Sourdough Orange Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

ByLaRee Colburn Updated on
4 Comments

Sharing is caring!

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This sourdough orange cinnamon rolls recipe combines a delicious orange-flavored dough that wraps around layers of fragrant cinnamon sugar and citrus warmth into each spiral. Topped with an orange glaze, these rolls are full of fresh orange flavor that your family will love.  

fresh baked sourdough orange cinnamon rolls in a cast iron pan next to a blue pinstripe towel with a slice of orange

Quick Look: Orange Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

  • ⏱️ Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • 🍳 Cook Time: 30 minutes (plus 8 hour ferment time)
  • 🕒 Total Time: 8 hrs, 45 minutes
  • 👥 Servings: 12
  • 📊 Calories: ~326 kcal per serving (based on nutrition panel)
  • 🔥 Cook Method: Oven-baked in cast iron skillet
  • 👩‍🍳 Flavor Profile: Sweet and slightly tangy with bright orange zest, warm cinnamon spice, and soft, tender sourdough layers.
  • ⭐ Difficulty: Easy – beginner-friendly, mostly mixing, shaping, and baking.

SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON

Key Takeaways
Make a Checklist
Apply this to Me
Add us as a Google Trusted Source
Jump to:
pan of sourdough orange rolls

What kind of flour is best for chocolate cinnamon rolls?

Bread flour will give you the fluffiest and softest cinnamon rolls, but you can make cinnamon rolls with a variety of flours including whole grain or all purpose.

Be sure to watch our full tutorial on how to make your own sourdough starter here.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here

Ingredients

  • Orange juice
  • Sourdough starter - Active sourdough starter is preferred, but sourdough discard works just fine too providing you are rising them overnight if you’re not adding the baking soda and baking powder into the recipe.
  • Butter - melted butter is my favorite fat to put into these rolls, but you can also use melted beef tallow or coconut oil.
  • Sweetener
  • Sugar is what I use most often, but you can make these with honey or cane sugar as well.
  • Salt
  • Redmond real salt is my favorite, but any kind of salt will do.
  • Eggs
  • Farm-fresh eggs are always best.
  • Flour
  • Bread flour will make the most fluffy rolls, but I’ve made these cinnamon rolls many times with all-purpose flour.  You could also make them with whole-grain flour, but they wouldn’t be quite as fluffy.  
  • Baking powder & baking soda- Optional - only needed if baking right away with no rise time.
  • Fresh orange zest
  • Orange Icing
  • Powdered sugar
  • Orange Juice

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here

How to Make This Orange Cinnamon Roll Recipe

To make the orange dough, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the first six ingredients.

If using a mixer, start mixing on low and slowly add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

If you’re not using a mixer, add the flour to the other ingredients in the bowl and knead until the dough comes together into a nice ball.  Stretch and fold or knead the dough every 15-30 minutes for a couple of hours.  This will develop the gluten similar to how the mixer develops it by mixing.

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin to ¼” thick in the shape of a rectangle.

Spread the butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and orange zest on the dough (see video).

Roll up dough, beginning with the long end of the rectangle.

Using a sharp serrated knife, cut rolls into 12 equal pieces.

Place in a greased cast iron skillet or baking dish.

For the long fermented version:

Cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place overnight.  If you need to wait longer than overnight to bake them, place them in the refrigerator, and pull them out to finish rising a couple of hours before baking.

You can also freeze the cinnamon rolls at this point, and take them out of the freezer to raise and bake later on.

For the quick version:  proceed with baking.

Baking The Orange Rolls

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place rolls in the prepared pan. Bake rolls for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

While the rolls are baking, mix up the cream cheese frosting.

Remove from the oven and spread the frosting over warm rolls. 

Serve with a cool cup of orange juice or milk.

Savor every bite!  Store any leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to one week, although I know they'll never last that long.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21 

Tips

  • To gain all of the health benefits from making these with long-fermented sourdough, be sure to allow them to bulk ferment at room temperature overnight.  This will ensure that most of the phytic acid and gluten in the flour are consumed by the sourdough starter making these much easier to digest especially if you are gluten intolerant.
  • If your sourdough starter is really thin, you may need to add a little more flour to this recipe.  I always mix them until the dough pulls away from the sides of my mixer bowl, or until it’s not super sticky if mixing up by hand.
  • You can mix these sweet rolls in a mixer (my favorite is a Bosch), or just mix up the dough and do a series of kneading or stretch and folds every few minutes for about an hour to develop the gluten in these rolls.  Then just roll them out, shape and allow to rise until double and then bake.
  • You can use string to cut the orange cinnamon rolls if you’d like, but I find that cutting them with a knife works just fine for my family.
  • The cinnamon sugar and other filling ingredients can be mixed together first and then spread on the dough, or added individually as shown in the video.
  • It is perfectly safe to add the eggs to this dough and still allow the dough to bulk ferment at room temperature overnight because the good active bacteria in the sourdough starter will prevent any bad bacteria from forming on the eggs.

FAQ

If you add too much flour to your dough, they won’t be as fluffy.  You don’t want a sticky dough, but not a super dry dough either.  Make sure you give them enough time to rise, I prefer to raise them overnight.  You can make quick cinnamon rolls with baking powder and baking soda as the leavener, but they won’t be as fluffy as the rolls you allow to rise overnight.

Allow them to rise until they are fluffy.  Make them with active sourdough starter.

More Recipes Like This

sourdough orange rolls

Orange Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

These soft, pillowy sourdough cinnamon rolls, infused with bright orange zest and a hint of natural tang, are the perfect balance of cozy and fresh.
LaRee Colburn
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rise time (optional) 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 45 minutes
Serving Size 12

Equipment

  • 1 Stand mixer You can mix these rolls up by hand, but I usually use my Bosch mixer and just mix up the dough while I’m cleaning up supper dishes in the evening.  This makes the rolls fast and easy to make.
  • 1 measuring cups and spoons
  • 1 Rolling Pin
  • 1 sharp knife
  • 1 cast iron skillet

Ingredients

  • ½ cup orange juice
  • ½ cup sourdough starter
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sugar or honey
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4-5 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional - only use if baking right away)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda (optional - only use if baking right away)
  • 2 tablespoon orange zest

Filling 

  • ½ cup melted butter
  • 1 ½ cups brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoon orange zest

Orange Icing

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoon orange juice

Instructions

  • To make the orange dough, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the first six ingredients.
  • If using a mixer, start mixing on low and slowly add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  • If you’re not using a mixer, add the flour to the other ingredients in the bowl and knead until the dough comes together into a nice ball.  Stretch and fold or knead the dough every 15-30 minutes for a couple of hours.  This will develop the gluten similar to how the mixer develops it by mixing.
  • Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin to ¼” thick in the shape of a rectangle.
  • Spread the butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and orange zest on the dough (see video).
  • Roll up dough, beginning with the long end of the rectangle.
  • Using a sharp serrated knife, cut rolls into 12 equal pieces.
  • Place in a greased cast iron skillet or baking dish.

For the long fermented version:

  • Cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place overnight.  If you need to wait longer than overnight to bake them, place them in the refrigerator, and pull them out to finish rising a couple of hours before baking.
  • You can also freeze the cinnamon rolls at this point, and take them out of the freezer to raise and bake later on.
  • For the quick version:  proceed with baking.

Baking The Orange Rolls

  • When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place rolls in the prepared pan. Bake rolls for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
  • While the rolls are baking, mix up the cream cheese frosting.
  • Remove from the oven and spread the frosting over warm rolls. 
  • Serve with a cool cup of orange juice or milk.
  • Savor every bite!  Store any leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to one week, although I know they'll never last that long.
  • If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21 
Rate this Recipe

Notes

To gain all of the health benefits from making these with long-fermented sourdough, be sure to allow them to bulk ferment at room temperature overnight.  This will ensure that most of the phytic acid and gluten in the flour are consumed by the sourdough starter making these much easier to digest especially if you are gluten intolerant.
If your sourdough starter is really thin, you may need to add a little more flour to this recipe.  I always mix them until the dough pulls away from the sides of my mixer bowl, or until it’s not super sticky if mixing up by hand.
You can mix these sweet rolls in a mixer (my favorite is a Bosch), or just mix up the dough and do a series of kneading or stretch and folds every few minutes for about an hour to develop the gluten in these rolls.  Then just roll them out, shape and allow to rise until double and then bake.
You can use string to cut the orange cinnamon rolls if you’d like, but I find that cutting them with a knife works just fine for my family.
The cinnamon sugar and other filling ingredients can be mixed together first and then spread on the dough, or added individually as shown in the video.
It is perfectly safe to add the eggs to this dough and still allow the dough to bulk ferment at room temperature overnight because the good active bacteria in the sourdough starter will prevent any bad bacteria from forming on the eggs.
QR Code

More Breakfast

I'm a homeschool Mom of 5, living out my dreams of growing a simple, sustainable life on our Nebraska homestead. I'm passionate about gardening, preserving, cooking from scratch and baking with sourdough. I enjoy milking Jersey cows and making our own dairy products. Come along with me as I share with you the skills you'll need to be successful at homesteading and frugal living.

5 from 2 votes

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




4 Comments

  1. I tried this recipe and had to toss the dough - it never came together. I believe you are missing the eggs in the recipe list … when I looked at your other cinnamon rolls recipe it contained eggs.

    Reply

    1. Oh my goodness you are right! Yes, there should be 2 eggs in it. I'm SO sorry you had to toss the dough. I fixed the recipe, and I really appreciate you letting me know.

      Reply