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I tested five different methods for cinnamon roll pancakes, from swirling first on the griddle to making a “batter sandwich,” and most were total fails. Some swirls spread everywhere, others disappeared completely, and a few lacked cinnamon flavor.

After all that trial and error, I discovered the winning method: thickening the swirl mixture with a little batter and using a double swirl technique that locks in bold cinnamon flavor. This recipe is tested, foolproof, and guaranteed to give you bakery-worthy cinnamon roll pancakes at home.

A stack of cinnamon swirl pancakes drizzled with creamy icing sits on a white plate, with two cinnamon sticks and a sprinkle of cinnamon beside them. A teal cloth is visible underneath the plate.

How I Perfected Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Cinnamon roll pancakes may look simple, but getting the swirl right is harder than you think. I didn’t settle on the first recipe I tried. The most popular method online is to just pipe the cinnamon swirl on top of the pancake batter, but every time I tested it, the swirl spread everywhere and baked into a messy smear without bold cinnamon flavor. So I experimented with thickening the swirl by adding two tablespoons of pancake batter into the mixture, which gave it more stability and kept the flavor concentrated where it should be.

Once I had the taste and thickness right, I started testing the actual swirl technique. Piping the swirl on top wasn’t enough – the butter melted too quickly and the swirl disappeared when flipped. I discovered that if you press the piping bag into the batter while swirling, the mixture sets into the pancake instead of floating on top, and the swirl actually shows when you cut into the pancake. I thought I was done… until my Instagram DMs filled with suggestions from readers who wanted me to test more methods.

Five pancakes with various textures and swirl patterns are placed on a cooling rack, each labeled with a sticky note reading: Wait 2 min, Butter Sandwich, Double, Stack in, and Swirl first.

So I did. I tested five different swirl techniques:

Cinnamon Swirl First – I piped the cinnamon swirl directly onto the griddle first, then poured batter on top. This was a total fail. The cinnamon mixture spread everywhere under the heat and pressure of the batter. The swirl completely disappeared, leaving a pancake with barely any cinnamon flavor.
Cook for Two Minutes, Then Add the Swirl – With this method, I poured the pancake batter, let it cook for two minutes, then piped in the swirl before flipping. The pancakes had deep grooves where the swirl sank, was least visually appealing, and surprisingly, the flavor was weak because the swirl didn’t integrate well into the batter.
The Beth Method – My original method: pour the batter, add the cinnamon swirl right away, but press the piping tip down into the batter while swirling instead of just swirling on top. This gave me clean-looking pancakes with defined swirls, good flavor, and some cinnamon visible even when cutting into the pancake.
Double Swirl – This built on the Beth Method, but with one extra step. After piping the swirl into the batter, I added a second swirl right before flipping the pancake. The visual appearance wasn’t as crisp, but the extra hit of cinnamon flavor was incredible — bold, sweet, and unmistakably “cinnamon roll.”
Batter Sandwich – For this one, I poured batter, piped on the cinnamon swirl, then covered it with more batter before cooking. I had high hopes, but no fun spiral could be seen when sliced, plus the pancakes had little cinnamon flavor.

After all that testing, my clear winner was The Beth Method with a Double Swirl. It locks in the cinnamon, gives bold flavor, and creates a swirl that’s as fun to look at as it is to eat. I’ve done the trial-and-error so you don’t have to – and I can promise, this is the cinnamon roll pancake recipe you can count on.

Top-down view of labeled baking ingredients on a countertop, including butter, salt, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, powdered sugar, baking powder, egg, cream cheese, milk, granulated sugar, and all-purpose flour.

How to Make Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Your whole family will be wowed by these cinnamon swirl pancakes! Get the full recipe with ingredients below. Here are the simple steps:

Cinnamon Filling

A white bowl containing melted butter, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon sits on a light-colored countertop.

A white bowl containing a thick, dark brown mixture is being stirred with a white and wooden spatula on a light brown textured surface.

Combine ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until the mixture is smooth and fully combined.

Cream Cheese Glaze

Beat cream cheese and butter. Place room temperature cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer on medium and beat together for 1 minute, until whipped and fluffy.
Combine remaining ingredients. Add in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar (and optional salt), beat again on low for 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until everything is incorporated.
Adjust as needed. If the glaze is too thick, add a splash of milk or heavy cream, beat until creamy. Set aside.

Pancakes

Heat griddle. Heat a griddle or non-stick pan over medium-high heat. If using a griddle, set it to 350°F (175°C).

A clear glass bowl filled with flour and a metal whisk resting inside, placed on a light beige countertop.

A hand holds a metal whisk stirring a bowl of beaten eggs and milk, creating a pale yellow mixture in a clear glass bowl on a light-colored countertop.

Combine dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Combine wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, melted and cooled unsalted butter, egg and vanilla extract.

A glass bowl on a countertop contains flour and a yellow liquid mixture, partially combined. A metal whisk rests inside the bowl, ready for mixing.

A glass bowl filled with pale, slightly lumpy batter being mixed with a metal whisk, sitting on a light-colored countertop.

Combine wet and dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Gently stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; a few lumps are okay.
Allow the batter to rest for 10 minutes. This helps the ingredients meld, improves the texture of the pancakes, and helps to create fluffier pancakes.

A white bowl containing chocolate batter with two oval-shaped dollops of light-colored batter on top, set on a beige, textured surface.

A hand holds a white spatula stirring a thick, dark brown mixture in a white bowl on a light, textured surface.

Finish cinnamon swirl mixture. Add 2 tablespoons of pancake batter to the cinnamon swirl mixture and stir gently. This helps the swirl hold its shape and stay defined in the pancake.
Transfer the cinnamon swirl mixture to a piping bag, a zip-top bag (with the corner cut off). Set aside while you prep the pancake batter.
Grease pan. Lightly grease the griddle or pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
Begin cooking pancakes. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Use the back of a spoon to spread the batter into a round shape if needed.

A hand pipes a spiral of brown cinnamon filling onto a pancake cooking in a nonstick skillet.

A single pancake with a dark brown swirl pattern cooks in a light-colored nonstick frying pan on a beige countertop.

Add cinnamon swirl to each pancake. Immediately pipe the cinnamon filling in a tight spiral starting from the center and working outward. Be careful not to get the filling too close to the edges. For the neatest swirl, pipe slowly and keep the tip pushed into the batter. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then BEFORE flipping, add a second swirl on top of the existing swirl. Flip the pancakes with a spatula and cook the other side until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Note: During my testing, I found that adding a second layer of the cinnamon swirl mixture right before flipping gave the pancakes the extra cinnamon boost it needed!

A pancake cooking on a griddle, with a visible cinnamon swirl pattern on top. Some bubbles are forming on the edge of the pancake as it cooks. — This is what happens if you get the cinnamon swirl too close to the edge.

Remove the pancakes from the griddle or pan and keep warm. Repeat the process with the remaining batter. Clean the pan or griddle with a damp cloth to clear away excess cinnamon mixture after each batch. Re-spray with cooking spray before adding more batter.
Top and serve. Warm the cream cheese glaze and drizzle over the pancakes and enjoy.

A baking tray lined with parchment paper holds eight cinnamon roll pancakes, each swirled with cinnamon sugar. Cinnamon sticks and a blue cloth are nearby on a beige surface.

Tips for the Best Pancakes

For perfect pancakes, follow my pro tips:

Don’t Over Mix: It’s perfectly fine if your batter has a few lumps. Mixing too much can make the batter tough.
Use a Whisk for mixing: Using a whisk will give you the best results when combining ingredients.
Rest the Batter: Allowing the batter to sit before cooking gives you softer, fluffier pancakes. Resting time relaxes the gluten (which can otherwise make pancakes chewy), evens out the lumps, and creates bubbles that help the pancakes rise. In short, a quick rest leads to better texture and flavor. Here’s what I found when testing:
- Baked right away: thinner but not too thin
- 10 minute rest: thicker, taller, fluffier than baked right away
- 15 minute rest: it’s hard to tell if the 15 or 10 minute rest ones are taller, so I’d say 10 minutes is perfect!
Know when to flip: An easy way to know when you should flip your pancakes is to look for bubbles. When bubbles form on the surface of the pancake and the edges look set, you should flip them with a spatula and continue to cook the other side until golden brown.
Keep pancakes warm while you’re cooking the rest: To keep your pancakes warm, heat your oven to 250-degrees and transfer finished pancakes to a pan inside the oven while you cook the remaining batches.

A fork holds up a bite of fluffy cinnamon swirl pancakes drizzled with icing, with a stack of pancakes and cinnamon sticks on a plate in the background.

Variations

I recommend sticking to the recipe for delicious cinnamon roll pancakes, but you can change it up, too. Here are some ideas:

Add-ins: You can experiment with different mix-ins like chocolate chips or chopped nuts.
Gluten-free pumpkin pancakes: Simply swap the all-purpose flour for gluten-free flour. I recommend King Arthur’s Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour.

A stack of fluffy pancakes with a cinnamon swirl, drizzled with icing, served on a white plate with cinnamon sticks and a blue napkin. Several pancakes have been cut and are slightly separated to show the soft interior.

What to Serve with Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

These are amazing with the cinnamon sugar glaze in the recipe, but you can get as creative as you want. There are no pancake-topping rules! Here are some more topping ideas:

Maple syrup
Homemade whipped cream
Chocolate chips
Nuts
Shredded Coconut / flakes
Powdered Sugar
Ice cream (make it dessert!)
Caramel Sauce

A close-up of several cinnamon swirl pancakes stacked on top of each other, with a small dish of cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon in the background. The pancakes have golden-brown edges and visible cinnamon filling.

Storing & Freezing Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Keep leftover pancakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–5 days. If you’d like to freeze them, let the pancakes cool completely first. Then place them in a single layer inside a freezer-safe/ziploc bag, stacked with parchment paper between each layer. They’ll keep well in the freezer for up to 1–2 months.

How to Reheat Pancakes

For refrigerated pancakes, warm them in the microwave for 20–30 seconds at a time, adjusting based on how many you’re heating.

For frozen pancakes, reheat in the microwave in 20–30 second intervals until hot, or place them in a 350°F oven until thoroughly warmed.

A stack of cinnamon roll pancakes drizzled with icing sits on a white plate. A white pitcher of extra icing and a second plate of pancakes are nearby, with cinnamon sticks and a teal cloth in the background.

More Pancake Recipes

2 Comments

Christine says:

September 18, 2025 at 2:22 pm

Beth, thank you the recipe! Is there any way I can substitute Cream cheese for unsweetened applesauce.? We do not use cream cheese, yogurt, etc. nothing white or yellow in dairy, except for butter.

1. Beth says:
  
  September 18, 2025 at 7:26 pm
  
  Hi Christine! If you want a “cream cheese” glaze, I would recommend googling dairy free cream cheese glaze!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

How I Perfected Cinnamon Roll Pancakes