stevia for a sugar-free option. I haven’t tried this recipe with maple syrup or honey but I would imagine both of those could also work.
- Instant Yeast: Critical for helping the dough rise! You can also use active dry yeast, but your rolls will take longer to rise.
- Whole Wheat Bread Flour: Gives this recipe a boost in whole grains instead of using all purpose flour. I would guess that regular whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour would also work. I haven’t tried this recipe with a gluten-free flour like almond flour or gf oat flour, my guess it would still work but the texture of your rolls might be slightly different.
For The Delicious Filling
- Sugar + Cinnamon: Any type of sugar will work! White sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, coconut sugar – they will all taste great. You can also use powdered stevia for a sugar-free option.
- Butter: Optional, but helps the sugar cinnamon mixture stick to the dough.
- Mix-Ins: Optional, but adds a nice texture and flavor. Feel free to try raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, pecans, walnuts or anything you like to add into your healthy cinnamon rolls!
For The Healthy Cinnamon Roll Icing
Instead of the high calorie traditional cream cheese frosting typically used with cinnamon buns, this healthy icing needs just 3 ingredients! You’ll need powdered sugar, milk (low-fat regular or plant-based milk), and vanilla bean paste.
🍽 Equipment
📖 Variations
- Healthy Vegan Cinnamon Rolls: To make these cinnamon buns vegan, use almond milk, vegan butter, and swap egg for a flax egg, or for 3-4 tbsp more milk or pumpkin puree.
- Try A Different Butter: Instead of spreading regular butter on the dough before rolling it up, try adding a spread of pumpkin or apple butter to the filling before sprinkling the dough with cinnamon (so the pumpkin or apple butter, then the cinnamon mixture, and then roll).
- Low Cal Cinnamon Rolls: To reduce the calories even further in this recipe, use stevia to sweeten the rolls and omit the butter from the filling.
- Add Citrus: Add about 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice to the glaze. It will give you a zesty orange flavor that is amazing.
- Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls: Try a 1:1 gluten free baking flour, or gluten free oat flour to make these rolls gluten free.
- Sugar Free Cinnamon Rolls: Replace the sugar in this recipe with stevia for a sugar free option!
- Try A Different Icing: You can top these rolls with a traditional cream cheese icing for more decadence, a maple frosting, vanilla frosting, or even a vegan cream cheese icing. You can also make a Greek yogurt icing by combining plain Greek yogurt, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and a tablespoon or two of coconut flour (if needed, to bind the frosting).
🍁 How Do You Make Healthy Cinnamon Rolls?
Making a healthy cinnamon roll recipe is actually easier than you might think! As far as how healthy the recipe becomes, that all depends on how close you want it to taste to the traditional version, vs. a less sweet version.
I think this recipe is the perfect balance between a healthy cinnamon roll that still tastes amazing! While these cinnamon rolls aren’t entirely healthy, they are MUCH healthier than classic recipes. They are made with ingredients that are okay to eat in moderation. Let’s talk about what makes them healthier.
- Less Sugar: While regular cinnamon rolls are LOADED with tons of sugar in the rolls and icing, mine is much better. They do still have some sugar, but it’s not an overwhelming amount. Each roll has only 10 grams of sugar! We also used coconut sugar for a lower glycemic sugar option.
- Whole Grains: Instead of using regular all-purpose flour, we use whole wheat flour instead. Whole wheat flour has fiber, protein, folate, manganese, copper, and selenium in it. It’s also higher in heart healthy fiber and keeps you fuller longer.
- Low Calorie and Low Fat: Each one of these giant, low fat cinnamon rolls only has 230 calories and 7 grams of fat! So you can indulge without feeling guilty for eating a high-calorie treat.
I guarantee, even with these healthy swaps, these will be the best cinnamon rolls you’ll ever make!
🔪 Instructions
Activate yeast: In a small bowl add warm milk, sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it rise for 5 minutes.
Mix the wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, egg, vanilla, pumpkin puree and mix until smooth and well combined. Pour in the milk with yeast and stir until combined.
Add the dry ingredients: Add the flour and spices to the wet ingredients and stir until incorporated.
Knead the flour mixture: Knead by hand or using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment for 3-5 minutes until you have an elastic and smooth dough.
Form into a ball and place dough into a lightly greased large bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 1 – 2 hours in a warm place until doubled in size.
Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface. With the help of a rolling pin, roll dough until you have a large rectangle – you’ll want it to be about a 14×16 inch rectangle.
Add the filling: Spread the butter on top and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Roll the dough into a log shape and with a sharp knife (or serrated knife, or even a string of dental floss!), cut out 12 rolls.
Let the rolls rise: Place the rolls into a 9×13 inch baking dish and cover again. Let them rise for 30 minutes, then preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake: Take the rolls to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on top.
Glaze and serve: To make the glaze mix the icing sugar with milk and vanilla. Top the cinnamon roll with glaze.
Let the glaze cool over the rolls for 2-3 minutes, then serve!
❓Recipe FAQs
How Do You Store Cinnamon Rolls?
For best results, you will need to let the cinnamon rolls cool down completely. Once they have cooled all the way, place them inside of an airtight container. You can store them at room temperature for up to two days.
To extend their shelf life, you can also store them in the fridge. They will last up to 5 days in the fridge.
Before serving, I recommend tossing these healthy cinnamon rolls in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, or warming them in the toaster oven on low heat for a couple of minutes. That will help them to become warm and gooey just like they were when they came out of the oven.
Can You Freeze Cinnamon Rolls?
Yes, you can freeze these easy healthy cinnamon rolls!
To Freeze Before Baking: While you can freeze the rolls after they have fully baked, I have found they turn out better if you freeze them after the first rise, roll and cut. Then, when you’re ready to bake them, remove them from the freezer and let them thaw in the fridge overnight, then let them rise on the countertop for 1 hour before baking.
To Freeze After Baking: Let the rolls cool completely. Then wrap each one in plastic wrap and put them in a freezer-safe bag or container. They will last up to 2 months in the freezer. Thaw in the fridge overnight before serving. You can also defrost them in the microwave if you want them warm.
What if my cinnamon roll dough is too sticky?
If your dough seems a bit too sticky, add a little bit of flour – 1 spoonful at a time – until the dough comes to more of a tacky texture (where it pulls away from the mixing bowl easily but isn’t too dry). But be careful not to add too much flour as that will result in tough, dry buns!
Are cinnamon rolls unhealthy?
Unfortunately yes! For example, the classic Cinnabon cinnamon rolls have 880 calories each and 60 grams of sugar and 30 grams of fat. Our healthy cinnamon rolls recipe has 1/4 of the calories and fat, and 1/6 of the sugar – making it a much better option!
👨👩👧 How To Serve
I love serving these healthy homemade cinnamon rolls as part of a bigger breakfast or brunch spread that includes pancakes, the best oatmeal recipe, fried potatoes and onions, and smoothies! But you can enjoy them with a simple cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, with any of these vegetarian breakfast ideas, or just all on their own!
💭 Expert Tips
- Do not overheat your milk. The milk should be warm, as hot milk will kill the yeast and the dough will not rise.
- Use bread flour in the recipe. The higher protein content in bread flour helps to achieve softer cinnamon rolls.
- If you want to freeze the rolls, they should be frozen after the first rise, roll and cut. When you are ready to bake, let them on a countertop for 1 hour before baking.
- You can make the cinnamon rolls overnight. After placing the rolls into a pan, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. On the next day leave them on a countertop for 30 minutes before baking.
- Make sure to spoon and level your flour into your measuring cup (versus scooping out the flour with your measuring cup) and don’t forget to sift it! Doing these two things will ensure you have a light and fluffy roll vs. a dense roll. Be sure not to add too much flour to the cinnamon rolls. If you add too much, they are going to be denser and not as fluffy.
- When making cinnamon rolls, it’s important not to overwork the dough. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, you don’t need to over-knead it. Overworking the dough leads to a stiff, hard roll that’s not too appealing.
- To seal the rolled up dough before cutting them into individual rolls, pinch the free end – and if you need to, you can brush the edge with water before pinching to seal.
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice you can use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove for a similar result.
🍳 More Healthy Breakfast Recipes!
- Banana Bread Without Butter
- Healthy Vegan Scones
- Healthy Banana Bread
- Biscoff Donuts
- Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal with Berries
- Vegan Baked Oatmeal
- Healthy Pancakes with Oats and Sprouted Wheat
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📋 Recipe Card
🎥 Watch How to Make It
Healthy Cinnamon Rolls
If you’ve been on the hunt for Healthy Cinnamon Rolls, you have come to the right place. This is the best ever ooey-gooey cinnamon roll recipe! Made with a few healthy swaps, these easy cinnamon rolls are lower in sugar and calories than traditional cinnamon rolls, and are a delicious recipe for breakfast or brunch, a holiday dessert, a special occasion, or a sweet treat with your tea or coffee anytime of the year!
Servings: 12 cinnamon rolls
Calories: 232kcal
Ingredients
For The Cinnamon Roll Dough
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk or lowfat milk, warm (118 ml)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (unpacked) or coconut sugar can also use powdered stevia (55 grams)
- 2 tsp instant yeast (1 package)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (Use any vegetable oil like sunflower, coconut oil or canola/rapeseed oil)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- ½ cup pure pumpkin puree (110 grams)
- 3½ cups whole wheat bread flour, sifted, divided (440 grams) Note – you'll need more for hands and work surface
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
For The Filling
- ¼ cup butter, softened at room temperature (60 grams)
- ½ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar, unpacked can also use powdered stevia (100 grams)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice optional
- 2 tbsp raisins, dried cherries, walnuts, pecans, or dried cranberries optional
Glaze/Icing (Optional)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk or lowfat milk
- ¼ cup powdered sugar (30 grams)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- In a small bowl add warm milk, sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it rise for 5minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, egg, vanilla, pumpkin puree and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Pour in the milk with yeast and stir until combined.
- Add the flour and spices and stir until incorporated.
- Knead by hand or using a mixer for 3-5 minutes until you have an elastic and smooth dough.
- Form into a ball and transfer to a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 1 – 2 hours until doubled in size.
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface. With the help of a rolling pin, roll out the dough until you have a 14×16-inch rectangle.
- Spread the butter on top and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Roll the dough into a log and with a knife cut out 12 rolls.
- Place the rolls into a 9×13 inch baking pan and cover again. Let them rise for 30 minutes, then preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Take the rolls to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on top.
- To make the glaze, mix the icing sugar with milk and vanilla. Top the cinnamon roll with glaze and enjoy!
Notes
- Do not overheat your milk. The milk should be warm, as hot milk will kill the yeast and the dough will not rise.
- Use bread flour in the recipe. The higher protein content in bread flour helps to achieve softer cinnamon rolls.
- If you want to freeze the rolls, they should be frozen after the first rise, roll and cut. When you are ready to bake, let them on a countertop for 1 hour before baking.
- You can make the cinnamon rolls overnight. After placing the rolls into a pan, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. On the next day leave them on a countertop for 30 minutes before baking.
- Make sure to spoon and level your flour into your measuring cup (versus scooping out the flour with your measuring cup) and don’t forget to sift it! Doing these two things will ensure you have a light and fluffy roll vs. a dense roll. Be sure not to add too much flour to the cinnamon rolls. If you add too much, they are going to be denser and not as fluffy.
- When making cinnamon rolls, it’s important not to overwork the dough. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, you don’t need to over-knead it. Overworking the dough leads to a stiff, hard roll that’s not too appealing.
- To seal the rolled up dough before cutting them into individual rolls, pinch the free end – and if you need to, you can brush the edge with water before pinching to seal.
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice you can use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove for a similar result.
- For a vegan version, substitute your favorite non-dairy milk for the regular milk, use a flax egg or a vegan egg substitute, and use vegan butter or coconut oil for the butter.
- Nutritional information calculated using lowfat milk, coconut sugar and walnuts as the optional add in.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cinnamon roll | Calories: 232kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 67mg | Potassium: 205mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 10g
I subsituted almond flour for whole wheat flour, coconut oil for the veg oil no lemon zest and slivered almonds for the fruit. They are about to go in the oven, hopefully I didnt ruin your recipe 🙂
Those are really interesting substitutions Amber! How did they turn out? I’m sure you didn’t ruin the recipe 🙂 Let me know!
pretty good thank you, my kids and husband loved them. my only problem, when I put them in the 9inch round pan the 12 cinammon rolls didnt have room to expand like your pictures.
Oh great! I’m glad they tasted good 🙂 That’s too bad about the pan — maybe the differences in the dough made them thicker so they needed more room? Maybe a slightly bigger pan will work next time!
Hello I have a question? Would they be as delicious if I didn’t use maple syrup?? Thanks,
Baking Gramma
Hi Georgia! So regarding the maple syrup – it’s one of the key ingredients in making the filling stick to the dough. Without it, I’m not sure the brown sugar mixture will stick to the dough very well and it will probably be a little dry. I hope that helps – I wouldn’t recommend omitting the syrup!
Thank you. I will use the maple syrup. 🙂
Great! Enjoy! 🙂
really looks yummy……gonna try it out 🙂
Awesome!! Let me know how it turns out Elizabeth!
I was really excited about these rolls, but mine, once rolled out, came apart in the pan and the filling oozed out leaving the buns flat and dense. What did i do wrong? Any ideas or tips? I really want to get these right…
Hi Shradha! Aww man – I’m so sorry to hear that! The only thing I can think of is that for whatever reason, your dough mixture ended up being too thin. When you rolled out out the dough, put in the filling, and then rolled it back up again, was it able to stand up (cut side up) in the baking pan? If it didn’t stand “upright,” your dough could have been rolled out too thin. One other option is that you can use large muffin tins to hold the rolls — that way they won’t fall apart in the oven while they’re baking because the muffin tin rounds will keep them together. I hope this helps, let me know if you try it again and whether it works!
Great recipe, but for me the orange zest made it taste bitter. Might have been something about the orange I used. Next time I’ll omit the zest. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Hi Larry! Aw I’m sorry to hear that. It might have been the orange you used, or – if you end up zesting too much of the rind, the part that is close to the white part of the orange ends up being really bitter. So you could try zesting the orange differently, or yes, omitting it is totally fine too. Glad the rest of the recipe turned out well! 🙂
I didn’t read all the comments but almond milk might be a good lower calorie sub for the fat free milk 🙂
It’s definitely worth a try! I’m just not sure how the almond milk will react with the yeast in the dough — but if anyone ends up trying it definitely let me know how it is!
Do the calories include or omit the icing?
The calories should include the icing 🙂
Thanks!
I subbed the brown sugar + powdered sugar with splenda, and the maple syrup with sugar free maple syrup!
They turned out to be 106 calories, yum! 🙂
Oh that’s great! Thanks for outlining the substitutions – very helpful!
I’m going to be brave and try coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. I’ll let you know if it is still a success.
Chanel
Oooh awesome! Keep me posted for sure! 🙂
Yessss. I’ve been looking for a lightened up cinnamon roll recipe for the longest time. I will definitely be trying these soon!
Yaay!! So glad you’ll be trying this recipe! I’m sure you will love it Ruta!
this was actually great for a lightened up version, it was soft and not at all dry. for the icing i mixed powdered sugar with orange juice instead and was great. thanks.
Oh awesome!! So glad you liked it – and I love the idea of mixing powdered sugar with orange juice for the icing!
I just made these tonight using cherries as the dried fruit, and they were awesome! I love the idea of maple syrup in the filling instead of butter or corn syrup. Great recipe!
Hooray!! I’m so happy you liked the recipe Beth 🙂 I usually make mine with raisins, but I’m sure the cherries tasted great!!
The cinnamon rolls look incredible and at the same time low fat which makes it guilt free breakfast. Good one!!!
Thanks so much Shibi!! I konw you will love these! 🙂
Wow. I would have never guessed that those were reduced fat rolls in any way. They look absolutely delicious.
Thanks so much! I promise, they won’t taste like they’re reduced fat either 🙂
These looked AMAZING!
I’m hosting a giveaway with a company that offers healthy desserts. 🙂 Love for you to enter!
https://therealfoodrunner.blogspot.com/2012/09/so-delicious-giveaway.html
Thanks so much Katherine! I’ll be sure to check it out!
These look amazing!! Super excited to try it 🙂
Thanks Sushma!! I’m sure you will love them!
cinnamon rolls are my favorites.
That’s great! 🙂 Enjoy!
Yum!! These cinnamon rolls look delish! Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.
Thanks Katie!! Hope you get to enjoy them this weekend! 🙂
Wow, I really love your secret swaps – that’s soooo brilliant! I’m not really into cinnamon, but your recipe has changed my taste. 😀
Aw thank you so much Linda! And I promise, you won’t even be able to tell the difference with these swaps 🙂 I’m so glad you’re getting more into cinnamon!! It’s one of my favorite spices – I add it to everything: oatmeal, hot chocolate, tea, sometimes it’s even fun to sprinkle on peanut butter and banana on toast – it tastes great! Can’t wait to hear how you like this recipe!
These looks absolutely fantastic. I have been making cinnamon rolls in my head since so long. Never made them out of it, though. But this looks like a perfect opportunity to try them for real once. Bookmarked! 🙂
Haha! Making cinnamon rolls in your head – I love it 🙂 I often bake in my head as well – especially when I’m sitting in traffic or bored hehe. Hope you like this recipe when you try it at home!
delicious- the perfect weekend breakfast!
Exactly 🙂 With a hot cup of tea and a good book — I could eat these every Sunday morning!
i love cinnamon rolls but as you said they are high in calories and not the healthiest! this looks like a great substituted option! I will have to pin it to remember in the future! thanks! (:
Thanks so much Danielle! I’m sure you will love these healthified cinnamon rolls when you try them! 🙂