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
Used this recipe to make 50 chicken and cheese filled buns. Once again, another amazing recipe. Thank you sally for all the full proof recipes.
Today is the second time I have made this recipe and I absolutely love it! The rolls were perfect the first time and we are so excited to have them again. The only tiny change I had to work in was a bit more flour. Thank you so much!
my rolls just came out of the oven they are great thanks
i made cinnemon rolls yesterday and im making rolls now they are rising but they are going to be great i can tell im 69 and im on a mission to learn all i can about bread ect..
Hi Sally,
Thank you for your amazing recipes that always creates mouth watering results.
Can I use fresh parsley instead of dried herbs in the dough. Will it alter the consistency and end result ?
Thank you
Hi Geetha, absolutely! You’ll want to use a bit more fresh parsley, since it’s not quite as potent as dried.
Is there a way to adapt this recipe to a loaf of bread? We love the taste of these rolls and think it’d make a good loaf too! What would be the temp and cooking time?
Hi Bee! For a loaf, we recommend leaving out the egg. (That’s what we’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 we recommend, our sandwich bread recipe.
Amazing rolls. Instructions spot on as always and the result was soft delicious rolls. Your recipes never fail. You are my go to reference and I bake a lot for family. Love your recipes
Just wondered if I can double the recipe and do the same and place in 2 baking pans or is it safer to make the dough as two separate batches?
Hi G! So glad you love these. We do recommend making separate batches for best results.
Outstanding. I baked them and froze them a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and they defrosted perfectly, a very successful make-ahead for the big meal. They are still perfect now, five days after the defrost.
LOVE this recipe. I made these on Thanksgiving, along with your candied sweet potatoes recipe. These rolls are so soft and smell amazing when they’re baking. Picture perfect and flavorful. I’ve already made a second batch since they are so easy! I use my bread machine to mix the dough, then just cut into 16 pieces, quickly do a fold and tuck on each side to shape them and drop then into a greased pan.
Thanks for TWO great recipes. Can’t wait to try more!
Easy to make and taste delicious!! I will make them again.
Why do my rolls never brown on top? I dont want to over bake them
Hi Grace, if your rolls aren’t browning, it could be that you simply need to adjust the oven rack so they’re a little closer to the heat source. A simple fix for next time!
Amazing! So easy to make thanks to your great instructions and notes.
Super soft, perfect dinner rolls.
I did it!! I tried this recipe with gluten free flour. I’ve made this recipe with regular all purpose flour about 8 times. This Thanksgiving we needed a batch of gluten free rolls so I gave it a shot. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free flour and kept the recipe the same. I was really worried since the dough was super sticky and really weird to kneed, it barely rose either time and the rolls had all these cracks in them. But I decided to bake them anyway and I’m so glad I did, they tasted great.
Love this recipe
Thanks for sharing this, Jessica! And thanks for giving this recipe a try.
Why did my rolls turn out dry?
Hi Becky, did you make any changes or substitutions? How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. Over kneading bread can also cause it to be tough and dense. Thank you for giving these a try!
Made two batches for TG-they were a total hit. The dough on the first batch seemed too soft/sticky after the first rise, but they baked up beautifully. I added some flour to the second batch and they also came out great, but I preferred the first batch. I live in Denver, so sometimes have to tweak recipes to get them to work. This is a keeper though!!!
Easy to make and delicious! Were part of our Thanksgiving dinner. Used the overnight option.
I made two batches for Thanksgiving. One batch I used instant yeast (I only had one packet) and the second batch I use active dry. They both came out perfect! I wanted to make your cinnamon butter but I ran out of time.
Can I make these smaller ?
Hi Laura, yes, you can definitely shape them smaller, the bake time will be shorter.
I love to bake and even though I used to work for a leading flour/baking brand I often have mixed results, ha!
These rolls, which I made for Thanksgiving, came out beautifully and tasted great. Good texture, nice and light, wonderfully tasty. I followed the directions exactly, made the day before and refrigerated them over night, popped them in the oven when the turkey came out and they were ready and warm by the time everything was on the table. YUM!
We even used them for breakfast sandwiches this morning and my husband remarked that they’re better and lighter than english muffins or bagels.
Will save this recipe for sure!
I made 3 batches for Thanksgiving. They were great and everyone loved them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is the best dinner roll recipe on the internet! Easy to follow, easy to do right, no stress, delicious pillowy texture that makes the wait worthwhile.
I’ll write again next time I make them!
Everything is going perfectly after second rise…but I don’t want to bake til later! Do I refrigerate and take them out say, an hour before I do want to bake?
Hi Teri, yes, you can slow the rise by refrigerating the rolls. Take them out of the fridge about half an hour before you plan to bake, while the oven preheats. Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving! Out of the many dishes I served today, these rolls were the favorite! Soft, buttery, amazing!!! Thank you for a fantastic recipe, Sally!
Just finished making these for the third time in like 2 months, doubled the recipe and they look professionally made!!! Love love this!
Happy Thanksgiving!
This recipe was simple and came out awesome! I used a stand mixer and followed the recipe exactly.
Thanks Sally!
This recipe is easy and makes perfect rolls! 10/10 would recommend!
I’m curious about blooming the yeast (letting it sit with warm liquid and sugar). I thought if you use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast, you don’t need to bloom it, you just add it directly to your bowl with all the other ingredients. I’ve never had to bloom it before.
Hi Lisa, We still bloom the yeast – just to make sure it’s active.
My dough never passed the window pane test after over 20 minutes of kneading. Still just ripping apart and dense. Tried letting it sit for a sec and tried again and still no progress. Followed the recipe exactly so I’m at a loss for what’s gone wrong.
My first batch rose perfectly but not the second batch did not rise as much.
This was my first time making dinner rolls. I was intimidated but wanted to start a Thanksgiving tradition for my growing family.
These turned out amazing! Followed the recipe exactly, even used 2% milk and they were seriously so fluffy and yummy. I don’t own a mixer so it was all done by hand. If you’re like me, don’t let that stop you from making these. So worth the sore arm!