Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls–gooey yeast bread cinnamon rolls made easy in the slow cooker. Because they are cooked slowly you don’t have to let the dough raise! Cut out the step of raising the dough twice and just let the cinnamon rolls raise and cook at the same time in the slow cooker.
Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls
I love cinnamon rolls so much. Love them. However I don’t enjoy making them. I don’t like the long process of make the dough, let it raise, roll out the dough, form the cinnamon rolls, let it raise and then bake. It just seems like a hassle.
Enter into the picture…your slow cooker. Somehow when you make the dough, roll out the dough, form into cinnamon rolls and then go straight to bake in the slow cooker you can cut out the 2 steps of raising the dough! WOW!!!! Game changer.
You’re probably wondering how they turn out compared to regular oven-baked cinnamon rolls. Well I was skeptical too. Here’s the truth. They taste really yummy. But they are a bit different. They don’t get brown on top. Because they aren’t baked in the oven there is no browning of the cinnamon rolls (you can see this in the picture). This makes it difficult to tell when they are done.
The other thing you should understand is that they aren’t going to cook evenly. I made these twice in the last week in 2 different slow cookers. Both times the edge pieces got a little crusty on the sides and the middle piece was gooey (not overly gooey). So if you have a family where some people like the gooey middle pieces and some people like their edges more done this recipe will work perfectly for you. This happened when I made them in my casserole crock* and in my 6 quart oval crock*.
I do think that cinnamon rolls needs to be served warm! They taste the best that way. And I do believe that a powdered sugar glaze is perfect for these rolls. I know a lot of cinnamon rolls have the cream cheese frosting and that is truly delicious but for these cinnamon rolls the powdered sugar and milk whisked together does just fine.
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What Slow Cooker Did You Use?
To make slow cooker cinnamon rolls I used both my 6 quart oval Kitchenaid slow cooker.* and my 3-quart casserole crock made by the Crock-Pot brand.* I have loved this casserole shaped crockpot for recipes just like this. I love that the crock insert is completely oven and dishwasher safe. I love how if you want to brown the top of a casserole you can do that quickly in the oven after it cooks all day in the slow cooker. Or if you want to bake something in the oven and then put it into the crockpot and keep it warm on the counter, you can do that too. They cost around $40 and I think totally worth the investment!
Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 2-3 hours on high
- Total Time: 48 minute
- Yield: 12 rolls 1x
Description
Gooey yeast bread cinnamon rolls made easy in the slow cooker. Because they are cooked slowly you don’t have to let the cinnamon roll dough raise! Cut out the step of raising the dough twice and just let the cinnamon rolls raise and cook at the same time in the slow cooker.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup milk
- 2 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
For the Filling:
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
For the Glaze:
- 1 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Make the dough: Pour the milk into a glass measuring cup. Put it in the microwave for 45 seconds. Pour the warm milk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the top. Add the eggs, butter, salt and sugar. Add the flour and mix for 5 minutes. This will knead the dough. Once the 5 minutes is up turn off the mixer and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
- Make the filling: Combine the melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth.
- Roll out the rolls: Place the dough onto your countertop. I placed it on a silpat* so it wouldn’t stick. This worked perfectly because the silicone mat was the exact size I need to roll out my dough to fit. If you don’t have a silpat then you’ll want to dust your counter with flour so it doesn’t stick. Flour a rolling pin lightly and roll the dough to about a 11 x 16 rectangle.
- Cover the dough with filling: Use a rubber spatula to smooth the cinnamon filling over the whole dough rectangle.
- Roll up the dough: Starting on the long end, roll the dough up tightly jelly roll style. Use a serrated knife to cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Grease your slow cooker or line it with pan lining paper* or parchment paper. Place the rolls in into your slow cooker.
- Cook: Place a double layer of paper towels on top of the slow cooker and secure them with the lid. Cook on high for 2-3 hours. Both of my slow cookers took closer to 3 hours (but they don’t cook as hot as some slow cookers). It’s hard to tell when the rolls are done because they don’t get brown. But if you pull out the rolls using the parchment paper you’ll be able to tell that they are done because the sides will be brown.
- Make the glaze: whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Drizzle over the top of the rolls.
- Cut and eat warm! Wrap leftovers tightly with plastic or place in an airtight container. Warm leftovers for 5-10 seconds in the microwave for a scrumptious snack.
Notes
To make these I’ve used both my 6 quart oval Kitchenaid slow cooker.* and my 3-quart casserole crock made by the Crock-Pot brand.*
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Slow Cooker
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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Hi Karen
Can this be made in advance and stored in the frig overnight so I can just pop them in the slow cooker in the morning?
Thanks
Happy Holidays🎄🎄
I am thinking that would work but I don’t know for sure. I would do steps 1-5 and then put them in the fridge. Good luck!
Hi Karen
I’m making this for an early brunch😊
Can the dough be made ,cut and sliced and stored in the frig the night before, so I can just pop them in my slow cooker the next morning?
Just hoping to not get up any earlier! Lol
Thank you. Happy Holidays🎄🎄
I think that it will work! Will you let me know how it goes?
I tried these this afternoon so they would be ready for dessert and they were a hit! I used a 6 quart oval Crock-Pot and it was a touch tight to squeeze them all in but they turned out great! A couple of small things to note: we do not have a stand mixer so we kneaded the dough by hand after a quick mix with a spoon in the bowl. If you do this have someone else handy to take turns with. Five minutes is a long time with this type of dough! Also, next time I will leave a bigger edge along the sides and top end when spreading the filling as it tends to squish out a bit as you roll, which left us with a few spots on the outer edges with burnt sugar even though the dough was cooked perfectly at 2.5 hours. Also, definitely use the parchment paper trick, it made removal super easy and no sticky mess to scrub. I only wish I’d saved more room for dessert!
★★★★
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for the tips. Those are very helpful 🙂
This sounds great.
Question, what if in your round crockpot you put a coffee cup in the middle to eliminate the soggy spot. Would that work?
Sure I bet that would. I like the soggy spot so I wouldn’t do that but for others that prefer the edges that would be great.
This recipe looks yummy! When my crock-pot failed I replaced it with my 6 qt Instant Pot. It does have a crock pot feature . . . which of course I haven’t tried yet. Too busy with the other wonderful recipes. I’m thinking I might try it in my Instant Pot on the slow cooker setting.
Do you think it would work?
I think it could work. The only problem I foresee is there not being enough surface area to set all the cinnamon rolls down on.
Oh my goodness–this is brilliant! I want to try these!
I hope you like them as much as we did 🙂
Can these be made in the instant pot on the slow cook setting?
The only problem is that I don’t know if there would be enough surface area for the cinnamon rolls sit on the bottom of the pot. Maybe if you halved the recipe. I would cook on the highest slow cooking setting on the instant pot.
What about doing 2 trays and using a tall trivet in the IP along with some on the bottom? I would worry that they might burn if straight on the bottom since the heat in the IP is from the bottom whereas the heat from a crockpot is usually from the sides?
Brilliant Pam! I think you’d need to add time to the cooking time for this method but I think it would work.