Cinnamon roll turkeys are perfect for Thanksgiving breakfast
Why is it that breakfast is often overlooked on Thanksgiving?
It is because Thanksgiving dinner is usually so large that people tend to skip breakfast?
If so, it doesn’t make sense to me because Easter dinner and Christmas dinner are big meals too, but people consistently do Easter brunch and Christmas breakfast. I’m starting to feel sad for Thanksgiving. Shouldn’t it have it’s own fun themed breakfasts like all the other holidays?
RELATED POST: 15 Quick and Easy Thanksgiving Breakfast Ideas
As a breakfast lover, I can’t stand by and watch Thanksgiving get the short end of the breakfast stick. I’ve started a new family tradition to have cinnamon roll turkeys for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. This is a tradition that we love and cherish.
I started making these cinnamon roll turkeys in 2016 and it’s become a fun Thanksgiving morning tradition that the kids looks forward to every year. Now that the kids are older I let them assemble their own turkeys. It’s so much fun!
Gather your cinnamon roll turkey supplies before you get started
Here’s what you need to make adorable cinnamon roll turkeys:
- Cinnamon rolls (I’m a fan of Immaculate Baking Company refrigerated cinnamon rolls, but feel free to make your own homemade cinnamon rolls if that is your jam).
- Bacon
- Candy eyes
- Candy corn
- Cinnamon imperials or red chocolate coated candy
How to make cinnamon roll turkeys for Thanksgiving Breakfast
1. Make your cinnamon rolls
If you do go with ready made rolls, make sure to get the ones that actually roll. Some are more like biscuits and that makes it difficult to stick the bacon into the rolls.
It’s important to separate the dough in the back to make room for the halves of bacon that will go on the back of the cinnamon roll. Bake cinnamon rolls until golden brown.
2. Get your bacon ready
You’ll need 2 pieces of bacon per cinnamon roll in order to have 4 bacon tail feathers on each of the cinnamon roll turkeys. The bacon feathers are the best part!
Personally I like to fry up the bacon slices and let it rest on a paper towel-lined plate, but it’s totally okay if you use pre-cooked bacon. Just make sure the bacon is thick enough and sturdy enough to stand up in the back of each cinnamon roll. No one wants floppy feathers!
3. Decorate your adorable turkeys
Time to decorate your turkey face! You need your bacon pieces, icing, candy eyes, a candy corn beak, and cinnamon imperials or red candy-coated chocolate candies.
Stick the 4 bacon halves into the back of the turkey heads.
Drizzle tops of rolls with icing and use that as a type of “glue” for the candy eyeballs, candy corn nose and little red candy.
I like to put these all on a plate and let the kids make their own little turkeys. They have so much fun!
This is really truly an easy recipe and a fun way activity for the whole family before eating Thanksgiving dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 can (17.5 oz) Pillsbury™ Grands!™ refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
- 10 slices bacon
- 5 candy corns
- 5 red mini candy-coated chocolate candies
- 10 candy eyeballs
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper.
- Set icing aside. Separate dough into 5 rolls; place about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Unroll each roll about 1 inch; tuck dough into roll to create neck of turkey.
- Bake 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack; cool 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towel-lined plate. Cut bacon slices in half. Tuck 4 halves of bacon into back of each cinnamon roll so they stick up and look like tail feathers.
- Drizzle tops of rolls with icing. Decorate turkeys with candy eyeballs, candy corn and candy-coated chocolate candies.

Want more Thanksgiving Posts?
Check out these fun posts too:
- 15 Thanksgiving Breakfast Recipes
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili with Butternut Squash
- Cinnamon Spiced Play Dough
- Cinnamon Sugar Rim for Pumpkin Beer
- 7 Easy Side Dishes for a Thanksgiving Potluck
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I usually make something special.
I do not make anything special
We don’t make anything special yet..maybe once I have kids we will. Mark likes to skip all meals leading up to appetizers!
We don’t do anything special for Thanksgiving breakfast.
WE always have a breakfast casserole and the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. I have never thought to do it this way. These are so cute! My family will love them!
These are adorable!!!! I’m am totally making these for Thanksgiving breakfast! #MMBH
Oh my goodness! What a cute idea for Thanksgiving breakfast! Love it! #SmallVictories
These are awesome! Cinnamon Rolls and bacon are a win win for me! Thanks for sharing these at the #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup!
Bacon is always a win!
I make apple crisp!
I usually try to make some sort of a dish….something to fill everyone up since we do not eat until around 2pm.
MY kids want this now. Love it. Thanks for sharing with #SmallVictories.
Thanks for checking it out! I hope you enjoy it!
YOu are my featured blogger this week. Love this.
I’m so excited! Thanks!