Name: Orange Rolls Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 155 min
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon orange zest (from 1 large orange*); 1/2 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed ); 1/2 cup whole milk (or half and half, don't use skim milk); 1 tablespoon active dry yeast; 5 tablespoons granulated sugar; 2 large eggs; 3 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled); 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 cup butter (very soft (divided)); 3/4 cup butter ((1 and 1/2 sticks)); 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar; 3/4 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed ); 1 tablespoon orange zest (from at least 3 oranges); 1 (8-ounce package) cream cheese (full fat, softened); 1/2 cup powdered sugar; 2 teaspoons orange zest (from at least 2 oranges); 2 tablespoons orange juice (fresh squeezed); 3 tablespoons lime juice (fresh squeezed)

Orange rolls: not as good as cinnamon rolls, right? WRONG. I’m absolutely obsessed with these zingy orange sweet rolls. The filling is basically orange candy that melts into the rolls as they bake. I’ve never seen another recipe like it. Usually orange rolls are all like “hint of orange.” Not these bad boys. They will knock you out with their orangey attitude. Easy to make ahead! Perfect for weekends or Christmas morning!

A close-up of a cinnamon roll topped with creamy orange glaze, sitting on a white plate with fresh orange slices in the background.

I AM SO EXCITED to share my Orange Rolls recipe with you today, finally!! I started working on these rolls way back in 2017 (almost 10 years ago 🤯) when Eric’s cousin Alice asked for help with her Great Grandma Maddelin’s recipe. Great Grandma made them every Christmas, and Alice was taking on the mantle.

But she was having some issues with the recipe, so we reworked it a bit. I wasn’t quite happy with it, and have played with it here and there over the years. But this spring, orange season has taken my life by storm, and I knew it was time to get it perfect.

I love these orange rolls til I die, and that’s saying something, because oranges and I have a bit of a rough history. When I was a kid, we drove for 3 hours every year to visit Great Aunt Pauline for Thanksgiving. Not only was this already an ordeal for a carsick 7-year-old, but add in the fact that I had to sit backwards in our 1989 wood-paneled station wagon.

A family at a forest campsite: one adult sits on a picnic table, another stands nearby, and two children walk holding items. A station wagon and tents are visible among tall pine trees in the background. — I’m in the middle on the right, probably holding a puke bucket.

Do you remember these cars? We lovingly called her White Lightning. My brother Nathan and I, the youngest, were always put in the waaay back. An enormous door swung open wide to receive us (can you see it in the photo?) We were far enough away from first class passengers that we didn’t disturb them with our nauseated moans.

My mom, in an effort to save the upholstery, would always give us orange flavored chewable dramamine tablets. If you didn’t want to puke before, you definitely would have by then. Those things were nasty.

A close-up of an orange roll topped with creamy orange icing and sprinkled with orange zest, with a slice of orange visible in the background.

Another orange aversion memory: when I was little, my parents put me in soccer. I was the kid relegated to defense, picking daisies while the ball either flew past my head, or I put my hand out to stop it, breaking the easiest of all soccer rules.

For halftime snack, the parents would always bring orange slices, which I thought was the dumbest thing ever. I would suck out the juice, and it would run all the way down to my elbows. Apparently no one ever taught me how to actually EAT an orange. I would be sitting there in the sun in a hot sticky mess, expected to go out and pretend like I was going to kick a ball at some point. No wonder I hated soccer.

A close-up of a partially eaten orange roll topped with creamy orange glaze and orange zest, with bright orange slices blurred in the background.

So anyway. These are all my strong cases against oranges in general, in spite of the fact that I live in California and grew up with an orange tree literally in my backyard. Oh, the bounty that’s wasted on the young and stupid!

But my oh my, the transformation that has taken place. I am an orange lover for life now. And not just because of these orange rolls. Oranges are just so bright and happy, you know? I will peel and eat 3 in a row from my dad’s tree these day, with clean elbows to boot. (I will still make you roll down the window if you peel an orange in the car though. I have my limit.)

These orange rolls taste like ORANGES

I know what you’re thinking. Orange rolls: not as good as cinnamon rolls. There, I said it. BUT WAIT. You don’t even know about this orange filling.

Bright orange, glossy orange roll filling in a gray bowl, with a green silicone spatula resting inside. The bowl is placed on a light-colored, textured fabric surface.

I mean come on. This is basically orange candy. Kind of like orange caramel? With the potency of orange marmalade. IT’S SO GOOD. I could eat this whole batch, one spoonful at a time, without even making the rolls.

But…slap it inside an orange-ified version of the softest, butteriest brioche sweet dough that I use for my well-beloved Cinnamon Rolls?? Forget about it. Like I said, I could eat the whole pan.

Normally, orange rolls are just sweetened dinner rolls, rolled up with hint of orange and some frosting. Every recipe that I researched called for a filling that was basically sugar with some orange zest. NOT THESE BABIES. The orange filling is COOKED to the soft ball stage, just like candy. When you bake them, the bottom of the rolls are so soft that they kind of melt into the roll itself:

Close-up of a flaky orange roll with a gooey orange filling oozing out, topped with a creamy orange glaze. The background is softly blurred, focusing attention on the texture and layers of the dessert.

They are unlike anything I have tried before.

These rolls are a triple threat, because we are adding orange zest and juice A) to the brioche dough, 2) to the filling, D) AND to the glaze on top. It’s SOOO good and quite unique. Do let me know if you try these out! I am in love!

Ingredients you need

Most of the ingredients in this recipe are pretty standard pantry items, but there are a few important ones!

Oranges, baby. Real orange zest and real fresh squeezed orange juice bring the real deal flavor. You just can’t get it any other way, so don’t skip it! I know you might be tempted to buy a high quality OJ at the store, but the rolls won’t taste right without the zest from real oranges.
Lime. “What! I thought these were orange rolls!” I know, I know, keep your shirt on. (Said like the Grandpa in Princess Bride.) Listen folks: oranges are REALLY sweet. That’s why you eat them plain, because they are so full of sugar. You would never eat a lime on it’s own. But because oranges are so sweet, when you add all the other sweet ingredients (like milk, sugar, etc) it makes the final roll almost TOO sweet. So we are adding some lime juice to the glaze to bring in some of that SOUR kick. I promise, it still tastes like orange.
Yeast is how we get that big beautiful rise
Butterrrrr. Butter is queen. We are using a whole stick in the dough, it’s what makes the dough so soft! And then more in the candy filling.

Are you ready? Let’s make them!

How to make orange rolls

Here’s the lineup! Simple stuff!

Top: Baking ingredients including flour, oranges, lime, eggs, butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar on a counter. Bottom: Hand zesting an orange over a metal mixing bowl with a microplane grater.

Start by zesting your first orange. If you don’t have a microplane grater, what are you even doing with your life! These suckers are SHARP. They are absolutely the best tool for zesting citrus, because it makes the most tiny minuscule zest pieces, and you get ZERO of the bitter white pith. All flavor, no weird bits.

Then get to juicing. We need a half cup for the brioche dough.

A hand presses an orange half on a juicer in the top image; in the bottom image, freshly squeezed orange juice is being poured into a measuring cup beside assorted fruits and baking ingredients on the counter.

Add some milk to the juice and heat it up…

A hand pours milk into a measuring cup on a cutting board with citrus fruits nearby; in the next image, the mixture is poured into a mixing bowl with orange zest.

Put it in the bowl with your zest, and add the yeast.

Top: A hand pours yeast from a small white cup into a metal mixing bowl with a liquid mixture. Bottom: Two eggs are cracked into the same bowl, now containing a thick, orange-speckled batter.

Wait for the yeast to bubble a little bit, to make sure it’s alive and kickin. Look at how nice and frothy it is! Then add in the eggs and sugar.

Then, add in ALL the flour. This is a different step from most bread recipes!

Two images show the stages of mixing dough in a metal bowl: the top image has flour on top of wet ingredients, and the bottom image shows the ingredients partially combined into a thick, lumpy dough.

Mix it up and start stirring. Add in SOFT butter 1 tablespoon at a time:

Two photos show dough being mixed in a metal bowl. In the top image, a piece of butter is being added. In the bottom image, a black spatula stirs the now smoother, well-blended dough.

Let it mix for 5 minutes or so, then scrape it down. You can transfer this to another bowl if you want…but I am SUPER lazy so I usually don’t. 🤣 Just spray the top!

Then stick it in the fridge for a couple hours. Yes! The fridge!

Two images: the top shows a hand spraying oil on dough in a metal bowl; the bottom shows the same bowl with the dough risen, smoother, and larger after proofing.

It will look like this after the rise. It does’t rise a ton because it’s in the fridge, but you need this dough COMPLETELY chilled before you can roll it out. It’s so soft!

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. While the dough chills, make your orange filling. These orange rolls have a COOKED filling, something I’ve never seen in any other orange roll recipe.

Start by zesting a whole bunch more oranges (3 to be exact)

Top: Oranges, grated orange zest in a small bowl, and a zester on a wooden board. Bottom: Butter, sugar, and orange zest in a saucepan, beginning to melt together.

When cousin Alice reached out to me all those years ago, she was struggling because her filling was always turning out too runny. It would come rushing out when she went to roll up the dough, and make a huge mess.

So we troubleshooted (troubleshot??) and learned that the filling just needed to cook a few minutes longer, to the soft ball stage. See?? I told you, it’s candy!

Two images: A saucepan of yellow liquid being stirred with a wooden spoon on a stovetop, and the same saucepan with a thermometer reading 241°F inserted, showing thickened yellow mixture.

It needs to cook all the way up to 240 degrees, which takes 8 or 9 minutes of boiling. I find using a candy thermometer is best, just to make sure. Because if you go much over 240, the filling can get TOO hard, making it impossible to spread on the soft dough.

The filling is yellow. You know orange juice? That yellow stuff? Yeah. Only the outside of oranges are orange. But I love to play pretend. Do you remember your color wheel? Yellow + ___ = orange?

Two images: The top shows a hand holding a bottle of red food coloring over a pot of orange liquid with a wooden spoon. The bottom shows a close-up of the spoon lifting some of the orange liquid from the pot.

This was exactly ONE tiny drop. It doesn’t need much.

Then, add in that precious orange zest that you worked on before. If you put the zest in before cooking, the long boil will ruin the fresh flavor. Add it at the end!

A hand adds orange zest to a saucepan of orange mixture. Below, smooth, glossy orange paste is in a bowl with a green spatula.

Just look at thiiiiis. Oh man, steal a bite if you know what’s good for you. This stuff is AMAZING. This is after a chill in the fridge, you can see how it is thickening. (ok, I lied, I put it in the freezer and stirred every 10-15 minutes. If you don’t stir it while it’s in the freezer, it will get TOO hard, so be careful if you go the hurry-up-route)

Now, back to our dough! Look at this beauty!

Two images of dough on a floured surface: the top shows a rough, unshaped dough, and the bottom shows the dough smoothed and flattened with a rolling pin visible in the background.

She’s all cold and ready to roll. Don’t take too long with this process, we need this dough cold as can be until it is shaped!

Two images: The top shows a square sheet of dough rolled out with a rolling pin above it. The bottom shows the same dough with several dollops of orange fruit filling spread across its surface.

Then, two lovers meet. Look at this glorious union. You need this filling to go on when it is room temperature. Too hot, and it will heat up your dough and slide out when you try to roll. Too cold, and it won’t be able to spread at all, and it will tear up your dough.

My filling was a teeeny bit too cold, and I had to use my hands to spread it out this time. But it worked in the end.

Two-panel image: Top panel shows a rectangular dough spread with orange jam. Bottom panel shows the dough being rolled up, starting from one edge, with a rolling pin nearby on a white cloth surface.

Rollin, rollin, rollin….have you played this song for your kids? My 6 year old son Edison thinks it’s the greatest song of all time.

Okay, now it’s time to slice, and HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET DICEY.

If you have loafed around (ha get it) and your dough has warmed up, it’s going to be an absolute nightmare to slice. This dough is soft!!

If this happens, clear out some space in your fridge or freezer and place the whole roll inside. That’s why I love to roll out dough on a pastry cloth. Just pick up the whole thing and transfer. You never know when you need to get things chilled again! I do this with pie crusts too, when I abandon them to attend to a kid shoving a PB&J in the VCR or whatever the current crisis is. (Just kidding, my kids don’t even know what a VCR is. You know what my 15-year-old daughter Charlotte told me the other day? Her friends don’t know the difference between CDs and DVDs. They’ll be like, “oh yeah, I want to get Taylor Swift’s new album on DVD!” craaaazy right)

A rolled log of dough rests on a cloth in the top image. In the bottom image, three unbaked pinwheel-shaped pastries with an orange swirl filling are placed on a marble surface.

Okay anyway, once your roll is ready to slice, get moving. You can use a sharp serrated knife, or you can use mint-free floss if you like. Just move fast! You got this! Don’t hate me! It’s all worth it!

See how pretty they are? Okay fine, maybe we are limping to the finish line here, but I promise they shape up during the rise. (ha! i am soooo funny today guys)

A glass baking dish filled with unbaked orange swirl rolls. In the top image, the rolls are uncovered; in the bottom image, the dish is covered with plastic wrap, preparing for proofing or baking.

Cover and let rise for another 45-60 minutes. Or pop them in the fridge overnight!

Look at how puffy they get! Don’t judge my Quasimodo rolls!! I liiiiied!!!! 😂😂 What they lack in uniformity they make up for in flavor, I swear. Really selling it, aren’t I.

Two photos of a glass baking dish with cinnamon rolls: the top image shows the rolls unbaked with pale dough, while the bottom image shows them after baking, golden brown and puffed up.

And here they are after the bake. MAKE SURE the rolls are done before you take them out! These rolls are super easy to under bake, because the dough is mixing with the candy filling and it’s this whole thing. Normal cinnamon rolls take like 15 minutes to bake; these rolls take at least 30 minutes usually. Test the bread part of the rolls (not the filling!) with a thermometer in the CENTER of the pan, make sure it’s between 180-190 F.

Now it’s time for a lil glaze!

Two photos: the top shows a hand mixer and spatula in a bowl with cream cheese; the bottom shows smooth cream cheese mixture in the bowl with orange zest on top, ready to be mixed in.

Beat up your cream cheese until it’s all smooth (or your glaze will have lumps). Add in 2 oranges worth of orange zest (you don’t need the juice from both these oranges, so eat one orange as a halftime snack, juice to elbows optional)

Then add in some OJ:

Two images show a hand adding orange juice and zest to a bowl of cream, then squeezing a lime over the mixture, with a spatula and spoon in the bowl on a light surface.

And some lime juice. Lime juice is my secret ingredient for this glaze. I like a tart glaze, because the rolls get cloyingly sweet without it. That’s why we’re using cream cheese, too. Tart, tart, tart, to contrast with the sweet, sweet, sweet orange rolls.

Two photos: The top shows a glass bowl with cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg yolk, and orange zest being mixed with a fork. The bottom shows the same bowl with a smooth, orange-tinted batter and a hand mixer.

I added a single drop of orange food coloring to this glaze! But it’s a pretty light yellow color without it, totally optional.

Close-up of golden brown cinnamon rolls in a baking dish. On the right, a hand pours creamy orange glaze from a patterned pitcher onto the fresh rolls. Slices of orange and zest are visible beside the dish.

Then add the glaze on top of the baked rolls.

Close-up of a partially eaten orange cinnamon roll topped with creamy icing, served on a light-colored plate with orange slices in the background.

And snag a bite right away. JUST LOOK AT THIS.

A close-up of a glazed pastry being lifted with a metal spatula, revealing a gooey orange filling and topped with cream-colored icing and orange zest.

You guys, I love it so much. I’m so happy to have finally nailed this recipe!! I hope you try it soon! Special thanks to Alice and Great Grandma Maddelin!

What to serve with orange rolls

Honestly, I often eat just these when I make them (or cinnamon rolls, or any kind of sweet roll). But if you’re a healthier human than I am, or looking to make these stretch, here are some of my breakfast favorites that would be perfect alongside orange rolls!

Bake Bacon in the Oven in 10 Minutes >> bacon is the perfect breakfast accompaniment. It goes with everything!
Creamy Scrambled Eggs for a Crowd >> super creamy delicious, plus they’re make ahead (perfect for busy holiday mornings)
Best Breakfast Casserole Recipe with Sausage >> so many savory breakfast foods you love, all wrapped up in one dish: cheesy eggs, sausage, hash browns, and peppers and onions

A close-up of an orange sweet roll topped with creamy icing and orange zest, served on a white plate with a fork next to it and fresh orange slices in the background.

How to store leftovers

These rolls will do fine in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days. They will start to get a little soggy over time, so the faster you can eat them the better. If you really can’t finish them all, I’m sure your friends or neighbors would love for you to share!!

You can freeze leftover rolls if needed. I prefer making them fresh (or see the make ahead instructions below). If you freeze already baked rolls they tend to taste a bit dried out for my personal preference, but it’s totally up to you! If you want to freeze leftovers, transfer the rolls to a disposable aluminum pan (or one of yours you don’t mind using for a while). Wrap the pan really well in two layers of plastic wrap, and then a layer of foil. The rolls will be good in freezer for 2-3 months but will start to dry out over time so don’t wait too long. To eat again, remove the foil and plastic, and put the foil back on the pan. Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until warm.

A close-up of a partially eaten orange sweet roll with creamy icing and orange zest on a white plate, showing its soft, moist texture and citrus filling.

Make ahead directions

Orange rolls are excellent as a make ahead recipe. Prepare the rolls all the way through shaping them after the first rise. Spray one side of plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the rolls tightly, then place them in the refrigerator. They can stay there for up to 24 hours. To bake, let the rolls sit out on the counter for about 1-2 hours for the second rise, or follow the proofing box (boiling water method) in the recipe. Bring the oven up to temperature, then bake and frost as directed in the recipe card.

It’s a really similar process if you’d like to freeze the unbaked rolls. After the first rise and shaping, wrap the pan really well in 2 layers of plastic wrap (you want it super tight so the rolls don’t dry out!), and then one layer of foil. Store in the freezer for 2-4 weeks. To bake, set the pan on the counter and let the rolls rise for 4-5 hours. Once risen fully, bake and frost as directed in the recipe card.

A hand lifts a frosted cinnamon roll topped with orange zest from a tray of similar rolls. In the background, there are oranges, a cup, and a blurred blue-and-white teapot.

Breakfast rolls for every occasion

There are so many good options, and I seriously love every one. If you’re interested in other breakfast treats, be sure to check out the Sweet Breakfast page on the blog!