The easiest and most fun way to make slow cooker cinnamon rolls.

I have hesitated to post this dish for some time. Partly because I am embarrassed by how easy it is to make. And partly because of the fact that it's ease has always been my little secret.

Since the main theme of this blog is "shamelessly taking the easiest route to great food", I am holding my head high, sitting up straight and squaring my shoulders as I proudly admit that these cinnamon rolls come straight from the can.

The good news is you can now buy them from multiple manufacturers. Including an organic one that has fewer and more natural ingredients. So lets be proud of our pre-made dough because using it really does make this the easiest and most fun way to make slow cooker cinnamon rolls.

cinnamon bun roll apart with cream cheese icing

As a side note, I really hate popping the cardboard on those dough cans. Am I the only one? Does that sound make anyone else jump?

Lazy Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Hacks

Line your slow cooker with two long strips of parchment paper. One running north to south and the other running east to west (photo in recipe below). The paper should be long enough to come all the way up the sides of the pot and lay under the lid. This will not only allow for almost no clean up, it will give you "handles" to easily lift the Pull Apart out when it is finished.
If you don't have parchment paper you can also use foil as a liner. You may want to lightly coat it with a bit of non-stick spray first. I prefer the parchment for this dish.
A helpful, but not necessary step is to pick your inner pot up out of the heating element and rotate it 180 degrees about half way through the cooking. All slow cookers are different, but mine does not heat evenly and this helps to keep the dish more consistently cooked on all sides. ( I like to do this with any dish that can not be stirred.)
You will note from the pictures that I make this dish two different ways. One is to completely fill the pot with cinnamon rolls. The second method is my preferred one. It entails placing a small ceramic, oven-safe bowl in the middle of the pot before adding in the cinnamon rolls. You will have about one cinnamon roll less this way, but the added heat the bowl generates helps the rolls to cook more evenly. If you choose the second method, be sure to only use a crock or bowl that is oven safe and that will absorb and transfer some of its heat to dough around it.

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📖 Recipe

Fully cooked Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting dip in the middle

Lazy Cinnamon Roll Pull-Apart

The easiest and most fun way to make slow cooker cinnamon rolls

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 1 30

Total Time: 1 45

Servings:

Calories: 288kcal

Author: The Lazy slow cooker

Equipment

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6 quart slow cooker
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Knife and cutting board
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parchment paper

Ingredients

▢ 35 ounces refrigerated cinnamon roll dough I prefer the kind with cream cheese icing

Instructions

Line the pot of your slow cooker with two pieces of parchment paper. Each piece should be long enough to hang over the sides of the pot. One piece should be placed length-wise in the pot and the other width-wise to form a "T". This can be made two ways. One (my preferred) is with a small oven-safe ceramic bowl in the middle (which will later hold dip). If you are using this method, place the ceramic bowl in the middle of the T".
Open cans of cinnamon rolls an break them apart. Use them to line the pot of your slow cooker. It is fine to wedge them in tightly.
If not using bowl in center, fill the entire bottom of the slow cooker
Cook on high for 1.5 hours.
optional step:
To help with even cooking, you can rotate the slow cooker pot 180° half way through cooking time.
Remove slow cooker pot from heating element and allow rolls to set for 15 minutes before taking them out.
If using center bowl, fill it with cream cheese frosting dip and sprinkle rolls with powdered sugar. If not using center bowl, drizzle frosting all around the top of the rolls.