Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls From Scratch

I’ve tested and baked countless cinnamon roll recipes over the years, and these Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls are one of my favorites to make! They’re soft, fluffy, and swirled with plenty of cinnamon and sugar, then finished with a rich cream cheese icing that melts into every bite. Whether you’re surprising someone special or just want a fun weekend baking project, this recipe is a reliable way to create a festive and delicious treat right at home.

I've been making homemade cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning for a few years now. They are a delicious, special occasion breakfast. With Valentine's Day just around the corner I thought I would try something a little different.

I've been loving red velvet cakes, red velvet brownies, and red velvet cake mix cookies lately, so I thought I would give this a try. These buns became "red velvet" buns when I added cocoa and red food coloring.

They aren't too sweet on their own, but add the delicious cream cheese frosting and you have a real treat! If you love cinnamon rolls, be sure to check out these Bisquick cinnamon roll recipe, Amish cinnamon rolls, and Instant Pot Cinnamon Rolls too!

Why You'll Love These Red Velvet Roll Recipe

• They are a fun twist on the classic cinnamon rolls! These cinnamon rolls have cocoa and red food coloring. Perfect for Valentine's Day!
• The kids can help! Let the kids sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on the dough or roll the dough. When the rolls are baked, let the kids ice the cinnamon rolls too!
• They are easy to make! You would like that cinnamon rolls are hard to make, but these are surprisingly easy to make and very impressive!

Ingredients to Gather

You only need a few simple ingredients you can easily find in your local grocery store!

• Milk. Whole milk or 2% milk will work. We are using milk instead of water to give the dough some more texture and flavor. The milk should be just warm, not too hot and not cold. Too cold and the yeast will take too long to rise.
• Sugar. White sugar and brown sugar will be needed. Brown sugar gives the filling that ooey gooey texture and the white sugar makes the cinnamon bun dough just slightly sweet.
• Active Dry Yeast. The yeast helps make the dough light and fluffy. Without yeast, this dough would be flat and not a light texture.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder. You'll want to use a good quality unsweetened cocoa powder. You can easily find this in the baking aisle in the grocery store.
• Red Food Coloring. This is red velvet cinnamon buns after all!

See printable recipe card for full recipe information on ingredients and quantities.

Equipment To Make Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls

Here are all of the items that I used that I think might be helpful for you to make these buns!
Stand Mixer
Hand Mixer
Rolling Pin
9x13inch Pan
Red Food Coloring- In this recipe I used a lot of red food coloring. You want the dough to be really red, and there is a lot of dough. I used a tablespoon of red food coloring either gel food coloring or liquid food coloring.

How To Make Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls

Add the milk, sugar, unsalted butter, salt, yeast, and food coloring to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Mix that to combine everything. Add the eggs and the sour cream and mix again. Then you will add the flour and cocoa.

The stand mixer is now going to do all the kneading for you. Keep the mixer on medium high for about 4 minutes so it can thoroughly knead the dough. The red velvet dough should be smooth and all come together.

Once the dough is done in the stand mixer, lightly oil a larger bowl and place the dough in the oiled bowl. Cover that will plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours until it is doubled in size. If your house is colder, it will need a little more time, closer to 2-3 hours. It's more important that the dough has doubled in size.

After the 2 hours is up, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll dough until it is about 18 inches by 12 inches. The dough will be very sticky, so don't be afraid to use flour when you need it.

Making the Red Velvet Cinnamon Roll Filling

The filling for these red velvet cinnamon buns are really simple to make. It is just brown sugar and cinnamon. You will need to melt butter and brush the butter onto the rolled out dough. Be generous here, you don't want to have any spots that aren't covered in butter on the dough.

When everything is covered in butter, sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over all of the dough.

Once you have placed the cinnamon and sugar all over the dough, it's time to roll the dough into a large log. To do this, take the side of the dough that is closest to you and roll it up so you are rolling away from you. Try to get the dough as even in width as possible. Cut the dough into 12 even buns.

The easiest way to do this is to cut the log in half. Then, place the two halves of the log right next to each other, and cut them down the middle evenly. You should now have four logs of dough (as shown below). Then do the same thing, put the four log next to each other and this time cut them into 3 pieces each, so you should end up with 12 buns.

Place the buns into a well greased 9x13 inch baking pan and cover with plastic wrap for one hour until the are doubled in size. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes.

How to Make the Icing

Add the room temperature cream cheese and butter into a bowl and beat them until they are combined. You can do this with a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, either will work. Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.

Continue to beat that until it is the consistency you are looking for. If you would like it a little thinner, feel free to add more milk, and if you would like it thicker, add more sugar. Ice the buns when they are still warm so the icing melts into all the cracks of the cinnamon buns! To make it even easier, you can use 3 ingredient cream cheese frosting!

Red Velvet Roll Recipe Tips and Tricks

• Change it up and make these plain cinnamon buns. In order to do that, just leave out the cocoa and the red food coloring.
• Make sure your yeast is fresh. If the yeast is expired, the dough will not rise properly.
• Feel free to add raisins, nuts, or even chocolate chips to the filling!
• Cream Cheese icing is most common for cinnamon buns like these, but you could leave out the cream cheese and just do vanilla, butter, and powdered sugar. That's delicious as well!
• Make them mini! Just like mini cinnamon rolls, these would be so delicious to make mini for the kids or for a brunch table!

Storage Tips

To make this the night before, once you slice the buns and place them in a greased pan, cover them and refrigerate them. In the morning when you are going to bake them, take them out about an hour before they are going to go into the oven so they can come to room temperature. Then bake them as you normally would.

Leftovers should be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat, place a cinnamon bun on a microwave safe plate and microwave for 1 minute, or place the cinnamon bun in the toaster oven for 2 minutes to gently reheat.

Questions About Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls

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