14 Unique Cinnamon Roll Fillings You'll Want To Try

For years, the combination of brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon has worked to tickle the taste buds of cinnamon roll lovers everywhere. With soft, pillowy layers swirled into a neat bun and topped with icing, cinnamon rolls are the epitome of scrumptious comfort. Even so, there are times when even the best desserts can benefit from minor tweaks to take their flavor over the top. 

We're breaking down some of the best and most flavorful ways to put a spin on the classic cinnamon roll filling. Though most cinnamon rolls take on the flavor of the brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter traditionally rolled inside, there are plenty of other fun ways to upgrade their flavor, sometimes with very little effort involved. From store-bought ingredients to filling additions you can whip up over the stove, we're confident you'll love the upcoming 14 unique cinnamon roll fillings that can put a sweet spin on this classic dessert.

Putting bacon in cinnamon rolls won't be for everyone, but lovers of salty-sweet flavors will likely appreciate this uncanny yet totally delicious mashup. There's nothing to it, really. Simply take a few strips of high-quality, thick-cut bacon, fry until crispy, chop into bits, and sprinkle over your brown sugar and cinnamon filling before baking. ​

Using canned dough? You may need to do a bit more work, but adding bacon, even to decadent premade canned cinnamon roll dough, is still totally doable. To pull it off, pop open the cinnamon roll canister and unroll the dough without separating. Press your bacon bits into the dough, right on top of the brown sugar and cinnamon filling. Once added, roll the dough back up before segmenting each piece and baking as normal.

When topped with gooey icing, the crispy chewiness of savory bacon provides the perfect contrast that will make you question why you never tried this quirky hack before. ​ Oh, and one more thing. While it's best you cook your bacon up fresh, it's also okay to use pre-cooked bacon bits. Just be sure to buy the refrigerated sort; bottled imitation bits are generally best reserved for salads.

While plenty of bakers spend chilly autumn afternoons whipping up pumpkin-infused muffins and cakes, very few consider fusing cinnamon rolls with the flavor of pumpkin. We aren't just talking about pumpkin-flavored dough, either. You can actually use pumpkin puree as part of the filling for an unexpected pop of flavor that everyone will enjoy.

When adding pumpkin purée to cinnamon roll filling, it's usually best to reduce it first. Simply heat the purée on the stovetop over medium heat until most of its excess liquid has evaporated and the mixture has thickened. Allow the pumpkin to cool before using and combining it with softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Other warming spices can add more complexity to its flavor — mix-ins like nutmeg and cloves work well. If you don't have individual spices on hand, consider investing in a pumpkin spice blend.

Lastly, if you're up for it, don't forget to add cream cheese to your icing. Not only does it pair well with pumpkin flavor, but it's a tangy addition that can also make store-bought icing easier to spread.

Oh, the many wonders of using fruit filling in cinnamon rolls. We don't know what part we love most -– the scrumptious flavor or the fact that it works with (almost) any kind of fruit you have on hand. 

To make fruit a part of your cinnamon roll filling, make a homemade fruit sauce over the stove. Start by simmering fresh fruit in a pot along with sugar (either white or brown), cornstarch, and a bit of water to get things going. This method works particularly well for berries. However, you may need to switch up your approach depending on what type of fruit sauce you're using.

​Once the fruit filling is made, allow it to cool before spooning it over raw cinnamon roll dough. Depending on how sweet you want your rolls to be, you can either add the sauce on its own or ladle it over your typical brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter cinnamon roll filling mixture. Once the fruit is spread, roll up the dough, slice, and bake as usual. Feel free to top these fruit-flavored rolls with traditional vanilla icing or go all in with an icing that matches (or complements) your chosen fruit sauce flavor. Delish!

White chocolate may not be the first ingredient you'd associate with cinnamon rolls, but this eclectic enhancement puts a delicious spin on traditional flavors. To make use of white chocolate, we would recommend converting it into a homemade chocolate ganache. Simply heat high-quality white chocolate morsels over the stove or in the microwave, along with some heavy cream.

Once cooled, spread the creamy concoction over unrolled raw dough and add a good sprinkling of brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll tight, cook, and voila -– you have uniquely flavored white chocolate cinnamon rolls as the perfect option for warm and cozy munching. ​It's also worth noting that because white chocolate has a somewhat neutral flavor, it's easy to add more unique ingredients to the mix, making things even more delectable. Consider additions like orange zest, vanilla extract, or even a touch of peppermint to take your white chocolate cinnamon roll filling to the next level.

Up until this point, we've introduced you to some pretty interesting options for cinnamon roll fillings, but the best is yet to come. Case in point: crushed candies. While most cinnamon roll recipes that utilize candy tend to defer to crushed peppermint, anything can work as long as you know how to match flavors. Thankfully, there's little to no prep involved. Just take your candy, toss it into a resealable bag, pound it with a rolling pin (or something similar), add it to your pre-existing cinnamon roll filling, and prepare to bake.​

Remember the white chocolate ganache filling we mentioned earlier? We're thinking that a couple of drops of peppermint extract paired with finely crushed candy canes would work impeccably. Feel free to get creative, though. Toffee pieces, butterscotch, or cinnamon candies are all great options for adding crunchy, sweet flavor to your next batch of warm, delicious cinnamon rolls.

There are many ways to add chocolate to cinnamon roll filling, but for the sake of brevity, we'll only focus on two. For a filling that's very chocolate–forward, consider taking the butter you'd normally slather over raw dough and melting it in the microwave. Add brown sugar and cinnamon, along with a smidge of cocoa powder. Spread the mixture evenly over your raw, unrolled cinnamon roll dough for a surprising yet totally complementary flavor that your taste buds will love. ​

The other, easier way to add chocolate to a cinnamon roll filling is to stud the raw dough with chocolate chips before rolling. To do this, prepare your cinnamon rolls with the standard brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter filling — only this time, you also press miniature chocolate chips into the surface of the dough before rolling it up. The results? Cinnamon rolls featuring a subtle yet delectable chocolate flavor you're likely to crave again and again.

As lovers of naturally sweet flavors, we've found many unconventional ways to put maple syrup to use. Even so, nothing quite beats using maple syrup to add rich, robust, and unexpected flavor to a cinnamon roll filling.

When adding maple syrup to cinnamon rolls, combine one part sugar with one part maple syrup, softened butter, and cinnamon. Give the mixture a stir before spreading it over raw dough. One of the great aspects of using maple syrup as part of a cinnamon roll filling is that it helps you cut refined sugar by replacing half of it with this pure, unrefined sweetener. The rich flavor of maple syrup also works to complement the cinnamon, making for a tantalizing and complex cinnamon and maple filling. Just remember, we're talking about pure maple syrup here. To know if your grocery store maple syrup is real, be sure to read the label.

We've already explored several ways you can easily infuse fun chocolate flavor into cinnamon rolls, but using Nutella as a filling is next level. Nutella is one of the many store-bought varieties of hazelnut-chocolate spread on the market, most of which will work well as a cinnamon roll filling. Simply spread it in the same way you would butter before adding a sprinkling of cinnamon. Because Nutella is sweet on its own, you can skip the additional brown or granulated sugar that traditional cinnamon roll fillings call for. ​

But if you think Nutella is the only type of nutty spread you can use as cinnamon roll filling, think again. Almond butter, peanut butter, and various other nut butter options work just as well. Just note that while peanut butter will generally be easy to spread over raw dough, almond butter might not be quite as cooperative. It's helpful to mix the almond butter with softened butter first to make it more workable. Either way, be sure to add a little sugar and cinnamon to your filling. Unlike Nutella, most traditional nut butters don't tend to be very sweet. No, it won't be the traditional flavor you're used to, but those looking to put a fun spin on this old-school classic dessert might just go nuts for this unique cinnamon roll filling addition.

The addition of cookies to cinnamon rolls not only tastes delicious but is also ridiculously easy to pull off. Some cookie-stuffed cinnamon roll recipes we've come across feature crushed Oreos, but practically any type of hard cookie would work. All you need to do is crush the cookies you're choosing to use and add them to your usual butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon filling.

To crush the cookies, either run them through a food processor or place them in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin (or a flat-bottomed pot) to pound them into fine crumbs. To make incorporation easier and less messy, consider mixing all filling ingredients along with the crushed cookies in a bowl before using an offset spatula to spread the cookie filling across raw cinnamon roll dough.

​If you'd rather use cookie dough rather than crushed cooked cookies, that's fine too. Just flatten your cookie dough to be thin like a pancake before layering it over your already spread cinnamon roll filling. Looking to top your cinnamon rolls with cute little cookie dough balls? You totally can, but be careful. Consuming raw cookie dough can lead to health complications, which is why you should only top rolls with edible cookie dough varieties after baking.

Adding a little bourbon or whiskey to your cinnamon roll fillings is a sophisticated, "grown-up" way to enjoy a sweet treat. Like so many of the other options on this list, it's also super easy to pull off. To add bourbon or whiskey to your next batch of cinnamon rolls, simply mix your choice of cinnamon roll filling ingredients in a bowl before adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of bourbon or whiskey. Of course, how much you add depends on the recipe you're using –- if you aren't using a recipe, remember that less is often more.

Feel free to use your imagination when it comes to add-ins. Maple syrup can give bourbon-infused cinnamon rolls a boost, while cream cheese icing works to impart a mellow, complementary flavor. ​As for whether or not you should serve this boozy rendition of dessert to little ones, we wouldn't recommend it. Though some claim the alcohol cooks off while baking, the truth is that the alcohol used in certain recipes can often remain in large amounts. Our opinion? Leave the spiked cinnamon rolls for adults only.

Caramel-infused cinnamon rolls? Yes, please! Using caramel sauce as an ingredient in cinnamon roll filling is an addition that could flip any frown upside down. Of course, you could easily fill cinnamon rolls with any ol' caramel sauce you have on hand, but if you want to get really fancy, try making homemade caramel sauce yourself.

All you need to do is combine brown sugar, cream, and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, along with a bit of cinnamon. Enhance this combination with a little bourbon or crushed butterscotch candies if you wish, or go ahead and leave it plain. Allow to cool before spreading this tempting caramel cinnamon roll filling over uncooked dough. Don't forget to use any leftover caramel sauce as a cinnamon roll topping –-  not only does it look pretty, but it can also add a layer of extra yumminess over traditional vanilla or cream cheese frostings.

Yeah, yeah, we all know about layering cream cheese icing on top of cinnamon rolls, but how about a layer of cheese within the filling? If you love cream cheese as much as we do, you probably jump at the chance to use it in sweet recipes. When it comes to cinnamon rolls, feel free to incorporate it into softened butter to create a delicious filling.

Doing so infuses it with a richer, cheesier flavor, though it may need some extra sweetening to make it palatable. To sweeten the mixture, we'd suggest brown or white sugar, along with a pinch of cinnamon to keep with its traditional cinnamon roll flavor. Also, if you want the cream cheese flavor to be front and center, try adding a pinch of cinnamon to the cinnamon roll flour rather than the filling. The contrast in flavors between the subtly cinnamon-tinged dough and the filling will help the flavor of the cream cheese filling truly stand out.

If our previous suggestion of simmering homemade fruit sauce over the stove for use as a cinnamon roll filling seems like more effort than you're willing to exert, you could always try using the next best thing: store-bought fruit jam. No, it isn't the fanciest cinnamon roll filling option, but hey, it gets the job done while infusing the cinnamon rolls with lots of unique flavor.

The nice thing about using store-bought jellies and jams is that they often come in a variety of fun flavors. Try a traditional strawberry jam or experiment with something a little bit different, like apricot preserves or plum jam. Once you've decided on which jam to use, simply coat a bit of softened butter on your raw cinnamon roll dough before placing a layer of jam on top. Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar over the two layers, roll them up, and bake as usual. In the end, your cinnamon rolls will have a deliciously fruity edge that took little to no effort. Sweet, huh?

Did we save the best for last? Why, yes, we did. Adding a bit of espresso powder to a cinnamon roll filling can boost its flavor in a fun and unexpected way. When combined with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, espresso can lend a deliciously comforting flavor to the backdrop of the pastry's sweet filling.

When adding espresso to your cinnamon rolls, we recommend using about 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder in your filling to start. Feel free to dial the amount of espresso you use up or down, depending on how strong you'd like the flavor to be.

Craving even more of the delectable taste of coffee in your rolls? Consider adding a teaspoon or so of espresso to your frosting, too. Just be careful when serving espresso-infused cinnamon rolls to your little ones — like the cinnamon rolls containing alcohol, this caffeinated dessert is probably best reserved for grown-ups only.