Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls

Soft, light, and packed with strawberries, these strawberry cinnamon rolls are perfect for spring. They're filled with a homemade strawberry jam, brown sugar, and cinnamon, for a seasonal cinnamon rolls that'll knock your socks off.

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Ingredients You'll Need and Why

This is a pretty standard cinnamon roll dough, plus fresh or frozen strawberries for the additional berry filling. These are my notes from recipe testing and you can find the full recipe card below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Strawberries: fresh or frozen, but note the weight difference in the recipe card (volume/cups stays the same but weighing is always best for baking). If you're making these outside of strawberry season definitely use frozen berries for the best flavour.
• Flour: this should be all-purpose flour. Pastry flour is too delicate and bread flour makes cinnamon rolls too chewy. We haven't tested adding any whole wheat flour to this recipe.
• Milk: for the best results use whole milk (around 3.5% fat). Lower fat milk is fine but will make for less tender, less rich rolls. Soy milk is the best non-dairy alternative if needed.
• Butter: you need butter for both the dough and the filling. It needs to be at room temperature for the dough so be sure to take it out of the fridge beforehand. If you've forgotten, fill a heat-safe bowl with hot water, let it sit for a couple of minutes, then tip out the water and invert the warm bowl over the butter for 5 minutes.
• Eggs: the eggs should be at room temperature to mix most easily into the dough.
• Sugar: both white and brown sugar. We prefer light brown sugar for this recipe so that it doesn't overwhelm the strawberries, but dark brown is fine if that's what you have.
• Yeast: as written, the recipe should be made with traditional or active dry yeast, bloomed in the warm milk. If you want to use instant yeast, add it with the flour and note that the rising times might be a little bit faster.
• Starch: a little corn starch in the dough makes it just a bit softer, with a more tender crumb. It imitates pastry flour without losing the gluten structure of all-purpose flour. You'll need starch for the strawberry filling, too, to thicken.
• Cinnamon: use ceylon cinnamon for a better overall taste. The cinnamon flavour is subtle here, with strawberry being the primary note - they should be strawberry cinnamon rolls with the spice also coming through. If it isn't, you likely need a new container of cinnamon as it loses potency over time.
• Salt: don't skip the salt when baking bread. It's vital to gluten development and if you reduce or omit it you'll end up with dense, bland rolls.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

How to Make Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls

The dough will seem stiff, because it's highly enriched, and it might seem low-hydration if you're familiar with bread baking or sourdough. The sugar, eggs, and butter all contribute to hydration but don't make the dough as soft as more milk would.

Step 1: add the strawberry filling ingredients to a saucepan and mix well. The corn starch and water must be mixed beforehand to avoid lumps. As you can see, if using frozen berries the starch mixer will stick to the fruit when first mixed.

Step 2: cook for 5 minutes, keeping it at a strong simmer and stirring frequently to prevent burning or sticking to the pan. I find this tends to burn when using older electric burners where the heat doesn't reduce as quickly, so keep an eye on it if that's the case for you. Transfer to a bowl and cool fully.

Step 3: start the dough. This is before the butter is mixed in and before kneading. It will be a bit tough and shaggy, a little on the dry side, before the butter is incorporated. See the recipe card notes for instructions on an alternative way to add the butter if you don't have a standing mixer or a hand mixer that can be used for bread dough.

Step 4: add the butter while mixing to incorporate, then knead until soft, smooth, and supple. The dough will be slightly stiff but soft to the touch when it's ready.

Step 5: set the dough aside to rise until doubled. I always place a large plate over the mixing bowl (sometimes with a tea towel under the plate) and it works a treat. Since this dough needs to rise for a long time, you can lightly grease the top if you're baking in a very dry environment.

Step 6: roll out the dough and add the cinnamon brown sugar filling in an even layer. The butter is melted and mixed with the sugar and cinnamon to make it easier to spread onto the dough.

Related: Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

Step 7: top with the fully cooled strawberry filling, then slice into 12 pieces. We found during the testing process that strawberries in particular can really ooze out if the dough is rolled up into a log before slicing. Note that no matter how you do it that some of the filling is going to end up on the work bench. You'll use it later!

Step 8: place the rolls into a greased baking dish. Make sure the dish is prepared and on hand before you slice and roll up the dough.

Step 9: let the rolls rise until almost doubled in size, an hour to an hour and a half. Most baking dishes will be deep enough that you can invert a baking sheet over the dish to cover the rolls as they rise. A dry tea towel with nothing else will cause the dough to dry out and prevent rising (you can also use a large plastic bag, place them in the cold oven or a microwave, and so on).

Step 10: bake until golden, about 20 minutes. If the tops are browning too quickly cover loosely with foil or a sheet of parchment paper. The strawberries shouldn't burn. If they do, the oven temperature is too hot or the rolls are too close to the top of the oven.

Expert Tips for the Best Cinnamon Rolls

• Make the filling ahead of time: the strawberry filling needs to cool for at least 3 hours, and can be made several days in advance and kept in the fridge. Since the dough takes right around 3 hours to mix, knead, and for the first rise, if you make it before you make the dough your timing should be just about perfect. It can be made and kept in the fridge for up to a week, though, so if you're very well-prepared you can do that.
• Use the extra filling: frankly, you're not going to be able to roll these buns up without some of the strawberry filling oozing out unless you puree it (and even then). That is worked into the recipe, though, with that extra bit of strawberry jam being mixed in to the cream cheese frosting to make an impromptu strawberry cream cheese frosting.
• Do a windowpane test: a surefire way to know that you're dough is well-kneaded is to check with a windowpane test. Take a small piece of dough and gently stretch between your fingers to form a square. If the dough can be stretched thinly enough for light to pass through without it tearing, it's ready.
• Cool before frosting: this depends on how you want to frost or ice the rolls, but for big dollops as pictured, they need to be just about cooled. If the bread is still warm the frosting will melt.

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