Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
These vanilla pudding cinnamon rolls are incredible! Fluffy and soft, the dough is a dream to work with and the frosting is perfection.
This recipe for my tried-and-true vanilla pudding cinnamon rolls is amazing!
The vanilla pudding makes the dough extremely soft and pliable. Once baked, the cinnamon rolls are so softy and fluffy!

Cinnamon Roll Dough with Pudding
This recipe has gained fame and fortune (ok, just fame) because of the secret ingredient:
Vanilla pudding.
Homemade or boxed, store bought pudding can be used.
Boxed pudding: 3.5 ounce box of instant vanilla pudding.
Homemade pudding: about 2 1/4 cups of cooked and mostly cooled vanilla pudding.
Other than the pudding, the dough is really straightforward. The dough is soft and supple and needs to rise until doubled before rolling out into cinnamon rolls.
Rolling Out Cinnamon Rolls
Pat the dough into a large rectangle and slather with butter and then an healthy sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar.
Roll up the dough into a log. Take care not to pull and stretch the dough while rolling or the rolls can shrink while baking.
Using a super sharp serrated knife or piece of thread or unflavored dental floss, cut the log into 1 or 1 1/2-inch pieces.
Place the cinnamon rolls on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubled.
Bake until puffy and golden. PERFECTION.
When to Frost Cinnamon Rolls
There are two schools of thought on when to frost a cinnamon roll. Neither is wrong, so go with your heart!
- Let the rolls cool for 5-10 minutes and then frost. RESULT: ooey gooey frosting oozing into every crevice of the cinnamon rolls.
- Let the rolls cool completely before frosting. RESULT: fluffy frosting complimenting the pillowy soft cinnamon roll.
Reviews for Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Rolls
These cinnamon rolls have been a tried-and-true favorite for more than a decade. Here are a few rave reviews from many of you who have fallen in love with them over the years:
Cooke F.: I have made these cinnamon rolls for the last 7 Christmas morning breakfasts. My family is addicted. Soooo good.
Kristina: The best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made!
Gina: I’ve made these lots and they turn out perfect every time. They are the BEST. So decadent. Rave reviews from family, friends and coworkers. Thank you! 🙂
Kathy W.: I thought I had the best cinnamon roll recipe in North America but I was sadly mistaken. I made these this morning and they are to die for! No kidding. I just about made myself sick eating these delicious and gooey cinnamon rolls.
How to make these cinnamon rolls ahead of time
This post on making cinnamon rolls ahead of time applies perfectly to any sweet roll!
Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Rolls:
- ½ cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3.5 ounce package instant vanilla pudding (see note)
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 to 7 cups (852 to 994 g) all-purpose flour
Filling:
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (424 g) brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
Frosting:
- 8 ounces (227 g) cream cheese
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups (342 g) confectioner’s sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook), take pudding mix and prepare according to package directions. Add butter, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast mixture. Blend.
- Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Do not overflour the dough! It should be very soft but not sticky. Place in a greased bowl.
- Cover the dough and let rise until doubled (if using boxed pudding, it may take quite a while to double because of the cold milk – see note below).
- Roll out the dough on a lightly greased or floured surface to about 34 X 21 inches in size. Take 1 cup soft butter and spread over surface.
- For the filling: in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the buttered dough. Roll up very tightly. With knife put a notch every 1 1/2 inches. Cut with thread or serrated knife.
- Place on lightly greased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Cover and let rise until double again.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden (don’t overbake). Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting (combine butter and cream cheese and mix well, then add vanilla and sugar and mix again, then add milk for desired consistency).
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally posted September 2008; updated August 2022 with new photos, recipe updates, etc.
Anonymous – I’m wondering if you have the right kind of pudding. I just pulled a box out of my pantry to check the size. It is a small box of instant pudding mix and it is 3.4 oz (96 grams). The instructions say to add 2 cups milk to the dry pudding mix. Look on your boxes of pudding and use whichever box calls for only 2 cups milk. I’m not sure why the measurements are different on the pudding boxes – it is hard to know if we are talking about the same product so let me know if you still have questions!
fmandds – I laughed when you wrote that you told your coworker no for thirds. Too funny. I’m glad you liked these – I can eat the cream cheese frosting by the spoonful, too.
I keep wanting to make cinnamon, but haven’t as of yet. These look delicious. I’ll have to star these for a particularly sinful moment.
I am a complete cinnamon roll glutton. This version sounds really, really good to me so, as with everything else you make, I’m sure I’ll have to make it very soon! How are you doing?
Psychgrad – thanks for letting me know you made and enjoyed these. I agree on the guilt-inducing thing. Sorry about that. Looking forward to seeing your post about them!
I came across your blog and can I just say I am In love with your baking and cooking! I have made these yummy rolls twice in a week. Once for my husbands sales meeting last Friday and then again last night for my Bro In Law and his family. I just ate one and said to my husband ” I can’t believe I made these!” They are heaven on a plate. Thanks so much i am sure I will be making these for years to come. Keep the recipies coming 🙂>Natalie
Natalie – thanks for your comment, it was so nice! I’m very glad you liked these cinnamon rolls. They are a huge hit at my house, too. Thanks for checking in!
Mmm, wow. I wrote in my blog the other week, that I am on a cinnamon roll quest. I have found one I like but now I think I have to try this recipe up against it. 🙂 >>I’ve added vanilla pudding mix to cookie dough, and those are awesome, I can only imagine how these turn out! I will have to find out, soon!
OK, Ryan just said said he wanted to make cinnamon rolls this weekend. We’ve never done it and this looks like a really tasty recipe. I hope I can wait, I’m licking the screen.
I totally wrecked the first try! I didn’t read the amount of pudding needed so I put the large box in! Way too runny!!! Do you think pre-made pudding would work (i.e. Swiss Miss)?
I bet premade pudding would be perfectly fine. I have made this recipe of Mel’s for several years, and used to use the boxed kind as the recipe states, but then a few years ago my daughter was discovered to be intolerant to artificial food dyes and the boxed pudding has a lot of chemical yellow coloring. So I started making vanilla pudding from scratch using Mel’s recipe and I use that in this cinnamon roll recipe instead — DIVINE!
Me too, Melissa! I should update the recipe with a new post using homemade pudding. Thanks for the reminder!
Seriously – can I just hire you to come and cook for me until I find the energy to do it myself again? These sound soooo good!
okay i was just about to make these… and 2 tablespoons of yeast really? I mean I have no room to question… but that just seems like so much. can you confirm that for me?>>Thanks!!!>>Eagerly wait to bake!!>>Monica
Hi Suzanne – I’m glad the icing recipe helped out a bit! I’ve heard that adding pudding mix to several things (cake mixes, cookies, etc.) make them even more delicious – it sounds like you’ve tried that out with cookies already!
Melody – I’m so bummed these didn’t work out for you! I can imagine they would have been very runny with the larger box of pudding.
I don’t know about the premade pudding – it’s worth a try but I’ve never attempted it myself.
Oh my goodness, these look so good I think I may faint!
I just made these today and they were fantastic! My husbands adjective for them- AMAZING! Your recipes never disappoint! Thanks
Nikki – thanks for checking back in to let me know how these turned out. I chuckled when I read your comment because my husband told me the EXACT same thing. Great minds think alike, eh? Glad they turned out for you!
I have been wating for this recipe ever since you posted about it a while ago. THANK YOU!
Anonymous – all I can say is we must be kindred spirits since I don’t have self-control when it comes to eating, either! I’m so glad you liked these rolls.
Darrin and Britta – I’ve thought several times I wanted to try the night-before method and put the rolls in the fridge, but I have never actually tried it. I think it will work just fine but if you put them in the fridge right after you shape them into rolls, I would take them out of the fridge the next morning in time to come to room temperature and rise like normal. They’ll probably still rise a bit in the fridge overnight so maybe taking them out an hour before baking would work? Sorry I don’t have an official answer but that would be my recommendation. Be sure to let me know what you do so I can use your expertise!
i had a pregnancy craving for cinnamon rolls and tried these. they made so many i took some to playgroup and got lots of compliments and requests for the recipe, i’ll be sending them here. they were yummy! next to my mom’s it’s my 2nd favorite recipe. thanks!
Hi, I often look to your blog for awesome recipes. I want to make these cinnamon rolls tomorrow. We have a friend I was going to make some goodies for tomorrow and these are the winner. However, I was trying to figure out if 1/2C. of water is all the recipes really calls for or if that is a typo. I can’t imagine with 6 cups of flour is all you need is a 1/2C. of water. If you could post and let me know that would be fabulous.>Thanks!!
I am so excited to try this recipe! Could you please tell us the approximate wait time for the dough, and later the rolls, to double in size? Thank you!
Okay, so I am not sure if I should thank you or be very upset. These are hands down the best cinnamon rolls I have ever tasted (sorry Grandma!!). I can’t believe they turned out so great on my first try!! You are very right about the pudding, it makes a huge difference! Now, about the upset part. I think I have gained 6 pounds today. However, it is obviously not your fault that I have no self control and cannot stop eating them!! >>Thank you SO much for the recipe. I stumbled on to you blog and now I am afraid I am hooked!!
I loved this recipe!!!! It was so easy and SO delicious!! Thank so much.
Just made my first batch. Yum. Yum. Yum.
I just made these tonight. They’re really good. Quite guilt inducing. But very good! I’m going to pawn them off on my colleagues tomorrow because keeping them in my house would be trouble. I’m going to post about them later this week. Thanks to you and Aunt Marilyn for the delicious recipe.
Thank you, Melanie. I was trying to calculate what time to get up to have these rolls ready for my family in the morning. I am SO excited for the weekend — fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast!
I’ve been thinking about making these for awhile and I finally did last night. They were great! I refrigerated them overnight b/f the final rising. It took about 1 hour this morning in a warm place to double in size prior to baking them. I also used 2 13×9 inch baking pans, not cookie sheets and they worked great. The recipe turned out fabulously and I’m sure it will become my go-to cinnamon roll recipe. Thanks!
Thanks for clarifying on my water question. I really should have read first the directions before just jumping to that conclusion. I should never question your cooking b/c all your recipes come out great!! >Thanks!!
hey there – i was the one w/the pudding question…turned out we had accidentally bought the sugar-free kind. i got the regular pudding today and am just finishing up my batch of rolls now – maybe we don’t have to make dinner afterall!!
I want to make these for when my mom visits this week…but I’m wondering about the instant pudding. I have two boxes of the jello instant kind, and the small box is 1oz, the big box is 1.5oz. Should I really use enough to make 3.5oz?? Thanks for the help!
I made the frosting and tasted it and it doesn’t taste right. It tastes just like butter. Why and what can I do to change the flavor?
Anonymous – hmmm…this is a pretty standard cream cheese frosting recipe so I’m not sure why it would be tasting just like butter. If you want a stronger cream cheese flavor, try adding more cream cheese and powdered sugar. Sorry it didn’t work out for you!
i have a ? do i need to put the cinnamon rolls in the fridge because of the icing? by the way, these are superb. i think i like them better than mt grandmas recipe. thank you for posting the recipe.
Anonymous – technically, yes, the frosted rolls should probably be put in the fridge because of the cream cheese in the icing but I’ve been known to leave them out overnight with no problems. I’m glad you like this recipe, thanks for letting me know!
I made orangette’s cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago. They were okay, not out of this world, which set me on the path to finding the best cinnamon roll recipe I could. These are on my list for this week. They look incredible!! I’ve never considered putting something like pudding in my dough, although, a friend of mine makes scones with vanilla pudding and they are divine. Thanks for sharing, when I get to the recipe I’ll let you know how they turn out! Thanks again!
Hey missmallory – ok, I’m double crossing my fingers you like these cinnamon rolls, mostly because I haven’t met a cinnamon roll that compares! Let me know.
I made these yesterday and all I can say is YUM! But I only used 1/2 the butter for the filling and only about 2 TBS in the frosting and I think they turned out perfect. This will for sure be a family favorite!
Tara – thanks for letting me know you loved these and also giving me your changes on butter amounts. So I guess with those changes, these could definitely be considered health food, right??
I made these cinnamon rolls last week and they were AMAZING! My husband was very skeptical because he hates my caramel rolls and said that he wouldn’t eat any of them. Well I proved him wrong. Needless to say we both ate way too many of them. Thanks for a great recipe!
Shante – I can’t believe your husband hates caramel rolls. Crazy! I’m glad these turned out for you and that you both liked them.
WOW!! I came across your blog whilst I was searching for a prawn(shrimp) enchilda recipe. I just made these scrolls and they are delicious, well worth the effort!! My scrolls are HUGE and the recipe made so many too! Could I freeze some, without the frosting I presume? I will make the enchilda recipe next! Thanks again from Christie in Australia
Christie – I love how you call the cinnamon rolls “scrolls.” Is that your own thing or is that what they are called in Australia? Sorry for being ignorant but I love it. These rolls can definitely be frozen. They work great frozen before baking but you can also freeze them after baking but I wouldn’t freeze them with the frosting. I’m glad you liked them!
Yes Melanie, not sure why but we all call them scrolls over here! Thanks for the tip about freezing before baking, I will definatley do that. I like the idea of fresh warm scrolls anytime I like! Thanks for a delicious recipe and I am looking forward to making the shrimp enchiladas & the slow cooker italian beef next. YUM!! Christie
Christie – let me know how you like the shrimp enchiladas and Italian beef! And I hope it’s ok if I adopt your use of the word scrolls. I love it.
I will do! Absolutley feel free to use “scrolls”- I love that you love it!!! I took some in to work today and a collegue asked for the recipe so I directed her to your blog! Christie
I can’t wait to make these. I have a question about freezing before baking though…can you tell me how you would do that? and then what you would do when you take them out of the freezer? I really want to make them, but maybe only bake 1/2 of them and freeze the other 1/2. thanks!
megan – when I freeze these, I form them into cinnamon rolls, place them on the prepared baking sheet and once the baking sheet is filled with cinnamon rolls, I cover with a layer of saran wrap and then a layer of foil and place them in the freezer (don’t let them rise!). When I want to bake them, I take them out of the freezer the night before and let them thaw and rise all night (about 8-9 hours). I bake them in the morning just like the recipe says. Let me know if you try it!
These were so good!