This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
One of our favorite morning treats! A sweet roll recipe made with an orange filling and an irresistible lemon glaze. Everyone loves these delicious Orange Rolls!
There are so many sweet roll variations aside from the classic cinnamon rolls. We also like to make maple bacon rolls, and even ones filled with nutella! Whether you eat them for breakfast or dessert, they are amazing.
Orange Sweet Rolls
Remember that amazing Nutella Cinnamon Roll recipe I shared last week? Did you try it yet? I hope so, cuz I know you’ll love them. This week, I’m bringing you another delicious sweet roll recipe. This sweet breakfast recipe is for Orange Rolls!
My cousin, Alicia, has been making them for years and years and always makes them for Christmas Eve. We wanted to give them a go ourselves and we were not disappointed!
They were soft and sweet and sooo good!! The orange filling actually has grated orange peel, and it adds the perfect amount of zest! The glaze on top of the rolls is a lemon glaze, and let me tell you… It is PHENOMENAL!
It sounds like a lot of citrus, but these rolls are SO sweet and not at all tart. If you would like to try these Orange Sweet Rolls for your family get togethers (especially during holidays!), I highly recommend them. You just can’t beat sweet breakfast rolls. 😉
Don’t let the long prep time or yeast scare you away from making these orange rolls! I can PROMISE you that using yeast in your bread dough isn’t as scary as it sounds, and the long prep time is only because the dough has to rise two different times.
But it is sooo worth the wait!!
Recipe tips and tricks:
Incorporate more orange flavor. If you would rather have a pure orange roll, you could substitute the lemon extract in the glaze for orange extract, or even orange juice (using the same measurement as written).
What if you don’t have grated orange peel? If orange zest is hard to come by, I would suggest using orange marmalade for the filling or just replacing the orange zest with orange extract.
Cutting the dough: Use string or floss to easily cut the dough into individual rolls. Place the string under the log of dough, cross the ends of the string and pull to cut nice even slices.
Do you cover the rolls while they’re rising a second time? Each time it is rising, let the dough rise while being covered in a warm, draft-free place. This can be accomplished with plastic wrap or a clean thin dish towel.
How to raise faster: The warmer the environment the faster the yeast will rise. One of my favorite ways to get my rolls to rise faster is to place them in a warm oven. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Turn OFF the oven . Place the bowl in the oven to rise.
This next tip is one I saw online, I haven’t used it yet, but wanted to share the idea. Fill a mixing bowl with hot water and place a plate over the top of the bowl. Next, place the bowl of dough on top of the plate and cover the dough bowl with a tea towel. The heat from the hot water will warm the plate which will then warm the bowl of dough.
For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, butter, and extract in a small bowl. Add enough milk to achieve desired consistency, and spread on while rolls are warm.
Overnight rolls
You can easily make these rolls and assemble them the night before. Follow the recipe up until the rolls need to rise for a second time. At this point you can refrigerate them until the morning.
Once you remove them in the morning, allow them to rise before baking them. This allows the yeast to still be effective and yields deliciously soft rolls.
Freezing the rolls before finishing the recipe doesn’t yield great results. By freezing the rolls you kill some of that yeast that was previously there, and ruin the gluten that was developed.
You would be better off baking them and freezing them after they were fully made. After they are baked and cooled, but before adding glaze, put rolls on a sheet pan and freeze until hardened, then transfer to a freezer bag or container. They will keep well in the freezer for a few months.
I’m really wishing I had one of these orange rolls right about now!
For more sweet breakfast rolls, check out:
Orange Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 package active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 cup warm milk
- ¼ cup shortening
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 3½-3¾ cups all-purpose flour
Filling
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
Frosting
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1-2 tablespoons milk, or more as needed
- 1 teaspoon orange zest grated
Instructions
- Dissolve dry yeast and warm water in a large bowl. Add milk, shortening, sugar, salt, egg, and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining flour, enough to form a soft dough.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Grease all sides of the bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. For about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine all filling ingredients; set aside until ready to use.
- Punch the dough down and roll it into a long rectangle. Spread your filling and roll up, starting with a long end. Use a long serrated knife to cut into even pieces, about 12-14.
- Place cut side down onto a greased 10×15-inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375°. Always check during baking. Rolls should be light golden brown.
Frosting
- While the rolls are baking, make frosting in a medium bowl. Cream the softened cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, orange juice, milk, and orange zest and mix until smooth.
- Frost rolls while they are still slightly warm and sprinkle on orange zest. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Adapted from Taste of Home
I MADE THESE AND TOOK THEM TO MY FAMILY CHRISTMAS AND THEY WERE A BIG HIT!
I am glad they were!! Thank you for letting me know!!
Can you confirm the amount of the lemon extract in the glaze please
It’s 1 1/2 teaspoons 🙂 Hope you like them!
HAHA OK MAKES SENSE NOW I READ IT AS 11/2 NOT 1 1/2
I would have given it a 5 but the butter sugar filling drained into the bottom of the pan and made the rolls glue to the pan…
Oh, I am sorry. Thank you for trying them!
I’ve made these several times. My husband and grandkids love them(as I do too)!! I make lots of bread so I doubled the bath and the first batch was terrific and the second batch didn’t raise as much. Any idea why??
That’s a good question?? If everything was the same..it should have. I am glad you all like them! I wish I knew..I’m sorry!
I’ve been making these rolls for about 3 years and trying other recipes to compare. These ones are always the favourite! They are incredibly soft and they freeze excellent after baking (I make two smaller dishes one for eating fresh the other for lunches). The modification I make is the filling using 1/2 cup of sugar and melding the orange zest with it as long as possible (to maximize flavour) and adding cinnamon. It’s unreal.
Thank you for sharing what you do! Sounds perfect!
This Orange Rolls are so yummy, Just made for my family, and it is not so hard to make it.
I do recommend and you will like it.
Libni
Thank you for sharing! They are super easy! I am so glad you liked them!
Made these last night, put them in the fridge overnight and let them rise this morning for an hour or so. They were soft and wonderful! The only thing I recommend is cutting down on the sugar. One cup of sugar is a crazy amount for filling! I used a 1/4 cup and they turned out sweet and delicious. I also squeezed orange juice into the glaze instead of milk and extract. Tasted fantastic.
Thank you so much for sharing what you did. I am so glad you liked them 🙂
These are my favorite orange rolls!! They are sooo soft and the flavor is perfect! I want to make these for breakfast for guests that we have coming and I was wondering if I could freeze them in the pan before baking and take them out earlier in the morning to defrost, rise, and then bake. Have you ever tried this? Would it still work?
I personally haven’t tried, so I wish I knew for sure that they’d turn out. I’m guessing that would work? I’m sorry that I’m not sure. Let me know if you try it. Thanks 🙂
I tried doing freezing the rolls (after cut, placed on pan, before second rising) twice this holiday. Unfortunately, neither time was that successful. One batch rose higher than the other, but the outcome was not nearly as good when made fresh. Both times I put them in a warmed oven to rise for 45 minutes before baking. Though they did rise, they never filled out the pan like they normally would.
My own Question:
Have you or anyone substituted the butter (assuming unsalted) for salted butter in the glaze and/or filling with better taste results?
Thanks for letting me know how it turned out after freezing! I still have never tried that because I was too nervous it wouldn’t turn out right, so thank you!
I always use salted butter in the glaze and filling. They turn out delicious!
Just so you know if you cover with plastic wrap when youtake out of Freezer and set where not to warm just room temp it works. Thanksgood luck
Absolutely delicious!!!! Will be added to my baking rotation. Highly recommended! (Only slight modification was 1/4 tsp orange extract and 1/4 tsp lemon extract in the glaze for even more orangey flavor. )
Glad you liked them! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
Can you use butter in the dough in place of shortening?
I actually use canola oil instead of butter/shortening. I find that it makes them incredibly soft and light and they stay softer longer.
Made these for the first, definitely not the last, time yesterday. Oh my gosh! They were very, very delicious, and turned out perfectly! Thanks so much for the recipe!
We love these!! Thanks so much for letting me know! I’m so glad you liked them:)