You only need 7 ingredients to make these dinner rolls. Flaky, soft, and buttery, these fresh dinner rolls outshine any main dish. If you’re a bread beginner, read this blog post to learn more about the yeast rolls recipe, including how to prep the rolls ahead of time. You can also reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
- Do you long to bake homemade bread but are too intimidated to start?
- Does yeast dough send you running for the hills?
- Do bread recipes seem overly complicated and confusing?
I’m teaching you how to make homemade dinner rolls. These are the best homemade dinner rolls I’ve ever had and it all starts with a straightforward 7-ingredient dough. I make these rolls whenever I get the chance and even brought a pan to our friends who just welcomed a baby. They’re pillow-soft with the most delicious flaky and buttery texture. Everyone will demand you bake them on repeat.
And with this recipe, I guarantee you will finally feel confident baking bread. 🙂
Video Tutorial: Dinner Rolls
Let’s start with a video tutorial.
Overview: How to Make Homemade Dinner Rolls
- Make the dough. Continue below to learn more about this dough recipe.
- Knead the dough. Reference my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with this step.
- Cover the dough and let it rise. The dough rises in about 1-2 hours in a relatively warm environment.
- Punch down the dough to release the air and shape into rolls.
- Let the rolls rise for about 1 hour.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. If desired, brush the warm rolls with a little honey and melted butter for extra flavor.
As shown in the video tutorial, the dough comes together with a mixer. You can use a paddle attachment or a dough hook. You can also make the dough by hand, but it requires a bit of arm muscle. After the dough comes together in the mixing bowl, it’s time to knead. You can simply continue beating the dough with the mixer for this step or you can knead the dough by hand. I chose to knead the dough by hand so you can see me doing it in the video above.
If you’re new to bread making, my How to Knead Dough post and video can help even more with this step. And my Baking with Yeast Guide is a wonderful resource for all bread beginners!
Soft Dinner Rolls Require a Rich Dough
The crustier and chewier the bread, the less fat in the dough. This is known as a lean dough. The softer and richer the bread, the more fat in the dough. This is known as a rich dough. Unlike chewy homemade bagels, focaccia, and my artisan bread, soft dinner rolls require a rich dough. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the dough is swimming in cash. Rather, “rich” correlates with the amount of fat. For example, this dough has milk, butter, and egg.
You need 7 ingredients total. They’re the same ingredients in my easy cinnamon rolls, which is also a rich dough. (Though I use more sugar for sweeter cinnamon rolls, of course.)
- Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. For the softest dinner rolls, use whole milk. Nondairy or low fat milks work too, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise times will be a little longer. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers.
- Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough.
- Egg: 1 egg provides structure and flavor.
- Butter: Butter promises a flavorful and soft dinner roll. Make sure it’s room temperature.
- Salt: You can’t make flavorful bread without salt!
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour in this recipe. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces chewier dinner rolls. There are no other changes to the recipe if you use bread flour.
Once you make the dough, let it rise:
After that, punch down the risen dough. Shape into balls and arrange in a baking pan. Don’t worry if they’re not all uniform in size.
Let the shaped rolls rise before baking. Look how puffy they get after 1 hour of rising:
How to Shape Dinner Rolls
You can shape this dough many different ways including twisted rolls, knotted rolls (how I shape garlic knots), cloverleaf rolls, or even hot dog buns. Let’s stick with the basic round shape. Divide the dough into 14-16 pieces. Take a piece and stretch the top of the dough while pinching and sealing the bottom. Make sure the rolls are smooth on top and sealed on the bottom. I shape hot cross buns the same exact way.
How to Make Yeast Rolls Ahead of Time
The rolls require around 3 hours of rising. Not everyone has 3 hours to spare, so let’s discuss another option! Prepare the dough, let it rise, and shape the rolls. Cover the shaped rolls tightly and refrigerate for up to about 16 hours. At least 3 hours before you need them the next day, remove the rolls from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the counter for about 1-2 hours before baking.
And here’s how to freeze dinner rolls: Follow the make-ahead instructions and instead of refrigerating overnight, freeze the rolls in a baking pan. Once frozen, they won’t stick together anymore and you can place them in a freezer bag. Let them thaw and rise for about 4-5 hours, then bake. You can also freeze the baked dinner rolls. Therefore, if you want a smaller batch, you can make the entire recipe and bake only a few fresh rolls at a time.
These make-ahead options are especially helpful if you want fresh-baked rolls for Easter brunch, Thanksgiving dinner, or on Christmas.
Dinner Roll Flavors
How about some pizazz? Mix in these ingredients when you add the flour.
- Rosemary Dinner Rolls – 2 Tablespoons fresh or dried chopped rosemary.
- Cheddar Dinner Rolls – 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Other cheese varieties work, but avoid super soft cheeses.
- Garlic & Herb Dinner Rolls – 2 teaspoons each: dried rosemary, dried basil, & dried parsley, along with 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
- 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Brown Butter Sage Dinner Rolls
- Honey Butter Rolls
- Multigrain Rolls – Here is my Multigrain Bread recipe that you can turn into rolls.
This dough is not ideal for a big loaf of bread. Instead, I recommend using a leaner dough, such as my sandwich bread or whole wheat bread recipes. If you need an egg free dough, try homemade breadsticks instead. And if you love pizza, try these pizza pull apart rolls next!
3 Success Tips
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide, which answers many common yeast FAQs.
- Make sure your yeast isn’t expired. Expiration date is on the package.
- Directly from the pros at Red StarYeast: Measuring flour correctly is key to avoiding a dense dough, which leads to heavy (not soft!) rolls. Spoon and level your flour, do not scoop it out of the package.
My final piece of advice? Don’t limit these rolls to suppertime. They’re welcome anywhere, with any meal, any time of day. Use for sliders, breakfast sandwiches, soaking up your favorite tomato sauce, alongside salad, or dunking into a bowl of creamy chicken noodle soup. Above all, don’t doubt yourself because you, too, can become a bread baking pro.
See Your Dinner Rolls!
Many readers have made this recipe! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos on social media. 🙂
PrintSoft Dinner Rolls Recipe
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 14-16 rolls
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You only need 7 ingredients to make these dinner rolls. Flaky, soft, and buttery, these fresh dinner rolls outshine any main dish. See recipe notes for freezing and overnight instructions. You can also reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (390g) all-purpose flour or bread flour* (spooned & leveled)
- optional topping: 2 Tablespoons (28g) melted unsalted butter mixed with 1 Tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- Add the remaining sugar, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. With a dough hook or paddle attachment, mix/beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add the remaining flour. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough, similar to the photos above. Dough should be soft and a little sticky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans. You can also bake the rolls in a cast iron skillet or on a lined baking sheet.*
- Shape the rolls: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it– doesn’t need to be perfect!) A bench scraper is always helpful for cutting dough. Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
- 2nd Rise: Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
- Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It’s best to bake the rolls towards the bottom of the oven so the tops don’t burn.)
- Bake the rolls: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven, brush with optional honey butter topping, and allow rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.
- Cover leftover rolls tightly and store at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Prepare recipe through step 6. Place shaped rolls in a greased baking pan, cover tightly, and freeze for up to 3 months. Once frozen, the dough balls won’t stick together anymore and you can place them in a freezer bag if needed. On the day you serve them, arrange the dough balls in a greased baking pan, cover tightly, then let them thaw and rise for about 4-5 hours. Bake as directed. You can also freeze the baked dinner rolls. Allow them to cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then reheat as desired. If reheating the whole pan, lightly cover and reheat in a 300°F (149°C) oven for about 10 minutes or until warm.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare the recipe through step 6. Cover the shaped rolls tightly and refrigerate for up to about 15 hours. At least 3 hours before you need them the next day, remove the rolls from the refrigerator, keep covered, and allow to rise on the counter for about 1-2 hours before baking. Alternatively, you can let the dough have its 1st rise in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the dough tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to about 15 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to fully rise for 2 more hours. Continue with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon / Spatula | 9×13-inch Glass Baking Pan | Bench Scraper | Pastry Brush
- Baking Pan: I prefer baking the rolls in a glass 9×13 inch baking pan because I find they brown a little too quickly in metal. As long as you bake the rolls on a lower oven rack and keep your eye on them, any pan is great.
- Yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. You can use Red Star Yeast active dry yeast instead. Rise times will be slightly longer using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces chewier dinner rolls. The rolls are still soft and fluffy no matter which you use. Either flour is fine and there are no other changes to the recipe if you use one or the other.
Adapted from Homemade Bread Bowls and Honey Butter Rolls
I made these exactly according to the recipe. The dough was quite moist. The texture was more like a store bought hot dog bun than a buttery flaky roll. Im not sure if over kneading or under kneading would cause this. I used a kitchenaid stand mixer
Hi! Love your recipes. I want to make this recipe for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I plan to make it tonight and bake in the morning after the second rise. I only have active yeast, not instant. I read in your yeast guide that active requires more rise time, but can you please specify about how much longer I should expect in this recipe for both the first rise today and second rise tomorrow? Thanks!
Hi Julie, Yes, active yeast will take longer than instant yeast – it’s best to keep an eye on it. For the first rise you want your dough to double in size.
Absolutely loved these rolls. It was my first time and the directions were spot on. I used the butter and honey topping on top as well as on the inside after it was cooked. Absolutely a 10/10 recipe and would 100% recommend!
Hi Sally! Love all of your recipes. I’m going to make these tomorrow to save time on Thanksgiving day. Would you recommend heating them in the oven for a few minutes to warm them up? Also, is it OK to use bleached flour or is unbleached better?
Hi Alyssa, Yes you can reheat them in a warm oven to your liking (or in the microwave!). It won’t make a huge difference either way, but we always try to use unbleached flour when we can.
Hi Sally,
I love every recipe I’ve tried from you! I was looking for a Thanksgiving roll recipe and am going to try prepping these with the overnight method tomorrow evening. The only issue is that I bought 1% milk. Will that be ok for this recipe? Thanks so much! Gobble gobble 🙂
Just tried these out for Thanksgiving. Came out amazing! The dough is so easy to work with. I am in Denver and cut my proofing time in half for the final rise and punched it down after one hour and let it rise an additional hour. Trying to work with our altitude.
I am never buying store bought rolls ever again, and I also don’t know what took me so long to try making homemade rolls! I made these on Sunday, in hopes of getting an early start for Thanksgiving. Well….as soon as they came out of the oven, my husband ate two with his dinner. All I kept hearing was “mmmmmm it’s like a cloud in my mouth, this is so good!” They’re absolutely delicious, so soft, buttery, just amazing! Sally, your directions were easy to follow, thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us! I am going to make your cranberry sauce tonight ahead of Thanksgiving, can’t wait to try it! If there is any cranberry sauce left I will use it in your cranberry bars recipe later this week. Is it possible for me, as a reader, to be addicted to your blog? lol! Happy Thanksgiving and I am so grateful to have found your blog this year!
I made my rolls into cloverleafs using a muffin pan. I was aiming to bake some as good as my mother-in-law’s famous rolls, and they turned out really well. The only comment that my husband made was that they didn’t taste as “yeast-y” as his mom’s. To get more of a yeast taste, would you add more yeast? Or more sugar? Help appreciated! PS-Sally, I have loved your website and videos since I found you eight months ago. You have provided entertainment and great advice as I’ve really upped my baking game. Thank you!
Thanks so much Windy! What a thoughtful comment. I appreciate it. Try adding another 1/2 teaspoon of yeast and perhaps another 1 Tablespoon of sugar. That could help.
Mine rose the first time but do not rise the second time so they turn out super dense and hard on the outside. I test the temperature of the milk, and do the pinch test while kneeding the bread so I can figure out what I am doing wrong.
Hi CaSandra, I’m unsure why the rolls wouldn’t rise the 2nd time after the dough had risen the first. Perhaps over-handling the dough while shaping the rolls? See my baking with yeast guide. I have helpful information about dough and dough rising on that page.
These are so good! Soft, buttery and flaky. Everything you want in a roll. They were also good leftover.
Suggestions for what went wrong? I made the rolls and froze them, thawed for 6 hours prior to baking. The consistency is more of a biscuit than a roll and they tasty yeasty to me. Advice appreciated before I try, try again.
Tried making them today and im blown away by the results. Im not an experienced baker yet, so full credit to your perfect recipe ! Loved it ! Super hit with my husband !
Thank you for this recipe. I made these with my two 6 year olds, and they had so much fun making it AND the rolls came out perfect. I am making this for thanksgiving, and I am going to brush them with butter and sea salt.
Excellent recipe and instructions.
Hi sally! Your wheat rolls and honey butter rolls recipes say the shaped rolls can be refrigerated up to 2 days. would these rolls be ok refrigerated for over the 15 hours? I’m planning thanksgiving dinner and would need one batch to be in the fridge a little over the 15 hours and do not want them not to turn out! Thank you for your time!!
Hi Crystal, You can refrigerate shaped rolls for up to about 15 hours. See the overnight instructions in the recipe notes for details.
So I made this today. The rise seemed to take for ever and it didnt really rise the way i thought it would. I waited the 2 hours and it did seem to double but not by much. They tasted great but were heavy. I am not sure what I did wrong but I did half it so i am not sure if that might have something to do with it.
For the second rise time do you need to put it in a warm place also?
Hi Alex, You can let the shaped rolls rise at room temperature. Enjoy!
I want to make these for Thanksgiving, but would need to make them the day before. How would you recommend storing them overnight?
Hi Beth, The rolls should be just fine covered tightly at room temperature overnight. Enjoy!
Hi Sally! Bread baking novice here – do you do the 4-5 hour thaw/rise for frozen dough on the counter, or in the fridge? I’m assuming the counter, but just wanted to verify for food safety purposes due to the egg in the dough.
Thanks, have a happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Hi Maggie, You can let them thaw and rise for about 4-5 hours at room temperature on the counter. Enjoy!
Sally, how would I double this recipe (double the amount) in a single batch?
Hi Kristy, For the best results we don’t recommend doubling this recipe. For double the amount of rolls, make 2 separate batches.
I loved the recipe…easy to follow!!! I shared the buns with my sister, she loved them!! We both had the same problem the next day…..they were VERY dry and falling apart!!! We both stored our bread in zip lock bags.
What did I do wrong???
What would make the dough not rise the second time?
Hi Linda, I don’t have a bread machine but a few readers have used one with success for this recipe.
My kids LOVE these rolls. I’ve made them several times now, and they always come out perfectly. Thank you for the great instructions and amazing recipe!
So I made these so that I could practice before Thanksgiving. I loved how simple it was to make these, however, they came out heavy. What did I do wrong? Did I over mix the dough?
Hi Cynthia, Over-kneading is usually what produce a tougher roll, so always be careful not to over-work it. Thank you for trying this recipe!
These rolls are AMAZING! I have loved so many of your recipes. Your site is my go-to now for baked goods. Made the recipe including the honey butter and they came out perfect. Thank you!
Thank you, see I am way to distracted to even see that the was a skip button . Having a newborn problems. Thank you so much for your recipes, always delicious. 4th one that I have tried in a month and so far I am obsessed.
I like you recipes; but to much reading. I would use you more if you got straight to the point. I am a mom I don’t have time to spend an hour reading unuseful information, Get to the point.
Hi Arlette, feel free to use the Jump to Recipe button located at the top of the post if you’d like to skip the text, photos, and video. Thank you!
Hello,
I’ve new at working with yeast. But, I’ve made these to die for yeast rolls twice in the last couple of months and they were PERFECTION! I made them a third time last week and doubled the recipe. The first rise was perfect but the second rise was minimal. I baked them anyway and we called them, “yeascuts” because they were a lot like biscuits but with a more yeasty inside. Why made them not rise on the second rise?
Thanks!
I’m a novice at baking with yeast (even though I am in my 60’s). I found the directions easy to follow and the rolls came out wonderful. I made my first batch for a Halloween gathering and tied the dough to resemble pumpkins (tying directions from another recipe) and just made the rolls again today for mini-french dip sandwiches. Had to sample before dinner to make sure all was well. Hard to eat just three. Delicious!
I have tried various different recipes and this is by far the best recipe I’ve come across. Some baking away in the oven as I type. The cooked rolls freeze beautifully
Im NOT a very good baker…. mine came our pretty dense, more like a soft biscuit…. I was out of butter so I had to subsitute shortening, maybe this was why? Or I killed the yeast? (my thermometer is old AF) But they tasted really great, and were super easy…. so will def be making again, fingers crossed.
Shortening is 100% vegetable oil fat while butter has 89%fat and 20% water. If your dough doesn’t rise, the fluid is too hot (kill the yeast) or too cold (not letting yeast to grow). I don’t use thermometer for my bread. I just use the back of my hand. If it’s baby bottle warm, that’s it. If you dump the yeast into the fluid and waited 5 minutes and it doesn’t “bloom”, then something is wrong so don’t waste your flour!
Shortening is 100% vegetable oil fat while butter has 80% fat and 20% water. If your dough doesn’t rise, the fluid is too hot (kill the yeast) or too cold (not letting yeast to grow). I don’t use thermometer for my bread. I just use the back of my hand. If it’s baby bottle warm, that’s it. If you dump the yeast into the fluid and waited 5 minutes and it doesn’t “bloom”, then something is wrong so don’t waste your flour!