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Air Fry Cinnamon Rolls Easy from Scratch

Air Fry Cinnamon Rolls Easy from Scratch

These air fry cinnamon rolls are perfect and easy to make. My son gets sick from palm oil so he never had cinnamon rolls, until this recipe. Not that we need a sugar rush for breakfast, of course, but it was nice for him to be a part of something he is often left out of. (So many sleepover breakfasts include cinnamon rolls or donuts — both are premade, processed desserts he can’t have because of palm oil.)

Homemade cinnamon rolls are a favorite for lazy Sunday mornings or anytime you want to feel a little special. Most of the recipes for air fryer cinnamon rolls out there call for the canned variety.

However, when you are avoiding palm oil and other yucky stuff, that just won’t work. The good news is when you bake desserts from scratch, you are using higher quality ingredients without the chemicals and preservatives. Plus, there’s just something really special about homemade baked goods, don’t you think?

I know the temptation of making things easy. It’s easy to pop open a can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls to air fry. But making them from scratch is fast and easy.

Give it a try! Most all of the ingredients are pantry staples: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, brown sugar, powered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon. So even if you didn’t plan to make these in advance, you may already have all of the ingredients. You just need to have butter and milk and you can make them.

Here’s a delicious recipe for air fryer cinnamon rolls you can make in the air fryer. Unlike store-bought versions already baked or canned cinnamon rolls to bake at home, these are palm oil free. 

Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls Without Palm Oil

These cinnamon rolls are soft, warm, fluffy, sweet, and so easy to make. They are golden brown with a delectable icing. And they don’t require yeast. This recipe uses a quick bread recipe as the foundation, so you don’t need to wait for the dough to rise. You just mix, bake, and enjoy. 

Use this list of ingredients and the step-by-step directions below to make homemade cinnamon rolls in air fryer. They take just 12 minutes to prep and 15 minutes in the air fryer. This recipe makes six cinnamon rolls.

What You Need to Make This Recipe

Cinnamon Rolls

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons white sugar (granulated sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • cup milk or almond milk 
  • Butter or vegetable oil to grease the pan (I use avocado oil because it’s tasteless. I like it better than canola oil or soybean oil when baking.)

Cinnamon Filling

  • 2 tablespoons melted butter, unsalted
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch allspice (optional)

Icing

  • cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons milk
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

How to Make Air Fry Cinnamon Rolls

  1. Preheat your air fryer to 320 degrees F. Grease a 7 inch round cake pan. Flour a work surface for the dough later.
  2. To start, you’ll make the dough. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. Add the cold butter. If you have a pastry cutter, use it to mash the butter into the flour and sugar mixture. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use two forks, your fingers, or a food processor if you want. Just be sure to not overmix the dough. It should look like damp sand. 
  4. Next, stir in the milk and vanilla extract. It should form a dough that takes form. You should be able to shape it into a ball that is soft.  
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Roll the dough into a 9 X 12 rectangle. It doesn’t have to be exact. Leave it to rest while you work on the cinnamon filling. 
  6. Get a smaller bowl, and melt the 2 tablespoons of butter. Microwave for 20 seconds. Check if it’s melted. If it isn’t, microwave in 5 – 10 second increments. You don’t want it to go over the sides or to burn.
  7. Once it’s melted, add and mix the ingredients to make the cinnamon filling. This includes adding the brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice.
  8. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, covering the entire surface.
  9. Starting at the bottom short side of the dough, begin rolling it into a log.
  10. Cut the log into 1 ½ inch wide sections. There should be six. Place them in the cake pan with their sides touching.
  11. Put the pan into the preheated air fryer. Bake at 320 degrees F for 10 – 15 minutes.
  12. While the cinnamon rolls are baking in the air fryer, make the icing. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Keep whisking until smooth.
  13. Remove the pan with the cinnamon rolls from the air fryer. Drizzle the glaze over them while they are hot.
  14. Let them cool off a bit before serving. 

Bite-Sized Cinnamon Rolls

Instead of larger cinnamon buns, you can make them bite-sized by making 12 sections instead of six. 

Storing 

If you are baking these in advance or you have leftovers, you can keep cinnamon rolls in an airtight container. Store them in the fridge for up to three days. 

Why Make Cinnamon Rolls in Air Fryer?

It’s faster to bake cinnamon rolls in an air fryer versus in an oven. 

Store-bought vs Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

You may have come to this page looking for information on how to make air fryer cinnamon rolls using canned dough. My family doesn’t eat processed foods with palm oil in it. This means, when we have cinnamon rolls it’s because I made them from scratch. Store-bought, canned dough is out of the question. 

Compare the ingredients in the recipe above to the ones found in these two brands of premade canned cinnamon roll dough and icing. Whether avoiding palm oil or not, there really is no comparison.

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls

Cans of cinnamon rolls with icing contain lots of ingredients. These are the ingredients in a can of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. It’s their Original with 8 rolls. I am highlighting ingredients that are or may be derived from palm oil. 

Enriched Flour Bleached, Water, Sugar, Palm and Soybean Oil, Dextrose. Contains 2% or Less of: Baking Powder (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda), Palm Kernel Oil, Salt, Modified Whey, Cinnamon, Wheat Starch, Corn Syrup Solids, Monoglycerides, Corn Starch, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Polysorbate 60, Natural Flavor and Artificial Flavor, Annatto Extract (For Color). 

Natural Flavor is hard to determine if the company doesn’t list what the source is. 

When you compare this list of ingredients to the cinnamon roll recipe above, there is no comparison to the quality you get when you bake cinnamon rolls from scratch. Making them in the air fryer is fun and easy.

Annie’s Organic Cinnamon Rolls

Just to be fair and to show you how common palm oil is in cinnamon rolls, I looked at a tube of Annie’s Organic Cinnamon Rolls. This brand overall is likely “better” and uses higher quality ingredients than their non-organic competitors.

This is their 5 count package. The ingredients are as follows. Again, I’ve highlighted the ingredients that say palm oil or are usually derived from palm oil.

Organic Wheat Flour, Organic Cane Sugar, Water, Organic Palm Oil, Baking Powder (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda), Organic Expeller-Pressed Sunflower Oil, Organic Invert Syrup, Organic Cinnamon, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum, Organic Wheat Starch, Organic Tapioca Starch, Organic Vanilla Extract, Organic Rice Extract, Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum.

So you can see that Annie’s Organic Cinnamon Rolls “only” lists palm oil one time, and it’s also organic. That make appease some customers, but my household doesn’t buy foods with palm oil at all — organic or not — because it makes my son sick. We also avoid palm oil for the environmental reasons. Even when it’s organic, it still drives overall demand.

Making Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls

If you are like me, you use your air fryer every chance you get. I bought the appliance and need to justify the room it takes in my kitchen. Did you know they sell ovens now that have an air fryer function? That’s what I’ll be buying if my stove ever goes out.

I love using my air fryer to make desserts and lots of other foods. Baking palm oil free desserts at home means my son can enjoy sweets just like everyone else. And while they aren’t healthy, at least baking from scratch means the ingredients are of a higher quality.

Be sure to preheat the air fryer before baking desserts. Just set it to heat up before you start making the cinnamon roll dough.

What Temperature Do You Put Cinnamon Rolls in an Air Fryer?

For this homemade air fryer cinnamon rolls recipe, you need to preheat the air fryer to 320 degrees F (160 degrees C) for 10 – 15 minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls Recipe in Oven

Also, if you don’t have an air fryer, you can bake these in the oven at 350 degrees F for 18 – 20 minutes. Check for doneness as oven temperatures vary.

Instead of placing the cinnamon roll dough logs touching in the pan, leave an inch or two of space around them so they will cook all the way through. If they are too close together, sometimes just the tops will bake. It depends on the oven. With air fryers, they circulate the air well so it’s not an issue.

Homemade Deliciousness

To make these palm oil free air fry cinnamon rolls, be sure you check the label on the milk. You want to avoid Vitamin A Palmitate. There are several brands of milk at my grocery store without it. Mostly, I buy organic whole milk. Sometimes I find almond milk without it as well. 

To be able to recreate canned and already-baked store-bought cinnamon rolls at home has been amazing for my family. Avoiding palm oil is easy when you know what to look for. Sometimes it takes just a bit of planning because you will have to bake most all desserts palm oil free from scratch. 

These are easy-to-make, fluffy bites of cinnamon deliciousness. I hope you make them and realize how simple it is to air fry cinnamon rolls from scratch. If you make these homemade, please let me know in the Comments how they tasted. 

There’s a lot you can make in an air fryer, including air fryer popcorn

air fry cinnamon rolls
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Air Fry Cinnamon Rolls

Instead of relying on canned cinnamon rolls, use this easy recipe for soft, fluffy cinnamon deliciousness. You'll see most of the ingredients are pantry staples. As long as you have butter and milk, you can make these easily.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword Air Fry Cinnamon Rolls, Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls, Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls Recipe, Cinnamon Rolls in Air Fryer, Homemade Cinnamon Rolls in Air Fryer, How to Air Fry Cinnamon Rolls
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

The Rolls

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons cold butter cut into cubes
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • cup milk or almond milk

The Cinnamon Filling

  • 2 tablespoons melted butter unsalted
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch allspice

The Icing

  • cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons half and half or milk
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  • Preheat air fryer to 320 degrees F. Grease a 7 inch round cake pan. Flour a work surface.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
  • Add the cold butter and use a pastry cutter or two forks to mash the butter into the flour mixture. You can also use your fingers, or a food processor if you prefer. Be sure to not over mix. It should look like damp sand.
  • Stir in the milk and vanilla extract. It should form a dough that takes form (in a ball) but is soft.
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured board and roll into a 9 X 12 rectangle.
  • In a smaller bowl, mix the ingredients for the cinnamon filling: melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice.
  • Spread the filling evenly over the dough, covering the entire surface.
  • Starting at the bottom short side of the dough, begin rolling it into a log.
  • Cut the log into 1 ½ inch wide sections – there should be six. Place them in the cake pan with their sides lightly touching.
  • Put the pan into the preheated air fryer. Bake at 320 degrees F for 10 to 14 minutes.
  • Make the icing while the cinnamon rolls are cooking. In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Keep whisking until smooth.
  • Remove the cinnamon rolls from the air fryer. Drizzle the glaze over them while they are hot. Let them cool a bit before serving.

Notes

It's best to eat them when they are out of the air fryer and have cooled a bit. However, you can make them in advance or store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Just be sure to put them in an airtight container. Reheat in the microwave to warm before serving.
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