minneapolis · an honest local guide

the best bakeries in minneapolis, by what they're actually best at.

"best bakery" is the wrong question. best croissant, best cinnamon roll, best case for a celiac household, best bake that fits your macros: those have real answers, and they're different bakeries. we're on this list, so every bakery here gets a tradeoff column, including us.

see the list our bakery

how this list works, since we're on it. we're tandoco, a minneapolis wellness bakery. a "best bakeries" list written by a bakery is usually a sales page wearing a costume, so here are the rules we wrote for ourselves: every bakery is sorted by the thing it genuinely does best, every bakery gets its tradeoff named out loud, and ours is held to the same standard, tradeoffs included. if you want the classic butter-and-sugar experience, several places on this list beat us, and we say so.

what we did not do: rank them one through seven. we put ourselves at the top because it's our guide and you deserve to know whose list you're reading, not because we came first. the other six sit in no particular order. a croissant and a gluten-free vegan cinnamon roll are not competing for the same morning.

the list

seven bakeries, seven specialties.

we're listed first because it's our guide, not because we won. the other six sit in no particular order.

1

tandoco (that's us)

best wellness bakery · delivered

our lane is the bake with a job. the swole roll is a scratch-made cinnamon roll carrying 22g of protein, built from real flour, greek yogurt, eggs and casein rather than protein-powder shortcuts. the (gf) cloud nine roll is gluten-free and vegan with none of the nine major allergens in the recipe, which almost no bakery case in this city can say. there's a sugar-free roll, high-fiber bakes, and published macros on everything. and we're delivery-first: order by thursday, it's at your door anywhere in the twin cities on sunday, from $4 and free over $65.

the tradeoff, same standard as everyone else: we're not a walk-in cafe, delivery runs one day a week with a thursday cutoff, and our kitchen is shared and mills wheat, so celiac customers should start with sift, not us. if you want pure classic indulgence, isles bun beats us at that game.
swole rollswole roll (gf) cloud nine roll(gf) cloud nine macro chip cookiemacro chip cookie
2

isles bun & coffee

best classic cinnamon roll

the uptown institution, and not just locally: their roll took a world's-best-cinnamon-roll title. fluffy, buttery dough, deeply spiced filling, a cult line on weekend mornings. if you want the definitive traditional cinnamon roll experience in this city, this is the answer and it isn't close.

the tradeoff: it's an indulgence, full stop, and a walk-in counter. no delivery, no dietary lanes. that's not a flaw, it's the point.
3

rustica bakery

best croissants + artisan breads

the artisan benchmark. buttery croissants, a kouign amann people plan mornings around, and naturally fermented sourdough that anchors half the good restaurants in town. if lamination and long fermentation are what you mean by "bakery," rustica is the standard everyone else gets measured against.

the tradeoff: classic european technique, classic european ingredients. nothing here is built around a dietary need, and it sells out.
4

patisserie 46

best french patisserie

the pastry-case-as-jewelry-store experience: seasonal viennoiserie rotations, entremets, real cakes for real occasions. when the assignment is "impress someone," this is where minneapolis goes.

the tradeoff: special-occasion pricing and special-occasion formality. it's a destination, not a tuesday habit.
5

a baker's wife

best old-school neighborhood bakery

the beloved no-frills counter: donuts, danishes and rolls at prices that feel like a different decade, from a shop that's been feeding its neighborhood forever. the anti-instagram bakery, in the best way.

the tradeoff: cash-friendly, line-out-the-door mornings, and when it's gone, it's gone. go early or go home.
6

sift gluten free

best dedicated gluten-free bakery

a dedicated gluten-free facility: no wheat in the building at all. for celiac households that standard is not a preference, it's the requirement, and sift is the minneapolis bakery built to meet it. (we bake gluten-free items too, but in a shared kitchen. for diagnosed celiac disease, sift is the safer choice, and we tell our own customers exactly that.)

the tradeoff: gluten-free is the whole focus. it's not a vegan-first case, and traditionalists will notice the difference in classic items.
7

vegan east

best vegan bakery case

100% vegan and scratch-made daily, with the deepest plant-based dessert case in the metro: cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, plus a good number of gluten-free items. if the goal is a vegan celebration spread, this is the specialist.

the tradeoff: dessert-led rather than bread-led, and not a dedicated gluten-free facility either.
the cheat sheet

which bakery, for what.

the whole guide in ten lines.

the definitive classic cinnamon rollisles bun & coffee
a cinnamon roll with 22g proteintandoco swole roll
croissants + sourdoughrustica
a cake meant to impresspatisserie 46
old-school donuts, no fussa baker's wife
diagnosed celiac diseasesift gluten free
vegan celebration spreadvegan east
gluten-free and vegan in one baketandoco cloud nine
bakery delivered to your doortandoco, sundays
macros published on every itemtandoco store
questions

best bakeries · faq.

what is the best bakery in minneapolis?
it depends on what you want to eat. isles bun & coffee is the classic cinnamon roll pick and won a world's-best-cinnamon-roll title. rustica is the croissant and artisan bread benchmark. patisserie 46 is the french patisserie. sift gluten free is the dedicated gluten-free facility, vegan east is the deepest vegan case, and tandoco is the wellness bakery: high-protein, gluten-free and vegan, and sugar-free bakes, delivered across the twin cities every sunday.
who has the best cinnamon rolls in minneapolis?
for the classic, isles bun & coffee in uptown. for a cinnamon roll with a job, our swole roll carries 22g of protein, and the (gf) cloud nine roll is gluten-free and vegan. both scratch-made in minneapolis and delivered sunday. the full comparison lives at cinnamon rolls in minneapolis.
is there a gluten-free bakery in minneapolis?
yes. sift gluten free is a dedicated gluten-free facility, which is the standard celiac customers need. we bake gluten-free items too, including a roll that is both gluten-free and vegan, but in a shared kitchen that mills wheat, so we're the right choice for preference and the wrong one for severe celiac disease. the honest breakdown is at gluten-free and vegan bakery in minneapolis.
which minneapolis bakeries deliver?
most of the bakeries on this list are walk-in counters. we're delivery-first: order by thursday 11:59pm and baked goods arrive at your door anywhere in the twin cities metro on sunday, from $4 and free over $65. or pick up free at the kitchen at 1369 spruce pl.
is there a wellness bakery in minneapolis?
that's our lane. the swole roll carries 22g of protein, cookies and brownies are built with real flour, greek yogurt, eggs and casein rather than protein-powder shortcuts, and every bake publishes its macros. see the bakery.

the bakery that fits your macros.

order by thursday 11:59pm · scratch-baked saturday · sunday delivery across the twin cities, from $4 and free over $65.
order the bakery