9 Grocery Store Bakery Cinnamon Rolls, Ranked From Worst To Best

Cinnamon rolls are an indulgent treat or a special occasion breakfast, and like any baked good, homemade is almost always superior to store-bought. But when there's no time (or talent) to make your own, there are some impressively luxurious cinnamon rolls available at your local supermarket to meet your sugar and spice pastry needs.

I sampled my way through several local grocery store bakeries and found quite a few cinnamon rolls that hit the sweet spot and some that completely missed the mark. I like my pastries lusciously soft, rich and buttery, and oozing with sugary sweetness. Those brands that were blah — dry, artificial tasting, nothing special — ended up at the bottom. The cinnamon rolls that impressed me most had flavor and texture that stopped me in my tracks or were deliciously decadent.

The takeaway is, if you're going to spoil yourself or a loved one with a grocery store bakery cinnamon roll, make sure it is punching above its weight and not just a lackluster sweet treat. But don't just immediately scroll to the top slide to see which roll reigns supreme because you'll miss the other mouthwatering options along the way.

I was surprised when Kroger Bakery Fresh brand ended dead last in this ranking because I loved Bakery Fresh Brownie Bites when I ranked supermarket brand chocolate brownies. Unlike the dream-worthy brownies, these cinnamon rolls were the stuff of nightmares. What appeared to be a fanciful drizzle of frosting over the top of these simple rolls was actually a gag-inducing slimy gel that slid around my mouth like wet caulk. The offending ingredient responsible for the slick and stretchy frosting is agar-agar, which, when used sparingly, can add jiggle to a no-bake cheesecake, put the gummy in gummy bears, and make boba tea extra-chewy – definitely not the textures I want in an icing.

These cinnamon rolls were easy on the eyes — the golden spirals with a white zigzag icing gave off party vibes. But they were bready, dry, and lightweight, not rich or flavorful in any way. This is the pastry you bring to a meeting if you want to provide the bare minimum, to just look like you're being thoughtful but not expecting anyone to actually eat them.

Private Selection Vanilla Iced Cinnamon Rolls are also a Kroger brand private label but theses were a step up, albeit a small one, from the Bakery Fresh attempt at a cinnamon roll. The generous pools of vanilla icing in every nook and cranny looked appealingly delicious but inside it the bread was only moderately moist and the few stripes of spice didn't taste much better than its sister brand. What's worse is the aggressively yeasty flavor and spoiled milk aftertaste which dominated the overall flavor.

I even gave this brand a second chance by heating one up according to the microwave directions printed on the box. Twenty seconds was enough to activate the cinnamon, soften the bread, and melt the frosting, but even the spicy-sweet and gooey improvements couldn't cancel out the unpleasant yeasty flavors, which, when heated, tasted like fermented, undercooked dough.

Other complaints about the Private Selection brand relate to the misshapen nature of these baked goods. The center, which is typically the ultimate best bite of any cinnamon roll, wasn't consistently in the exact middle of these squished-together rolls; therefore, there was no guarantee it was protected enough to be the softest, moistest, most flavorful bite. Even just trying to identify the borders of each individual roll was tricky, so the serving sizes varied, which is probably only a big deal to kids.

Sprouts Fresh Baked Cinnamon Rolls are another example of pastries looking way better than they taste. They are beautifully swirled with contrasting light and dark layers, but have minimal frosting and an undetectable cinnamon presence. The bread was golden brown and flaky, reminiscent of a dense and mildly moist croissant but without the buttery taste.

Although there is no label saying so, these appear to be dairy-free, with canola oil used in place of butter in both the bread and filling. I suppose these are an attempt at a healthier treat than traditional cinnamon rolls because they were not loaded with sugary frosting like other brands, just lightly iced with what the label lists as Donut Glaze. In retrospect, it isn't really fair to judge these simple pastries against the richer and stickier cinnamon rolls. If they had been labeled more accurately as "lightly sweetened dairy-free pastries" then they wouldn't have ranked so low. As they function more as a cinnamon-swirled donut, these swirled sweets could be creatively repurposed in several other ways – they'd be the headliner of fancy French toast.

The combination of butter, cinnamon, and sugar is the hallmark of a classic cinnamon roll, and those are the categories where this brand fell short. There's not much flavor going on in these underwhelming Walmart Freshness Guaranteed Cinnamon Rolls other than a generic sweetness. At minimum, these pastries should have a strong cinnamon flavor, even if additional ingredients are added for a flavorful twist. I was relieved not to encounter any unpleasant aftertaste lurking in these, but there was nothing to make me want to go back for more either.

Not only did this roll not meet the minimum flavor requirements, but it looked like a cheap imitation cinnamon roll, too, like fluffy white bread lightly spray-painted with brown accents. It basically ate like a glazed roll. Bakeries often use a simple sugar or flavored glaze to add flavor and sweetness to pastries and to help keep them fresh, so it makes sense for the Freshness Guaranteed brand to take out a little insurance by glazing its baked cinnamon rolls. However, the icing was my least favorite part because Walmart's pastry glaze uses agar-agar, a thickening powder which, in my opinion, messes with its texture. The icing was an improvement over the earlier Bakery Fresh variety's frosting because when spread in a thin layer, the gelatinous topper wasn't nearly as disgusting as the drizzled strands of it.

If you've ever attempted to roll and slice cinnamon rolls from a log of dough, you know it's nearly impossible to get precise layers and shaping. I don't know what high-tech baking equipment Trader Joe's uses, but it has cracked the code on uniformity. Graded on appearance, TJ's Cinnamon Buns are Pinterest-worthy breakfast pastries. The rings are thin and impossibly precise, so they look like striped shirts when they are cut in half. But, as we know, beauty sometimes comes at a price. Because the layers were so thin, the bread was dense and dry. There's no real gooeyness to the filling, but there's a decent amount of cinnamon flavor.

The taste and texture of these Trader Joe's delicacies were on the level of vending machine pastries, but were rescued from a lower ranking by the fabulous cream cheese icing. Despite its graininess, the punch of tangy cream cheese flavor was a pleasant surprise that improved the overall sensory experience. It outpaced the sweetness and added just enough of a messy element to the carefully coifed swirls to land in the top five. However, I'd most likely skip these in favor of another one of Trader Joe's assortment of breakfast items if I were shopping for a breakfast treat.

I may have missed my chance to taste the WinCo's Bake Shop cinnamon rolls which were made fresh in-store until recently, but WinCo's replacement — Crown Bakeries brand iced cinnamon rolls — surprisingly surpassed my expectations for a prebaked, frozen, and then thawed dessert. The cinnamon spiraled rings were so thick that they only made two and a half or three rotations around the center, but the soft bready bites did not overshadow the gooey cinnamon symphony going on inside. The filling hit the deep, almost bitter notes of cinnamon spice which harmonized with the sharp cinnamon-bear flavor of the icing.

The main downside of this brand was the icing. With some bites it was crusty before it melted into smooth frosting. At other times, it had a slimy finish. Admittedly, the icing was also oddly textured with wrinkle lines, which can be a sign of baking or cooling mistakes, but it's possible it was a plastic wrap covering that left its mark in the icing. It was an odd look but not enough to hold this brand back from landing close to the top of this list.

There's a lot to love about Favorite Day Bakery's huge and hefty cinnamon donut rolls. They're satisfyingly spiced, and gloriously gooey thanks to a potent cinnamon filling and gobs of thick, creamy, delicious frosting. These treats are sweetened with both a pastry glaze and an excessive amount of soft frosting. And although a serving size is just half a roll, once you dig in, it is difficult to stop and you'll find yourself finishing the whole thing.

Another thing to be aware of: These gluttonous goodies are ridiculously messy. From the moment I picked up the four-pack in the Target bakery, I could tell the flimsy cardboard box was no match for the weight and size of these giants. Unable to lie flat in the undersized box, the oversized rolls leaned on each other so that flakes of pastry stuck to the frosting, and it smeared everywhere and on everything. By the time I got them home, the buns and box looked like they'd been through a war zone.

The frosting overkill and the bedraggled appearance held this brand back from the top spot. But I'm confident you'll still fall in love with Favorite Day cinnamon rolls which you'll find at a Target near you.

Just because Walmart is known for low prices doesn't mean there aren't luxury items on the shelves. Just take a walk through Walmart's bakery section, and you'll find so many tempting treats that you have to try. Among them are Marketside cinnamon rolls. This brand blew me away with its top-shelf taste and visually striking garnishes.

Two kinds of icing — a dollop of silky smooth cream cheese frosting and a cinnamon icing drizzle — may have looked extravagantly indulgent on this cinnamon roll, but because the frosting doesn't completely cover the whole roll, it turned out to be just the right amount to be luxurious. Don't get me wrong — these were plenty sweet. But the layers of cinnamon on cinnamon — in the spirals, in the frosting, in the decorative drizzle, and seemingly infused into the soft and chewy bread — created a fragrant and flavorful spicy balance to the sweetness. An unexpected addition of cocoa – hidden at the bottom of the list of ingredients — deepened the flavor complexity by heightening the warm and rich notes of the cinnamon.

Whole Foods' supersized cinnamon rolls tipped the scales to land the top spot, with the bread, flavor, and texture all on point. These are one of the few varieties of rolls which kept their individuality instead of fusing together in a pan. I really liked the resulting textural contrast of a slightly crusty exterior with the soft and moist inner rings. Overall, the bread was rich and flaky and the cinnamon flavor was dynamic. Understanding the varieties and characteristics of cinnamon can unlock its flavor potential and as I learned with the success of the previous brand, so can the addition of unconventional ingredients. Instead of cocoa, Whole Foods bakers expertly added molasses and two forms of cinnamon in the filling, which amped up the burst of spice with both bright and earthy notes.

Of all of this pastry's superlative qualities, the frosting was the absolute showstopper. It was thick and smooth with a rich cream cheese flavor to cut through the sweetness. The only way to improve on these cinnamon rolls is to eat them warm. Fortunately, among the multitude of social media posts and trending videos about this Whole Foods bakery masterpiece are rave reviews of the take-and-bake version. Eating these fresh from the oven sounds heavenly, but they had me with the generous accompanying tub of icing.

I grabbed a box of cinnamon rolls from several local supermarkets' bakery sections to find out which brands are worth buying when I don't have the time to make my own homemade rolls. Many grocery stores are regional, which is why I stuck to national chains and found a wide range of sizes, types of frosting, amount of cinnamon, and stickiness. Since I associate cinnamon rolls with indulgence, special occasions, and the ultimate answer to a serious sugar craving, those that were the most gooey, flavorful, rich, sweet, moist, and eye-catching rated higher than the small, dry, uninspired pastries.

Initially, I went with the one-bite method and quickly determined the worst brands (one bite was all I could stomach) and the best (which I had to force myself to stop eating). Appearance, ease of serving, strength of cinnamon, and overall flavor were all factors in my final results, but I'd have to say that texture was paramount. Whether they were the soft and fluffy variety or the flaky and dense type, moistness and an element of indulgence had the greatest influence on my opinion.