Just like the famous cinnamon bread at Dollywood, but made easy with store-bought frozen dough! Pillowy loaves of sweet bread are slathered with butter, coated with cinnamon sugar, and baked until golden brown. Serve them warm with a drizzle of sweet vanilla icing and watch them disappear!
If you love the smell of cinnamon filling your kitchen, you’re going to fall head over heels for this Easy Cinnamon Bread. It tastes like a cinnamon roll in quick bread form, warm, buttery, with lots of cinnamon sugar all topped with a sweet vanilla icing.
This easy cinnamon bread is my go-to when I want something cozy, sweet, and super easy. It’s simple to make with frozen dough (no yeast, no fuss!) and bakes up perfectly golden. Perfect for beginner bakers or anyone craving homemade goodness without the fuss!
“What’s not to love – fresh baked cinnamon bread and sweet icing, delicious. This recipe couldn’t have been easier and came together so quickly. The little bit that was left over, we sliced up for toast the next morning and had it with a bit of butter. Next time I am going to try cutting the bread into three strips, rolling the strips in the sugar and cinnamon and then braiding it.” — Simone, skilled home cook and bread maker.
Key Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
I prefer to use frozen bread in this recipe to keep things nice and simple, but you can choose to use homemade yeast dough instead! It’s totally up to you!
When I first made this bread, I used my homemade bread recipe (made from scratch with active dry yeast and all). It was delicious, but took a lot of time. If I’m going to go through all that effort, I usually make cinnamon swirl bread.
The next time I made it, I used frozen Rhodes Bake‑N‑Serve loaves (found in the freezer section of the grocery store). And guess what? You really couldn’t tell the difference. My family gobbled up both loaves with zero complaints!
How to Make Dollywood Cinnamon Bread
Just roll the dough in cinnamon sugar, let it rise, and bake it to golden perfection! Below are a few helpful tips – visit the printable recipe card for the full directions!
Thaw the frozen dough for about 3 to 4 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Make sure they’re fully thawed before slicing as you will need to cut them almost all the way through.
When slicing the thawed loaves, make four deep slits into each, slicing nearly all the way through but leaving the bottom intact. These cuts let the butter and cinnamon sugar seep deep into the bread, creating pockets of gooey sweetness in every bite.
Don’t be shy with the butter, cinnamon and sugar! The recipe calls for ¾ cup melted butter and a full 2 cups of sugar tossed with cinnamon. These generous amounts help create that iconic Dollywood-style “syrupy” sweetness that soaks into every slice.
Let the bread rise in the pan until doubled, about one hour. Place it in a warm space with a thin kitchen towel over the top to help it rise.
Bake at 350 °F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. I like to use aluminum foil baking pans to keep it easy (just like they do at Dollywood!), but a regular loaf pan works great too. To check for doneness, you can tap on the bottom of the bread pan and if it sounds hollow, it’s done.
Wait about 10 minutes after baking before drizzling on the vanilla icing (a simple blend of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla). This will help ensure that the icing sticks to the bread without removing all of the cinnamon sugar. Then dig in while it’s still warm and gooey!
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Cinnamon Bread Variations
Try adding a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts into the slits along with the cinnamon sugar mixture for a nutty crunch. You can also spoon a cup of peach or apple pie filling over the bread before adding the icing. Or for a crackly, crunchy top, sprinkle brown sugar on top of the bread before baking like I do with my banana bread recipe!
Cinnamon Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 loaves frozen bread dough, Rhodes Bake – N – Serve
- ¾ cup butter, melted
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 – 3 tablespoons milk
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Instructions
- Place frozen loaves on a tray and thaw at room temperature. This may take 3 to 4 hours. You can also thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Spray 9-inch bread pans with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Cut 4 deep cuts into each loaf of bread, nearly all the way through, leaving just a small piece still connected at the bottom.
- Coat bread completely with the melted butter, making sure to coat the inside of each cut very well.
- Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a wide dish and roll the bread gently in the cinnamon sugar. Make a thick coat and stuff each cut with lots of cinnamon sugar.
- Place a loaf of bread in each pan and cover with a light tea towel. Allow bread to rise in a warm area, until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake bread for 20 to 25 minutes. Loaves will be golden brown and when thumped on the bottom should sound hollow. Remove bread from oven and allow bread to cool for about 10 minutes.
- While the bread is cooling, mix up the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk and whisk until smooth. Add extra milk as needed, until desired consistency. Drizzle icing on top of warm bread and serve!
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Notes
Nutrition
Categories:
More Must Try Cinnamon Breakfast Recipes
- My kids always devour these air fryer french toast sticks!
- These easy cinnamon roll waffles are a weekend staple.
- You can’t go wrong with these cinnamon sugar donut holes!
- This cinnamon roll cake is perfect for brunch with a cup of coffee.
- Banana bread cinnamon rolls are so soft and fluffy.
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and also where do u find the Rhodes frozen bread dough and is it in the section with all the frozen Pillsbury dough and other brands and such?
Yes! It will be with the frozen breads/doughs. I believe they have a product finder on the brand’s website to find where it is sold near you!
what if I can’t find the Rhodes dough?
Hi Christina, you can use homemade white bread dough as well!
What would happen if you use the sweet bread dough instead of just regular bread dough?
It would just be sweeter!
We just came home from Pigeon Forge last month (our 3rd time there) and went to Dollywood for the first time to see the Christmas lights and get some of their famous cinnamon bread. I have been looking for an easy recipe to make it and oh my gosh! I just got done making this recipe and it taste exactly like Dollywood’s!!
Hello! The only thing I can find in my area the Rhodes White Bread dough. Will that work for this recipe? Thanks so much!
Yes! Will work just fine!
If I made this the night prior, and went to warm up in the morning : would you frost it the night before or wait til after it’s warmed up?? And how would you warm up?
Going to serve for Christmas a.m.
I would wait to frost it until you are ready to serve it! You could heat it in the microwave, or for more even heating, wrap it up in foil and heat it in the oven!
Came out great & delicious! Highly recommend. Very easy too.
Super easy! And very delicious, great for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Enjoy
Can this bread be made and set out over night to rise and the baked in the morning?
Hi Diane, I have not tried that and would be nervous to leave it out for so long on the counter. I would prep it and then place it back into the fridge for overnight. Then bring it out early in the morning to warm and rise before baking.
Can you add raisins or nuts to the cinnamon bread?
Of course you can! Just fold them in the rolls!
I only need to make 1 loaf. How much sugar and cinnamon would you suggest??
Hi Donna! You will need 1/3 of the recipe amounts if you are only making one loaf. If you hit the print button in the recipe card, it will take you to a page where you can adjust the amounts of the recipe to make a smaller batch! Hope this helps!
They don’t sell this frozen bread dough down here.the only dough is a fresh pizza dough and I have made dinner rolls from in the past.
Or
Make fresh dough, how much many gramms would I need.
Your recipe looks incredible in the photos.
Thankyou
Hi Lindi! Each raw loaf of frozen Rhodes dough is about 16 oz. Hope this helps!
Soooo Yummy…… just melts in your mouth
Love the recommendation of cream cheese to the frosting!!!!
Here it goes, I’m going to try making this for my husband tonight. I got rodes bread and lots of sugar & cinnamon ready to go. ! I remember having Dollys cinnamon bread in Tennessee last summer. I hope this turns out good. The pictures look amazing…!
This is a great recipe! I decided I’m going to take it up a notch, by using half white sugar and half brown. I’m also thinking of adding about 1/2 pkg of cream cheese, to the icing. I’ll let you know if they turn out any good.
Thanks for the recipe!!
No one has addressed this, but when you set that bread out to thaw it also starts to rise as it’s thawing?. So how do we handle the bread to slice it, if it’s already trying to rise?.
You can slice it once it’s risen, you will see the step by step photos in the post to see what the dough will look like!
Can I make mini loaves rather than 8” loaf pans and if so would I divide each loaf in half or in thirds?
What size is your mini loaf?
I put all 3 loaves in together in a larger pan and it worked great. It was delicious!
Hi Jessica. I searched but all I see is a reference to ‘pans’.
How many 8” pans? Since you ukase 3 loaves of bread, I’m guessing a 3 loaf yield?
Thanks
Hi! Yes, you will need 3 8-inch pans! 🙂
What size pan did you use..??
8-inch bread loaf pans!
When do you put slices and butter on the bread? When it’s still frozen, semi thawed or totally thawed out?
Once it is thawed. You can see me doing it in the step by step photos in the post and the bread is thawed.