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
Love this recipe! The rolls came out perfect! The honey butter gave it that just sweet taste to finish it up. Can this recipe be used for a loaf of bread as well? Thanks!
Hi Amber, I’m so glad you enjoyed these rolls. They’re a favorite. For a loaf, I recommend leaving out the egg. (That’s what I’ve been doing lately when making a loaf from this recipe.) This will also help the loaf be a little sturdier and crispier on top. You can also try, and I recommend, my sandwich bread recipe.
Followed recipe exactly and they came out exactly perfect! Well done Sally…these will be making an appearance at Christmas dinner for sure!
OMG.Sally these are the best rolls I’ve made in a very long time and I’ve made many over the years, these are exactly as you said, these were soft, fluffy and delicious, even my husband spoke highly of them and kept eating more and more. Thank you so very much…., now I’m going to go and make them for my sisters and venture onto your Easy Cinnamon Rolls.
No rating yet. I bake bread and knead dough all the time. When working with this recipe I noticed the dough seemed dry and hard. It’s been rising for a little over an hour and still doesn’t show much of a rise. Two hours seems like a bit much for dough to rise. I will go punch it down after one hour and a half to see if it’s going to work. Will rate after.
I made these with water because we usually don’t have milk at home. These were still the fluffiest lil rolls ever. Absolutely delicious, rose to perfection and I’m going to have to go take a nap after eating 4 in one sitting. Will definetly do again.
First time using this recipe. I followed as written. Fabulous little rolls.. will use recipe again!
Omg yumm!! Made these tonight, followed crucial instructions and my family went nuts, I’d like them sweeter but don’t know if adding more sugar will hurt them
Hi Cassie, We are so happy your family enjoyed these! You can try adding a small amount of extra of sugar in step 2 although we haven’t tested it. Don’t skip the honey butter on top as that adds a delicious layer of sweetness!
i made this with oat milk & it turned out great !! my first time making bread and this was a super easy recipe 🙂
Made these dinner rolls for Thanksgiving. Best dinner rolls ever and so easy. I’ve been making dinner rolls 50+ years and have tried many recipes but this one was the best and will be a long-time keeper. I made the rolls ahead and after shaping the rolls and before baking, I froze them. Thanksgiving Day removed from freezer five hours before baking. They turned out perfect. Comments asking about doubling recipe but were advised not to double. Agree, this recipe is so easy would be no problem to make a second batch and not double.
I am so frustrated by the amount of flour to really use in this recipe.
I made them once and had to add almost an extra cup of flour to even handle the dough at all. The dough was very wet and I did mix it the required time but it never pulled away from the sides of the bowl until I added the extra flour.
The rolls did turn out delicious so I made another batch today.
Same issue, had to add extra flour!
What is the issue?
Thanks
Hi Diane, Thank you for trying this recipe and we are happy to hear the rolls turned out well in the end! A dough’s consistency relies on many variables including how you measure the flour, brand of flour, even the weather and humidity in the air. While this should be a sticky dough, it sounds like yours is a little too sticky. Don’t be afraid to add a little more flour at a time (as you did) until it’s soft, but still manageable to knead.
My son and I baked for Thanksgiving. The rolls had a strong yeasty flavor and I don’t know why. The yeast and milk was REALLY foamy at the beginning even though we timed to exactly as recipe said. We made the dough the day before and then put in refrigerator following the directions. I let the dough rise before baking the next day. Was that the problem or
I decided to throw these together last-minute for Thanksgiving and I’m so glad I did. They stole the show…so soft and buttery and almost croissant-like in texture. Definitely will make again.
Sally! I tried this recipe today! It turned out brilliantly! Thank you!
I made a butter flake roll for Thanksgiving this year and while they were quite successful, they were too sweet, very much like those Hawaiian rolls you can get at the grocery store. I don’t care for the sweetness. I’m looking for a roll that isn’t sweet. I know that sugar will help the yeast to do it’s job. I’m wondering how much sugar will support the yeast without leaving the rolls sweet tasting. Can you help?
Hi Lesley, feel free to use just 2 teaspoons of sugar in step 1 and omit the rest. (So reduce down to 2 teaspoons total.)
Made these with almond milk to go with some turkey soup (my son is allergic). They turned out great and still browned nicely! I did have to add 1/2 cup more flour, maybe due to the humidity in Kentucky. I did bake on an upper shelf to aid with browning because I know it’s not the same with non-dairy, that seemed to help.
I made these rolls for Thanksgiving. I doubled the recipe, but followed the measurements exactly, and added the honey butter on top after baking. These are the best dinner rolls I have ever made and they received so many compliments. I will definitely be making them for Christmas, but will be adding fresh rosemary.
First-timer for rolls and was a bit nervous. Awesome not having to knead them by hand. Made these for thanksgiving as well and they were wonderful. No need for extra flour. I plan to add some flavors to my next batch. So glad I found this recipe. I’m fact, I use this website for a few other things too. Well done.
DOUBLE THE BUTTER AND SUGAR!! The first time I made these according to recipe they were ok, just ok. Second time I doubled the butter and sugar measurements and ended up with the most tender, moist, yummy rolls maybe I’ve ever had. They even reheat to just as perfect as fresh. Do it!! 🙂
I will have to do the same thing because there is no flavor without the honey butter. It actually has what I would call a little bit of a yeast taste to them.
Outstanding recipe. The finished product was soft, mildly sweet and oh, so, fabulous.
These were a hit at Thanksgiving, especially with the kids, who said it was their favorite part of Thanksgiving! I appreciate the simple recipe and look forward to trying these as slider buns. Maybe hot dog buns too? So fluffy and delicious.
I made these last night for the first time! For some reason they turned out quite flat and dense (rather than tall and soft/puffy) and didn’t get golden at all on the tops. They were quite puffy when I put them in so I’m thinking the second rise was a bit too long (my kitchen was quite hot as it was Thanksgiving and I had my oven on all day). I’ll have to try them again! They were still delicious despite the texture issues.
Hi! I tried making these for Thanksgiving, but they turned out a bit flatter than yours and instead of being flaky, they had kind of a bubbly texture. I think I should knead the dough by hand instead of using the dough hook on my mixer. Any thoughts on that? I am going to try again today! New to baking and really appreciate your recipes!
Hi Kelly, I prefer kneading the dough by hand so you can really get a feel for it. What type of yeast did you use? I recommend Red Star Yeast – their platinum yeast if you can get your hands on it. It’s by far the best in terms of quality. If it’s helpful, see my Baking with Yeast guide for extra tips and help.
Thanks so much. I had watched your video, but my Safeway store didn’t have Red Star yeast. They only had Fleischmann’s. I’m in Northern California. I read your yeast guide too. I think I should knead by hand. I’m guessing the bubbling was made by air pockets from improperly kneading. Thanks!
I did not have enough AP flour so I substituted 1 cup of buckwheat. It just started to rise…what should I expect?
Should I just restart?
This is a good basic recipe. The rolls shaped up beautifully. Our family found that they needed the sweetness of honey butter brushed on top. Without it the rolls were a bit plain but with good texture. I used bread flour. I’d like to try the same recipe and add seasonings next time like rosemary or cheddar cheese.
I am new to baking. I made these yesterday for Thanksgiving. They were awesome. I didnt think they were going to turn out. I pre measured out my flouring but when I went to measure it to add to the bowl I had so much flour left. The dough mixture was real wet so I added more flour almost a cup and it was still wet not thick like the picture showed. I figured I had messed up the flour some how. I ran with it any ways.
They turned out fantastic to my surprise.
Does spooning and leveing the flour twice make it more fluffy as this also happened to me when I made banana bread not to long ago.
Agree w/others – this is a keeper recipe! I meant to use whole milk but grabbed fat-free – they still came out great. I used my KitchenAid Prof Series mixer whisk attachment for blending the sugar/yeast/milk, scraped it down to ensure a proper mix and then used the dough hook for adding the flour (regular ol’ all purpose!). For those who said the dough was sticky, I’d suggest a few more seconds w/the hook. You’ll definitely know it when the dough comes together as it will pull off the sides of the bowl and cling to the hook. I didn’t need to add flour but I’m in a dry climate (Arizona – 71 deg on T-day!). I keep my flour in a ziplock w/air squeezed out, too. I used a buttered cast-iron pan, middle rack, and wow did they look great! Definitely brush w/butter after baking. If you are doing dairy-free, try Country Crock brand dairy-free. You’d never know it isn’t butter, but that it’s a little saltier, so perfect for brushing on these rolls! These rolls are DELICIOUS!
I’m a seasoned baker. I made this recipe twice. The first batch was dry and crumbly. The second was gooey and fell apart in your hands. This recipe has too much butter. I did learn a good tip here though regarding measuring my flour. Thank you.
This recipe was pretty perfect. Perfectly golden, perfectly tender, soft, flaky.
And I’m not a seasoned baker ♀️
I’ve made this recipe numerous times and never had dry/crumbly, or gooey rolls.
Not sure what went wrong. My dough did not pull away from the sides and was sticky. I repeated it again after watching the video and the same thing happened. They rose alright so I thought I was still good, but when I took off the covering to butter them, they fell flat. Probably shouldn’t have tried them for the first time on Thanksgiving. Also, I do not live at a high altitude.
Ok so these were a hit! but…. mine had a very hard & thick outer shell…. did i over mix? any suggestions?
Hi Sally — Thanks for the recipe and the great instructions. Not my first time to make yeast rolls but one of the least stressful. Your instructions and the video were very helpful.
My rolls were great but they were sort of crispy on the outside. Not that this was a bad think but I didn’t expect that. I did make the day before and place the rolls in the refrigerator and then bring out a few hours before baking. Also, I did have other items in the oven. Just curious what may have caused this. Thanks again —
PERFECT ROLLS! This was my first time attempting yeast rolls and this recipe was PERFECTION! They were a hit at Thanksgiving! Thank you for boosting my confidence! I’m excited to try the cinnamon rolls next!
Thanks so much for the recipe! I’ve made this few times before but made the herb version for thanksgiving yesterday! Turned out super awesome. Soft and fluffy.
I always need to use few extra teaspoons of flour to get it together, I live in the Caribbean and it’s always humid maybe…??
But results were amazing!!