Easy sticky buns are made with a quick, made-from-scratch dough so you can have easy homemade sticky buns whenever you want them!
Sweet rolls are a total weakness for me. I love cinnamon rolls, caramel rolls, and sticky buns!
This easy sticky bun recipe starts with an easy homemade dough that's made in about half the time that it takes to make a traditional roll dough.
So, these sweet rolls can be ready whenever the craving strikes.
How are sticky buns different than cinnamon rolls?
Sticky bun filling uses less cinnamon than cinnamon rolls filling. Also, these buns are baked in a pan with the sticky topping underneath.
Cinnamon rolls are topped with icing or cream cheese frosting.
How to make sticky buns
The process is fairly similar to making cinnamon rolls.
First, make the homemade dough and sticky topping.
Then, homemade dough is rolled out, topped with filling, rolled up, sliced into pieces, and placed on top of a sticky topping.
How to store
They are best eaten when they're fresh and warm. If you have leftovers, simply cover, and store at room temperature.
Easy Sticky Buns
Ingredients
DOUGH
- â…“ cup milk low-fat ok
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- â…“ cup butter
- 3 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- ¾ cup warm water 105F – 115F
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
FILLING
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup butter softened
TOPPING
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup dark corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans optional
Instructions
- Grease a 9x13-inch metal baking pan; set aside.
- In a small saucepan, stir milk, sugar, and butter together. Heat over low heat just until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to about 100-105 F.
- Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add the yeast and warm water.
- Add 2 cups flour and salt to yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, mix on low speed for about 1 minute.
- With the mixer still going, add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time. Mix about 1 ½ minutes, or until dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl.
- Knead on low speed for about 2 more minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic – the dough will still be slightly sticky to the touch.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel.
- Let it rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 10 minutes.
- While dough is rising, prepare the topping.
- Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt together in medium bowl until smooth.
- Add water and whisk until combined.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan. If necessary, tilt pan to get mixture to cover pan. Sprinkle evenly with pecans, if using. Set aside.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and roll into a 12x16-inch rectangle.
- Stir filling ingredients together, and spread over dough. Since the filling is a little crumbly, I gently press it into the dough to help it stick.
- Roll dough up lengthwise, pinching seam to seal.
- Cut into 12 pieces, and place over topping in prepared baking dish. I use a serrated knife to cut the dough.
- Cover the baking dish with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F.
- Bake at 20-25 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.
- Tent with aluminum foil, and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until baked through.
- Let the sticky buns cool in pan for 5 minutes.
- Place a serving dish over the pan, and carefully invert pan. Be careful as topping will be hot.
- Remove pan, and replace any topping that has fallen off.
- Let buns sit 10-15 minutes before serving.
Angelina
I have never made yeast dough from scratch before but these came out wonderfully! My rolling out and filling skills leave a lot to be desired but hardly noticeable after baking. They are addictive while warm and still very tasty at room temp.
I made a little extra topping because I like extra drippy and next time I would add a dash of vanilla to the topping
to add some more richness! As though they aren't rich enough!!! OMG!
Kate
Thank you! I'm glad that you liked them!
Mary
I am so hungry for sticky buns I was going to send for some the the price is out of sight. I will be 84 on the 8th and I am going to try to makes these my myself for my Birthday. I pray they come out good. Thank you for sharing this .
Kate
Happy birthday!! I hope you enjoy the sticky buns!
Sondra
@Mary Happy Birthday! These are my Mom’s favorite too! Hope they turn out well for you! So easy! I’m going for Sunday Morning Sticky Bun Hero!
Kat
My dough had a lot of spring to it, it was really hard to get it to stay in a rectangle, even a sloppy one. Not sure how I went wrong because I followed the recipe exactly. Any thoughts?
Kate
Normally if there's a lot of spring when you check it, it means that it needs to rise a bit longer because the dough should slowly rise when pressed, not spring back. Hope that helps!
Kat
Is it really 3 1/2 tsp of yeast? That seems like a lot..
Kate
It is! The extra bit of yeast helps the dough to rise more quickly.
Daniela
Recipe came out great! I added pecans to the filling and cinnamon to the topping. I also subbed agave for the Corn Syrup. They came out amazing! Family Favorite for sure!
Kate
Thank you so much!
Caroline
The recipe and the instructions were perfect!
Will definitely make these sticky buns again!
Kate
Thank you so much!!
John J
Does this recipe take salted or unsalted butter?
Kate
I use salted butter in this recipe. If you would like to use unsalted butter, I would recommend adding a pinch or two of salt to the filling and an extra pinch of salt to the topping.
John J
I have no problem using salted butter, thanks for the quick reply!
Linda K Biven
Why are there no eggs in your dough recipe?
Kate
Eggs aren't necessary in this dough. The dough is sufficiently rich without any eggs.
Marijo Martin
First time trying sticky or cinnamon buns from scratch....and a novice with yeast...and these came out GREAT! The only change I made was using Active dry yeast instead of instant...I did this because I made the dough the night before and wasn’t sure how refrigerating the dough would affect the instant yeast....it worked great, I made the dough, rolled it out and filled with the cinnamon/sugar/butter filling, then tightly rolled into a log, then wrapped with Saran Wrap (sprayed with cooking spray first) then again with aluminum foil ...tightly with ends crimped so that the dough couldnt expand too much....and left in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I removed dough from refrigerator and let sit while I prepared the caramel topping, then sliced and put on topping, covered with towel and let sit for a total of about 30-40 min before baking as directed .. dough had risen some overnight but I mostly wanted to get it to room temp to bake.......they puffed up nicely while baking and were just delicious ! Thank you for the recipe!
Kate
Thank you! And thank you for sharing your notes! I hadn't tried making these buns and letting them sit overnight, so I appreciate you sharing those tips. =)
Melissa
Is there another way to make the dough if you don't have a stand mixer?
Kate
You can mix the dough by hand. You'll just need to add additional time to the kneading time (probably about 4 minutes of total kneading if done by hand).
Kathy
Made a double batch of these today and delivered them to family members. These are AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for sharing your awesome recipe! Was going to post pics, but couldn’t find a way to do it.
Kate
I'm so glad that you liked them! Thanks for taking the time to comment! =)
Mika
Making these now! I used active dry instead of instant cause I didn’t have any. Dough is resting now. Should it double in size? Also, can I roll out rolls, then rest in fridge until read to bake? (About 6 hours)?
I really don’t want to mess them up!
Kate
Hi! Are you asking about the first rise in step 9? If so, then no, the dough won't double in size during that rise. I haven't tried to rest the rolls in the fridge before baking, so I'm afraid I can't say for certain how that will work out.
Eric
As a pastry chef of 20 years it's not often I scroll for recipes but this looked too good. I wasn't disappointed! Thank you.
Kate
I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! =)
Candace
Salted or unsalted bitter?
Kate
I use salted butter. If you only have unsalted, you can use that. I just recommend adding an extra pinch or two of salt to the filling and to the frosting.
Alice
These turned out amazing! Thanks :)
Kate
You are very welcome! I'm glad that you liked them, and I appreciate you commenting! =)
Shirley LeClerc
Can I make these and warm th next morning? If so, how would I do that without them getting chewy?
Kate
You could try reheating them in the oven the next morning, but I haven't tried it to say for certain. Reheating in a low oven should help rewarm them without making them chewy.
Shortridge, Lori
Fabulous!! I laughed when a weight watchers add came up on the screen as I was making them :)
Kate
I'm so glad that you liked them! Haha! I'd love to know how they decide which ads to show where! =)
Maria Guerrero
Just made these and they were delicious. Thank u so much for this recipe.
Kate
Thanks! So glad that you liked them. Thanks for commenting!
MARIA GUERRERO
Can I use maple syrup instead of corn syrup?
lori
I was thinking the same thing.
Kate
The corn syrup helps to keep the topping from crystallizing. Honey and maple syrup both crystallize. So, you could try to sub in maple syrup, but the topping may end up with some crystallization in it. Hope that helps!
Candace
Is this calling for light brown or dark brown sugar?
Kate
You can use either one, but dark brown sugar will give you a little richer flavor.