Buttery Cinnamon Raisin Bread in the Air Fryer! No Oven! Easy Recipe

This cinnamon raisin bread recipe has become one of those bakes I keep coming back to. It is soft and fluffy, packed with raisins and sweet cinnamon swirls, and the whole loaf bakes right in the air fryer.

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And oh my goodness… the smell while it is baking is absolutely amazing. Cinnamon, warm bread, butter, raisins… How can you not want to cut yourself a thick slice while it is still warm?

Watch the video below to see exactly how I make this cinnamon raisin bread in the air fryer. If you like it, tap like and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more yummy air fryer baking recipes.

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Why You’ll Love This Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I love that this is a proper yeast bread, but you can bake the whole loaf in the air fryer. It rises beautifully, gets a lovely golden top, and you still get those soft layers running through the middle.

The shaping also makes this cinnamon swirl raisin bread look much more impressive than the work involved. Once you roll, cut, twist, and curl the dough, you get all those gorgeous cinnamon layers showing on top.

And if you are getting into baking in an air fryer, this is such a satisfying recipe to try. It is completely different from a basic loaf, but none of the individual steps are difficult.

Texture + Flavor

The bread itself is soft, fluffy, and buttery, while the cinnamon sugar gives you sweet little swirls between the layers. The raisins add extra sweetness here and there without taking over the whole loaf.

The outside becomes beautifully golden in the air fryer, especially around those exposed twists. Inside, it stays much softer, with little pockets of cinnamon sugar tucked between the layers.

Did You Know: Cinnamon raisin bread is especially good for shaped loaves because rolling the filling inside the dough gives you cinnamon through the bread rather than only on top. Twisting the dough also exposes some of those layers, so they caramelize as the bread bakes.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Ingredients

For the dough

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (5 g) instant dry yeast
• 1/2 cup (120 g) lukewarm milk
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup (75 g) raisins
• 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt
• 1 3/4 ounces (50 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• A little oil for brushing the dough

For the cinnamon filling

• 5 tablespoons (63 g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon (3 g) ground cinnamon

For brushing

• A little plain yogurt or kefir

Equipment You’ll Need

• Large mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Spoon or spatula
• Flour sifter or fine-mesh sieve
• Plastic wrap
• Small bowl for the cinnamon sugar
• Rolling pin
• Sharp knife
• Pastry brush
• Small round baking pan that fits your air fryer basket
• Large Air fryer

If you do not have a small baking pan that fits your air fryer, you can bake the shaped bread directly in a lined air fryer basket. Just make sure the parchment is held down securely by the dough and is not loose enough to blow toward the heating element.

How to Make Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Step 1: Start the dough

Crack one egg into a large mixing bowl, then add two tablespoons of granulated sugar. Give everything a good whisk until the egg and sugar are well mixed and the mixture looks slightly lighter.

Then add the active dry yeast, lukewarm milk, and vegetable oil. Give it another quick whisk so the yeast is mixed through the liquid.

Note: The milk should feel comfortably warm, not hot. Milk that is too hot can damage the yeast, while cold milk will make the dough rise much more slowly.

Step 2: Add raisins and flour

Add the raisins, then sift in about half of the all-purpose flour. I like to sift the flour because it gets rid of any lumps and makes it much easier to mix evenly through the dough.

Add the salt and mix everything together. Then sift in the rest of the flour and keep mixing until there are no obvious dry patches left.

The dough will be quite thick at this point, so I usually stop using the spoon and go in with my hand. It is much easier to work the last of the flour through that way.

Step 3: Work in the butter

Add the softened unsalted butter and start squeezing and folding it into the dough with your hand. Room-temperature butter works much better here because it blends into the dough instead of sitting there in hard little pieces.

Keep working the dough until you no longer see streaks of butter. Then bring it together and shape it into a smooth ball.

Top Tip: The dough may feel a little slippery when the butter first goes in, and that is completely normal. Keep folding and squeezing it rather than adding extra flour, and the dough will start coming together again as the butter works through it.

Step 4: Let the dough rise

Brush the dough with a little oil and leave it in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 1 hour, or until it has roughly doubled in size and looks soft and puffy.

The exact rising time can change depending on how warm your kitchen is. If your kitchen is cool, give it a little longer rather than moving on before the dough has properly risen.

Step 5: Make the cinnamon sugar

While the dough is rising, add five tablespoons of granulated sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon to a separate bowl. Give them a good stir until the cinnamon is evenly mixed through the sugar.

I like doing this while the dough is rising because then the filling is sitting there ready when I need it. It also gives you a much more even cinnamon flavor than trying to sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon separately.

Step 6: Roll out the dough

Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and place it on your work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a nice big rectangle, just like you would for cinnamon rolls.

Try to keep the dough fairly even all over. If one area is much thicker, just give that spot a few extra rolls until the whole piece looks about the same thickness.

Step 7: Add the cinnamon filling

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar all over the rolled-out dough. Spread it fairly evenly, so you get cinnamon and sugar across the whole dough rather than having most of it sitting in one area.

Then start rolling the dough up from one side. Keep the roll fairly snug as you go so it stays together, and the cinnamon sugar remains tucked inside.

Step 8: Cut and twist

Take a sharp knife and cut the rolled dough lengthwise right down the middle, but do not cut through the very end. Leave that little section attached so the two long sides stay connected.

Then gently twist the two strips around each other, keeping the cut sides facing upward as much as you can. This is what gives the finished bread all those pretty cinnamon layers across the top.

Top Tip: Do not twist the dough too tightly. A slightly looser twist gives the dough room to puff up during the second rise and helps those cinnamon layers stay visible after baking.

Step 9: Shape one large bun

Take the twisted dough and curl it around itself to make one large round bun. Tuck the loose end underneath so it stays in place while the bread rises and bakes.

Place the shaped cinnamon raisin bread into a parchment-lined round baking pan that fits inside your air fryer basket. If you do not have a suitable pan, you can place the shaped dough directly into a parchment-lined air fryer basket.

Step 10: Let it rise again

Leave the shaped dough to rest for another 30 minutes. It should look puffier and slightly larger before it goes into the air fryer.

Then brush the top lightly with plain yogurt or kefir. You only need a thin coating, which helps the exposed dough develop that lovely golden finish during baking.

Baking Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Air fry the bread at 350°F (180°C) for about 30 minutes. Air fryers can brown the top of sweet breads surprisingly quickly, so I recommend having a look after about 10 to 15 minutes.

If the top is already getting quite dark, loosely cover it with a piece of aluminum foil and continue baking. This protects the top while giving the thicker middle of the loaf more time to bake.

At the end, carefully flip the bread over and bake it for another 5 minutes. This gives the bottom a little more color and helps make sure the base is properly baked too.

Top Tip: A large twisted loaf is much thicker than individual cinnamon rolls, so do not judge doneness only by how brown the top looks. If you have an instant-read thermometer, the center of an enriched yeast bread is generally done at around 190°F (88°C).

Let the bread sit just long enough to handle comfortably, then slice it while it is still warm. Honestly, once that cinnamon smell has filled the kitchen, waiting any longer than necessary is asking a lot!

Air Fryer Bread Timing

One thing I have learned from baking in an air fryer is that timing can vary more than you might expect. Basket size, wattage, heating-element position, and even the baking pan you use can change how quickly the bread browns.

That is why the 10- to 15-minute check matters with this particular air fryer bread recipe. You are not checking whether it is finished that early; you are checking whether the top needs protecting while the inside continues baking.

If your loaf needs a few extra minutes beyond the suggested time, that is fine. A large twisted bread needs enough time for the center to bake properly, so go by the bread itself rather than the clock alone.

Related Recipe: If you enjoyed this cinnamon raisin bread, you should also try my easy air fryer date cake. It’s soft, sweet, and another delicious bake you can make without an oven.

Common Problems and Fixes

The top browns too quickly

This is probably the most likely issue with a tall sweet bread in an air fryer. The upper heating element sits quite close to the dough, so exposed cinnamon sugar can brown long before the middle is done.

Check the bread after 10 to 15 minutes. If it already looks dark enough, loosely cover the top with foil and continue baking until the center is done.

The center is still doughy

If the outside looks baked but the very middle still seems wet or heavy, give it more time with the top covered. Large twisted breads have several overlapping layers, so the center naturally takes longer than the exposed edges.

You can also reduce the temperature slightly if your particular air fryer runs hot. That gives the middle more time to bake without making the outside much darker.

The dough did not rise much

The first thing I would check is the temperature of the milk and the freshness of the yeast. Very hot milk can damage yeast, while old yeast may simply not have enough activity left to give you a good rise.

A cool kitchen can also slow things down quite a bit. If the dough has not doubled after an hour but is clearly rising, simply give it more time.

The cinnamon filling spills out

A little cinnamon sugar escaping while you shape the bread is normal, especially after cutting the roll open. You do not need to chase every grain of sugar back into the dough.

Rolling the dough fairly snugly before cutting helps keep more filling inside. Twisting gently rather than pulling or stretching the strips also makes the whole thing much easier to handle.

How to Serve It

This bread is sooo good while it is still warm. I usually cut it into thick slices because with a soft cinnamon bread like this, thin slices just feel a little disappointing!

It is lovely on its own, but a little butter melting over a warm slice is pretty hard to beat. Coffee or tea alongside it also makes a very good excuse to go back for another piece.

Storing Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Once the bread has cooled, keep it well wrapped or in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 days. Because this is a soft enriched bread, keeping the air away from it makes a big difference.

For longer storage, keep it in the refrigerator for up to about 5 days. Refrigeration can make bread feel a little firmer, so I prefer warming individual slices before serving.

Can You Freeze It?

Yes, this cinnamon raisin bread freezes well. I prefer slicing it first, then wrapping the slices well and placing them in a freezer-safe bag, because you can take out exactly what you need.

Let the slices thaw at room temperature, then warm them briefly before serving. They taste much closer to freshly baked bread once they are warm again.

More Air Fryer Baking Ideas

If you love baking in your air fryer as much as I do, have a look through my other air fryer baking recipes below. There are plenty more sweet breads, cakes, brownies, and other yummy things you can make without giving the air fryer a day off!

• Soft Air Fryer Brioche Buns Recipe with Simple Ingredients – These homemade brioche buns are soft, fluffy, and beautifully golden. They’re an easy air fryer bake when you want fresh, buttery bread without using the oven.
• Best Air Fryer Brownies in Just 20 Minutes! – These air fryer brownies are rich, fudgy, and full of chocolate flavor. They cook in just 20 minutes, making them perfect for a quick homemade dessert.
• Giant 5-Ingredient Air Fryer Bread Loaf Recipe – This large air fryer bread loaf uses just five simple ingredients and bakes up with a golden crust and soft, fluffy middle.

And if you make this cinnamon raisin bread recipe, please leave me a comment below or tell me how it went in the YouTube comments. If you have a question about the dough, shaping, rising, or baking time, ask away… I try to reply to all the comments and questions I can.