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 (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 | Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or 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
Made these today with thanksgiving dinner and they were perfection. Thank you. The simplest recipe I’ve tried and the spoon and measure is the only way to go. Dough seemed stickier than I’m used to but I could tell it was right. My kids said these rolls were life changing. Lol
Topped with garlic parsley butter and everyone loved them! These were a real hit and so easy to make even on my first try
Absolutely delicious! Made these today for Thanksgiving. Super easy and they practically melt in your mouth.
Hi!! Making this now. I wanted to add in the suggested cheddar cheese. When can I add this in?
Hi Molly, mix in the cheese when you add the flour. Enjoy!
I’ve made this recipe countless times and i keep coming back! I follow the measurements to the T and it’s always absolutely perfect, and i never have to add any extra flour. Currently using this recipe to make burger buns, so just gonna make less balls and bake for slightly longer time. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
For the overnight instructions, why does it say to remove them 3+ hours in advance but they only need 1-2 hours of rising? Is the 3 hours just factoring in baking and cooling?
Hi Kim, that accounts for the baking and cooling. Because it’s 3 hours before you need them.
They aren’t browning in the oven even though they taste done. Did I do something wrong?
Hi Savanna, how brown they get will depend on your oven and the position of the rolls in the oven. If they’re done, take them out to you don’t over-bake them! Hope you love them.
My rolls came out with a crust. Could it be that I’m at high altitude? Should I have baked at a lower temperature than the 350? I did place them on the lowest rack in my oven.
They are absolutely delicious and so easy to make! I’ve made them several times and always love them. I can’t seem to get them to be the golden brown color in the pictures though. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
A new baker
Hi Mallaree, how brown they get will depend on your oven and the position of the rolls in the oven. You can try moving them towards the heat source for more browning.
Tastes fine. However even though rolls looked like they had risen they went flat when cooking. The dough was also wet and sticky.
Usually when rolls deflate while baking it is because the dough rose for too long before baking. Next time try a shorter rise time or letting the dough rise in a slightly cooler place.
Hello do you put the honey butter mixture on before or after you bake the rolls?
Hi Annie! After – see step 9.
Hey! Have you ever tried baking the rolls most of the way and finishing the bake to warm them up right before you need them? I made these for dinner last week and they were absolutely delicious!!!!
They taste good but the tops of mine didn’t turn out golden brown. I baked them at 350 for 25 minutes and brushed the tops with butter before going in. I’m not sure what I did wrong. They are an unappealing pale color.
The melted butter shouldn’t go on until after the rolls have baked. I think the butter kept your rolls from browning properly.
Have attempted these twice. Both times they failed to turn out edible. I’m not a novice in the kitchen. I can make several great loaves of bread but wanted a dinner roll recipe. After two attempts this recipe is going in the trash.
Hi Justin! We’re happy to help troubleshoot and here’s our helpful baking with yeast guide if you’re interested. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I noticed the ingredient list says 3 cups of flour but the recipe only says to add 1. What happens with those other two cups of flour? thanks!
See step two! You add it shortly after.
I don’t have much experience with bread but mine didn’t rise at all when I baked them. Idk if it was because the dough was so dry I ended up adding milk so I could actually knead it. It didn’t rise much when I let it sit for an hour either.
Delicious! Just made these for the first time, in preparation for Thanksgiving to see if can make them in two days. Which I definitely will need to as they are already half gone! Recipe was extremely helpful and loved the video
Can you cut out the rolls? rather than shape them?
Hi Kim, these rolls work best as shaped balls. Rolling out the dough may over work it and the won’t rise properly as flatter discs. Best to stick with the directions as written! For a bread recipe that requires cutting out the rolls, you might enjoy these biscuits instead.
Hello, can this recipe be double?
Hi Michele, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
HI, Can I use my sourdough starter in the place of yeast? If so, how do I do that? What ratios may change? Flour to water etc?
Hi Stef, we haven’t tried making these rolls with sourdough starter so we’re unfortunately unable to offer advice here. If you do give it a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
could this dough be made in a food processor?
Hi Nell, several readers have reported success making this dough using a food processor with the dough attachment.
Can I keep them refrigerated two days
Hi Kim, if following the overnight instructions, we only recommend leaving the dough in the refrigerator for about 15 hours. Otherwise, you can follow the freezing directions as another make ahead option, or the fully baked rolls can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
My dough is way too wet, had to add nearly a cup of flour
Hi Deidre, A dough’s consistency relies on many variables including how you measure the flour (be sure to spoon and level), brand of flour, even the weather and humidity in the air. It is okay for the dough to be slightly sticky, but don’t be afraid to add a little more flour at a time (we recommend about a tablespoon at a time) until it’s soft, but still manageable to knead.
Would buttermilk work for these instead of the whole milk? I have some buttermilk that needs to be used and thought it might do well here.
Hi Rachel, buttermilk may be a bit too thick, but let us know if you try it!
Does refrigerating improve the flavor like it does with your Artisan bread?
That is usually the case for most bread doughs (but not all), including this one. You could refrigerate the dough according to the overnight instructions for up to about 15 hours.
Simple and sensational
If weighing the flour, is 390g the right weight for bread flour? Usually 1 cup = 120 g. Thanks for the clarification!
Hi Monika, we weigh one cup of bread flour at 130 g, so we recommend 390 g (or 3 cups) total. Hope you enjoy the rolls!
So easy a Papa can make them great recipe really easy to follow
Can these be made with half the sugar? They’re a bit too sweet for me.
Hi Ruby, feel free to use just 2 teaspoons of sugar in step 1 and omit the rest. (So reduce down to 2 teaspoons total.)
Just baked these and I’m at a loss for how to make them soft and fluffy. I followed instructions perfectly, just took them out of the oven and they are rock hard on top. Not burnt at all. They actually didn’t look done yet, barely browned, but I poked one to see how it felt and rock hard . What went wrong??
Hi Lauren, over-kneading is usually what produces a tougher roll, so always be careful not to over-work it. If you decide to try it again this is an easy fix. Be sure not to over-bake the rolls either, which can also contribute to drying out / making the rolls a bit harder. Thanks for giving these rolls a try!
Sally,
Can this be done with a bread machine?
Thank you!
Kayla, I just made these in my bread maker last night. They came out perfect!! I used the dough setting, then shaped the rolls and allowed to rise for another hour before baking.
I made these for the first time….SUCCESS!!! quick and easy!!!!
Can I use a small baller and place 2 or 3 balls in each cup of a muffin pan instead of just 1 ball?
Thanks!
Hi Rainey, we haven’t tested this recipe in muffin pans but other bakers have reported success doing so. Let us know if you try!
How did this end up working out for you?
I had a hard time with these the first time. Just tried them again and it went off without a hitch! I added two extra tablespoons of flour to make the dough less wet and workable. Will definitely make this my go-to dinner rolls recipe!
Hi just wanted to know if soy milk would be okay?
Hi Paris, a nondairy milk should work, though the rolls may be *slightly* less soft and fluffy.
My dough keeps ending up on the dryer side and not rising well. I cannot tell what I am doing wrong, help!
Hi Stephanie, Too much kneading will lead to a dense tasting bread or roll because the gluten has been over-worked – or perhaps your dough didn’t rise enough before baking? Too much flour can also make breads dry and dense, so be sure to carefully spoon and level or use a scale to measure. You may find our Baking with Yeast Guide very helpful!
Hey can I double this recipe? I am planning to make more because of thanksgiving.
Hi Ray, for the best results we don’t recommend doubling this recipe. For double the amount of rolls, make 2 separate batches.