Homemade Honey Buns

Soft, fluffy, and dripping with warm honey butter, this Homemade Honey Buns recipe is everything you want in a homemade sweet roll. A tender yeast dough made with real honey is rolled with cinnamon honey butter, baked until golden, then finished with even more honey butter while the buns are still warm.

These baked honey buns may look a little like cinnamon rolls, but honey is the star from the very first bite. It’s mixed right into the dough, swirled throughout each bun, and spread over the top for a sweet, sticky finish.

Unlike the packaged honey buns you find at the grocery store, these are baked, not fried. They bake together in a pan, giving you tall, fluffy buns with pillowy-soft centers and plenty of buttery honey flavor.

One of my family’s favorite cakes I make is my honey bun cake. So I knew that they would go bonkers for these homemade honey buns! This amazing recipe produces soft and puffy rolls, bursting with the sweet taste of honey, not only in the rolls, but in the filling and the topping too!

Honey Buns Recipe

There is something pretty special about pulling a pan of homemade sweet rolls from the oven, especially when your kitchen smells like warm bread, cinnamon, butter, and honey.

If you’ve been looking for a honey buns recipe with yeast, don’t let the rise time scare you off. The dough is simple to make and easy to work with. Most of the time involved is hands-off while you wait for the dough to rise.

I especially love that the honey isn’t saved just for the topping. Adding it to the dough gives these buns a subtle honey flavor throughout, while the cinnamon honey butter adds sticky, buttery sweetness to every bite.

Serve them warm for breakfast or brunch, make a pan when you have overnight guests, or enjoy one with a hot cup of coffee.

Are Honey Buns the Same as Cinnamon Rolls?

Not exactly, although you can certainly see the family resemblance!

Honey buns come in several different styles. The packaged version many of us grew up with is usually flatter and more compact, while homemade honey buns can be fried or baked and come in different shapes.

This baked honey buns recipe is made by rolling and slicing the dough before arranging the buns together in a baking dish. As they rise and bake, they become tall, soft, and fluffy, giving them an appearance similar to cinnamon rolls.

But the flavor is where the difference really comes through.

Instead of being all about cinnamon and sugar, these buns put honey front and center. There is honey in the yeast dough itself, plus a cinnamon honey butter that gets spread inside the buns and melted over the top.

So yes, they look a little like cinnamon rolls. But once you taste all of that buttery honey goodness, the name makes perfect sense.

Ingredients in Homemade Honey Buns

You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make this homemade honey buns recipe from scratch. Find the complete measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. 

• Whole milk – Warm milk helps activate the yeast while adding richness to the dough. It should be warm, but never hot.
• Active dry yeast – Gives the buns their light, fluffy texture and beautiful rise.
• Granulated sugar – A small amount helps activate the yeast, while the rest sweetens the dough.
• Eggs – Add richness and structure while helping create a soft, tender bun.
• Salted butter – Melted butter makes the yeast dough rich and tender. Softened butter is also used to make the honey butter.
• Honey – The star of the recipe! Honey sweetens the dough and is used generously in the filling and topping.
• All-purpose flour – Provides the structure for the soft yeast dough.
• Ground cinnamon – Adds warmth to the honey butter without overpowering the flavor of the honey.

Honey Butter Makes These Buns Different

What really makes this honey butter buns recipe special is that the honey isn’t only drizzled over the finished rolls. Honey goes right into the dough, and the filling is made with softened butter, honey, and cinnamon.

About three-fourths of the cinnamon honey butter gets spread over the dough before it is rolled and sliced. The rest is saved for the warm buns.

As that honey butter melts over the freshly baked buns, it creates a sticky, glossy topping that runs down into all of those soft layers. No separate powdered sugar glaze needed!

How to Make Baked Honey Buns

Start by warming the milk to about 100–110°F. It should feel warm, but not hot. About 105°F is ideal.

Combine the warm milk, yeast, and 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir everything together, cover the bowl with a clean dish towel, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. You should see foam forming on the surface.

Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add the eggs, melted butter, honey, and remaining granulated sugar. Whisk for about a minute, until everything is well combined.

Add the flour and mix until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 to 7 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. You can also knead the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Place the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover it, and let it rise for about 1 hour in a warm place, or until doubled in size.

While the dough rises, stir together the softened butter, honey, and cinnamon until smooth and creamy.

Roll the risen dough into a sheet about ½ inch thick. Spread about three-fourths of the honey butter mixture evenly over the dough, saving the rest for topping the baked buns.

Roll the dough into a log, then cut it into 12 even pieces.

Arrange the buns in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Cover the dish and allow the shaped honey buns to rise a second time for about 45-60 minutes, or until they have doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

While they are still warm, spread the reserved cinnamon honey butter over the tops. It will melt right into the buns and create that beautiful, sticky finish.

How to Store Homemade Honey Buns

Store leftover honey buns in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

If you know you won’t be serving the entire batch right away, consider leaving the honey butter topping off the buns you plan to store. They’ll be easier and less messy to store and reheat. Add the honey butter after warming them for that freshly glazed appearance.

Enjoy leftover honey buns at room temperature or warm an individual bun in the microwave for about 15 seconds.

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If you can’t wait to make this recipe for Honey Buns, make sure you can find it! Pin it to your favorite Pinterest recipe board before you go.

Tips for Making Homemade Honey Buns

Check the milk temperature. Yeast loves warm liquid, but milk that is too hot can kill it. Aim for 100–110°F before adding the active dry yeast. If you have an instant-read thermometer, this is the easiest way to take the guesswork out of it.

Try not to add too much additional flour just because the dough feels a little tacky. Too much flour can turn soft, fluffy buns into dense ones.

Use room-temperature butter, not melted butter, for the honey butter. Softened butter mixes smoothly with the honey and cinnamon and is much easier to spread over the dough.

Give your dough enough time to rise. Yeast doesn’t always follow the clock! The temperature of your kitchen can affect how quickly the dough rises. Look for the dough to double during the first rise and for the shaped buns to become visibly puffy during the second.

You can knead the dough by hand or use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Best Homemade Honey Bun Tip

Save some of that honey butter! It may be tempting to spread every last bit inside the buns, but reserving about one-fourth for the top is worth it.

Spread it over the honey buns while they’re still warm from the oven. The butter melts over the tops and down into all of those soft, fluffy layers, giving you the sticky honey finish that makes these buns so good.

Homemade Honey Buns FAQ

• Can I make honey buns without cinnamon? Absolutely. If you want the honey flavor to stand out even more, simply omit the cinnamon from the honey butter. You’ll end up with a buttery honey flavor that’s every bit as delicious.
• Can I use unsalted butter? Yes. If you use unsalted butter, add about ½ teaspoon of salt to the dough and at least ¼ teaspoon of salt to the honey butter. That little bit of salt helps balance the sweetness of the honey.
• Can I make honey buns with a stand mixer? Yes. Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook and knead the dough on medium speed until it is smooth and elastic. It makes this honey bun recipe with yeast especially easy since the mixer does most of the kneading for you.
• Can I make homemade honey buns ahead of time? Yes. The honey butter can be prepared ahead and refrigerated. Let it come to room temperature before spreading it over the dough. You can also bake the honey buns ahead of time and warm them before serving. Save some honey butter to spread over the freshly warmed buns.
• What if my yeast doesn’t foam? If the milk, yeast, and sugar mixture doesn’t become foamy after about 5 minutes, start over. Check that your yeast is fresh and make sure your milk is warm, not scalding hot.
• Can I leave the honey out of the dough? Yes. If you prefer a milder honey flavor, you can omit the ¼ cup of honey in the dough and still use the honey butter for the filling and topping.

More Homemade Rolls to Love

If you love homemade rolls, you need to be sure to take a peek at these other reader favorites: My Aunt Carol’s Poppyseed Rolls (pictured above), Lemon Sweet Rolls, Banana Pecan Rolls, Cherry Limeade Sweet Rolls, Ice Cream Sticky Rolls, and Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls and Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls.

And if you are looking to slather your buns with the best, try these scrumptious butter recipes: Cherry Butter, Roasted Garlic Butter, Texas Roadhouse Copycat Cinnamon Honey Butter, and this easy Pumpkin Butter recipe, too!

Soft, Sticky Homemade Honey Buns

There is just something about homemade yeast rolls that makes the kitchen feel extra cozy. Add honey, butter, and a little cinnamon, and they’re pretty hard to resist.

These Homemade Honey Buns may be taller and fluffier than the packaged honey buns you remember, but that’s part of what makes them so good. They’re soft, buttery, lightly spiced, and filled with honey flavor from the inside out.

And when that cinnamon honey butter melts over a warm bun? That’s my favorite part.