Cinnabon's Secret Menu Review: These New Cinnamon Rolls Will Knock Your Socks Off

Secret menus are fun, whether they are actual word-of-mouth hidden gems only a few people know about, or ones sanctioned by restaurants to add another layer of fun to ordering on the path to eating. While Cinnabon may have had some secret menu items over the years, including being the buns to a bacon cheeseburger in Disney World, it is now ready to share some new secrets with its sweet-toothed customers, starting on, fittingly, National Cinnamon Roll Day. "National Cinnamon Roll Day is our favorite day of the year, and this year is our best celebration yet," said Michael Pittman, Vice President of Marketing, Cinnabon, in a press release.

In addition to collaborating with Carvel to make a Cinnabon spiced-up soft serve flavor, the company is now ready to unleash four, tailormade secrets, with a little help from its friends Oreo and Ghirardelli. From this point forward, you are privy to the secret knowledge that over-indulgences like TurtleBon, Caramel Lover, Oreo Bon, and the Cookie BonBite Sandwich finally exist in this world. So, are these secrets actually worth sharing, or should we just keep our mouths shut all around? Here is our chew and review, for your eyes only...

Have you ever thought that a Cinnabon classic cinnamon roll wasn't swimming in enough of a creamy coating? Well, the Caramel Lover secret menu edition is here to answer such speculation. Staying true to its aphrodisiacal name, the Caramel Lover includes a double dose of the good stuff, applied by way of a caramel frosting and a caramel sauce.

The twin spun caramel adds a sandy brown hue to the Cinnabon, making them look a little bit more commonplace, like making a batch of canned cinnamon rolls at home (we mean that as a good thing). The Caramel Lover edition tastes pretty much like a standard Cinnabon, although the cinnamon itself is a bit subdued here, as the caramel adds a next-level notch of sweetness. With such a step up in coating, it's beyond the icing on a cake, er, um, Cinnabon.

If you've never had the pleasure of having one of Cinnabon's Cookie BonBites, where a squishy cinnamon roll lives inside a chocolate chip cookie, please stop reading this, run to a Cinnabon STAT, devour one, and then scream out loud about the complete satisfaction you just experienced. Now that you've completed that task, you can continue reading. Well, imagine that, but multiply the amount of Cookie BonBites by two, and in between this pair of cookies lies a healthy smattering of cream cheese frosting. Sweating yet??

The Cookie BonBite Sandwich may look out of its league in comparison to its three ginormous secret menu brethren, but sometimes mighty things come in petite sizes. This also may be one of the more approachable secret menu items, as an eater could conceivably finish it in one sitting, without the help of anyone else (sharing might be caring, but this is the exception to that rule). The cookie exterior is super soft, lusciously chewy, and embedded with an abundance of delicious chocolate chips. The rich cream cheese frosting can barely stay between its "buns," but some of the best hamburgers and sandwiches have trouble keeping it all together. Life is messy, desserts should be too.

Oreos have been released in the craziest of flavors, and our neighbors up north in Canada have had already the pleasure of tearing open packages of a Cinnamon Bun (aka Brioche à la cannelle) Oreo cookies. Sounds intriguing, but not necessarily a fantasy most would dream out. What if the idea were flipped, and it was a cinnamon roll that was Oreo-flavored? Drizzle some Ghirardelli chocolate sauce on top, and now you've got just the ticket with Cinnabon's secret menu item Oreo Bon.

It's not clear if any of the Oreo vanilla cream was involved in this concoction, but the lack thereof (or the lack of knowledge thereof) didn't stand in the way of this Bon-coction. The chocolate cookie part of an Oreo normally has such a strong, dominating taste, and what's really nice here is that the Oreo cookie pieces are soft and crumbly, and mesh in quite well with the Cinnabon and the drippy Ghirardelli sauce. There's a lot going on here, but however you slice it, both literally and figuratively, it's a taste explosion well worth diving into. The bonus aspect of the Oreo Bon is any excess shrapnel that lands on the box or plate, is a treat all its own.

Our theory goes, that any dessert is 10 zillion times better if nuts are involved. Cookies? Check. Brownies? Yep. Ice cream? Butter pecan for life. Cinnabon? You're dang right! Cinnabon has been nutty about pecans as far back as 1997, when the Caramel PecanBon, debuted as a seasonal item, but the chain continues to serve the treat to this day. (We can't say the same will be true of the TurtleBon, yet!)

Now, with the secret menu launch, Cinnabon isn't messing around and is getting even messier by adding chocolate to the mix-up that is the Caramel PecanBon. Like with the Oreo Bon, Ghirardelli is the sauce du jour, and it works similar magic in all-around awesomeness. The pleasantly salted pecans vary in size, from quarters, to finely diced pieces, and like the Oreo chocolate cookies, are both softened and blend in nicely with this blessed, cluttered sweet and savory mishmash.

The Caramel Lover is good for 990 calories, 39 grams of total fat, 900 milligrams of sodium, 147 total grams of carbs, 3 of which are dietary fiber, and 13 grams of protein. The Oreo Bon tallies up to 1070 calories, 42 grams of total fat, 940 milligrams of sodium, 162 total grams of carbs, 5 of which are dietary fiber, and 14 grams of protein. A single serving of the TurtleBon contains 1100 calories, 52 grams of total fat, 940 milligrams of sodium, 149 total grams of carbs, 6 of which are dietary fiber, and 15 grams of protein. The Cookie BonBite Sandwich is the smallest in size and has the lowest totals in nutritional values. Those totals are 640 calories, 31 grams of total fat, 490 milligrams of sodium, 90 total grams of carbs, 4 of which are dietary fiber, and 7 grams of protein.

As of this writing, the exact ingredients for the four Secret Menu items are currently unavailable. All four items contain egg, milk, soy, and wheat, and possibly trace amounts of peanuts and tree nuts. Those with nut allergies should note that the TurtleBon is overloaded with pecans.

Cinnabon's Secret Menu is no longer under lock and key, and starting October 4, 2023, it will be available at participating locations. The treats can be ordered anytime Cinnabon is open during business hours. Since they are a "secret," you won't see them on an actual menu, in-store at a Cinnabon, but if you know what to ask for, ordering by name — TurtleBon, Caramel Lover, Oreo Bon, or the Cookie BonBite Sandwich — the staff will prepare it for you.

Prices may vary by bakery but you can pick up the TurtleBon, Caramel Lover, and OREO® BonClassic Roll for $6.69; the MiniBon for $5.19; the Center of the Roll for $5.99; BonBites for $6.19; and the Cookie BonBite Sandwich for $6.99.

If memorizing the list of secret treats is proving to be too daunting, the Secret Menu is less classified information over on the company's website. Each treat has a link that will help point the way to them at a nearby location, and soon into your hands. Be sure to ask for extra napkins!

The secret menu items can be applied to a Classic Roll, Center of the Roll, MiniBon, or BonBites. The toppings — pecans, cream cheese frosting, Oreo pieces, caramel frosting, caramel topping, and Ghirardelli chocolate — can also be ordered as side options for any order, at an additional cost. So, it's possible to build your own secret menu item, however you like it.

The secret is out and, now that it's public knowledge, there's no way to put the sweet genie back into the bottle. By going big with four winning secret menu items all at once, Cinnabon may one day be forced to remove the "secret" ruse altogether and let them live as permanent menu items.

The Caramel Lover is a nice step up from the regular Cinnabon, but the real deal upgrades are the Oreo Bon and TurtleBon. Sauced up by Ghirardelli chocolate, and bringing cookies and nuts into the fold, respectively, these divine desserts are almost too heavenly to be of this world (and certainly too massive to be eaten by hand, or alone).

Almost lost in the shuffle is the "tiny" Cookie BonBite Sandwich, which, in its own special way, is actually the best of the bunch. A cinnamon bun-filled cookie sandwich, gussied up with cream cheese filling??? Give a Nobel Peace Prize to whoever drew that one up. If only Lord Byron, Keats, or Shelley were alive today. The odes these romantic era poets could have written about the Cookie BonBite Sandwich... well, they probably would have been written in cream cheese frosting.