Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are the best fall breakfast, perfectly moist, with the perfect pumpkin flavor, stuffed full of cinnamon sugar and topped with a cream cheese frosting!
These pumpkin cinnamon rolls are so delicious. They’re soft and tender rolls, filled with a sweet brown sugar, cinnamon and the perfect blend of fall spices. All topped with a tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting. They’re so good for breakfast or brunch, or sweet enough for dessert too.
Pumpkin is one of the best flavors of the fall season. You’ve got your pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, pumpkin bread and so many delicious pumpkin treats. This time, I decided to make another amazing new pumpkin dish – pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
These pumpkin sweet rolls have the perfect combination of fall flavors. You’ve got sweet pumpkin with cinnamon and nutmeg, and it all comes together topped with the best cream cheese icing.
These rolls would make a perfect Thanksgiving Day breakfast! But honestly they’re not hard to make, and they’d be perfect for breakfast any day of the week, or year! They’re sweet enough for a delicious fall dessert too.
How to Make Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls:
These rolls only take about 15 minutes of actual work, and even less if you have a mixer like a KitchenAid or Bosch to do the mixing for you. Then you can just watch as the dough comes together.
Then you’ve got about 45 minutes for the dough to rise, and you can just go on and watch a TV show or two ;).
After rolling out the dough, you’ll spread the buttery cinnamon mixture across the dough. Roll it up and slice it into rolls.
Place the pan in the oven and watch as the rolls bake up. It’s only for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then top the rolls with the delectable smooth, tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting.
These rolls do require yeast, but don’t be intimidated, I’ve made these dozens of times, as well as other readers have made them without any issues!
I’ve made these with rapid rise yeast and regular rise yeast and either way you won’t want a double rise, the rolls actually overproof and then flatten when baking if you do a double rise, follow the instructions below as listed. If you use regular yeast you may need to increase the rising time from 45 minutes to 1 hour, but this will depend on the warmth of your house. Just remember to let the dough rise till doubled in size!
Pumpkin and cream cheese are a match made in heaven. Like in our pumpkin cake recipe, pumpkin and cream cheese frosting are just meant to go together.
I just can’t handle how tasty they are!
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Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Rolls:
- 3/4 cup milk (warmed)
- 1 TBS yeast
- 2/3 cup pumpkin
- 1/4 cup butter (softened)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 egg
- 4 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
For the Filling:
- 1/3 cup butter (melted)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 TBS cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
For the Frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 and 1/2 TBS milk
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
- Dissolve your yeast in your warmed milk in a large bowl for about 3 minutes.
- Add in your pumpkin, butter, brown sugar, salt, eggs, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon into your milk. Mix everything together.
- When the dough starts to pull from the edges, knead for 5 minutes until a large ball is formed.
- Remove your dough ball from the bowl and spray the bowl with nonstick spray. Put your dough back into the bowl and cover your bowl with a towel. Leave it to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, to 1 hour, until it doubles in size.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Lightly flour your counter top and roll your dough into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick and about 16x22.
- Coat your dough with your melted butter, covering completely.
- Combine your brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
- Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the surface of your dough covering completely.
- Roll your dough from the top edge to the bottom edge (so the roll is 22 inches).
- Carefully cut your roll into 1.5 inch slices and place them in a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan. You'll want 12 rolls, any extra dough can be discarded.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden and the dough is fully cooked. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
- While the rolls are cooling, combine the ingredients for the frosting. Add a little more powdered sugar or a little more milk if you need to change the consistency of your frosting.
- Spread the frosting generously over the top of the rolls.
Video
Recipe first posted on Nov 5th, 2014. Photos updated on October 5th, 2018.
If you like these pumpkin cinnamon rolls, I think you’ll like these too:
Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Crumb Topping
No Churn Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Kim Gotschall says
I’ve made these twice; I just love them! So tender and absolutely delicious! I never use the entire 1/3 cup of butter for the filling, and next time I will cut back on the cinnamon. 2 Tablespoons is a lot! Gotta love anything pumpkin!
Aimee says
So glad you like them! And it is a lot of cinnamon, feel free to use less 🙂
Rachel Brink says
How many rolls does this make and did you bake them all in one 9×13 pan? Mine flattened after baking and were not nice and tall!
Aimee says
I usually cut mine to make 12 so that they will all fit in 1 9×13 pan! Im not sure why yours flattened though, did you try double rising them? That’s the only time I have had mine go flat 🙁
Julie Miller says
Can I make these a few days in advance and freeze them?
Aimee says
I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but I have done other cinnamon rolls and it should work great! I like applying the frosting after thawing if I’m freezing the whole batch after it’s baked! Or you can freeze the dough prepared before baking too! Let me know how it works for you!
Christine says
Made these today. I was surprised how fast these came together.I could even make these on a work night! The rolls are very tender.
Julie says
These are INCREDIBLE!!!! I found this recipe about a week ago and just made them for breakfast tomorrow and sneaked a small one and they are to die for! The perfect combo of cinnamon and pumpkin and I love that they’re not over powering on the pumpkin!!! Very good!! Will definitely be making them again!! Thanks for sharing!!
Aimee Berrett says
Yay Julie! I’m so glad you liked them! 😀
Whitney says
Do I need to refrigerate with cream cheese frosting or can they be kept on the counter?
Aimee Berrett says
Yes I would refrigerate them if you aren’t eating them right away. They should be fine out at room temperature for a couple hours, before putting them in the fridge, or to warm up before serving if they’ve been in the fridge.
Whitney Curtis says
Thank you! I’ll be making some today!
Stacy (@humorhomemaking) says
These were fantastic! I made them for Thanksgiving breakfast and they were gobbled up – gobbled, get it? Ha ha!
I used fresh ground hard white wheat and mixed it all up in my bread machine.
Some of mine don’t like cream cheese, so I used Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll frosting recipe and it was perfection with these!
Aimee Berrett says
So glad you all liked them! Good to know they are good with regular frosting as well, I will have to try that next time!
Tobbi says
I have regular yeast, not quick rise. Should I raise the dough a second time after filling and rolling or is extra time to double the dough on the first rise sufficient?
Aimee Berrett says
Hi Tobbi, there isn’t too much of a difference between the two, since I dissolve the yeast in warm milk anywayou the regular yeast should work fine. It may need to rise for 15 or so minutes longer, but shouldn’t need the second rise either. You can try it and see if you think it needs the second rise, but my rolls always grow a bunch while they are baking. Let me know how it goes and I hope you like them!
Tobbi says
You were right! They didn’t need a second rise. They just came out of the oven light and fluffy. Yummmm! Thank you for a great recipe.
Denise says
These look delicious. Do you use active dry yeast or rapid rise yeast?
Aimee Berrett says
I usually use rapid rise!
Carole Cuppett says
If I decide to double the recipe so I can share them at work, do I double the yeast also?
Aimee Berrett says
I haven’t ever doubled it, but I would assume you’d double the yeast too.
Carole Cuppett says
I always loved raisins in my cinnamon rolls although I have never tried Pumpkin ones, They look so delish. I would like to try adding raisins but not sure when to add them when mixing these, Any ideas? Thanks
Aimee Berrett says
I usually add the raisins to the cinnamon mixture that you put on the dough before you roll it up – instead of mixing it into the dough. So add the raisins with step 9
Lavena Jordan says
Can you make them ahead and keep them refrigerated and then cook them right before they are served?
Aimee Berrett says
I haven’t ever tried. I’m not sure how it will affect the rising process, but I would guess it would work fine. I’d bring them up to room temperature before putting them in the oven in the morning.
Tracy Haney says
Would love to know how they worked after refrigeration?
Yvonne [Tried and Tasty] says
I have a special place in my heart for cinnamon rolls. Really. I love them so much! These look really good, I don’t think I’ve ever had pumpkin ones!