Banana Cinnamon Rolls have soft banana dough, gooey banana walnut filling, vanilla cream cheese frosting, and crunchy brown sugar walnut topping!
The dough is banana bread flavored with fresh banana in the dough, the filling is the perfect balance of banana and cinnamon, and the CRUNCHIES on top! Walnuts and brown sugar and butter oh my! There really is nothing like a warm, soft banana cinnamon roll for breakfast. You'll need 3-4 bananas, but if you're looking for recipes that use 2 bananas you could make Banana Sourdough Muffins.
Banana cinnamon rolls are perfect way to use up ripe bananas if you don't feel like Banana Coffee Cake or another loaf of Sourdough Discard Banana Bread. I love this recipe because it has bananas in the dough AND the filling. You can go in a different direction with Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls too.
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What To Expect
- Taste: The banana filling! It's delicious and gooey, with walnuts tucked inside for a nice little texture enhancement.
- Texture: Incredibly soft! The bananas in the dough and filling make this dough pillowy soft. The candied buttery brown sugar walnuts on top are crunchy and absolutely lovely.
- Time: It takes almost 3 hours to make banana bread cinnamon rolls because of the two times the dough needs to rise. It makes them so soft!
- Ease: This is a mid-level difficulty, not quite beginner but not very advanced either.
🛒 Ingredients
- Ripe Bananas - this recipe uses about four bananas total for the dough and filling. Bananas with brown spots have more flavor, so be patient and wait until they're ripe!
- Milk - anything except skim, 1 or 2% works best. This helps the rolls stay nice and moist even a few days after baking!
- Egg - acts as a binder and enriches the banana roll dough.
- Yeast - active dry is used in this recipe but instant will work as well.
- Sugar - white granulated for the dough, and light brown sugar for the filling. Not a lot is needed because the bananas are also a natural added sweetener!
- Flour - all purpose is easiest to find and works best for this recipe.
- Butter - salted, enriches the dough and helps to make it soft. Also needed for the filling!
- Walnuts - used both for the banana filling and the candied walnut topping.
- Cream Cheese - can use full fat or neufchâtel cream cheese for the cream cheese frosting.
See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Milk - can be substituted with nut or oat milk. NOTE: This recipe has not been tested with dairy alternatives, so let us know if you try it!
- Butter - unsalted butter can be used to reduce salt.
- Walnuts - pecans or peanuts.
- Vanilla extract - maple extract to make a banana maple cinnamon roll!
- Add 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter to the icing for a peanut butter cream cheese icing!
🧑🍳 Instructions
Step 1. (Above) Proof the yeast by heating milk to 90-110 degrees F (about 30 seconds in the microwave), add in white sugar and stir in yeast. Let sit 3-5 minutes until foamy. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, butter, egg, salt, mashed banana, and milk mixture together.
Step 2. (Above) Pour in the yeast mixture and mix everything together until it forms a dough. Knead by hand or with stand mixer (dough hook attachment) for 4-5 minutes until elastic. The dough will be sticky!
Step 3. (Above) Let the dough rise, covered, in an oiled bowl for 60 minutes at room temperature (70-75 degrees F), or until about doubled in size.
Step 4. (Above) Make banana nut roll filling by combining mashed banana, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a bowl and mixing well.
Step 5. (Above) Roll out the banana dough into a 14 inch wide by 24 inch long rectangle. The more even your edges and corners, the neater the rolls will be. Spread softened butter over the rectangle, then spread the banana filling evenly on top, coating the entire sheet of dough.
TIPS: 1. The filling is gooey and can get messy if you're not careful! I leave about an inch of clear space at the end of the rectangle so it doesn't squish out as I roll it up.
2. Using a measuring tape helps to make equal-sized rolls every time!
Step 6. (Above) Roll dough into a 12 by 24-inch rectangle, and spread softened butter evenly over the dough. Then spread banana filling over evenly, sprinkling chopped walnuts on last. Roll width-wise like a sleeping bag into a long roll.
Step 7. (Above) Cut rolls by marking dough into 12 equal portions (about 2 inches wide) then cut using dental floss or a sharp knife.
Step 8. (Above) Place into an oiled 9x13 inch pan or a large baking sheet. Let rise for the second time covered until doubled in size, about 60 minutes. Now is a good time to make the icing and walnuts (Steps 9 & 10!)
Bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown on top, 25-30 minutes if in a 9x13 pan, or 22-25 minutes if spread out on a large baking sheet. Cool 15 minutes before putting on frosting.
Step 9. (Above) Make cream cheese frosting by combining the softened cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk and mixing together until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over the banana cinnamon rolls generously.
Step 10. (Above) Make the candied walnut topping by warming the butter in a frying pan over medium heat, then adding the walnuts and toasting for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add in flour and stir until the walnuts are completely coated.
Remove from heat, then add in brown sugar. If you add the brown sugar while the flour is cooking it caramelizes and hardens and isn't as pleasant to chew.
Cool and sprinkle evenly over the cinnamon banana rolls with cream cheese icing, then serve!
📌 Top Tips
- Use a stand mixer with a dough hook for less mess!
- Use a potato masher or immersion blender to quickly mash the bananas, then divide for the dough and filling.
- Use softened butter and not melted butter for the filling. Melted is too runny and can make a gooey filling even more difficult to work with.
- Make the frosting and walnut topping while the dough is rising to be efficient with time.
- Don't over/under heat your milk. Yeast grows best between temps of 110-110℉ and can die above 120 ℉. I like to check it with an instant read thermometer because it's so easy to make the milk too hot! It's definitely worth it to check the temperature to prevent killing the yeast.
- Make sure your yeast is active and not expired! Check the expiration date, and when you activate it make sure it gets foamy. It's worth it to make sure you get a proper rise on the banana cinnamon roll dough.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
No! I knead the dough by hand frequently and although it takes a little more time, works very well.
Either! This recipe calls for all purpose to make the rolls slightly more tender than bread flour would.
Yes! To make ahead, follow the recipe for the dough, let rise, roll out, fill, and cut the rolls. Then carefully cover with cling wrap and let rise refrigerated overnight. Pull out of the fridge and let rise for 30-60 min in a warm place before baking if needed.
Yes! Make sure they are completely thawed before mashing or blending into puree for the dough and filling.
These are fine covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Beyond that they start to become stale and dried out. You can freeze them once cooled for up to 3 months, and save the frosting for when you want to thaw and eat them!
If you have any questions, be sure to let me know in the comments below. If you enjoy these rolls, feel free to share the recipe!
🍌 More Unique Banana Recipes
We have all of these unusual banana recipes (as in, not the usual muffins or bread) on the regular. They're great alternatives to banana bread. You can use up your ripe bananas in all of these!
📝 Printable Recipe
Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the dough:
- ½ cup warm milk
- 2 Tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 cup mashed banana about 2 bananas
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 Tablespoons salted butter
- 1 egg
- 4-4½ cups all purpose flour
For the filling:
- 1 cup mashed banana about 2 bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- 6 Tablespoons butter softened
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
For the frosting:
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 4 Tablespoons butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
- (optional) 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
For the walnut topping:
- 1 Tablespoon salted butter
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 1.5 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
For the dough:
- In a small bowl combine warm milk (between 100-110 F), sugar, and yeast and let sit 5 minutes or until foamy.
- In a stand mixer with dough hook attachment (or large bowl if mixing by hand) combine mashed banana, salt, butter, egg, and 4 cups of flour.
- Pour foamy yeast mixture in and mix with a dough hook on low speed for 4-5 minutes until smooth and elastic. If mixing without a mixer, simply mix with a wooden spoon until you can’t mix anymore and then begin kneading by hand 6-8 minutes.Add another ½ cup (up to one cup if needed) of flour to make dough consistency thick and slightly sticky.
- Oil a large bowl, place dough in it and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature for one hour or until doubled in size.
For the filling:
- In a medium sized bowl combine mashed banana, vanilla extract, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour.
- On a floured work surface with rolling pin, roll dough into roughly a 24 inch by 12-14 inch rectangle.
- Spread softened butter over the dough with a spoon or pastry brush. Spread banana filling evenly over butter, then sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.
- Carefully roll dough lengthwise into a long roll. Mark the dough into 12 equal portions with a knife.Use a piece of clean string or dental floss and slide the string underneath the roll. Pick up both ends of the string, cross them, and pull tight to cut the dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Place rolls cut side down into an oiled 9x13 inch pan or large baking sheet, being careful not to crowd the rolls so they have room to rise.
- Cover with a dish towel, and let rise for 45 minutes to one hour until almost doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake for 25-30 minutes (9x13 pan), until light golden brown on top. (Glass or ceramic pans take more time, dark pans & large baking sheets take less time, 22-25 minutes.) Cool 15-20 minutes before icing.
For the frosting:
- In a medium bowl combine cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar and milk until smooth. (Optional) add in peanut butter last. Drizzle over baked banana cinnamon rolls.
For the walnut topping:
- In a frying pan over medium heat, warm butter and add walnuts, and toast for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in flour, remove from heat, then add in brown sugar last so it doesn't get too hot and caramelize and harden. Cool and sprinkle evenly over frosted banana cinnamon rolls, then serve!
Nikki York says
These were really good! A little twist from the normal cinnamon roll - which I appreciated. I used pecans because it is what I had, and I also just defrosted bananas from the freezer that had gotten too ripe to eat. Worked perfectly.
Kathy says
BEST way to use up over-ripe bananas!!
These are amazing!
Mary says
Will using almond milk affect the recipe?
Sara says
I have never tested the recipe with almond milk and can’t give you an accurate answer. If you try it let me know how it goes!