This Cinnamon Roll Casserole is Pure Breakfast Bliss!
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There’s nothing like the smell of cinnamon rolls coming out of the oven. So, why not create something full of cinnamon roll goodness in a breakfast casserole form? I like to call it my Cinnamon Roll Casserole. Think cinnamon rolls meet French toast. Yeah, you know that sounds heavenly!
Cinnamon Roll Casserole
In my home, we are all huge fans of the cinnamon roll in many different forms.
I’ve made red velvet cinnamon rolls, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and even Cinnabon French toast. I use my homemade cream cheese frosting recipe for the glaze—and let me tell ya, they’re all amazing.
When I really want to send a cinnamon roll over the top, I’ll also top it with my praline sauce, like I do with my pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
Making homemade cinnamon rolls is a lot of fun, but it can be quite time consuming. That’s why this cinnamon roll casserole is my new favorite recipe!
It’s a delicious breakfast casserole, and I love making it for my whole family. You can’t beat how simple it is to make.
You’re gonna want to make this easy recipe right now. At this very minute. Yes, it’s that good!
Why You’ll Love This Cinnamon Roll Casserole
- Saves Time: The use of store-bought cinnamon rolls saves you so much time in the kitchen by not having to assemble cinnamon rolls.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: You can prep everything the night before, cover with plastic wrap, and pop it in the fridge. Just bake it the next morning for a stress-free breakfast bake.
- Great for Special Occasions: It’s perfect for a Christmas morning breakfast, birthday breakfast, or a weekend brunch. When I take it to ladies brunches, everyone bombards me asking for the recipe!
Cinnamon Roll Casserole Ingredients
- Melted Butter: Adds a rich flavor and helps keep the cinnamon roll pieces from sticking to your baking dish.
- Refrigerated Cinnamon Rolls: The packages come with included icing, making it so easy (but I still prefer using my homemade cream cheese frosting!).
- Eggs: Eggs help bind everything together while baking. It gives the casserole a soft, custardy texture you’d find in a French toast bake.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Using heavy cream gives your casserole that gooey, melt-in-your-mouth feel, just like traditional cinnamon rolls.
- Ground Cinnamon: Adds a warm cinnamon flavor that fills your kitchen with the smell of cinnamon rolls while it bakes.
- Vanilla Extract: Using vanilla extract brings a sweet, warm depth to the casserole.
- Chopped Pecans: Adds a nutty crunch to the top of the casserole.
- Maple Syrup: Drizzle this over the top before baking for a sweet maple syrup flavor. It also helps give the casserole a golden brown finish on top.
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Casserole
Preheat the Oven: Set your oven to 375°F.
Prepare the Baking Dish: Pour melted butter into a 3-quart baking dish or coat it with nonstick cooking spray. This helps keep the cinnamon roll pieces from sticking.
Cut the Cinnamon Rolls: Grab the refrigerated cinnamon rolls (with the included icing set aside). Use a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or kitchen shears to cut the cinnamon roll dough into 6 small pieces (each roll gets cut like this). Spread them evenly over the melted butter in the baking dish.
Make the Egg Mixture: Using a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy whipping cream, ground cinnamon, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Pour and Top: Drizzle the egg mixture over the chopped cinnamon rolls. Sprinkle with chopped pecans, then drizzle on 1/4 cup of maple syrup.
Bake: Place the dish in your preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until the casserole is golden brown on top and set in the middle. Let the casserole cool for about 10 minutes before adding icing.
Add the Icing: Remove the lids from the icing containers that came with your store-bought cinnamon rolls. Microwave the icing for about 15 seconds, just until it’s thin enough to drizzle. Stir in 1 teaspoon of maple syrup for extra sweetness if you’d like, then drizzle over the top of the casserole.
Cinnamon Roll Casserole Recipe Add-Ins
- Swap Out The Nuts: You can swap the pecans for walnuts or sliced almonds.
- Use Cream Cheese Icing: For a richer, Cinnabon style flavor choose cinnamon rolls that come with the cream cheese style icing.
- Top With Bacon: Everyone loves bacon! Surprise your family by crumbling bacon on top instead of nuts.
Ways to Serve Cinnamon Roll Casserole
- With Breakfast Meats: This casserole goes great with a side of crispy bacon or sausage.
- Holiday Brunch Spread: Pair this cinnamon roll breakfast casserole with fresh fruit, onion scrambled eggs, and a cup of hot coffee with homemade coffee creamer on Christmas morning or Easter brunch.
- Whipped Cream: A dollop of whipped cream on top adds a light and creamy touch. It’s pretty to look at too!
- Dessert Style: Warm up individual servings and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Trust me, it’s just as good after dinner as it is for breakfast!
How to Store Leftovers
Once your casserole is cooled, cover it tightly with plastic wrap or transfer it to an airtight container.
Pop it in the fridge, and it’ll stay fresh for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to enjoy it again, just warm it up in the microwave or oven until heated through.
For best results, drizzle a little sweet maple syrup on top before reheating to keep it gooey and delicious.
Cinnamon Roll Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons of melted butter or baking spray
- 2 cans 12.4 oz each refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing (icing reserved)
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup chopped Pecans
- ¼ cup maple syrup and 1 teaspoon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Pour melted butter into a 3 quart baking dish or spray it with non stick cooking spray.
- Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 6 pieces - place the chopped cinnamon rolls over the melted butter.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon and vanilla until combined. Drizzle the mixture over the cinnamon rolls. Sprinkle with pecans; drizzle with ¼ cup maple syrup.
- Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove covers from the icing; microwave for about 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. Stir in 1 teaspoon of maple syrup. Drizzle over the cinnamon roll casserole.
Thanks for this easy breakfast recipe – looks really good!
This breakfast casserole looks amazing!
This is the bomb! I can’t wait to try this!
that looks so good!
could you sub the cream for milk?
Yes, I’m sure you can.
I will be making this soon yum
I’ve beenaking this for over a decade. This is from pillsbury. You should at least site them for the recipe.
It is adapted from Pillsbury’s Cinnamon French Toast Bake recipe, & it does state so in the recipe box in this post with a link back to the original recipe. Maybe you didn’t notice it, but I appreciate your concern! I try my best to link back to original recipes & inspiration!
Lucky you didn’t go jumping to conclusions there…
Can you eat this for a dessert at room temp?
Yes – although it’s much yummier heated up a little in the microwave! 🙂
I so want to make this! And to try it with egg nog!
I made this today, and the bottom was real soggy – what did I do wrong – not cook it long enough or what, otherwise very tasty. Thanks
Hmm, I’m not sure. I’ve never had a soggy issue with mine. Maybe it sat too long before going in the oven – or maybe not cooked long enough… I’m really not sure!
Mine too, the top looked beautiful and done but the bottom was soggy and the middle was raw/doughy. The done parts were great though!
This looks amazing! I think I might go a step farther and put some chopped bacon on top. Everything is better with bacon, right?
Oh man, that sounds GOOD! Great idea!
This looks so wonderful. What a great holiday casserole.
Making this this weekend for family. I know they will love this.
Is this a good recipe to make a day ahead and pop in the oven in the morning? Or will having it sit in the fridge overnight make it soggy?
I’ve never tried it like that, so I’m not sure. If you do try it, please come back and let me know how it turns out!
No I use this recipe at the restaurant my mom owns and it does great sitting in the fridge overnight!
Made this this weekend and it was gone in 15 minutes. Family said ” You should have made 2.
Yay, that’s great to hear!
Do you think you could make it with raisins in it?
Yes, you most certainly can!
Husband LOVED it!
So happy to hear that!
This is a fabulous dish. I made it for a family breakfast over Christmas and everyone devoured it. I even had one of the men ask for a copy of the recipe. It’s a keeper
I made this a month ago and it’s already been requested again. Will be making my second one in half an hour. 🙂 Thanks so much for this.
In fact I love this so much I’m going to throw a link on my blog back to it real soon.
http://www.SkinnyMommyTruths.com
I have made this recipe several times when we have had company visiting. Nothing left over and asked for the recipe. So easy and delicious.
I hate that you had that issue! Maybe next time you could try using a longer/wider dish as opposed to a deeper dish. That should get rid of any sogginess.
I’ve made this twice, and the middle is always doughy after the cooking time, but the top is brown. Any idea what is going wrong? Thanks?
Try cooking it in a more shallow dish – if the dish is too deep, then that could definitely happen as there is not enough room to for everything to cook properly.
i add a teaspoon maple extract to the frosting and mix the pecans into the casserol so they dont burn this was great im making tonight so i can just pop it in the oven for my b-day
It’s also very tasty using pie filling! When I make it this way, I spray the pan with ‘Pam’, put desired pie filling on bottom of pan (cherry & blueberry are awesome!), then cut-up rolls followed by liquid mixture. Super decadent!!
So want to try this for a family breakfast on a vacation, since it looks easy to pull off! Question, though, the Pillsbury version says it serves 12, while yours serves 6. Are you thinking what are actually more realistic size servings? Should I double your recipe if I am serving 6 adults and 3 kids?
I added apples. The original recipe was great, but I wanted to add a little something. I used soy milk instead of cream and it was fine.
I also had an undercooked middle but I know what I did wrong, my dish is not a 3 quart as specified in the directions. Looking at the picture of the cut up rolls in the dish mine looked similar so I gave it a try. Next time I will remember that they need to look a bit more spread out for them to took properly in my oven. I just scooped out the parts that were cooked and put the rest back in the oven for 15 more minutes and I was able to save it. Great recipe for breakfast or dessert, so yummy! I will make it again, but I’ll try using my 13×9 pan next time 🙂
This recipe is so delicious, the maple syrup in the glaze and bread pudding is a perfect match. Thanks I give this recipe a 5 star , easy and delicious.
Just made it for Easter brunch, it is fantastic! Needs spiced apples or peaches! ????
I have made this every Christmas for the past 3 christmases and is our new tradition and a family favorite