Easy and deliciously sweet vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls with an easy dairy free cream cheese frosting! Gooey and warm, they’re the perfect fall and winter healthy weekend breakfast!
My favorite gooey pumpkin cinnamon rolls (secretly vegan!)
One of my all time favorite fall activities is not jumping in leaves (though I love that), not picking out the best carving pumpkin (though that’s totally me), and it’s not passing out candy (truth be told, I’d rather be trick-or-treating).
It’s waking up on a chilly fall morning, sipping on warm freshly brewed coffee, and diving into a vegan pumpkin cinnamon roll. Fuzzy socks on, Hocus Pocus playing in the background, and watching the leaves fall outside.
I mean, these vegan cinnamon rolls are out of this world gooey, sweet, warm, and soft.
Packed with warm pumpkin spice flavor and smeared with a vegan cream cheese frosting, you’d never– I mean never- know that these pumpkin cinnamon rolls are indeed vegan, dairy free, and low in sugar.
Plus, they’re homemade from scratch. I mean, what could be better?! Now, I know you might be thinking but cinnamon rolls are hard to make from scratch, much less vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls!
I promise, they’re really not, so let’s dive into how now!
Ingredients for Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Making homemade pumpkin cinnamon rolls from scratch is really not hard at all! It just takes a little bit of patience.
The dough of these pumpkin cinnamon rolls is so easy too. It’s made up of just:
- Yeast: you can use rapid rise or activated, though please note that the rise times will differ. I recommend Fleischmann’s.
- Coconut milk: you can also use oat milk here. However, the creamier the better. I recommend using coconut milk from the can or store bought super cream oat milk, like Forager Projects.
- Vegan butter: if you’re nut-free, you can use an oat-milk or soy-based vegan butter.
- Flour: I have not tried this yet with gluten-free flour, so I’m not able to guarantee results!
- Pumpkin puree: just from the can! Or you can get creative and make your own homemade pumpkin puree.
- Coconut sugar: you can also use regular sugar, but if you’re going for refined sugar free, use coconut sugar.
Not scary at all, right? I think making cinnamon rolls is such a fun activity, and way more fun to eat knowing they’re home baked with love.
There’s just a different feeling to them, you know?
How to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls vegan
Now that you know what goes into the ultimate gooey pumpkin cinnamon rolls, the full recipe is listed down below in the recipe card. However, here are the basic next steps:
- Activate the yeast with coconut sugar, warm coconut milk and a tablespoon of flour.
- Make the dough by adding in the remaining wet ingredients and flour.
- Let the dough rise.
- Roll out the dough.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and softened vegan butter, then roll again and slice.
- Allow the rolls to rise for a second time then bake!
I promise that you’re going to be a vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls baking pro in no time at all!
And surprisingly enough, these cinnamon rolls really don’t contain all that much sugar, so you’re going to even be a pro at making something healthy taste absolutely decadent!
How to make vegan icing for cinnamon rolls
So I decided to go with not one, but two options for these vegan cinnamon rolls! Because you can never have too many choices in my opinion 😉 And some like it extra sweet (after my own heart, I see you!), while others like it a little tangier.
Both are welcome 🙂
So you can either go with two options here, or go rogue and do your own!
- Vegan Cream Cheese Icing
- Vegan Sugar Icing
Both are absolutely delicious! The trick to making a vegan icing for cinnamon rolls is making sure that it’s thick for spreading. Personally, I was never about the drizzle of icing. I felt it always disappears way too quickly, whereas the thicker icing sort of melts slowly and into the cinnamon roll.
Mmmm jeez I’m getting hungrier just thinking about these haha!
Tips & Tricks for making Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls:
- I have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour! Normally I do test my recipes with multiple options, but I’ve still yet to find a good substitute. I do have cassava flour cinnamon rolls, which are wonderful, but I haven’t tested cassava with this particular recipe. Stay tuned though, I’m determined to get a gluten free bread to finally rise! Magic, people, magic 🙂
- Use softened vegan butter: If you’re allergic to nuts, there are many amazing vegan oat milk-based vegan butters that are soy free. I recommend Miyoko’s or Forager Project. Make sure to use a vegan butter that’s no salt added.
- Use coconut sugar or regular sugar. You don’t need to stick to coconut sugar if you don’t want to. Personally, I love the flavor because I think it adds a nice caramelized sweetness to the rolls, but you can also get that with brown sugar!
How to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls ahead of time
To save some time in the morning (totally get it, you should see me without a cup of coffee first thing ha!), prepare your rolls as you normally would, then when you get to the step where you’ve finished the second rise (Step 9). Then just keep the rolls covered and place them in the fridge overnight.
When you’re ready to bake your pumpkin cinnamon rolls in the morning, preheat the oven to 350F and stick the rolls, covered, by the oven to warm up. Then bake as usual!
I hope you love these vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls as much as I do! They make for the perfect weekend breakfast and seriously hit the spot 🙂
If you give these rolls a go, let me know how they went over in the comments below, as well as any questions you might have!
As always, I love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy pumpkin cinnamon roll baking!
More vegan cinnamon rolls:
Vegan Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls
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If you make something from The Banana Diaries, I would love to see your creations! Don’t forget to rate this recipe and leave a comment below! Also, follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook for more vegan recipe inspiration!
PrintVegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Easy and deliciously sweet vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls with an easy dairy free cream cheese frosting! Gooey and warm, they’re the perfect fall and winter healthy weekend breakfast!
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 90
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls:
- 4–4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet activated yeast
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 1/4 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
- 1/4 cup vegan butter or coconut oil, melted or 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce for oil-free
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
Filling:
- 1/4 cup pumpkin spice
- 1/4 cup softened vegan butter
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
Icing:
- 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese or 2-3 tbsp coconut milk
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Heat the coconut milk until warm- 110F.
- Sprinkle yeast, sugar, and a tablespoon of flour into the warmed milk in a large bowl, cover, and let activate for 10 minutes.
- When activated, add in the vegan butter or applesauce, pumpkin, and 4 cups of flour to start. Knead the dough together. Add in the 1/2 cup extra flour if the dough is sticky. The dough shouldn’t be sticking to your hand.
- Knead the dough lightly, for 2-4 minutes, then place the dough into a bowl greased with olive oil, cover with a cloth or wrap, and place into a warm area to let rise for 1 hour. It should be double in size.
- After an hour, lightly punch down the dough and roll the dough out on a clean and floured surface to be a large rectangle (12×18 in).
- Lightly spread the dough with softened vegan butter, and sprinkle the pumpkin spice and coconut sugar over the dough evenly.
- Roll the cinnamon rolls length-wise into tight rolls and away from you.
- Slice the roll into 10-12 cinnamon rolls, and place into an olive or coconut oil-greased dish (any size that you have, you can use a round pan or a square one).
- Cover again with a clean towel or wrap, and place over or by the oven while the oven preheats to 350F. Let the cinnamon rolls rise for 30 minutes while the oven is preheating.
- Place the cinnamon rolls into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool while you prepare the icing.
- You can make either a vegan cream cheese frosting or a regular sugar icing. To make the vegan cream cheese icing, beat the vegan cream cheese until fluffy, then add in the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Spread evenly over the rolls.
- To make the regular sugar icing, add in coconut milk to cinnamon and powdered sugar and mix together until thick and smooth. Spread icing onto cinnamon rolls.
- Enjoy!
Keywords: pumpkin cinnamon rolls, vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls, vegan cinnamon rolls
Yum! I need to try these!!! I love how you lay your recipes. They’re easy to read and understand which is so helpful. Thanks for taking the time to do that 🙂
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Aw you are so sweet! Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy! 🙂
Oh these are so perfectly pillowy! And the pumpkin flavor really takes it up a notch 🙂
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So happy to hear it!! Yes, they’re definitely my favorite too 🙂 Enjoy!!
The recipe looks super delicious!! Do you think it would also work with wholewheat or spelt flour?
Aw thank you!! So it will work with whole wheat flour, but I recommend using white whole wheat flour because the texture will be better! Spelt flour definitely acts a bit differently than both wheat and white flour, so I would go with whole wheat if you can!
Hi thanks for sharing this receipe.
What are the quantities for each ingredient?
Thanks!
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Hi Daniela,
Thank you so much! All of the measurements are listed in the recipe card 🙂 Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. I was wondering if I could use almond flour or coconut flour or a mix of both for this recipe…
Hi Daria! So for this recipe, I don’t think that would work- I haven’t found a good consistency with the almond and coconut flour. However, I do have a cassava flour cinnamon roll that you could absolutely use as well!
Hi!
Can you use almond flour in sub of reg flour?
Can’t wait to make them!
Hi Alexa! Unfortunately, I don’t think almond flour will work here, as it won’t rise enough and needs a bit more of a binder (like arrowroot powder). I will absolutely work on a GF version!