Best Pans for Cinnamon Rolls of 2026

A double batch is a different problem than a single one: you need surface area, and you need somewhere to put the rolls once they're glazed. Nordic Ware's pan measures 16½ by 11⅜ inches inside with 2-inch walls, so a doubled 9-by-13 recipe goes in as one layer with room to rise instead of a pile that steams in the middle.

The aluminum is what we appreciate most. Bare metal conducts heat fast and browns the underside of a roll deeply, which is the contrast you want under a soft center, and it will never rust no matter how many times it gets washed. There's no nonstick surface, so butter and flour the pan or line it with parchment and lift the whole slab out by the paper. The reinforced steel rim rolled into the edge is there to stop the pan from popping in a hot oven.

The lid is what makes this one useful on a holiday morning: it sits high enough to clear a layer of glaze and turns the pan into a carrier for the potluck. It's plastic, so it stays off in the oven, and the catches don't always grab on all four sides — carry the pan from the bottom when it's full and it holds fine for the drive.

Two pans and two lids is the whole pitch here, and for anyone who bakes rolls a few times a month it's a good one. Each pan measures about 12.3 by 9.75 inches with 2-inch walls — room for a dozen standard-size rolls, and small enough for a toaster oven.

There's no coating, which is the appeal. Stainless steel takes a scrub, a dishwasher cycle, and a metal spatula without the anxiety that comes with a nonstick surface, and there's nothing to flake into your rolls in year three. Grease the pan well and the rolls still lift out with a spatula; the trade is a little more work at the sink when the sugar caramelizes hard in a corner.

The lids are what move these from storage pans to the ones we reach for on a baking weekend. They snap over the rim and sit high enough to clear frosting, so you can shape rolls the night before, let them rise slowly in the refrigerator, and carry them to brunch without foil or plastic wrap. The pans go in the dishwasher; the lids want hand washing.

This is the least expensive pan in the guide, and it's a real 9-by-13 with 2-inch walls rather than a smaller pan with generous exterior measurements. If you bake rolls a few times a year and want to find out whether that becomes a habit before spending more, this is where to start.

Most of what the pans above do, this does too, for less money. The nonstick releases a caramel-coated roll without a fight, it's dishwasher safe (hand washing keeps the surface happier), and 12 cups of volume holds a standard batch with a little room for rise. The dimensions are honest, too: a full 9 by 13 of baking surface rather than a pan that measures that way only at the outer rim.

The coating is made without PFAS, PFOA, lead, or cadmium, and there's a lifetime warranty against defects. Neither makes a nonstick surface immortal, but this is a pan that gets a new baker through years of Sunday mornings without asking much in return.

Straight walls, not sloped ones, are the whole trick with a round roll pan. A flared cake tin pushes the outer rolls outward so the spiral leans and slumps; vertical sides let the batch climb and stay pressed together, which is what gives you soft edges and a pull-apart center. This one is 8 inches across and a full 2 inches deep, and the reinforced wire rod rolled into the rim keeps it from twisting in a hot oven.

Chicago Metallic sells this as a layer-cake pan, but the maker also lists cinnamon rolls, and the design backs the claim: aluminized steel heats evenly, the silicone coating lets a caramel-soaked spiral lift out in one piece, and it goes in the dishwasher when you're done. Treat it as a single-round pan, because an 8-inch tin is a small batch by design and a doubled recipe will climb over the edge before the middle sets.

At 1.3 pounds, this is a heavy round pan — closer to cast iron than to the flimsy tins most round cake pans are made of. That weight is the first thing you notice taking it out of the oven, and it's why the pan feels like a piece of equipment rather than a disposable.

The mass pays off in the bake. Thick steel spreads heat across a 9-inch round so the middle is done at the same time as the edges, and the pan doesn't jolt when it slides onto a hot rack. The nonstick is genuinely slick, too: buns turn out with a nudge rather than a wrestle, and cleanup is a soapy sponge rather than a soak.

It's dishwasher safe and freezer safe, which makes it useful for shaping rolls ahead and baking them later in the week. Cinnamon buns turn out better in it than in the disposable aluminum tins most of us start with, and two of them stack into a layer cake if you ever want one.

Where it gives ground to our top picks is depth. At 1¾ inches, a generous batch crowns above the rim and warm glaze runs down the outside, so set the pan on a sheet before you pour. For a single round of soft rolls, that's an easy trade to accept — it's a sturdy pan at a modest price, and it bakes as evenly as anything here.

There's no nonstick coating here, and that's the first thing to know. Wilton makes this pan from anodized aluminum — bare metal, nothing to flake or peel, made without PFAS — which means you grease and flour it, or line it with parchment, every time you bake.

Eleven by fifteen inches with 2-inch walls makes it the pan for a serious sheet of rolls: a holiday batch, or a slab you cut into squares and glaze right in the pan. The walls are straight rather than flared, so the outside rolls come out tall instead of slumped, and aluminum spreads heat well enough that the middle of a large pan keeps pace with the corners.

We place it below the E-far set because it's one pan rather than two, and something this size is awkward to store and to carry when it's full. Buy it if you want a big uncoated pan that also handles slab cakes, bar cookies, and a weeknight lasagna — this is a workhorse, not a specialist.

Most of the year this is a cookie sheet; in December it's a roll pan. That double duty is why it's here. At roughly 14 by 10 inches with a 1-inch rim, it holds a loose single layer of rolls rather than the snug, shoulder-to-shoulder pack you get in a 9-by-13 — fine for a small batch, and the reason it isn't higher on this list.

The corrugated bottom is the same design we like on our top pick: air moves under the pan, the nonstick releases cleanly, and cookies, bars, and rolls brown evenly across the surface. It's 1.9 pounds of aluminized steel with a limited lifetime warranty, and it wants hand washing to keep the coating intact.

The other eleven months are what justify the shelf space. A single layer of dinner rolls, a tray of bar cookies, roasted vegetables that come out crisper for the ridges, a sheet-pan dinner on a Tuesday — this is the pan that stays on the counter instead of going back in the cupboard.

For a small batch plus a pan that stays in rotation all year, it's an easy yes. If cinnamon rolls are the main event rather than a December project, put the money into a deeper pan instead.