Gluten Free Honey Buns - Irresistible Homemade Breakfast Recipe! (2024)

What You’ll Need

Below is a short overview of everything you’ll need to make these easy homemade honey buns. Be sure to scroll further down to the recipe card for the full ingredient amounts:

• Gluten-Free Flour: You can use your preferred blend of gluten-free flour.
• Xanthan Gum: Xanthan gum takes the role of gluten in baking, thickening the dough and binding the ingredients.
• Salt
• Half-and-Half: I find that half-and-half brings just the right amount of richness to the dough, without the added fat of full cream. Feel free to use full cream if you prefer.
• Instant Yeast: Be sure to check the labels on your fast-rising yeast, to make sure it isn’t expired.
• Butter: Salted or unsalted butter, melted in the microwave before you start.
• Honey: The star ingredient of these gluten-free honey buns! Honey is what sets these buns apart from your average homemade cinnamon roll.
• Egg:A single egg adds structure to the dough.
• Vegetable Oil: For greasing your hands as well as the bowl, when handling the gluten-free dough. Things can get a bit sticky!
• Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, and Butter: Combined, this makes up the filling for the honey buns. Be sure to take your butter out of the fridge about a half hour before you begin. It’s much easier to mix with the cinnamon and sugar at room temperature.
• You’ll also need Powdered Sugar (confectioner’s sugar), additional Half-and-Half, as well as Vanilla Extract to make an easy vanilla glaze.

How to Make Gluten-Free Honey Buns

Get your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Now, let’s get started on the dough for your gluten-free honey buns:

Make the Dough: First, combine flour, salt, and xantham gum. In a separate bowl, warm the milk in the microwave and then whisk in the yeast, melted butter, honey, and egg. Add the wet ingredients into the mixer with the dry ingredients, and blend until you’re left with a sticky ball of dough.

Let It Rise: Grease up your hands and then transfer the dough ball to an equally greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then leave it somewhere warm to rise. After about an hour, the dough should be doubled in size.

Preheat the Oven: Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Give it a spritz with cooking spray to help keep the buns from sticking too much.

Shape the Dough: Now, you’ll punch down the dough and turn it out onto a floured countertop. Shape it into a large, long rectangle.In a bowl, prepare a mixture of cinnamon sugar and butter.

Fill and Roll: Spread the sweet cinnamon butter in an even layer over the dough rectangle. Next, roll the dough up into a log. Finally, cut the log into 12 equal-sized slices about an inch or so thick. A dough scraper works great for this.

Bake: Get your pinwheels laid out on the prepared baking sheet, then spray them with a light coating of baking spray. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the buns are golden brown at the edges.

Glaze: Prepare a quick glaze of powdered sugar and half-and-half mixed with a dash of vanilla. After the honey buns have been left to cool for 20 minutes, dip the top of each bun into the glaze. Place the dipped honey buns onto a wire rack. Don’t forget to place parchment paper beneath the rack, to catch any drips!

Serve these gluten-free honey buns while they’re still warm. So yummy!

Can I Make Fried Honey Buns?

I love that these bake up golden and crisp in the oven, minus the excess oils that come with deep frying. Of course, if you’d prefer fried honey buns, they’ll be just as delicious! Here’s how to quickly deep fry your gluten-free honey buns instead:

1. Have your sliced buns ready on a lined, greased baking sheet.
2. Heat about 3 cups of vegetable oil in a skillet. Use a thermometer to check that the oil has reached 320ºF.
3. One or two at a time, carefully drop the honey buns into the hot oil. Fry until they’re golden on both sides. Make sure you take an abundance of caution when frying, and don’t leave your stove until you’re finished!
4. Place the fried honey buns on a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. After they’ve cooled a bit, dip them in the glaze as directed.

Tips for Success

Some added words of wisdom for making perfect honey buns at home:

• No Stand Mixer?: No problem, it just might take a little longer to bring the dough together. But you can absolutely use a spatula to combine the ingredients, and then knead the dough to form it into a ball. You’ll want to grease your hands with oil beforehand, to keep the dough from sticking.
• Add Pecans: Before rolling up your dough, sprinkle chopped pecans over top of the cinnamon sugar filling for a bit of added crunch.
• Let the Honey Do the Sweetening: Trust me, there’s no added sugar in these buns for a reason! Trust the honey to do its thing, and be rewarded with beautifully sweet sticky honey buns.

Shop the Recipe

• Stand mixers make it easy! Gluten free doughs and batters often have to be mixed, beaten, or whipped for a while. Save your arm muscles and get a stand mixer to make gluten free baking a breeze.
• Don’t get stuck! These yeast doughs can also be sticky. Instead of covering your counter with flour, keep it contained to a pastry mat.
• You’ll use these every day! Besides cookies, roasting veggies, and more, here is another use for my favorite Nordicware baking pans.
• Maybe you love the dishes! You can find a very similar option that is also available in blue.

Disclaimers: Please discuss your individual dietary needs (i.e. gluten free) with a physician. Even when not specified, be sure to verify all ingredients are gluten free, if needed, by reading labels on all packaging and/or confirming with the manufacturer this varies by brand and can change at any time. Nutrition information shown is an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate.