Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Learn how to make cinnamon rolls with sourdough starter– simple, small batch cinnamon rolls made without yeast, filled with sweet cinnamon filling, and topped with an easy cream cheese frosting.

Tell me, my friend– are you a sweet or savory breakfast eater?

I admit that 8 times out of 10, I am totally in the savory category. Give me this breakfast casserole, some Eggs Benny, this Mexican-inspired breakfast casserole, this quiche, or this quiche…

The list goes on and on.

But those other two times? Sign me up for some coffee cake or a cinnamon roll. I mean, if there are sprinkles on my cinnamon roll and/or breakfast, even better, but these particular sourdough cinnamon rolls lasted a mere 4 hours in our house.

FOUR. HOURS.

Granted, there were only 6 of them, and we shared one with the neighbors… But, WHAT? No family of 4 (two of them being the equivalent of like, only 1 person) needs to eat 5 cinnamon rolls that quickly.

Unless, of course, they are sinfully delicious. dripping with gooey cinnamon filling, and covered in an irresistible cream cheese frosting.

Pssst… That’s these guys.

These sourdough cinnamon rolls were born in my kitchen just a few days after I made my sourdough English muffins.

So I whipped these up on a whim which came along with exactly zero regrets.

These rolls are very simple, and they’re very similar to the funfetti cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls I already have on my blog.

The sourdough starter just takes the place of the yeast, but because the starter will work a little more slowly than traditional yeast, our dough will do an initial rise of about 3-4 hours, as opposed to just a 10 minute rest.

The second rise comes after the dough has been rolled, cut, and placed in a prepared pan. That rise is about 1 and 1/2 hours, so we’re looking at a total overall time as significantly longer than traditional yeast cinnamon rolls, but the hands on time is nearly identical.

The cool part about sourdough dough is that it becomes soft and supple after that first rise. We also aren’t going to be punching any dough down, because the air we have in our dough, we want to keep.

That said, after that initial rise, while the dough will look larger and rounder, it won’t be nearly as puffed up as you’re used to seeing after the first rise of a traditional yeast bread.

Once turned out, you’ll find the dough is soft enough to mold with your hands, which is exactly what you’ll do to create a 9″ x 12″ rectangle.

Spread the cinnamon filling all over, roll it up tightly, and then cut into 6 even rounds.

During their second rise, these rounds of dough will press together (sightly) and then puff up beautifully during their time in the oven.

Beautifully puffy sourdough cinnamon rolls, ready for a slathering of some creamy dreamy cream cheese frosting.

It doesn’t get a whole lot better than this, my friends.

What I noticed about these sourdough cinnamon rolls that I haven’t experienced with my other homemade cinnamon rolls is a much softer interior.

While there is nothing hard, crunchy, or dry about my funfetti cinnamon rolls nor my caramel rolls, these sourdough starter cinnamon rolls were something special.

Extra soft interior and an ever-so-slight tang thanks to the sourdough absolutely made these cinnamon rolls ones to remember.

Also, SMALL BATCH so you aren’t stuck with 12 rolls.

Unless, of course, that’s what you want to do– instructions for how to do that in the notes of the recipe.

If you’re still rocking a sourdough starter from stay-at-home orders, these sourdough cinnamon rolls are where it’s at.

Perfect as an indulgence, perfect for gifting to new neighbors (you’ll be their new favs!), or simply just a way to use your starter that isn’t another loaf of sourdough.

And don’t forget about those English muffins!

Soft, cinnamony, swirly, scientifically proven to be gone in a few hours… You’ve got to put these on your to-do list!