Easy sticky buns are made with a quick, made-from-scratch dough so you can have gooey 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 rise time that it takes to make a traditional roll dough.
And the buns are so decadent! This gooey sticky bun recipe makes soft buns topped with a rich caramel glaze and crunchy pecans.
Since these sweet rolls are so quick, they can be ready whenever the craving strikes! So the recipe is equally perfect as a holiday breakfast or a weekend treat.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Milk: I usually use 2% milk in this recipe. Using whole milk will give you slightly softer, richer sticky buns.
- Butter: I use salted butter. If you would like to use unsalted butter, increase the salt by 1/4 teaspoon in the dough and add couple of pinches of extra salt to the filling and topping.
- Yeast: If you would like to use active dry yeast, let the yeast sit for 5-10 minutes in step 4 before continuing. If the yeast doesn’t foam, throw out the mixture and start again.
- Water: It’s important that the water be at the correct temperature. If it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast. If it’s too cool, it will slow the rising time.
- Flour: It’s key to properly measure the flour. Weighing the flour is the most accurate way to measure it. If you would like to measure by volume, sift or stir the flour, lightly spoon into the measuring cup, and level without packing it.
- Corn syrup: I used maple syrup in place of the corn syrup in my maple sticky buns. I’ve heard from people who have used molasses.
How to make sticky buns
Here you’ll find step-by-step photos showing how to make old fashioned sticky buns. The full recipe with ingredients is given below.
Sticky bun dough
Step 1: Grease a 9×13-inch metal baking pan; set aside.
Step 2: 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.
Step 3: Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Step 4: Add the yeast and warm water.
Step 5: 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, 1/2 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.
Step 6: Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel.
Step 7: Let the dough rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 10 minutes. While dough is rising, prepare the topping.
Topping
Step 8: Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt together in medium bowl until smooth.
Step 9: Add water and whisk until combined.
Step 10: Pour mixture into prepared pan. If necessary, tilt pan to get mixture to cover pan. Sprinkle evenly with pecans, if using. Set aside.
Filling and shaping
Step 11: Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and roll into a 12×16-inch rectangle.
Step 12: 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.
Step 13: Roll dough up lengthwise, pinching seam to seal.
Step 14: Cut into 12 pieces, and place over topping in prepared baking dish. I use a serrated knife to cut the dough.
Step 15: Cover the baking dish with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F.
Baking and finishing
Step 16: Bake at 20-25 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.
Step 17: Tent with aluminum foil, and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until baked through.
Step 18: Let the sticky buns cool in pan for 5 minutes.
Step 19: Place a serving dish over the pan, and carefully invert pan. Be careful as topping will be hot.
Step 20: Remove pan, and replace any topping that has fallen off. Let buns sit 10-15 minutes before serving.
Recipe Tips!
- Rising: Since the rising time is so short, it’s important that the rising spot be warm and draft-free. If your kitchen is cool, you can create a just such a spot by turning your oven on to 350F for exactly 60 seconds. Then, turn the oven off. This will give you a nice place for the dough to rise.
- Cutting the sticky bun dough: I use a sharp serrated knife to cut through the dough without smashing it. You can also use plain (unflavored) dental floss to cut the dough.
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 filled with more cinnamon-sugar mixture and are topped with icing or cream cheese frosting.
Storage
Sticky buns are best eaten when they’re fresh and warm. If you have leftovers, simply cover, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Easy Sticky Buns
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup butter
- 3 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- 3/4 cup warm water 105F – 115F
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
FILLING
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 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 9×13-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, 1/2 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 12×16-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.
Video
Notes
-
- Milk: I usually use 2% milk in this recipe. Using whole milk will give you slightly softer, richer sticky buns.
-
- Butter: I use salted butter. If you would like to use unsalted butter, increase the salt by 1/4 teaspoon in the dough and add couple of pinches of extra salt to the filling and topping.
-
- Yeast: If you would like to use active dry yeast, let the yeast sit for 5-10 minutes in step 4 before continuing. If the yeast doesn’t foam, throw out the mixture and start again.
-
- Water: It’s important that the water be at the correct temperature. If it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast. If it’s too cool, it will slow the rising time.
-
- Flour: It’s key to properly measure the flour. Weighing the flour is the most accurate way to measure it. If you would like to measure by volume, sift or stir the flour, lightly spoon into the measuring cup, and level without packing.
- Corn syrup: I used maple syrup in place of the corn syrup in my maple sticky buns. I’ve heard from people who have used molasses.
- Nutritional values are estimates.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Originally published 7/9/18.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Douglas Schadek says
Perfect!!
I’ve made yesterday, and i was exacly like this picture… As i used to eat from GoodWill 22 years ago.
Perfeito. Fiz e ficou exatamente igual eu comia nos EUA há 22 anos.
Kate says
Thank you!
Angele Cayen says
Hello I’m wanting to try your sticky bun recipe but I only have clear corn syrup is that ok to use
Kate says
Hi! Light and dark corn syrup are function interchangeably in a recipe.
Marissa says
Can these be made ahead of time? Like maybe a day ahead?
Kate says
Hi! I created the recipe with speed in mind, and the recipe uses more yeast to help rise within a shorter period of time. If you wanted to try to make them ahead, I’d recommend chilling the dough and reducing the amount of yeast. Hope that helps you get started!
Jen Conway says
I love to bake and have tried several recipes for sticky buns and cinnamon rolls and this is by far the BEST and easiest recipe I’ve tried. The rolls were soft and super yummy. This will be my go to receipe from now on!
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked the sticky buns!
Denise says
What if you don’t have a stand mixer?
Kate says
You can mix the dough by hand. You’ll just need to add additional time for kneading.
Cari-lynn McSorley says
I should preface my comment by saying “I’m a complete moron when it comes to cooking, baking, generally anything in the kitchen”. This was easy to follow and was flexible enough to change a few things (didn’t have corn syrup- used maple syrup, ran out of butter 3/4 of the way used margarine). Love love the result ❤️. Made it the night before and heated it in the morning, it was gooey enough that it didn’t dry out. Highly recommend, especially if you’re not strong in the kitchen (clearly great for those that are too 😉).
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad to hear that!
Sarah says
Do you think I can make the dough using the dough setting on my bread
Machine? The problem is my dough setting takes 2 hours, but your recipe has a much shorter initial rise.
Kate says
Hi! Unfortunately, I don’t have a bread machine to test that out. I would guess, however, that you would need to adjust the amount of yeast for a longer rising cycle.
Debbie says
Oh my! So quick and easy compared to what I’ve been using. For the filling though it’s easier for me to brush the butter on the dough then sprinkle the brown sugar mixture. I do love the taste of honey on mine so I added some in the topping. This is going to be my go to recipe from now on.
Kate says
I’m glad that you liked them!
Elizabeth Tomory says
These are easy to make and delicious. I added a little vanilla bean paste to the topping. I made them for Thanksgiving breakfast and everyone loved them. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Nia says
Easy and delicious!! I’ve tried a lot of recipes and this one comes out perfectly every time!
I also use maple syrup, my family loves them. I used two 9” cake pans so I could take half to my daughter’s family and half to my son’s.
Is it possible to freeze them before baking them then bake them from a frozen state?
Thank you😊
Kate says
Hi! I’m glad that you like them! I haven’t tried freezing the rolls before baking to say for certain.
gg says
This is a great recipe. I have made these buns several times and this is the only recipe I will
use in the future.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad you like it!
Jill R. says
Oh my goodness. This is so yummy. I will have to say the easiest sweet roll recipe I’ve ever made. The dough made them light and fluffy. I was out of corn syrup and I replaced it with almost 1/4 cup of molasses. I can’t say enough good things about this recipe. This will be my go to sweet roll.
Kate says
Thank you so much!! And thank you for commenting!
Vickie Woo says
What if you don’t have a stand mixer? Can I use a hand mixer initially and then switch to using my hands?
Kate says
You can mix entirely by hand, or you could start off with a hand mixer and then switch to hand mixing (to avoid burning out your hand mixer). If you mix by hand, you’ll just need to add a couple of minutes on for the kneading time.
LL says
These were so easy and fun to make and turned out wonderfully! Have been intimidated using yeast, but this was so easy, I’m now willing to try other yeast dough recipes! Thank you!!
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that it worked well for you!
Amanda says
I’ve made the “long form” version of sticky buns in the past, but no more! These were far easier and tastier! I did find that I needed to add more flour than the recipe called for in order to get the dough to pull away from the bowl. But if you’ve worked with dough before, it’s no problem to adjust.
Chris Glen says
I made this twice. It was that good. The second time I added maple syrup half and half corn syrup. I could taste the difference. So yummy!
Kate says
Thanks!
Claire says
If I don’t have a metal pan, can I use a glass one?
Kate says
You can! When using glass in place of metal, it’s usually necessary to decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sue says
This is the easiest and most delicious recipe! I lost a 50-year old recipe of my mother’s sticky buns, and this could possibly be it! Only modification – and from an earlier comment, (because I don’t have corn syrup on hand, I used real maple syrup). They soo good. My husband said, “these are actually perfect!”
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that you and your husband like them! I love the way food can bring back memories like that!
Char says
These are absolutely delicious! And very easy to make. I love a lot of “gooey” so I increase the topping. I make 1 1/2 the topping recipe. (I also am a fan of using dental floss to “cut” the rolls…works great!!) I am wondering if it would be OK to make them the night before and put them in the refrigerator before the last rise so that I can bake them the following morning? I was thinking I would need to take them out of the fridge an hour or more before wanting to bake them. Have you tried this with any success?
Kate says
Thank you so much! I haven’t tried that, but I think it would work. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works out!
Chris says
I just finished off the last sticky bun after about a week. Very good! I am a fan of Wegmans bakery, so I was looking for at least that quality. Your recipe was in some ways better than that. Your dough came out better than theirs. What I think what I was missing was a maple syrup kind of taste. Could I replace or0 reduce the corn syrup by2/3rds or more and a maple syrup? I think that addition would knock this sticky bun out of the ballpark for me!
Kate says
I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t sub maple syrup for part of the corn syrup. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works out!
Anisha says
Can you use active dry yeast instead?
Kate says
You can use an equal amount of active dry yeast. Then, just let it sit for 5-10 minutes after step 4 to let it proof (get foamy) before continuing.
Jenny says
I only have 3 teaspoons of yeast on hand. Will that work?
Kate says
That should be fine. You may find that you need to slightly increase the rising time, but, otherwise, it should be fine.
Bonnie C. says
I always go for the center of a cinnamon roll, but each Sticky bun in this recipe is almost like a cinnamon roll center! Soooooo delicious! This was my first time making sticky buns; I’ve been waiting to find a recipe that would be close to what my mother used to make, and this hit the mark! Thank you!
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that you liked them! =)
Amy says
This is the BEST recipe for sticky buns!! I also use your recipe to make homemade cinnamon rolls just omit the topping ingredients and add a little heavy cream to the filling ingredients, frost them when warm with either cream cheese or penuche frosting. I’ve been baking for almost 40 years and this is better than my old family recipe!
Kate says
Thank you so much!! That’s a huge compliment!
Denise Mocharnuk says
I had my own sweet dough recipe own I’ve used for years however I incorporated the filling and topping here and it was excellent. I rolled out 1/3 dough at a time and spread it first with softened butter before adding the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Divided the topping between 3 9 inch cake pans. Excellent result ty
Kate says
I’m so glad that it worked out well for you!