These low carb cinnamon rolls have the same delicious texture as traditional cinnamon rolls, but without the high carbs or using fathead dough!
Easy Keto Cinnamon Rolls
While my delicious fathead cinnamon rolls recipe is very popular at this time of year, I really wanted a keto cinnamon rolls recipe that didn't use cream cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese since my daughter is lactose free.
I wanted soft cinnamon rolls that had that fluffy cinnamon roll, pull-apart consistency, without it being a cheese-based dough (fat head dough) and we've nailed it!
You will not be disappointed with these delicious keto cinnamon rolls and dare I say, you may even like them better!
Perfect on a low carb diet or keto diet and a perfect way or celebrating special occasions, like Christmas morning!
These Low Carb Cinnamon Rolls are fluffy, light and do not taste eggy. Using a combination of yeast and xanthan gum results in the perfect soft dough that tears like bread and pulls like a real cinnamon roll!
Please don’t skip or try to substitute either of these as the dough will not work the same.
If your yeast doesn’t foam, it could be because your dried yeast is old, the water is too hot or too cold so please make sure you use a reasonably new yeast and the water is just warm.
Please don’t worry about maple spiking blood sugar. It won’t as it’s used up by the yeast, but you do need a real sugar really to make this recipe work.
Allulose syrup won’t activate the yeast. I tried that and it failed!
These are the Best Keto Cinnamon Rolls without cheese in my opinion, but if you prefer to use my coconut flour cinnamon rolls recipe using fathead dough, you can find that here.
Carbs in Traditional Cinnamon Rolls
According to the Cronometer app I use, one Pillsbury Cinnamon roll with icing has 23.5 g carbs. Way too high for someone on a keto diet and would definitely kick you out of ketosis.
Full of sugar, so not ideal if you are working on a sugar free diet or need to lower your blood sugar.
Carbs in our Low-Carb Cinnamon Rolls
Our cinnamon rolls have 12 total grams of carbs that also includes the sugar free cream cheese frosting with 12 grams of protein, 6 grams dietary fiber and 6 g net carbs.
Keto Cinnamon Roll Recipe
Keto Dough Ingredients
large eggs
unsalted butter
ground almonds or almond meal-Almond flour is ok to use but do not use super fine.
psyllium husk powder-ground is fine to use also but do not use whole flakes.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Add the water and maple to a glass bowl. Warm, Bain Marie style, over a pan of simmering water to 105 - 100F.
If you don’t have a thermometer, you want the water to feel just warm. Not hot or you will kill the yeast.
Remove bowl from the pan and add the yeast. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
The mixture should be bubbly. If not, start again as too cold water won’t activate the yeast, and too hot will kill it.
Once the yeast has proofed (foamy), add the eggs, melted butter and apple cider vinegar. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer and process until combined.
Add all the dry ingredients to a clean large bowl: almonds, coconut flour, psyllium powder, whey protein powder, allulose, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt. Use a hand mixer to mix well.
Scoop about ¾ cup of dry mix into the wet at a time, mix with your hand mixer, gradually adding more dry mix until it’s all used up. Mix well to combine then allow the dough to sit for 10 minutes.
The dough should still be sticky. Split the dough into 2 to make it easier to roll. Oil your hands with some avocado oil. This is crucial to stop the dough sticking to them and make it easier to roll.
Spread the first piece of dough on a silicone mat or pieces of parchment paper, using a rolling pin to make dough about ½ inch thick.
Recipe Note: If you only make a quantity of 8, it will be about 15 x 20 inches large rectangle. We made 10 rolls for this recipe.
Storage
Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days, and yes they still remain soft! Keep the icing separate.
Option to warm in the microwave after a couple of days to bring back the squishiness… if they last that long of course!
These Low Carb Cinnamon Rolls can also be frozen (best to freeze without the frosting.)
Can I make these Nut Free?
We used a combination of almond flour and coconut flour so I would still recommend keeping in the coconut flour.
But yes you can make these almond flour cinnamon rolls without almonds!
You can easily swap using ground sunflower seeds or sunflower seed meal in place of the almonds in the same amount in the recipe.
Can I swap the low carb sweetener?
When making any recipe keto, but especially cinnamon rolls keto friendly, ingredient swapping is not recommended for best results.
The sugar substitute you use does matter in this recipe if you want the best results for the chewy texture and resemblance to traditional cinnamon buns.
If you can't get the granulated Allulose where you live, I would recommend using this combination of Monk Fruit with erythritol.
Can I make these sugar-free cinnamon rolls ahead?
Yes you can make and roll but don't bake. Freeze or refrigerate covered with plastic wrap.
Baking time will increase about 15 minutes extra when prepped and held in fridge for a few days before baking.
More Holiday Keto Recipes
Sugar Free Keto Best Cinnamon Rolls
Low Carb Keto Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon water divided
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or inulin
- 1 tablespoon active dried yeast
DOUGH
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups almond flour or almond meal or ground almonds
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 4 tablespoon psyllium husk powder or ground but not flakes
- ¼ cup whey protein
- ¼ cup allulose granulated
- 1.5 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
CINNAMON FILLING
- 3 tablespoon allulose granulated
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground ginger
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- ¼ cup cream cheese room temperature
- 3 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1.5 tablespoon allulose powdered or liquid
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon water optional to thin
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Add the water and maple to a glass bowl. Warm, Bain Marie style, over a pan of simmering water to 105 - 100F. If you don’t have a thermometer, you want the water to feel just warm. Not hot or you will kill the yeast.
- Remove bowl from the pan and add the yeast. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. The mixture should be bubbly. If not, start again as too cold water won’t activate the yeast, and too hot will kill it.
- Once the yeast has proofed (foamy), add the eggs, melted butter and apple cider vinegar. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer and process until combined.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a clean large bowl: almonds, coconut flour, psyllium powder, whey protein powder, allulose, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt. Use a hand mixer to mix well.
- Scoop about ¾ cup of dry mix into the wet at a time, mix with your hand mixer, gradually adding more dry mix until it’s all used up. Mix well to combine then allow the dough to sit for 10 minutes.
- The dough should still be sticky.
- Split the dough into 2 to make it easier to roll. Oil your hands with some avocado oil. This is crucial to stop the dough sticking to them and make it easier to roll.
- Spread the first piece of dough on a silicone mat or pieces of parchment paper about ½ inch thick. Recipe Note: If you make a quantity of 8, it will be about a 15 x 20 inches large rectangle.
CINNAMON FILLING
- Mix the granulated sweetener with cinnamon and ginger and sprinkle half all over the rectangle leaving about 1 cm round the edge.
- Hold the mat / parchment and gently roll up the dough to create a log.
- Cut into pieces using a sharp knife, oil your knife for clean cuts.
- Repeat for the remaining dough. Recipe Note: Overall, you will have 2 logs, each log you will cut half your servings (5 rolls) per log.
- Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and lightly grease with butter, ghee or coconut oil. Add the rolls cut side up leaving a bit of a gap in-between as they will expand as they proof and cook.
- Preheat the oven to its very lowest setting 40 - 50F.
- Place the rolls in the oven and let the proof for 50 minutes.
- Once proofed (they will increase in volume), remove from the oven. Raise the oven temperature to 350F / 180C / 160 fan.
- Brush the buns with melted butter.
- Loosely cover the low carb cinnamon rolls with aluminum foil (don’t seal the edges over the tin) and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 5 - 10 minutes of the baking process to brown the top. Allow to cool.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- Whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. Adjust the sweetness to taste and add water, if desired, to thin.
- To serve, spread cream cheese frosting on the top of the cinnamon rolls.
STORAGE
- Airtight container for 4 days of freezer for 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Wanda Starks
I tried this recipe with great hopes. It took over 3 hours between mixing, proofing, baking, cooking and frosting. The texture was dry and grainy. Too much effort to be disappointed!
Brenda Bennett
Sorry you had a grainy texture. What brand of sweetener did you use? Grainy texture is often due to the sweetener used.
Wanda Starks
I used allulose. I also used ground almonds so I would have almond meal because my almond flour was super fine. Maybe that was the problem? It was alot of effort but I froze them and will eat them 🙂
Jeanne M James
Thank you for this recipe... Even though I haven't tasted them yet, I know they will be good. They have just finished proofing and now are in baking. This is my Christmas treat when the rest of the family are having regular cinnamon rolls.
Patti
would love to try these, but only have glucomannan, will that work in place of the xanthan gum?