I Tried 5 Chain Restaurant Cinnamon Rolls & This One Was the Best
Mmm, cinnamon rolls. It's the sweet confection that sends us back to a childhood Christmas morning or a weekend at grandma's. Crafted from a carefully constructed swirl of dough, cinnamon sugar paste, and a generous dollop of icing, cinnamon rolls are equal parts indulgent and nostalgic. We would have to place them in the same category as donuts or pancakes smothered in maple syrup as a breakfast food that is perhaps not the most nutritious. However, they're nothing if not good for the soul, and most mornings that's quite alright.
Pulling apart the sticky layers of a homemade cinnamon roll is an unmatched experience. But, there are also a few places you can go to enjoy the cinnamon sugar goodness while forgoing the messy kitchen. The following bakeries, fast-food joints, and chain restaurants dole out fresh cinnamon rolls at all hours of the day. I recently grabbed one of the spiraled pastries from each to assess their level of delectability in the ultimate cinnamon roll taste test.
Panera Bread
Panera's bakery section is stuffed with goodies galore. We're all familiar with the thing that started it all, the sourdough bread, and the iconically chewy bagels–shout out to the Cinnamon Crunch and Asiago for never letting me down on a busy morning. Then, there are the endless pastries and sweets including Kitchen Sink Cookies, brownies, croissants, and yes, cinnamon rolls. Available night and day, the roll is made with sweet dough, cinnamon sugar filling, and is topped with white icing. I picked on up for $3.59.
The Look: Like a shellacked piece of food that is only meant for display case sitting and not eating. Thinly iced like a cake, it's too picture-perfect from the dough to cinnamon swirls.
The Taste: Akin to a store-bought donut that had been hardening on the shelf all day long. It's overly sugary from the frosting shell and underneath the dough is more tough than squishy. A quick 10-second trip through the microwave solved some of these issues, creating a softer center of bread and cinnamon paste. But, not all of them. The one element that stood out to me the most was the light zip of citrus which accompanied every bite. After perusing the ingredient list, I attributed it to the "Natural Lemon Flavor Wonf" and wished this add-in had never gained entry into the recipe. It distracts from the cinnamon star, curtailing the roll's overall appeal.
Dunkin' Donuts
Along with your morning fuel, you can also pick up what's called a Coffee Roll at Dunkin'. It's certainly not your average cinnamon roll. But, despite its name, there is no coffee included in its makeup, leaving just a wheat and yeast base with cinnamon and a sugar glaze. Sure sounds like a cinnamon roll to us, so welcome to the club. I added the confection to my list and paid $1.99 for it as I buzzed through the drive-thru.
The Look: Surprisingly fresh considering I rolled up during the tail end of the breakfast rush. A nearly translucent gloss wraps around the entire spiraled pastry. Its cinnamon spice, on the other hand, can only be seen from the inside.
The Taste: A Honey Bun, but better. The coffee roll follows Little Debbie's lead with its melt-in-your-mouth consistency and all-encompassing icing coat. It's undeniably donut-esque but its layered structure and pockets of cinnamon elevate it to more of a cinnamon roll status. Even so, it's still not exactly the frosting-dripping gooey treat that many of us dream of, so I couldn't promote it too far in the taste test. That doesn't mean I couldn't gobble down a baker's dozen of these Dunkin' rolls, though.
Wendy's
Wendy's hacked its way to a sweet cinnamon roll through a recent partnership with Cinnabon. The burger chain officially added Cinnabon Pull-Aparts to its morning lineup in February 2024 in celebration of its four-year breakfast-versary, and it's stayed put since. The cinnamon roll spin-off is made up of dough bites baked with Cinnabon cinnamon and the brand's signature cream cheese frosting. It rang up at $3.69 at my local Wendy's.
The Look: A glob of unmelted, off-white icing sat atop the rest, indicating that the contents were not warm (a disappointing realization). Underneath, the dark cinnamon-dressed bread knots reminded me of monkey bread.
The Taste: Based on a Cinnabon story but not an exact replica. There are hints of Cinnabon greatness here starting with the cream cheese frosting. Sweet, buttery, and slightly tangy, I could eat it all by itself straight from a jar–and I'm not even a huge icing person. Wendy's Pull-Apart also carries a rich spiced flavor that's nostalgic and warm. It falls apart though when it comes to the dough lumps. Even after warming everything up, they were still more crumbly than spongy and the icing dollop was sufficient enough to soak each one in sweet flavor. When all was said and done, it really just left me craving the real deal.
Mimi's Cafe
At Mimi's bistro, you can sit down to a French-inspired meal from a breakfast of crepes to a dinner of Tuscan Style Grilled Chicken. You can also take a taste of France home with you thanks to the chain's in-house bakery. It's here that you'll find muffins and pastries like the Cinnamon Brioche Rolls. The vanilla icing-covered rolls are baked fresh daily and are always served warm. I was able to snag one for $6.99–a high price for a cinnamon roll in my opinion, coming in at about twice the cost of the previous options.
The Look: The browned roll is perfectly coiled around itself. But, something about its scantily-applied vanilla icing reminded me of a cinnamon roll candle.
The Taste: Maybe the Fench do cinnamon rolls a bit differently because this was unlike any other I've had here in The States. It is incredibly dense and heavy, coming off more like a cake, or better yet a concentrated cake donut, than a cinnamon roll. However, it's still a respectable contender. Insufficient frosting levels aside, it has an elevated essence to it and an oily, crunchy crust at the bottom that makes each bite better than the last.
Cinnabon
Does Cinnabon really need an introduction? The bakery chain is all about cinnamon rolls–it's baked right there into its name–and it's one of the only establishments to adopt this limited focus. Of course, there's also the made-to-order cinnamon roll franchise Cinnaholic. But, its only 100 locations in the U.S. and Canada–none of which are in my neck of the woods–is simply no match for Cinnabon's nearly 1,900 worldwide.
At one of these nearby locations, I decided to bypass the BonBites, Caramel PecanBons, and Center of the Rolls to keep things simple with a Classic Roll. This choice cost me $6.99–the same sky-high price I paid at Mimi's Cafe.
The Look: Unlike the other flat rolls, this one peaks in the middle like a volcano that just spewed out a layer of cream cheese frosting. If you look closely inside you can also see the frequent specks of cinnamon.
The Taste: Can we first talk about the rolls' alluring aroma? Cinnabon made one of the best business moves of all time by placing many of its storefronts inside malls where it could lure in passersby who originally had no intention of stopping for a sweet treat. I joined this crowd as I picked up my own roll and dug in. It was warm, doughy, and downright delicious. The cream cheese frosting is once again a showstopper and the cinnamon–more like a dripping cinnamon sauce than a powder–was distributed in a Goldilocks amount. These rolls are world-famous for a reason and Cinnabon proves itself again and again with one of those rare products that actually tastes just as good–if not better–than it smells.
