You can't go wrong with this very easy No-Knead Hot Cross Buns recipe this Easter. It's virtually foolproof!
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FEATURED COMMENT
"I made this last night and baked them this morning. They were soooo good!!! Thanks for making our Easter Sunday breakfast so special. I had bought store-made hot cross buns but felt bad about not having the real thing when I found your recipe and saw that I did not need to be in the kitchen for hours for this to work."
- Maria ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
Have you ever made your own Hot Cross Buns at Easter? No, because you think it's difficult? Well, think again, because you are about to make No Knead Hot Cross Buns like a boss!
And if you are already a bit of a seasoned Hot Cross bun maker, give my more traditional Vegan Hot Cross Buns a try!
If you have made my Easy No Knead Focaccia Bread then you will know just how good no-knead bread can be. That recipe is so popular and everyone who tries it loves it. The same goes for my No Knead Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread. They were both adapted from this No Knead Hot Cross Buns recipe and are all as easy as each other.
How To Make No-Knead Hot Cross Buns
There are just a few steps involved when making No Knead Hot Cross Buns and most of them will be you stepping away during all of the hands-off time where you do not have to do a single thing. Let's break it down:
- Toast the nuts in the oven for 10 minutes. (This is optional - you don't have to use nuts if you don't have any or are nut-free).
- Throw everything in one mixing bowl and mix it up really well with a wooden spoon.
- Cover, walk away, and don't return for 6 to 9 hours. It will be fine for anything between those times. You do not need to babysit it. I usually mix it up right before bed so it's ready to go in the morning. Or you could do it just before you leave for work in the morning and finish when you get home.
- Turn out onto a clean lightly floured surface, cut into 10 even pieces, shape into balls, then place on a baking sheet. Cover with the damp towel again. Make a drink and go put your feet up for 30 minutes.
- Mix up the flour and water for the crosses, pipe it across the top of each bun, then bake.
- Brush with the glaze while hot then cool. I'll forgive you if you eat one at this stage.
SUCCESS TIP - Please note that when baking, I always recommend using a digital kitchen scale. Cups are not anywhere near accurate enough for the best and consistent results. Purchasing one will make a HUGE difference to the outcome of your baked goods and is worth every penny!
The smell in your house while they bake will be unbelievable and when they are done, the No Knead Hot Cross Buns will be golden, shiny, soft and fluffy.
And you? You will be really proud of yourself and fighting the urge to eat the whole batch warm and slathered in melty vegan butter.
I hope you have a lovely Easter, full of happy baking. Be sure to make some vegan creme eggs too!
Recipe FAQs
It is possible to make these hot cross buns without the oil but bear in mind that the oil gives them a softer, fluffier crumb. lt also acts as a preservative so the hot cross buns will stale much more quickly without it. If you know you will be eating them quickly then this won't be a problem. If you won't eat them quickly I would advise freezing them and removing as you need them. It is very important that if you don't use the oil, you make up for the lost liquid by using an extra 60ml (4 tablespoons) of water.
Recipe
No Knead Hot Cross Buns
Author:Ingredients
For the buns
- ⅓ cup (50 grams) whole hazelnuts (OPTIONAL) , roughly chopped into large pieces, (optional but they add great texture and flavour)
- 4 cups (500 grams) all purpose white flour or bread flour , in the UK use strong flour
- 2½ teaspoons instant or quick yeast , sometimes labelled fast yeast
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom , (OPTIONAL but adds a nice flavour)
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 4 tablespoons white or cane sugar
- 1½ cups (265 grams) mixed dried fruit , such as golden raisins, sultanas, cranberries, chopped apricot (chocolate chips work well too!)
- zest of 1 lemon
- zest of 1 orange
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) oil or melted vegan butter , such as coconut oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil.
- 1 cup (240 ml) unsweetened dairy-free milk
- ¾ cup (180 ml) water
For the crosses
- 5 tablespoons all purpose white flour
- enough water to make a thick pipe-able paste
For the glaze
- 2 tablespoons white or cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
IF USING HAZELNUTS
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (175°c). Pour the 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 from the oven and cool.
FOR THE HOT CROSS BUNS
- In a large bowl, add the flour, yeast, spices, salt, and sugar then mix together. Add the dried fruit, cooled hazelnuts, and lemon and orange zest.
- Add the oil, milk, and water. Stir really well with a spoon until everything is combined and there is no dry flour visible. It will be a sticky lumpy-looking mess. That's fine.
- Cover with a wet dish towel, or cling wrap and leave on the kitchen counter for a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 9 hours. Do not refrigerate and do not leave anywhere extra warm. Just normal room temperature is fine. However, if the temperature in your house is consistently above 22 ° C (72 °F) then just leave it for 5 hours.
- After the time has elapsed the dough will be swollen and puffy. Dust a clean, dry, work surface with some flour and turn the dough out onto it making sure you scrape the bowl out well. Try not to tear the dough as you're getting out as it will damage the gluten structure that has developed. It will be sticky but that is normal.
- Dust the top of the dough lightly with some flour then form it into a rough round and cut into 10 evenly sized pieces.
- Shape each piece into a smooth ball using floured hands. I do this by having the ball of dough on the surface in front of me and use my hands to pull down all around, squeezing it tight underneath. Place the buns gently on a lightly floured, or parchment-lined baking sheet. Have them so they all gently touch each other.
- Cover with the damp dish towel (run it under the tap then wring it out) and leave for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 °F (200°C)
- After 30 minutes has passed, make the flour and water paste for the crosses. Add enough water to the 5 tablespoons of flour to make a thick pipe-able paste. Remove the towel from the buns, fill a piping bag or piping syringe ( or a ziplock bag with a small cut in one corner) with the paste and pipe a cross shape on each bun.
- Place the buns in the oven and bake for around 20 minutes. Once done they should be starting to turn golden and if you tap one on the bottom it should sound hollow.
- Remove from the oven and immediately mix up the glaze. 2 tablespoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Stir until the sugar dissolves then brush the top of each bun really generously.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and be sure to eat one while it's hot!
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Kay says
Amaaaazing! I roasted the hazelnuts in the air fryer, used 20% spelt and 80% baker’s flour, next time will try more spelt/wholemeal/rye and try using my sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast. I made apple sauce to replace all of the oil (oops,only just saw your note about oil!) and will sweeten with date paste next time or leave sugar out.....oh, I also left the dough out on the (really cold Adelaide Winter) bench for about four hours, then put in the fridge and brought out for a few hours before shaping and baking...ridiculously good!
A Virtual Vegan says
Glad you enjoyed them! A sourdough version will be amazing!
Hazel Hanna says
Just found your website! Very e cited to try your recipes and will give feedback! The cinnamon pull and hot cross buns sound delicious!
Thank you
A Virtual Vegan says
I hope you enjoy them Hazel!
Shivana says
Hey I'm really interested in trying this recipe but I noticed there's no baking powder/baking soda. Was that intentional or was it omitted accidentally? Kind regards!
A Virtual Vegan says
Hot Cross Buns are basically a sweet bread recipe so they use yeast and not baking powder or baking soda.
Shivana says
Thanks!
Sefi says
Hi there, I could not get eggs and butter from any grocery stores around me and I always make hot cross buns for my family every year. I did nit want the current situation to change that and so I googled no butter, no egg easter baking recipes and yours was one of those that came up with 5 stars. I read the recipe and told myself this is definitely one to try.
Well, can I just say this is the best recipe I have ever made. It will be my go to recipe henceforth. We love it. We loaded it with dried cranberries, blueberries, raisins and 70% dark chocolate and the zest of two very large very fragrant oranges and it turned out beautifully. Thank you for such a lovely recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
That's awesome! I'm really pleased you are enjoying the recipe so much. Thank you for coming back to leave a comment/review too. It's much appreciated. Happy Easter to you and your family!
Maria says
hello, I just wanted to add that I had the dough resting covered under a closed window in my kitchen from midnight to 8 am next day, the dough had doubled in size and had bubble so it was perfect. So this can be done overnight if is still 8 hours and there is a cool kitchen where the dough can rest. It was way better than waking up 3 hours before breakfast or heating up day old buns. they were fluffy, soft, and delicious!
Maria says
I made this last night and baked them this morning. They were soooo goood!!! I doubled the recipe and still was great. I had to change almonds for hazelnuts and crystallized fruit for dried fruit, it would have been better with dried fruit, but besides that they were easy to make and delicious! Have you tried this with gluten free flour? I would try this next time for the ones in my family that are gluten free. Thanks for making our Easter Sunday breakfast so special. I had bough store made hot cross buns but felt bad about not having the real thing when I found your recipe and saw that I did not need to be in the kitchen for hours for this to work.
A Virtual Vegan says
That's great Maria. I'm so glad you enjoyed them. The great thing about the recipe is that the add-ins are pretty flexible. My son likes them with chocolate chips instead of the fruit!
I haven't tried them with gluten-free flour. I have a feeling they wouldn't work that well because they need that gluten development. With some adaptions though they would probably be ok. I haven't really ventured into gluten free bread baking though so it would be a case of trial and error on my part!
Celine says
Never tried hot cross buns before, so I can’t compare from the originals, but I just made those ones: and I love it!!!!
A Virtual Vegan says
Love that these are your first ever Hot Cross Buns and that you loved them! Thank you for stopping by to let me know!
Noah says
I was wandering if you could make the buns the night before and bake them for 30 minutes in the morning. However, I don't know if the buns could wait that long to be baked. My plan was to start at 14.00 hours and then make buns around 22.00 hours and (if possible) to bake them the day after around 8 a.m.
I hope you could help me
A Virtual Vegan says
I think if you leave them that long they will over prove and you won’t get a good finished result. You can slow the whole process down by rising the dough or the shaped buns in the fridge rather than on the counter top but even then once they were shaped it might be too long. You could probably get away with making the dough at 14.00 then putting it in the fridge until the next morning then continuing from there to shape and bake. If the dough is cold, once shaped they will take a little longer to rise because the yeast will be sleepy until the dough warms up again. Not too much longer though.
Fran says
Just took a batch of these out of the oven. They are a amazing!! I just ate one and burned my tongue because they looked so good and I couldn’t wait.
A Virtual Vegan says
Ha Fran, that's funny. So glad you like them. I end up eating them while hot too. So good! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave feedback. It's much appreciated!
Annie says
Hi, can I substitute a little of the flour for cocoa and add choc chips instead of fruit? It looks like it should work. And who doesn’t love choc chip hot cross buns?
A Virtual Vegan says
I haven't tried doing this so am not sure how well it would work.There is a chance that the cocoa would impede the yeast development but I guess it depends how much is added. Some extra yeast or sugar might be necessary to give it a boost, or it might just need a little extra time. I would need to try it to know for sure. If you were to just switch the fruit for chocolate chips and not add cocoa it would definitely be ok though. I guess it depends whether you want to risk it or not. I will add chocolate hot cross buns to my list for next Easter though!
Annie says
Thanks. I might give it a try this weekend, but only adding a tablespoon of cocoa just for colour. I’ll let you know if they work?
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!
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..
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.
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.
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.
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!