Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls

Homemade strawberry cinnamon rolls are fluffy and soft with a gooey strawberry center that melts in your mouth. These fruity sweet rolls are bursting with strawberry flavor and are glazed with a deliciously creamy strawberry frosting. 

For more strawberry recipes, make my strawberry pound cake and strawberry crumb cake! 

Every year around this time, I become obsessed with strawberries. I have over 15 strawberry recipes on my blog right now, and it’s for good reason. Strawberries are freaking delicious! So after strawberry pound cake, crumb cake, and even strawberry crumble – it was time to do some strawberry cinnamon rolls. 

And boy oh boy, did we do it. These are truly the ultimate strawberry rolls. You can literally cut each roll with a spoon! These rolls are bursting with strawberry flavor – the filling is made with fresh strawberries cooked into a homemade strawberry compote, only to be complemented with strawberry cream cheese frosting that hugs each cinnamon roll like a glove.

They’re a fun twist on classic cinnamon rolls, ideal for Mother’s day, Valentine’s day, and even Easter Brunch celebrations! 

Ingredient Highlights

(full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card)

• Bread flour – bread flour will yield the best results, however, all purpose flour will work too. Bread flour has higher protein content and make the rolls nice and chewy while providing more structure to the rolls. Highly recommend, but not mandatory.
• Fresh strawberries – you can use frozen or fresh strawberries here. If using frozen, do not allow them to thaw, simply throw them into the saucepan as you would fresh berries.
• Active dry yeast – you can use instant yeast as well, but I prefer active dry yeast because you can always make sure it’s alive by blooming it in liquid first. There’s nothing worse than making a yeasted dough recipe and you do all of the work only to see that the dough doesn’t rise because the yeast is bad.
• Salted Butter – be sure to use room temperature butter. This will ensure that the butter is fully incorporated into the dough.
• Spices – cinnamon and nutmeg actually bring out the flavor of the strawberries! Besides, it’s not cinnamon rolls without the cinnamon!

Frosting Ingredients

• Cream cheese – this is for the strawberry cream cheese icing. They kind of give these rolls a cheesecake-like flavor. Perhaps I should’ve called these strawberry cream cheese cinnamon rolls instead. In any case, the cream cheese adds a richness to the glaze that is beyond delicious! 
• Powdered Sugar – aka confectioners sugar. We’re gonna add this to the strawberry glaze to sweeten and thicken it up! 
• Lemon Zest – this is to brighten the recipe a bit. The touch of lemon zest really pairs beautifully with all of the strawberry flavor and balances all of the sweetness.

Tips for the Best Cinnamon Rolls

• Use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients. Specifically, you’ll want to weight everything in grams. When you go to the recipe card, switch the units to metric and you’ll get all of the gram measurements there. This ensures the most consistent results. 
• Cut the cinnamon rolls with unflavored dental floss. Of course a serrated knife or sharp knife will work, but you get the cleanest cut with dental floss! It sounds crazy but trust me on this one!
• Make sure that your yeast is active! Expired yeast will not rise. When you dissolve the yeast in the milk, if it doesn’t become nice and foamy, it’s 9/10 probably bad. Don’t use it, you’ll need to get a new pack.
• Roll each roll nice and tight! This will give you those perfect spirals when they bake up in the oven.

How to make Strawberry Rolls

Prep the strawberry filling

• Begin by making the strawberry filling. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the strawberries begin to soften, about 20 minutes. Mash the berries occasionally with a fork or wooden spoon to help release the juices and allow the strawberries to break down.
• When the strawberries have broken down and the sauce becomes slightly thickened, mix together cornstarch and water in a small bowl to create a slurry, then pour into the strawberry sauce. Mix together and cook for another 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens and becomes paste-like (akin to strawberry jam), about 3-5 minutes. Set aside to cool. (Image 1)

Make the cinnamon roll dough

• Add bread flour and all purpose flour to a large mixing bowl. Whisk together and remove 3 cups of the flour mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. (you will have 3 cups of flour in the bowl of a stand mixer and 3 cups of flour in a large bowl). (Image 2)

• To the bowl of a stand mixer, add 1 cup whole milk and mix until well combined (a shaggy dough will form). Cover, and let rest for 30 minutes. (Image 3)

• To the large bowl with the remaining flour mixture, add sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk and set aside.
• In a small bowl, microwave ½ cup milk until warm, about 105-100 degrees F. Add yeast and remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Whisk together. Let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Then add eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined. 
• To the stand mixer bowl, once the dough has rested, add remaining flour mixture and yeast/milk mixture. Using your hands, gently knead ingredients together until a dough forms, focusing on incorporating everything into one cohesive dough.
• Return bowl to stand mixer and fit with the dough hook attachment. Beat at medium-low speed until dough becomes smooth, about 2-5 minutes. Begin adding butter 2 tablespoons at a time. Continue to beat until smooth, about 5 minutes. 
• Stop mixer and perform the windowpane test. (Pinch off a piece of the dough, and gently stretch it between two fingers. If you can see through it, the dough is ready. If the dough breaks, continue to beat for 2 minutes more and then repeat the windowpane test.) (Image 4)

• Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

Assemble the rolls

• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and stretch into an 18×12-inch rectangle. (Try to avoid using a rolling pin to keep as much air in the dough as possible.) 
• Remove 3 tbsps of the strawberry filling into a bowl and set aside. Use the back of a spoon to spread remaining filling onto dough. 

• Using a unflavored dental floss, a sharp kitchen knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 12 equal strips. Roll each strip into a tight spiral and place, spiral side down, into a prepared baking dish. Cover and let rise until puffy, 25 to 40 minutes (second rise). 

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). 
• Bake in the preheated oven until the tops of the rolls are golden brown, about 30-35 minutes. 
• For the icing: In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter with a handheld mixer at medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar, add heavy cream, and lemon zest and continue to mix until fully combined and smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add vanilla bean paste and the reserved strawberry filling; beat until well combined, about 20 seconds. Spread icing onto warm cinnamon rolls. (If you prefer your icing to be thick like that on cake, let cinnamon rolls cool for 30 to 45 minutes before adding the icing.) 

Storing Leftovers and Making Ahead

Storing: The best way to store leftover cinnamon rolls is in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Because of the cream cheese in the frosting, you’ll want to store them in the fridge. If you like warm rolls, pop them in the microwave for a few seconds prior to eating. The icing may melt a bit but with cinnamon rolls, the messier the better in my book!

Making ahead: You can make the dough ahead of time. Prepare it as instructed and when it’s time for the dough to rise, cover it and place it into the refrigerator overnight. (do not exceed 24 hours) Let the dough sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then resume with preparing as per the recipe card. 

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