Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
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These easy Cinnamon Roll Pancakes are soft, fluffy, and swirled with buttery cinnamon sugar before being topped with a sweet glaze.
Do you love cinnamon everything like I do? Have no fear, my Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats, Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake Bars, One Hour Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls, Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing, and Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Bread are just a click away!
Why This Recipe Works
Delicious, for any occasion: Breakfast is an excuse to eat cake when it’s not your birthday. Or someone else’s birthday. Or a wedding. Do I need to tell you how yummy this cinnamon roll pancakes recipe is? I think you can tell from the photos alone. I’m telling you, you’ll need to make some room at the top of your favorite breakfast recipes for this one. So very tasty.
Easy: These pancakes are easier to make than you think. You make a normal pancake batter, swirl in some cinnamon sugar and then when they’re done cooking, add a glaze over top like you would maple syrup.
Kids love them: Did I mention eating these fluffy cinnamon roll pancakes is like eating dessert for breakfast? Kids love them for this reason, and adults will too!
Yeast-free: Making these homemade cinnamon roll pancakes is great because you get all the flavor of cinnamon rolls without having to add yeast or waiting for the dough to rise. Simply make the batter and pour and cook the pancakes as usual, then top with the glaze.
Ingredients
- Flour — You’ll need flour as your base. All purpose flour works well. To make the pancakes extra fluffy, consider sifting the flour into the bowl before mixing in the other dry ingredients.
- Sugar — Regular white sugar goes into the batter while brown sugar goes into the cinnamon/sugar swirl.
- Buttermilk — I use buttermilk in these homemade cinnamon roll pancakes but you can use regular milk if you prefer. Buttermilk gives them a little more tenderness and a very slight tangy flavor.
- Eggs — Eggs help bind the batter together.
- Vanilla — I use pure vanilla extract but you can use imitation if that’s what you have on hand.
- Brown Sugar — Add brown sugar to the cinnamon swirl mixture for a deeper, richer sweetness that becomes almost caramel like when cooked.
- Maple Syrup — If you don’t like maple syrup in your cinnamon swirl mixture you can skip it.
- Cinnamon — Cinnamon is a key ingredient in the cinnamon roll pancakes. Any kind of cinnamon is fine.
- Powdered Sugar — A third type of sugar you’ll find in these pancakes is powdered. Powdered sugar is the base for the vanilla glaze.
Here’s How You Make It
- First make the cinnamon roll pancake batter by whisking together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. The wet ingredients come together next in a jug or jar so you can pour it or just mix together the wet ingredients into another bowl.
- Combine the wet and dry by pouring the wet ingredients into the dry, then whisk until smooth.
- Make the cinnamon swirl by combining all the ingredients into a paste, then transferring this into a disposable piping bag or the bottom corner of a Ziplock bag. Cut off the corner of the bag or the tip of the piping bag.
- Cook the pancakes over a large skillet or non-stick frying pan set over medium heat. Spray the surface with cooking spray, then add about 2 tablespoons of pancake batter for each pancake, being careful not to crowd the pan or griddle with too many pancakes at once.
- When the pancakes are ready to flip, add the cinnamon mixture in a swirl pattern, making sure to keep the swirl in the middle ¾ of the pancake. Flip carefully to keep the swirl pattern.
- Keep these fluffy cinnamon roll pancakes on a plate under aluminum foil after they are cooked as you work through all of the batter.
- Mix the ingredients for the vanilla glaze together until it’s smooth.
- Serve the homemade cinnamon roll pancakes in stacks drizzled with cinnamon glaze.
FAQs
I prefer to add buttermilk to the pancakes because it gives a little bit of a tangy flavor, it works with the baking soda to make the pancakes fluffier, and it softens the gluten in the all-purpose flour, which also adds to a soft texture.
No buttermilk? No problem. I have been caught without this ingredient many times. Luckily there’s a simple way to make your own buttermilk in a pinch. For every cup of buttermilk you need, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to the milk. Stir this together and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes at room temperature. Once the milk starts to thicken a bit and look a little curdled at the top, it is ready to be used in your baked goods.
If you’d like to make pancakes out of store-bought cinnamon rolls, simply open the tub or tube and flatten each roll using a rolling pin. Then bake these flattened rolls on a griddle or in a pan until cooked through.
You can make your cinnamon roll swirl “dirty” by adding in some spices that you would associate with a chai latte. For example, add ginger, cloves, nutmeg, or cardamom to the swirl ingredients before piping into the pancakes and flipping. You could also add instant espresso powder to the swirl ingredients or a couple tablespoons of brewed coffee or espresso to the pancake batter in addition to the chai flavorings in the swirl batter.
Expert Tips + Tricks
- These pancakes with the glaze will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Store the glaze separately.
- To warm the glaze back up to spreadability, leave it to come up to room temperature for about 30 minutes or put the bag of glaze on a microwave-safe plate and microwave in 10-second increments until it’s reached desired liquidity.
- Make sure not to overmix your pancake batter. Some lumps are okay and you’ll never notice them once the pancakes are cooked.
- For a thicker pancake batter, allow it to rest for about 15 minutes before cooking.
More Recipes to Try
- Apple Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes – fluffy, fruity, and perfect for fall mornings!
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Pancakes – lush, creamy, and sweet enough to feel like dessert.
- Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes – bursting with berries and hearty oats for a cozy, early morning treat!
When you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag me on social – I love connecting with you and seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
Ingredients
For the Pancakes
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- cooking spray
For the Cinnamon Swirl
- 2 tbsp pancake batter
- 1 ½ tbsp brown sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp flour
- ½ tsp cinnamon
For the Vanilla Glaze
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tbsp vanilla
- 1 ½ tbsp water
Instructions
- To make the pancake batter, whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and the wet ingredients (except for the cooking spray!) in a jug. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and whisk until smooth.
- To make the cinnamon swirl, combine all the ingredients into a paste. Transfer to a disposable piping bag and cut a 1/4 inch hole in the bottom.
- Heat a large skillet or non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Prep with cooking spray, and cook the pancakes, using approx. 2 tbsp of batter for each. Just before you flip each pancake, swirl them with the cinnamon mixture, being sure to keep it away from the edges, and to flip them carefully not to spoil the pattern – practice really does make perfect with these! Keep the pancakes warm while you work in batches.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for the vanilla glaze until smooth.
- Serve the pancake stacks topped with the vanilla glaze.
Notes
- These pancakes with the glaze will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Store the glaze separately.
- To warm the glaze back up to spreadability, leave it to come up to room temperature for about 30 minutes or put the bag of glaze on a microwave-safe plate and microwave in 10-second increments until it’s reached desired liquidity.
- Make sure not to overmix your pancake batter. Some lumps are okay and you’ll never notice them once the pancakes are cooked.
- For a thicker pancake batter, allow it to rest for about 15 minutes before cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can’t tell you how happy I was to get to the ingredients and find this was a real recipe…not, “take a can of cinnamon rolls and smash it together with some pumpkin” !!! Thanks, I can’t wait to try this!
Made the pumpkin cinnamon pancakes this morning. They were a huge hit! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
These look so delicious! I am a big fan of breakfast.. especially when it has anything to do with pancakes. These would be the perfect thing to whip up on a Saturday morning in the fall, thanks for sharing!
Funny how the older we get, we enjoy eating breakfast. I’d eat these every morning for sure. … even in July! (Pumpkin is my most favorite!) Pinning and printing for tmrw’s brunch when the fam comes over. … they’ll live these!
I love breakfast and nothing is better than pancakes. These take pancakes to another level. Need them for breakfast!
looks like an amazing breakfast!
Oh this recipe came a few days late for me. On Sunday I decided to “create” my own recipe for pumpkin pancakes. DISASTER 🙂 They were SO bitter. I used baking soda instead of powder and I do not know if that was the culprit?! They were awful so thanks for the recipe!
Pictures are beautiful
BTW I did not eat breakfast either for a long time unless sweets were on the plate(pastry, crumb cakes, doughnuts, etc)
Have a beautiful day!