These old-fashioned orange rolls bake up soft and fluffy, with a sweet and tangy orange glaze. Perfect for a cozy morning breakfast or brunch with the family!

homemade orange rolls with text overlay of recipe name.

Old-Fashioned Orange Rolls

My mom, Granny was recently reminiscing about a recipe her mother-in-law used to make called orange rolls. They are like cinnamon rolls except with an orange filling instead of a cinnamon one.

Since I had my grandmother’s recipes, I looked through her box and found the recipe she used to make orange rolls. For the dough, I used her recipe of her almost fail-proof dinner rolls that we have detailed here.

These fluffy orange rolls baked up golden brown and the buttery dough soaks up the brightly flavored citrus glaze. Because they’re made with real orange juice and zest (nothing artificial here!) they are the perfect sweetness. These delicate flavor of these orange sweet rolls pair well with breakfast, coffee, or tea.

We enjoyed them fresh out of the oven and they were amazing!

The finished rolls have a delicate orange flavor throughout and a sweet crunchy orange layer on the bottom. We scooped out the extra filling from the bottom of the baking pan to use as a sweet orange glaze on top of the rolls too.

We used our family dinner roll recipe, but you can use any basic roll recipe if you prefer.

— Sara

close up of a glazed orange roll.

Ingredients

For the Dough:

Dry yeast — Not rapid rise
Water
Salted butter
Sugar
Warm milk — I prefer whole milk, though you can use any milk you have on hand.
Salt
2 Large Eggs –– beaten
All-purpose flour

(Illustrated recipe here)

For the Orange Filling:

1 orange (for juice and zest)
2 Tablespoon of fresh orange zest
1/2 cup of fresh orange juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)

Helpful Kitchen Tools

For your convenience in re-creating this recipe, we’ve included shop-able ad links to some of the products and supplies used. Read our disclosure policy here.

4 step photo collage showing how to make orange rolls from scratch.

Instructions

Orange Filling Instructions

Prepare the orange filling first. Combine the orange juice, sugar and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Gently boil for six minutes. Keep a close watch and stir often.
Remove from heat and allow to cool completely, stirring occasionally.
While the orange filling is cooling, prepare the dough recipe and let the dough do the first rising.

Dough Instructions

In a large bowl, soften one stick of salted butter.

To the softened butter add:

½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of warm milk
1 cup of cold water
2 beaten eggs
yeast mix
3 ½ cups of flour

To Make the Dough:

Use a hand mixer to blend all of the ingredients together until there are no lumps and it is sticky and smooth. You can also make the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment or paddle attachment. This step takes the place of lengthy kneading of the dough as it helps create a springy and stretchy dough. This is super important.
Now, you’ll start adding the rest of the flour. I like to add a cup at a time, until I’ve reached 6 ½ cups total. (There’s 3 ½ cups in stretchy mix and you add 3 more by hand) Stir in the flour with a heavy wooden spoon. Your dough will probably still be sticky at this point.
Add more flour, ½ cup at a time. You want your dough to be able to form a ball and not be too sticky. However, you don’t want to add too much flour. So, add just enough that your dough can be formed into a ball that is smooth and elastic. It’s okay if it’s a little sticky.
Dump this dough onto a clean surface. Knead it a little with your hands until it forms a real ball. You can use a little more flour if needed.
Wash out your big bowl and dry it. Add about 2 Tablespoons of a light oil. Put the dough back in the bowl and roll it around in the oil.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place somewhere out of any cold drafts. You don’t have to put it in a warm place but you don’t want an air conditioner vent or fan blowing on it. Let the dough sit for about an hour and a half, until it fills the bowl. It will be soft to touch and about double in size.

Putting the Orange Rolls Together & Baking

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down. Roll the dough out into 9X14 rectangles (you’ll have enough dough for two batches).
Spread the orange filling on top of the dough.
Roll the dough up with the long side facing you. Gently lift dough and roll until it is all rolled up.
Cut each rolled dough into 12 slices (12 individual rolls).
Place the individual rolls into muffin tins or into a 9X14 baking pan and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
Remove from the oven and turn the pan out onto a cookie sheet, so that the rolls are upside down and the glazed orange filling is on top and can cool.

plate of orange rolls.

Prep Tips

Yield – If using our homemade dough recipe, you’ll have enough to make two batches, of 12 rolls each. This recipe makes 24 rolls. Both the dough and filling are easy to cut in half if you just want to make 12 rolls.
Dough – We used our family’s go-to homemade dinner roll recipe because it is tried and true. You’re welcome to use your favorite dough recipe or even pre-made dough, though I haven’t tested it myself.
Orange Juice – The recipe calls for fresh orange juice and the zest from an orange. The zest is what makes these rolls have that bit of extra taste, so we recommend using real oranges so you can get fresh squeezed juice and zest.
Serving – Flip the orange rolls right-side-up to serve. You can also top with extra orange glaze and/or orange zest.
Storage – Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

orange roll on plate with the rest of the batch in background.

Homemade Orange Rolls Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)

If you tried this recipe and liked it, please rate it!