Nothing says Easter like the heavenly spiced fragrance of Hot Cross Buns baking in the oven & you can’t go wrong with this very easy, no knead hot cross buns recipe.
Easter isn’t Easter without Hot Cross Buns but have you ever seen vegan hot cross buns at the grocery store? I know I haven’t. They are usually laden with milk, butter and egg. It just isn’t possible for me to not have Hot Cross Buns at Easter so I came up with my own No Knead Hot Cross Buns recipe which is totally free from egg and dairy products and that tastes just as good. There is also an oil free option!
My original recipe followed the traditional method of kneading, rising, kneading some more, rising some more etc. It produced excellent results  but I know that baking with yeast often kind of scares people and kneading tends to scare people even more. Because of this I decided to experiment with a no knead recipe and I surprised myself with the results.
EASY PEASY NO KNEAD HOT CROSS BUNS
These No Knead Hot Cross Buns are so soft and fluffy and totally epitomize Easter with their heavenly spiced, fragrant crumb. They are also incredibly easy to make. The only effort involved is a tiny bit of stirring, then you and the dough get a full nights sleep to recover. The next day in less than an hour (and almost all of that is hands off time), Â you have yourself a batch of beautifully golden, lightly spiced totally no knead, no effort, Hot Cross Buns! 
BUTTER THEM UP
My Easy Vegan Butter is the perfect accompaniment to these No Knead Hot Cross Buns and it takes no time to whip up at all. It is also completely dairy free, palm oil free and emulsifier free. I cannot believe how popular it has been since I published it last week. So popular it crashed my website on at least a few occasions!
If you are looking for more Easter inspiration then you will love my Homemade Copycat Cadbury Creme Eggs and my Hot Cross Cookies too!
If you give these No Knead Hot Cross Buns a try, let me know! Leave a comment below, rate them by clicking on the yellow stars at the start of the recipe, or tag a picture #avirtualvegan on Instagram so I can see how yours turned out. I love seeing your photos!
Happy Easter and Happy Baking! :O)
No Knead Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients
For the buns
- 190g | 1.5 cups all purpose white flour (I use organic, unbleached)
- 2.5 teaspoon instant or quick yeast
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamon
- 2 tablespoons sugar (I used coconut sugar but any granulated sugar will work. You can also sub it for maple syrup but if you do reduce the other liquid by 2 tablespoons)
- 50g | 1/3 cup hazelnuts , roughly chopped into large pieces, (optional but they add great texture and flavour)
- 50g | 1/3 cup raisins (I used golden raisins but any kind is fine)
- 50g | 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 80mls | 1/3 cup melted room temperature coconut oil (See recipe notes for oil free option)
- 240mls | 1 cup unsweetened milk of choice ( I used So Delicious Organic Unsweetened Coconut Milk but any non dairy milk will work)
- 1 lemon Zested , finely
- ½ orange Zested , finely
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the crosses
- 5 tablespoons all purpose white flour
- Enough water to make a thick pipe-able paste
For the glaze
- Apricot jam for glaze
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pour your raw hazelnuts onto a baking tray and roast for about 10 mins. Shake the pan after 5 mins and keep an eye on them as they can burn fast. Remove them from the oven and let cool.
- In a medium mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients including the fruit, cooled nuts, zest and yeast. Then pour in the coconut oil (make sure it is room temperature and not hot) and stir roughly.
Pour in the milk and stir well until everything is combined and there is no dry flour visible. It will be a sticky lumpy looking mess. That's normal.
- Cover the bowl with cling wrap or a plastic bag. It sounds strange but I use a shower cap as then I can reuse the same one again and again every time I make bread or dough of any kind.
- Leave on your kitchen work surface overnight or for at least 8 hours. Up to 12 hours is ok.
- After that time has passed & you are ready to bake your hot cross buns, preheat your oven to 400 °F
- Dust your work surface with some flour and turn out the dough onto it making sure you scrape the bowl out well.
- Dust the top of the dough with some flour and flatten it out with the palm of your hands then fold it over on itself about 6 times, flattening it out after each time. It will be pretty sticky but that's fine. Sprinkle a little flour on it again if necessary but use as little as you can get away with. The less you use the softer and fluffier your buns will be.
- Then cut your dough into 8 even pieces. I use a dough scraper to do this but a knife will also do just fine.
- Once portioned out, shape each into a smooth ball. Place them gently on a lightly floured baking sheet or you can also use an 8 X 12 brownie type pan instead if you prefer.
- Cover with a damp dish towel, cling film or your shower cap ( just reuse whatever you had over the bowl) Leave until doubled in size. This will take 30 - 40 minutes.
- Make the flour and water paste for the crosses.
- Put the flour in a small bowl and mix with just enough water to make a paste (like very thick pancake batter). Fill a piping bag or piping syringewith the paste.
- Once your hot cross buns have doubled uncover them and pipe cross shapes on the top. Then immediately place them in the preheated oven.
- Bake them for 15 - 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and check them after 15 minutes. Mine took 17 minutes. You want them to sound hollow when you tap them on their bottoms!
- Remove from the oven when ready and place on a cooling rack.
- Warm a couple of tablespoons of apricot jam so it becomes quite liquid and brush it gently over the top of the buns while they are still very hot.
- Leave to cool on the rack.
Recipe Notes
It is possible to make these hot cross buns without the oil if you wish but bear in mind that the oil gives a softer, fluffier crumb. The oil acts a bit like a preservative too and if you omit it the hot cross buns will go stale much more quickly. If you know you will be eating them quickly then this won't be a problem. If you won't eat them so quickly and you omit the oil, I would advise freezing them and just removing from the freezer as you need them.
Strength and Sunshine says
They look so moist and soft <3 Bun perfection!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! They are so soft and fluffy. I can’t wait to make them again this weekend!
Linda @ Veganosity says
That’s happened to me before. I thought I clicked preview on an unfinished post and I hit submit. There should be a safety feature that prevents that.
Your hot cross bun recipe is the prettiest I’ve seen. I’m going to make these this week. And your vegan butter.
A Virtual Vegan says
There really should be safety feature. Just something that pops up for you to confirm. I was so embarrassed!
And thank you so much. These buns and my butter are the perfect combo. Enjoy!
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
These look so good! I’ve actually never made them before, but love that your version is a little less time consuming. I think this is my year for Hot Cross Buns — thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Patricia. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a homemade hot cross bun!
Vanessa @ VeganFamilyRecipes says
Thank goodness for not having to knead these! What a time saver! Pinning 🙂
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks for pinning Vanessa and yes, the dough does all it’s own work while you sleep. It’s like magic!
Hedi Hearts says
Vegan Easter here I come!!
Jenn S. says
Oh, I have done that before!! I hit Publish instead of Save Draft once on a post that contained only pictures at the time. LOL! Now, I change the date to something like 3 months ahead as soon as I start a new post…just in case. 🙂
Now, these Hot Cross Buns look so amazing!!! I want to take a HUGE bite and then just keep eating! 🙂 Well done!
A Virtual Vegan says
It seems that the accidentally publishing posts happens a lot. I am glad it’s not just me! And thank you. I can guarantee you wouldn’t stop after one bite!
Kylee @ Kylee Cooks says
These look delicious!! I love the different fruits and nuts in them! (I went traditional this year). Maybe next year I’ll try this one
Natalie Freed says
I don’t think I have ever made hot cross buns- even before I was vegan! These are looking so good right now. I think I’m hungry, cause I would devour these! Perfect for Easter!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Natalie. You really should give them a try. You can’t beat homemade hot cross buns. That smell as they are cooking….so good!
Uma Srinivas says
Sounds interesting. Looks good too, moist and tempting!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Uma :O)
dixya @ food, pleasure, and health says
these look soon fluffy!!!! i have never made one before but I’m now tempted to.
A Virtual Vegan says
Oh Dixya you really must try making Hot Cross Buns. You can’t beat them fresh from the oven!
pragatibidkar says
These look perfect..I love the idea of the shower cap..it is so logical. I hate struggling with the cling wrap every time 😊 Thanks for this recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much! I am glad you like the shower cap idea. I have always done it. I’m not sure where I got the idea from but it saves a lot of wasted cling wrap!
The Vegan 8 says
Oh wow, I would have freaked too, haha! I have my posts set up through my Aweber email system though so even after I hit publish, I have to go into Aweber and hit send for it to go out to my readers….thank God because I’ve hit publish on accident before too!
These cross buns look quite delicious and soft, just wonderful! I can almost smell them!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Brandi! The smell of these buns cooking is just wonderful!
Aimee / Wallflower Kitchen says
I’ve never made hot cross buns but these sound so easy and look SO good, I might just have to this weekend!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes go for it! You don’t know what you’re missing!
Hauke Fox says
Oh woooow, these buns remind me of home!! Will have to let them do my mum though, I dont trust my baking skills a lot 😉
A Virtual Vegan says
Now that’s a compliment! Thank you so much. They are so easy to make though that you could attempt them on your own. All the work happens while you sleep…how good is that?
Lucie @WIN-WIN FOOD says
I love that you created a no knead option! Can’t wait to finally try them, can’t believe hot cross buns are not a thing over here. Such a shame
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Lucie. I hope you enjoy them…perhaps you can make them a thing wherever you are :O)
Julie says
I got the dough ready last night and baked these this morning. They were perfect. My family loved them. Thank you for the recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you for taking the time to let me know Julie. I am glad that you and your family enjoyed them. Happy Easter!
nicolthepickle says
I was searching pinterest for a no-knead bread for lunch and these came up serendipitously. They were good. I didn’t find them to be quite as nice a texture as regular ones as I love the soft, tight crumb of a regular one.
But for ease of making I would definitely make these again.
I only used 1 tsp of yeast because leaving it overnight is long enough for it to start growing it’s own natural yeast off of the commercial yeast.
Thanks for the recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
I am so pleased you enjoyed them. No knead bread is never quite as soft and fluffy as a really well kneaded dough but like you say, it’s great when you are pushed for time or need an easy option. Adding only 1 teaspoon of yeast might well have made a difference this time though. When I trialled the recipe I started with around that much and got much better results when I used more. Use a bit more next time you make them and you will probably notice a difference.
nicolthepickle says
Haha, it drives me nuts when people comment with their opinions and didn’t even follow the recipe. Like I just did. Sorry. I should do it right. 😛
This is a little off topic but not entirely Peter Reinhart in his sourdough book talks about starting sourdoughs with the water used to rinse of raisins because they have dried wild yeasts in them. I wonder if it makes a difference to put dried fruit into a 12-24 hour bread.
A Virtual Vegan says
I love Peter Reinhart’s recipes and have my own sourdough starter. I made mine with a grated apple. I love the idea of using raisins to make a starter. You would need to be really careful about what raisins you used though as I would imagine those with oil and other ingredients in them wouldn’t work too well. I find it increasingly difficult these days to find dried fruit that just has the fruit as an ingredient and not other things like oil and preservatives too.
It probably makes a very slight difference when you add the fruit to a 12-24 bread because of the extra sugar in it but I expect yeast-wise, its pretty negligible. It tends to take a couple of days for any real yeasty action to happen in my experience.
Dana says
Is it okay to use other types of oil such as vegetable oil instead of coconut oil ?
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes any oil will be fine as a sub, just steer clear of strong tasting ones like extra virgin olive oil.
Dana says
Is it possible to use a mixer with a dough hook and letting it rise for an hour instead of overnight?
A Virtual Vegan says
It is possible and I sometimes do that myself. Everything stays the same except you need to reduce the water to about 330 – 340 mls.
Beth says
They were delicious although I did not get the right consistency, more like a scone than a bun. So much better than store bought..
A Virtual Vegan says
I’m glad they tasted good. Sorry the texture wasn’t quite right though. Did you use all purpose flour or perhaps a different kind? And did you add much flour when you were folding the dough? If you did it can affect the texture. The less flour you use when you do that bit the better. Another thing that could affect it is yeast that is past it’s best. Just a few ideas that might help improve them if you make them another time. 🙂
Nikki says
Sunday 6/25/17
OMGosh I am in heaven this morning. Just downed one hot out the oven and it was delicious!!! I made this recipe minus the orange peel I didn’t have any oranges on hand, swapped the nuts for dates because in my home country we use raisins and dates and omitted the cranberries. This is my go-to for hot cross buns.
Thank you so much for this recipe!!
A Virtual Vegan says
That’s awesome Nikki! I am so glad you enjoyed them. I don’t blame you for eating one right from the oven. They are pretty hard to resist! Thanks so much for stopping to leave feedback. I appreciate it!