Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
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Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
These Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls are spot-on for the fall and winter seasons. They’re incredibly fluffy, soft, thick, perfectly sweet, and truly melt in your mouth with each bite. Not your typical cinnamon roll, this recipe is infused and topped with a luscious chai latte glaze that will make you completely cinnamon-roll obsessed. Overnight + Gluten-Free options.
If you’re looking to stay cozy + warm, these Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls are exactly what you need this season! With all the holiday baking going on, I love cookies, cakes + cupcakes—but there’s something truly special about homemade cinnamon rolls. And if you’re a die-hard cinnamon roll fan, these chai-infused rolls will send your taste buds to the moon!
They’re incredibly soft, fluffy, and have that perfect brioche-like texture. I seriously couldn’t stop eating them (being a huge chai latte fan doesn’t help!). Lately, I’m all about chai, from my Homemade Pumpkin Chai Cinnamon Rolls to Vegan Chai Gingerbread, and of course, my Dirty Chai Maple Iced Latte!
Jump to:
- Sweet Rolls or Cinnamon buns?
- Why You'll Love These Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
- How to Make Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
- Ingredients for Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
- Tips For Making The Perfect Cinnamon Rolls
- Can I Knead By Hand Instead of Using a Mixer?
- Perfect Occasions For Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
- What Is The Best Way To Cut Cinnamon Rolls?
- How to Make Cinnamon Rolls Overnight?
- Can I Make Cinnamon Rolls Without A Long Rise?
- Can I Make These Cinnamon Rolls Gluten-free?
- Strawberry Shortcake Cinnamon Rolls Q + A's
- More Must-Try Cinnamon Roll Recipes
- MADE OUR RECIPE(S)?
- Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
Sweet Rolls or Cinnamon buns?
No matter what you call them—cinnamon buns, cinnamon rolls, sweet rolls, sticky buns, sticky rolls, cinnamon swirl, cinnamon danish—everyone has a favorite. I've never met someone who didn't like them.
A cinnamon bun or sweet roll is a sweeter, fluffier bread dough with a filling, usually cinnamon-based, in the middle. They are usually served around the holidays. When the filling is cooked, it makes an iconic swirl of deliciousness.
Why You'll Love These Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
OK, so if you’re still not entirely sold on these homemade chai cinnamon rolls, then let me tell you what’s so great about them.
- They are SOFT, FLUFFY, + BRIOCHE-LIKE in texture
- A phenomenal make-ahead breakfast
- Fun to eat! Pillow-y spirals of buttery dough filled with hypnotic swirls!
- Mouthwatering, fluffy cinnamon chai goodness.
- Freezes beautifully for convenience.
- Perfect kid-friendly + lunchbox-friendly treat!
- Warm, gooey, and utterly delightful.
How to Make Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
Start by making the chai tea mixture over the stovetop and letting it cool enough to room temperature. Then you make the cinnamon roll dough and add the cooled mixture to it (be sure to save a bit for the glaze). It needs to rise for at least 1 hour in a warm place for it to be super soft. Then make the filling and assemble and bake your rolls. Finally, add the chai latte-infused glaze, and dig in!
Ingredients for Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
Here's what you need for the fluffy chai latte-infused brioche-style dough:
CHAI TEA:
- Almond milk. Choose unsweetened. Feel free to use a different plant-based milk if you like. I recommend making easy homemade almond milk (my recipe doesn’t require soaking!)
- Black tea bags. You can use any plain black tea you like. Caffeine-free will also work if you avoid caffeine.
- Maple syrup. The best sweetener that I enjoy using. I like to use pure maple syrup that’s premium and organic.
- Chai spices. This latte is all about the spice blend, which includes cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper.
DOUGH:
- All-purpose flour. I use organic flour from Bob's Red Mill.
- Bread flour. You can find this from King Author or Bob's Red Mill.
- Cane sugar. I like to use organic to ensure that it's vegan-friendly. You could also use brown sugar or coconut sugar.
- Instant yeast. Also called Rapid Rise Yeast.
- Butter. Use warm, melted vegan butter.
- WARM water. This is important to help activate the yeast at the beginning.
- Chai tea mixture. WARM (Save the remaining ¼ cup tea mixture for glaze)
- Vegan butter. Melted + cooled until WARM
- Vanilla extract. Use pure vanilla extract for the best vanilla flavor.
- Sea salt. Just a pinch to enhance the flavors.
FILLING
Here's what you need to make the spiced filling for your cinnamon rolls
- Brown sugar. Ensure that it's organic so that it's vegan-friendly.
- Butter. Again, vegan butter. Soften the butter to room temperature for an easy spread.
- Cinnamon powder. For some extra warming flavor.
GLAZE:
Top your cinnamon rolls with a delicious glaze made with:
- Powdered sugar. If you use granulated sugar, your frosting will have a gritty texture, so I highly recommend organic powdered sugar.
- Butter. Again, vegan butter. Soften the butter to room temperature for an easy whip together for the glaze.
- Chai tea mixture. You'll save a bit of this cooled latte mixture for the glaze.
SHOP MY FAVORITE BAKEWARE ITEMS AND ACCESSORIES!
Here, I’ve curated a list of bakeware essentials that I use to achieve my favorite baking treats, especially with these Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls. Everything from my fave baking sheets, parchment paper, mixing bowls, and more. SEE THEM HERE!
Tips For Making The Perfect Cinnamon Rolls
Due to many delicious attempts at perfecting this recipe, I have come across some very helpful tips that will ensure perfectly baked Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls.
NEVER OVERHEAT THE MILK!
It is so important that your milk is warm but NOT hot! It should be warm to the touch. If you find that your milk has overheated, allow it to cool before adding the yeast. Milk that is too hot will kill the yeast, and you won't get the big, fluffy rise in the dough. We want these rolls super fluffy, and that's only possible when the yeast is bloomed properly.
USE VERY SOFT BUTTER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
Like in most baking, room-temperature ingredients mix better than cold ingredients. Beat in your butter while it is completely at room temperature for a seamless, tender texture.
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT OVER-MIXING
I know it sounds weird, but hear me out. With cakes and cookies, you never want to overwork the dough because working develops the gluten in the flour. Gluten development leads to a chewy, unpleasant texture in cakes and cookies, making them dense and heavy. Because cinnamon rolls use a yeast dough, it is required to develop the gluten in the dough. The yeast brings elasticity that lightens and fluffs the dough, much like bread dough. When making these rolls, keep on mixing even after you think you've mixed enough!
RISE THE DOUGH OVERNIGHT
While I developed this recipe as a quick-bake cinnamon roll, more flavor develops in the dough if you allow it to rise overnight. The dough has more time to rise, leading to a more developed, yeast-bread flavor. This yeast flavor is a perfect pairing with the sweet filling and frosting.
USE A BREAD FLOUR MIX
After much trial and tribulation, I have found that a mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour is the perfect combination for cinnamon rolls. The bread flour gives a tender, thick, brioche-like texture that I think is perfect for this dish.
ROLL THEM UP TIGHT!
A loose roll will fall apart upon slicing and bake unevenly. Instead, begin with a very tight roll and keep that momentum throughout the roll. The dough is sturdy and can handle being rolled tightly due to its elasticity.
Can I Knead By Hand Instead of Using a Mixer?
Absolutely! Usually, I make my cinnamon roll dough via my electric stand-mixer which has the appropriate attachments for the kneading process, however, with these cinnamon rolls, I have had the pleasure of doing this all by hand and it wasn't difficult.
It just requires a bit more arm work, that's all! Plus, there’s nothing that a light drizzle of flour can’t help, right?! You'll basically follow all the steps for making the dough in a large bowl and once it begins to come together and can form a ball, then you'll begin working the dough in a front-to-back and folding motion a few times until you begin to feel the dough "soften" and become elastic-like. It took me about 5-6 minutes or so total. Not bad!
Perfect Occasions For Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
These events are a great excuse to eat cinnamon rolls!
- Holiday brunches
- Holiday fall or winter gatherings
- Self-care treats
- Potlucks
- Breakfast for dinner
- Lazy weekends
Actually, any time is a good time for cinnamon rolls, right (much like cake)? Bake away for a little weekday pep-up!
What Is The Best Way To Cut Cinnamon Rolls?
Ready to ditch the traditional knife and embrace a quirky method for cutting sweet rolls? It's time to bring out the dental floss. Yes, you read that right! Unflavored dental floss is the secret weapon for perfectly sliced cinnamon rolls.
Why? Because it slices from the inside out, avoiding any squishing mishaps that can happen with a regular knife. Simply run it along the bottom of the rolls, and cross the two ends over each other. Give it a pull, and voila! Your perfectly sliced cinnamon rolls are ready to bake. But if you're using a knife, remember to channel your inner lumberjack and saw gently back and forth without squishing the rolls.
How to Make Cinnamon Rolls Overnight?
If you don’t want to make your rolls on the same day, you can simply follow all steps (including the initial 1+ hour rise) and after cutting rolls and placing them into your baking pan, just cover them tightly (using foil paper of plastic wrap) and refrigerate them overnight or for 8-12 hours instead. The following day, remove from refrigerator and keeping them covered, let cinnamon rolls rise at room temp 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Can I Make Cinnamon Rolls Without A Long Rise?
Absolutely! When it comes to these cinnamon rolls or any for that matter, you always have the option of making them the traditional way which requires a 1-2 hours initial rise and then another 20-25 minute rise before baking OR an overnight option.
However, if you're in a rush to make these or don't want to deal with a long rise time, you can simply create your dough and do a quick rise (20-25 minutes) and placing them straight in the oven to bake. Either way, cinnamon rolls are AMAZING and worth whatever wait time you choose!
Can I Make These Cinnamon Rolls Gluten-free?
Absolutely! If you're looking to make these GF, I recommend substituting both flours with Bob's 1:1 Baking flour and slightly reducing the amount by 1 cup, slowly adding more if the dough is too sticky.
Strawberry Shortcake Cinnamon Rolls Q + A's
Cinnamon rolls can be kept fresh at room temperature when tightly wrapped or sealed for up to 3 days. Fresh for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2 months.
Basically, the main reason why your rolls aren't rising is because the yeast didn't fully activate as it should. All in all, your ingredients were TOO HOT or TOO COLD for the yeast to create a warm enough environment to do it's thing and "activate".
However, when using Rapid-rise or quick-rise yeast, it's usually easier to maneuver since it doesn't necessarily need to be "bloomed" before using. It's not dormant as regular active dry yeast, which makes it more convenient!
OK, so the great debate has been the idea of needing to add heavy cream or yogurt to your cinnamon rolls in order to add moisture. Now, I've seen many people top their cinnamon rolls with a few cups of heavy cream right before baking after it rises to create a soft, tender roll, BUT I've found a better trick.
Simply, make your glaze/frosting a few minutes before your rolls are out of the oven, then once you take them out, allow them to SLIGHTLY COOL for 10 minutes before topping half of your glaze atop the warm rolls. This way, it'll melt and seep through your rolls and add moisture. Then after 5-10 minutes, add the remaining glaze as your "final layer" and wallah! PERFECTLY MOIST ROLLS!
OK, so you might think it's possible, but you can totally make cinnamon rolls, including these strawberry cinnamon rolls without yeast, if you ever need to! Just know that the texture wouldn't be as brioche-like or fluffy, and they'll be more dense, but still good.
Instead of yeast, you'll just need to substitute with 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder to allow some level of rise to occur.
More Must-Try Cinnamon Roll Recipes
- Overnight Vegan Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll
- Pumpkin Chai Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
- Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls
- Best Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls
MADE OUR RECIPE(S)?
If you tried this Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls recipe or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. And don't forget to tag @orchidsnsweettea_ on Instagram and hashtag it #orchidsandsweettea! I love hearing from you!
Vegan Chai Latte Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
CHAI TEA:
- 1 ½ cups Almond milk, unsweetened (You can use your fave plant-based milk!)
- 3 black tea bags, premium
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1-2 Tbsps chai spice blend
DOUGH:
- 3 cups organic all-purpose flour (See Notes!)
- 2 cups organic Artisan bread flour
- ½ cup organic cane sugar + 1 Tbsp
- 1 packet Rapid Rise Yeast (That's 2 ¼ tsps!)
- 1 ¼ cups Chai tea mixture, WARM (Save the remaining ¼ cup tea mixture for glaze)
- ¼ cup WARM water
- 6 Tbsps vegan butter, melted + cooled until WARM
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
FILLING:
- ½ cup organic brown sugar
- ¼ cup vegan butter, softened at room temp.
- 2 tsps ground cinnamon
GLAZE:
- 3 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
- 4 Tbsps vegan butter, softened at room temp.
- 3-4 tablespoon cooled Chai tea mixture
Instructions
TO MAKE THE CHAI TEA:
- In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, add the milk and bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes. Add the tea bags and let it boil for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and let everything steep for 5-6 minutes.
- Once fully steeped, remove tea bags and whisk in 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon allspice, ½ teaspoon cardamom, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper until dissolved and combined. Let cool completely.
FOR THE DOUGH:
- Combine yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and slowly pour in WARM water while stirring frequently. Allow 5-10 minutes for the mixture to sit and for the yeast to activate.
- Add in the room temperature chai tea mixture and warm melted butter to the yeast mixture and whisk until well combined. Add in the vanilla and whisk to combine.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, and sea salt and add them to the wet ingredients and mix on low-speed until well combined and everything begins to form into a dough-like consistency, about 2-3 minutes.
- Change “Mixer head” to kneading accessory and knead dough for 5-10 minutes on high speed until dough ball becomes smooth and elastic and dough springs back when lightly pressed together with 2 fingers. NOTE: If dough is still too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until texture is achieved!
- Lightly grease a large bowl with a small amount of olive oil and place the dough ball in the bowl, tossing it around until coated. Cover with plastic wrap (or a towel) and let sit for 1 hour, allowing the dough to rise and double in size.
- In the meantime, you can work on the filling!
FOR THE FILLING:
- Add the softened the butter (best if done at room temp. so that it's more "paste-like" in texture once smeared) in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon and brown sugar, mixing them together. Set aside.
ASSEMBLY + BAKE:
- Once the dough has risen fully, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang from the sides.
- Add a bit of flour to a surface and place the dough onto it, lightly adding a bit of flour to the top. Using a rolling-pin, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape (approximately 9″x14 and ½-inch thick), trimming the edges if needed. NOTE: Try not to make the dough too thin or else rolling it up will be hard to do!
- Then, generously add ¾ of the softened butter atop dough (spreading it out evenly with a spoon or knife), followed by the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture, ensuring that the top is coated evenly. NOTE: I also use a 'pastry brush' to sweep sugar mixture evenly across the dough to ensure that every bite is sweet!
- Tightly roll dough (long-ways) and using a pastry cutter, cut dough into 1.5" rolls, placing each roll (cut side down) into a large baking dish (lined with parchment paper!).
- Then place plastic wrap over the baking dish with rolls, smear the tops with remaining softened butter and let them rise again (for another 20 minutes).
- Once the rolls have doubled in size (once again!) or have gotten significantly larger, bake them for approximately 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
- While all the baking magic is happening, make the Cream Cheese Glaze.
FOR THE GLAZE:
- In a bowl, beat (using a hand-mixer) the softened butter until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and remaining Chai tea mixture, beating everything together until the glaze becomes smooth and velvety. NOTE: Add additional milk (1 tablespoon at a time) if the glaze is too thick or powdered sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) if too thin.
- Spread the glaze atop the rolls using a rubber spatula evenly until generously covered.
- To serve, cut out each roll desired and enjoy.
- Bon Appetit!
Tips & Tricks
- TO STORE: Leftovers can be kept fresh at room temperature when tightly wrapped or sealed for up to 3 days. Fresh for up to 1 week in the Refrigerator. Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2 months.
- RAPID (INSTANT) RISE YEAST VS. ACTIVE DRY YEAST: If you’re not using the Rapid Rise Yeast for this recipe, please know that the rise time will be twice as long (about 3 hours) since regular Active Yeast doesn’t work as quickly.
- OVERNIGHT OPTION: If you don’t want to make your rolls on the same day, you can simply follow all steps (including the initial 1+ hour rise) and after cutting rolls and placing them into your baking pan, just cover them tightly (using foil paper of plastic wrap) and refrigerate them overnight or for 8-12 hours instead. The following day, remove from refrigerator and keeping them covered, let rolls rise at room temp 1 to 1 ½ hours.
- FLOUR: If you don’t have bread flour, you can always just use all-purpose flour entirely instead.
- GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: If you're looking to make these GF, I recommend substituting both flours with Bob's 1:1 Baking flour and slightly reducing the amount by 1 cup, slowing adding more if the dough is too sticky.
- TEA BAG: You can also use a chai tea bag blend instead if preferred.
Nutrition
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These look so yummy!! My partner loves chai spiced stuff - he'll love these!! Pinning to try over the holidays!!
Cinnamon rolls are always a surprise treat in my house. These sound amazing! Def gonna h a to give them a try!
These look perfectly fluffy! Can't wait to make them for Christmas breakfast.
Absolutely delicious cinnamon rolls! They were perfect, I might even love them more than the classics. That chai spice was a brilliant idea too!
Love a good cinnamon roll and chai tea so I'm sure I'll love this recipe that combines them both!
I definitely need this recipe for my vegan family members!!! They look delicious!!!
Oh Wow! These sounds amazing! I want to make them! Thanks for sharing
The addition of the chai spices made these cinnamon rolls irresistible! They’re perfect paired with a piping hot cup of coffee!
Omgggggg! These look like a dream come true! Amazing work!
I think the fact that these are chai AND vegan make them even better for me. I love the creativity of this recipe