It takes a special recipe to make me think of my past and future at the same time. Cinnamon rolls remind me of watching Saturday morning cartoons sticky-fingered with my favorite doll Kenya, and eating Cinnabon at the mall as a tween. Along with sweet potato pie and pound cake they are the embodied form of comfort. And when I made these vegan sweet potato cinnamon rolls I imagined making them on Saturday morning with my future kids, the smell of sugary spiced love making its way to every corner of our home.
These cinnamon rolls are rich enough to make a girl in her 20s want to settle down and make traditions. Sweet enough to make you remember the mess you would make with the icing from a cinnamon roll as a little kid. Delicious enough to put your “healthy diet” rules on suspension for a few minutes, then reject any bit of regret.
I will be making these sweet potato cinnamon rolls for a long long time. I hope you enjoy them too.
Vegan Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp water
- ¾ cup unsweetened plain soy milk or other unsweetened plain non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup vegan butter (I used Earth Balance), melted
- 2-2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup water
Filling
- ⅓ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar or a mixture
- ½ tbsp cinnamon
- ¾ cup chopped raw pecans
Sweet potato frosting
- ½ cup sweet potato puree
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix the ground flax seed and water in a small mixing bowl and set aside to thicken and become a flax “egg”.
- In a small sauce pan warm the soy milk and vegan butter until the vegan butter has melted. Remove from heat.
- Mix the flour, active dry yeast, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Once the temperature of the melted vegan butter and soy milk has reduced to 100°-110° pour it into the dry ingredients.
- Also add the water and flax egg and use a whisk to stir. If you have a standing mixer, you can use that instead.
- Once it’s too sticky to whisk, use our hands to combine the ingredients.
- Transfer the dough onto a floured workspace, and knead it until you’ve got a smooth dough ball.
- Place the dough ball into a lightly greased mixing bowl, and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel, and allow it to rise for at least one hour.
Filling
- Make the filling for the rolls by combining the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl.
- Chop pecans into small pieces.
- Melt ⅓ cup of vegan butter.
Assemble Rolls
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, you can press out the air, then transfer it back onto your floured work space.
- Roll the dough until it is about ⅙th inch thick, and about 12x16 inches.
- Brush the dough with the melted butter, top with cinnamon sugar mix, and then top with your chopped pecans.
- Roll the dough tightly.
- Carefully cut the roll into 1 inch slices, you’ll have about a dozen.
- Place the rolls onto a greased skillet or baking dish (about 10x10).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes (less if your oven runs hot).
Make your sweet potato icing
- Place powdered sugar, sweet potato, vanilla, and vegan butter into a food processor and blend until creamy and smooth.
- Remove rolls from oven, and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Top with sweet potato icing, and serve immediately.
Have you tried these vegan sweet potato cinnamon rolls? Leave a comment below and share your favorite way to eat them! You won’t be disappointed!
Vickie / October 9, 2022 at 4:20 pm /
Made these for Sunday brunch and they were such a winner! I made a couple of changes for our preference. I added the sweet potato to the dough and added a little sour dough for another level of taste. My husband and I decided we wanted them with a little more sweet and cinnamon. Since they were already cooked I added some brown sugar and cinnamon on top and put them under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the sugar. DIVINE!!! Will definitely make again!, thanks for the recipe❤️
Penny / October 23, 2021 at 5:03 pm /
This recipe is different from the one in the cookbook! Do they turn out very differently? I’ll be trying to adapt it to be gluten-free so am wondering if the dough on the blog might be a better choice- it seems smaller.
Ms OP / March 13, 2019 at 3:13 am /
What type of sugar did you use?
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / May 12, 2019 at 1:59 am /
I used cane sugar.
Hannah / December 7, 2017 at 2:16 am /
I made these tonight and they were delicious!! I was surprised when I tasted them that they were vegan. I love homemade food and I also love making it! The only thing I wasn’t a big fan of was the icing. I didn’t like the taste of the sweet potatoes on top, BUT I was very glad I tried something new! I still love your recipes and can’t wait to make more!
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / December 17, 2017 at 11:59 pm /
Glad you liked the buns. And that you tried something new 🙂
Traci Davis Hooks / October 22, 2017 at 3:03 am /
I made these last night in order to have them oven ready this morning. AMAZING!!! I substituted pumpkin for the sweet potato because it’s what I had & I absolutely love them!! I’ve eaten waaaay too many & will only be making these in the future to take away from my house. Lol Thank you for sharing your recipe with us. My tummy is grateful!
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / October 25, 2017 at 1:42 am /
Thank you so much for letting me know! I’m so happy you enjoyed them 🙂 I LOVE them too, and now you’ve got me craving them!
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / October 15, 2017 at 6:58 pm /
Yes!! how did they turn out?
Yindi O'Connell / October 15, 2017 at 11:21 pm /
Amazing!
Best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made, thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us!
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / October 16, 2017 at 10:01 pm /
Awesome!! That makes me so happy to hear 🙂 Thank you!! xoxo
Frana Colon / October 9, 2016 at 10:15 pm /
This looks amazing, I will try to see if I can tweak this recipe to be gluten free friendly.
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / October 9, 2016 at 11:50 pm /
Absolutely!! good luck 🙂
Gina @ Balanced Babe / September 28, 2016 at 4:11 pm /
Oh yum! I just made regular vegan cinnamon rolls last weekend but was looking for a good recipe for sweet potato cinnamon rolls! I am definitly going to have to try these! (like soon!) Thanks! 🙂
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / September 29, 2016 at 10:48 pm /
Amazing!! You’re going to love them 🙂
Gee Boucher / September 24, 2016 at 1:15 pm /
just made these and added the glaze – they are delicious!! thank you for the fab recipes
Jenné @ Sweet Potato Soul / September 24, 2016 at 5:01 pm /
Thank you so much!!