Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

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Use your active sourdough starter for this small batch sourdough cinnamon roll recipe. No yeast, easy instructions, and the perfect way to use your starter that isn’t another loaf of bread.

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 make ahead breakfast casserole, some Eggs Benny, this Mexican-inspired breakfast casserole, this asparagus quiche, or this cheesey vegetable quiche…

The list goes on and on.

But those other two times? Sign me up for some cinnamon streusel 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 mouthwateringly 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.

I wanted to stick my starter back in the fridge, but I also wanted to take advantage of the 2 ounces of cream cheese that kept falling out of the fridge and having my starter out and ready to rock and roll.

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

We have all the standard ingredients we would use for traditional cinnamon rolls, but since we’re making a sourdough version, we don’t need any yeast.

The rest of the ingredients? Totally the same.

Super basic, super cinnamon-y, and the perfect complement to the tangy sourdough bread base.

This is a simple recipe and one you’ve seen before. You just need softened cream cheese, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, and a bit of salt. Easy!

See? Ingredients are simple. You just won’t be needing any yeast.

And because we aren’t using any yeast, the process of making these easy sourdough cinnamon rolls will take a bit longer. Let’s talk about that.

With traditional yeast, you only need to let your dough rest about 10 minutes before shaping it. It will relax its elasticity, give in to your shaping, and rise beautifully as filled, cut rolls before baking.

Since even active starter works more slowly than traditional yeast, our initial rest (which is actually an initial rise) will take about 3-4 hours instead of just 10 minutes.

To that mixture, add the sugar, salt, vanilla, and egg. Whisk together to combine.

Since we know the starter is active, we don’t have to wait or “proof” anything like we typically do when working with yeast.

Once all of those ingredients are well-combined, add about 1 and ½ cups of the flour and stir (or use your dough hook attachment in the bowl of a stand mixer).

When this dough has come together, add in the softened butter. Adding it in now as opposed to earlier in the melted form will help create fluffy sourdough cinnamon rolls with lots of layers within the layers of the rolls. I use this method with all of my cinnamon roll recipes, and it’s a winner every time for mega texture!

After the butter has been blended, add the remaining 1 cup of flour and blend until dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, then knead for a few minutes until dough is uniform.

After this step in traditional yeast bread making, you’d normally punch the dough down to release any extra air. But because we want to keep the air that we’ve gotten in this dough, we will work carefully in the next step.

Keep in mind that after the initial rise/bulk fermentation, 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. This is ok and to be expected. As long as your dough is larger and rounder, it’s doing what it’s supposed to do!

Once you have your rectangle, spread the cinnamon filling all over, roll the dough up tightly, and then cut into 6 even rounds.

Are you taking notes? This means you’ll need about 8-12 hours for this whole process. Be sure to plan ahead! And check out the notes section of the recipe card if you want to prepare the rolls ahead of time and bake them in the morning of the next day.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, after which they will be practically begging for a slathering of some creamy dreamy cream cheese frosting.

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

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 2020, 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.

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