Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls are light and fluffy sweet rolls or pastries which can be served as breakfast, a treat, or a dessert. This is an easy recipe to make fresh cinnamon rolls in the air fryer.

The dough is kneaded in the stand mixer and then rolled with a filling of brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon powder. Once baked a cream cheese frosting is applied while they are hot to give them a nice glaze.

This air fryer cinnamon rolls recipe makes the best, eggless, delicious, and flavorful rolls from scratch. They can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated overnight to be baked the next day.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

The cinnamon rolls dough is made with a few basic pantry ingredients like bread flour, instant yeast, milk, salt, sugar, and unsalted butter. All-purpose flour also works well to make cinnamon rolls in case you are running out of bread flour.

For the filling, you will need unsalted butter at room temperature, brown sugar, and cinnamon powder. Brown sugar works best, however, you can use organic cane sugar too.

Cream cheese frosting is made with cream cheese, unsalted butter, and icing sugar. Both, the cream cheese and the butter must be soft and at room temperature while making the frosting.

Instructions

Making cinnamon rolls at home involves 3 steps - making dough, rolling and filling it with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon powder, and finally baking it.

Put all the ingredients to make the dough into the stand mixer bowl and knead it into a soft dough with the dough hook for about 12 minutes or until the dough attaches to the hook. For consistent results, it is best to weigh all the dry ingredients with a food scale.

Once the dough is ready, cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for the dough to rise to about twice in volume. This can take about an hour. You can also proof the dough in an instant pot.

Once the dough is well-proofed, place it on a lightly floured surface and knead it for a few seconds into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll it evenly into a rectangular shape of about 4-5 mm in thickness and 12 inches by 9 inches in size.

Apply some melted butter on the rolled dough and then sprinkle a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon powder generously to cover it well.

Now, starting from one of the shorter sides, roll the dough toward the other edge as tightly as you can. Cut the roll into pieces of about 1-inch size using a serrated knife.

After cutting the cinnamon rolls, place them about an inch apart from each other in a baking pan and allow them to go through the second rise. You can use a cling wrap to cover the pan while the rolls rise.

The cinnamon rolls will take about 45 minutes to double in size. Depending on the ambient temperature it can take longer to proof. An oven works well in such situations.

Warm the oven for about 5 minutes using the warm setting or about 170 °F and then keep them covered for rising. The rolls will rise to double in about 30-35 minutes.

Once the cinnamon rolls have been through the final rise, preheat the air fryer to 325°F. Place the pan into the air fryer basket uncovered and air fry cinnamon rolls for 8-9 minutes. They will start turning brown and smell delicious!

While the cinnamon rolls are baking, it is the best time to prepare the cream cheese icing. Using a hand blender whisk attachment whip the cream cheese, softened butter, and icing sugar on low speed until it is light and fluffy.

Apply the icing generously on the delicious cinnamon rolls while they are hot. This gives the rolls a nice shine and glaze.

Substitutions

The cinnamon rolls can be made using all-purpose flour or bread flour.

Instead of brown sugar, you can use regular cane sugar as well.

Instead of instant yeast, active dry yeast can be used as well. It will have to be activated in water before adding it to the flour.

Equipment

The dough for cinnamon rolls is made in the stand mixer. The dough is then rolled using a rolling pin and shaped into rolls. The rolls are then placed in the baking tray. I used two 6-inch by 6-inch pans and baked the cinnamon rolls in 2 batches.

Cinnamon rolls can be made in any air fryer provided the baking pan fits in the air fryer. I have used a 4 qt. Instant Vortex Plus air fryer and 6-inch baking tray. If you have a larger capacity air fryer then you can use a bigger size pan.

The cream cheese frosting is made using a hand blender. Also, for best and consistent results, it is best to weigh the flour using a digital food scale.

Storage

Homemade cinnamon rolls can stay at room temperature for 3-4 days. If you want to keep them longer then they can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week. When you are ready to serve, just reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds.

Cinnamon rolls can be made ahead of time and unbaked cinnamon rolls can be refrigerated for a day. When you are ready to bake, allow them to come to room temperature and go through the final rise before baking.

Top tip

• For best and consistent results, it is best to weigh the flour using a digital food scale instead of measuring it with a cup. A measuring cup can be tightly packed and add more flour than needed.
• If you do not have a digital food scale, you can lightly spoon the flour and fill it in the cup, and level it with a knife.

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