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. 🙂
This recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
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, ciabatta, 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 and homemade brioche, which are also rich doughs. (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.
- Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Brown Butter Sage Dinner Rolls
- Honey Butter Rolls
- Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
- Oatmeal Molasses Dinner Rolls
- Multigrain Rolls – Here is my Multigrain Bread recipe that you can turn into rolls.
They’re also fantastic with a simple swipe of homemade honey butter or homemade cinnamon butter.
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 with slow cooker turkey meatballs, 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.
Soft 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. This recipe is also in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
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 at room temperature 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
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi! Would it be possible to use evaporated milk instead of whole milk? No worries if not, but I’d love to avoid a trip to the store on the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thanks
Hi KK! That may be too heavy for this dough. Best to stick with whole milk if possible!
Hi Sally
Can I double or triple this recipe successfully, or should I just make I recipe at a time? I need a bunch of them!
I love your recipes, I have your cookie cook book, it’s a go to for this kitchen! Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Liz, thank you so much for making our recipes! We recommend making multiple batches instead of doubling.
Why is that? Surely there are recipes that can be made in bulk. Why might it not work? Just wondering if there is a technical reason. (I have a friend with an industrial mixer.)
Hi Christa! With yeasted recipes, the ingredient amounts can change with larger batches and it is easy to over or under-knead large amounts of dough.
These came out great! So soft and fluffy, with a gorgeous outside crust. My question is, if we wanted a sweeter dinner roll, could we add more sugar or would that affect the outcome?
Hi Jen, you can definitely make these rolls a little sweeter! A small increase in sugar won’t harm the dough at all. I recommend adding 1–2 extra tablespoons of granulated sugar which is just enough to give the rolls a slightly sweeter flavor without altering the texture or slowing the yeast too much.
Hi. I made this recipe today for Thanksgiving and after the first rise I shaped the rolls and put in the freezer. When I take them out of the freezer do I thaw and let rise on the counter or in the refrigerator? Thank you.
Hi Dave, let them thaw and rise at room temperature.
Just found it in the notes abut the yeast! Starting them now. Just finished your pie crusts. My family LOVES your pumpkin pie!
I am prepping to make these now and realized that I have the Red Star Active Dry yeast, not the Platinum. I don’t know what the difference is and how to adjust. My thought is maybe it takes a little more time to foam.
thanks,
Margaret
You can use any instant or active dry yeast. Active dry may take a bit longer to rise.
Hi Sally! You are my go to gal for all my baked goods! I was wondering can the milk and butter in this recipe be replaced with dairy free milk and vegan butter and still have the same results? I have a few family members coming to Thanksgiving that can’t have dairy.
We haven’t tested those swaps ourselves but let us know if you do, Rose!
My son is allergic to dairy, and we’ve made this recipe many times with vegan butter and non- dairy milk! It takes a little longer to rise (true of most recipes when I swap out cow milk) but they turn out beautifully. If you can find it in stores, Ripple half and half is the best whole milk substitute we’ve found, but coconut milk works too.
Great recipe!
They came out so fluffy and tasty
My stores do not have the Red Star Platinum yeast….will Red Star work okay?!
Absolutely!
How do you get the rolls to have that golden color on top? Mine always look light and never get that color.
Hi Pen, exactly how the rolls bake will depend on your oven. You can try moving them to a different rack position to see if they brown more.
Sally-I followed your recipe EXACTLY. I bought new yeast, whole milk, new flour. I put a thermometer in the milk even. It didn’t foam with milk, yeast and sugar; but in your video it didn’t foam either. I needed it 7 minutes, oiled bowl and it looks exactly the same after an hour of rising. I am seriously frustrated. I have made quite a few of your recipes – you are my go-to when I try something new. Maybe some people aren’t meant to make bread. I gave you a 3 but I am sure its me not you
Hi Mary! You want the yeast to bubble up/foam, otherwise the yeast is not active and the dough will not rise. It does show this in the video, but it might be a little bright to see very well. Next time, make sure the yeast is active before continuing (so you don’t waste your time or ingredients!). Our baking with yeast guide may be a helpful resource as well.
is it ok if I use salted butter?
Hi Cindy, if using salted butter, you can reduce the added salt to 3/4 teaspoon. Enjoy!
Great recipe! They can’t it so fluffy and tasty
Hi! I’m attempting to make this recipe but my dough is SO sticky. I’ve added probably 8tbsp more flour at this point and it’s just not coming together. Any tips? Thanks so much!!
Hi Alyssa, There are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency. We hope you enjoy the rolls!
I see that the butter needs to be at room temperature and the milk needs to be warmed. How about the egg? Should it be at room temperature also?
Hi Ruby, yes, it’s best for the egg to be at room temperature, too.
Ruby, I didn’t even think about making sure the egg was at room temperature, and I put it in cold, right out of the fridge, and my rolls came out great!
I’ve been an avid baker all my life, and I’m old, but I was terrified of yeast. I had always heard so many horror stories about how you could kill the it and destroy whatever it was you were making. I tried a bread recipe last week that I had seen on a cooking show that seemed simple, and it came out perfect! So, I decided I’d try to make dinner rolls for Thanksgiving, and I happened upon this recipe. I did a test run today, and they’re terrific! As another poster said, the dough seemed stickier than it should have been, so I added some extra flour. When I was done kneading it in the stand mixer, it didn’t seem too bad when I put it in the oiled bowl. It rose beautifully, and the rolls came out great – better than any bakery rolls! I can’t wait to make them next week! Thanks so much for this recipe!
Love this recipe. The best part, besides the taste of course, is letting the stand mixer do all the kneading. They turned out perfect.
Hello, I was wondering if these work with gluten free flour?
Hi Liza, we haven’t tested this recipe using gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. As always, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients. Let us know if you give it a try!
Enjoyed the article & the rolls! I’m making them again today. I also enjoyed the information on fermenting & proofing dough; I needed the refresher course!
simple, soft, delicious!!!
I love the soft dinner rolls. I tried the recipe in my bread machine and they were perfect. I mixed the all the ingredients except the flour and yeast to put in first. Then I piled on the flour, sprinkled yeast on top and lightly covered with flour. I set the machine on “yeast dough” #12 and it ran for 1 hour and 24 minutes. Afterwards I picked up your recipe again. Perfect for Thanksgiving! Thank you! Jan
It says 3 cups of flour but the instructions say 1 cup. Help!
Hi Stephanie, 3 cups of flour is correct. You’ll add in 2 separate additions in Step 2.
Help!!!! I have 12 dozen rolls to make for thanksgiving. Can these rolls be par baked ? This is for a fundraiser for our local food pantry and I don’t want to bake them to far in advance. Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated!
Hi Kelley! These rolls, fully baked, freeze beautifully! See Notes after the recipe for details.
Can I double this?
Hi Ann, for best results, we recommend making separate batches rather than doubling.
Thanks!
Wow! Hands down BEST dinner roll recipe I have ever made!
Sally, when freezing the actual shaped dough can you use greased aluminum cake pans and freeze and bake in same pan?
Hi Dawn, yes, you can do that. Hope they turn out great for you!
If I wanted to cut this recipe in half, would I use half the amount of yeast, too?
Hi Dorci, you could certainly halve the recipe and bake the rolls in an 8×8-inch pan. You would halve the yeast, yes. And to halve an egg, simply crack it, whisk, and then use half. Hope this helps!
Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving!
I made these today and followed the recipe. The rolls were very chewy and dry. I didn’t add any extra flour & I used AP flour. I used a stand mixer with the dough hook & kneaded 5 minutes per recipe. Is it possible to over knead? Any ideas where I may have gone wrong? If over kneaded can you tell me how I can tell when the dough is kneaded enough but not too much?
Hi Amy, happy to help troubleshoot. If you only kneaded for 5 minutes, then it’s unlikely over-kneading was the culprit here. How did you measure your flour? Did you weigh it, or spoon and level? Just wondering whether over-measuring the flour could be the reason your rolls were dry. Over-baking is the other possibility. How long did you bake the rolls?
Great recipe. My 13 year old son wanted to make dinner rolls for thanksgiving and found Sally’s recipe online. I was super impressed how clearly she lays out the steps a the quick video for a visual learner. My son and I had a great time making them. And the taste awesome too which is th most important part. I appreciate the information for if you are prepping and want to do them the night before. Thank you!
We added a light dusting of flaked sea salt after painting the rolls the honey butter. It was a nice add for any saltaholics.
I made a double batch of these for a Friendsgiving event. They came out spectacular! I used a Kitchen aide mixer, and the dough was very sticky. Once I put it into the oiled bowl it all came together, springy and smooth. I used bread flour. Light, fluffy and rich flavor!
I made a double batch of these for a Friendsgiving event. They came out spectacular! I used a Kitchen aide mixer, and the dough was very sticky. Once I put it into the oiled bowl it all came together, springy and smooth. I used bread flour. Light, fluffy and rich flavor!