High Protein Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (No Yeast)
High protein pumpkin cinnamon rolls made with a Greek yogurt and pumpkin dough, no yeast and no rising time, with 20g of protein in each one.
These are the fall version of the cinnamon rolls I make most, and they go from bowl to oven in twenty minutes because there’s no yeast in them.
High protein pumpkin cinnamon rolls are made from a two-part dough of Greek yogurt and pumpkin puree mixed into bread flour, rolled with a cinnamon and pumpkin spice filling and topped with a protein cream cheese icing. This batch makes 6 large rolls at 20g of protein each, and they bake at 375°F in about 25 minutes.
No yeast means no proofing, no rising, and no waiting an hour to find out whether your dough did anything. Baking powder and baking soda do the lifting instead, and the Greek yogurt is what keeps them soft.
If you want the maximum protein version, my high protein cinnamon rolls come in at 22g a roll. These trade a few grams of that for the pumpkin, and I’ll explain exactly what that costs further down.
What You Need
Amounts are in the recipe card.
Bread flour. Not all-purpose. Bread flour has more protein in it, which builds more gluten, which is what gives a no-yeast roll enough structure to hold a spiral instead of slumping. It also adds to the protein total, which is not nothing across 300 grams.
Plain Greek yogurt. Three quarters of the amount the original uses, and it’s doing three jobs: protein, moisture, and the acidity that reacts with the baking soda. Use thick, strained, plain yogurt. Regular yogurt is too loose and the dough won’t come together.
Pumpkin puree. Pure pumpkin, not pie filling, which is pre-sweetened and would throw off the whole thing. This is the ingredient that changes the dough most, and there’s a section on it below.
Baking powder and baking soda. Both. Powder for general lift, soda to react with the yogurt for browning.
Granulated monk fruit sweetener in the dough and brown sugar monk fruit in the filling. Regular sugar swaps in one for one if you’d rather.
An egg yolk. Just the yolk. It’s fat and richness, and the white would make the dough tougher.
Light butter. A little to grease the dish and more softened for the filling.
Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. One teaspoon of each, in place of the two teaspoons of straight cinnamon in the original. Pumpkin pie spice is mostly cinnamon anyway, with ginger, nutmeg, and cloves behind it, so this reads as a warmer version of the same roll rather than a different one.
For the icing: light cream cheese, vanilla protein powder, vanilla extract, powdered sweetener, and water added a splash at a time.
How to Make Them
- Heat the oven to 375°F and grease your baking dish with a little light butter.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. Bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sweetener, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- Add the Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree, and egg yolk. Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough.
- Turn onto a floured surface and knead 1 to 2 minutes until smooth, adding flour as needed. Read the next section before you do this step, because the pumpkin changes how much flour you’ll need.
- Roll into a square about an inch thick.
- Spread the softened butter over it, then sprinkle the brown sweetener, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice evenly across.
- Cut into 6 strips and roll each one into a spiral.
- Set them spiral-side up in the dish with space between, and bake 22 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden and set.
- Make the icing while they bake. Beat the cream cheese, protein powder, vanilla, and sweetener, then add water a little at a time until it spreads.
- Ice them warm.
The Pumpkin Makes the Dough Wetter
This is the part that decides whether these work, and only one of the five top-ranking pumpkin cinnamon roll recipes mentions it at all.
Canned pumpkin puree is roughly 90% water. Thick strained Greek yogurt is not. So swapping 100g of yogurt for 100g of pumpkin puts noticeably more free water into a dough that was already on the sticky side.
Expect to use more flour than the original. The base recipe already says to add flour as needed while kneading, and with the pumpkin in there you’ll need more of it. Add it a tablespoon at a time on the work surface rather than dumping it into the bowl, because it’s much easier to add flour than to take it back out.
What you’re aiming for is a dough that’s just past tacky. It should pull cleanly off your hands and hold a shape when you press it, but still feel soft. If it’s smearing rather than kneading, keep going with the flour.
Don’t over-flour it either. A dry, stiff dough gives you dense, bready rolls with no give. There’s a window here and it’s wider than it sounds, but both edges are real.
Blot the pumpkin if you want tighter control. Spread it on a paper towel, press another on top, and lift away some of the surface moisture before it goes in. It takes a minute and it makes the dough behave much more like the original.
How Much Protein Is In These
Worth being straight about this, since it’s the reason you’re here.
My original high protein cinnamon rolls use 400g of Greek yogurt and come in at 22g of protein per roll. This version replaces a quarter of that yogurt with pumpkin puree, and pumpkin has almost no protein in it. That trade costs you a few grams.
These land at 20g per roll, which is still more than most cinnamon rolls you’ll find anywhere, protein-labeled or not. But it’s less than the original, and if the number is what matters most to you, make that one and add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the filling instead.
What you get for those grams is real pumpkin flavor in the dough itself rather than just spice in the filling, and a softer, more tender roll, because pumpkin does that.
Substitutions
- Regular sugar instead of monk fruit, one for one in both the dough and the filling.
- All-purpose flour instead of bread flour. They’ll be softer and slightly less structured, so handle them gently.
- Skip the protein powder in the icing and use powdered sugar. You lose a couple of grams and gain a more traditional cream cheese frosting.
Storing and Freezing
Room temperature: Airtight for up to 2 days, though they’re best the day they’re made.
Fridge: Up to 5 days. The icing means they’re better cold than most cinnamon rolls, and 15 seconds in the microwave brings them back.
Freezer: Up to 3 months. Freeze them un-iced, wrapped individually, and make the icing fresh. Cream cheese icing separates when it thaws.
High Protein Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 15 g light butter to grease
- 300 g bread flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 50 g 0 calorie white granulated monk fruit
- 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ tsp salt
- 300 g plain greek yogurt
- 100 g pumpkin puree
- 1 egg yolk
- 30 g light butter
- 50 g brown sugar monk fruit
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
For Protein Cream Cheese Frosting
- 60 g light cream cheese
- 45 g vanilla protein powder I used Vanilla Ice Cream Whey Isolate from 1UP Nutrition (code BAILS for up to 40% off everything)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp 0 calorie sugar alternative sweetener i used Truvia confectioners sugar
- 2-3 tbsp water added gradually
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375°F and grease your baking dish with a little light butter.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. Bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sweetener, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- Add the Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree, and egg yolk. Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough.
- Turn onto a floured surface and knead 1 to 2 minutes until smooth, adding flour as needed. Read the next section before you do this step, because the pumpkin changes how much flour you’ll need.
- Roll into a square about an inch thick. Yes, a full inch, that thickness is what gives you tall, bakery-style rolls.
- Spread the softened butter over it, then sprinkle the brown sweetener, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice evenly across.
- Cut into 6 strips and roll each one into a spiral.
- Set them spiral-side up in the dish with space between, and bake 22 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden and set.
- Make the icing while they bake. Beat the cream cheese, protein powder, vanilla, and sweetener, then add water a little at a time until it spreads.
- Ice them warm. Eat one immediately, those are the rules.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided is calculated based on industry-standard software and should be used as a general guide only. The information may vary depending on ingredient substitutions, cooking techniques, and individual serving sizes. It is the responsibility of the reader to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the nutritional information provided. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized medical or nutritional advice.
More Pumpkin and Protein Recipes
- Pumpkin Spice Energy Balls
- Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
- Pumpkin Spice Protein Donuts
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars
- Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Jars
If you make these, leave a star rating and tell me how much extra flour you ended up using. That’s the one thing that’ll be different in every kitchen and I want to know. Tag me @basicswithbails or save this for the first weekend it finally feels like fall.
About Bailey
I love to bake, cook, exercise, and document all of the above. Nutrition is not low fat. It is not low calorie. It’s not feeling deprived or being hungry all the time. It’s nourishing your body with real, whole foods so that you are consistently satisfied and energized to live your life to the fullest! Read more…
