If you’re looking for a flavorful upgrade to ordinary dinner rolls, try these sea salt & herb skillet rolls. Infused with rosemary, basil, parsley, and garlic powder and topped with melted butter and flaky sea salt, each bite is as aromatic as it is delectable. They certainly steal all the attention from the main dish on the table! You can bake these soft and flaky rolls in an oven-safe skillet, but they’re just as tasty in a regular 9×13-inch baking dish.
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos and more success tips.
There’s no arguing that homemade bread is delicious, but adding plenty of herbs, garlic powder, sea salt, and a brush of melted butter transforms ordinary bread into a flavorful indulgence. Let me show you how to make them so you can experience this BREAD BLISS too!
One reader, Heather, commented: “These are insanely delicious! I ended up using fresh herbs and mixed/kneaded by hand. They turned out amazing… soft, chewy, flavorful, large, and perfect. My husband, who is normally pretty quiet about food, couldn’t stop saying how good these are. I have a feeling I’ll be making these often! Thanks so much for the recipe! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Melissa, commented: “Best rolls ever! We had these for Easter lunch and could not stop eating them!! They are so tender and delicious. Do not hesitate to try these rolls. You will not regret it! ★★★★★”
Tell Me About These Sea Salt & Herb Skillet Rolls
- Flavor: Enjoy rosemary, parsley, basil, and garlic all at once in a buttery roll with sea salt on top. This recipe has a range of some of the BEST flavors around. If you love the garlic, salt, and herb in this recipe, try this rosemary garlic pull apart bread or olive bread next—two favorites!
- Texture: In addition to the elevated flavor, the rolls have a wonderfully satisfying texture. Chewy edges seal in a soft and flaky roll and if you bake them in a cast iron skillet, the bottoms have a slight crisp. Don’t forget a little crunch on top from coarse or flaked sea salt. So much to love!
- Ease: Homemade bread or rolls can seem intimidating, but the recipe below is packed with thorough details so you can be confident in the kitchen. And if you’re new to baking with yeast, review my Baking with Yeast Guide.
- Time: Making rolls from scratch certainly takes time and they can be an afterthought when you’re preparing an entire meal. But after 1 taste of these homemade sea salt & herb rolls—you’ll realize they’re worth it. Set aside at least 3-4 hours from start to finish, but keep in mind most of that time is hands off as the dough rises. And you can get started ahead of time. See overnight instructions below.
Key Steps in This Recipe
- Making the dough. The dough comes together with basic kitchen ingredients including milk, yeast, sugar, egg, butter, salt, dried herbs, garlic powder, and flour. The sugar feeds the yeast and tenderizes the dough. You only need 2 Tablespoons of sugar. 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.
- Kneading the dough. You can knead the dough with a mixer or with your hands.
- 1st rise. The dough rises in about 1-2 hours in a relatively warm environment.
- Shaping the rolls. Form the rolls into balls as if you were making regular dinner rolls. This dough recipe makes slightly fewer rolls.
- 2nd rise. Let the shaped rolls rise until puffy which takes up to 1 hour.
- Baking. Bake until the rolls are golden brown, around 25 minutes.
- Topping. Brush melted butter on warm rolls and top with sea salt.
You can use a paddle attachment or a dough hook to make this dough. 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.
If you’re interested, I provide further detail about kneading in my How to Knead Dough video tutorial. My Baking with Yeast Guide is also a wonderful resource for all bread beginners!
Any 10-12 inch oven-safe skillet or 9×13-inch baking pan is fine. This is the cast iron skillet I use, and I highly recommend it. It’s inexpensive, comes pre-seasoned, works on all types of cooktops, heats evenly, and is made to last a lifetime. (Not sponsored, just a true pan fan!)
This 10.25-inch-diameter, 2-inch-deep size is what I use for skillet turkey pot pie, frittata, honey skillet cornbread, bruschetta chicken, cornmeal cake, biscuits, my Dutch baby pancake recipe, asiago-crusted skillet bread, and more. Talk about a useful pan to have in the kitchen!
Absolutely. I usually use garlic powder, dried rosemary, dried parsley, and dried basil because I have each on hand regularly. However, you can substitute with fresh minced garlic and fresh herbs instead. See recipe details below.
Process in Photos: Sea Salt & Herb Skillet Rolls
When you get started, use these helpful photos as your guide.
Combine warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon sugar together in your mixing bowl. Cover and let the mixture sit for a few moments until foamy on top. In this step you are proofing the yeast to ensure it’s active (and not dead and/or expired). NOTE: I do this same step even if using instant yeast. It’s not always necessary as most yeast available these days is already active, but it takes just a few minutes and doesn’t hurt.
After the dough comes together, it will be soft and slightly sticky.
Knead the dough, using my How to Knead Dough video tutorial as necessary for visuals and extra help. After kneading, let the dough rise until doubled in size.
Punch it down to release the air and divide into 12 equal pieces. Shape into balls.
Arrange in your desired baking pan (I always use this 10.25 inch skillet). Let the rolls rise until puffy.
And then it’s time to bake.
Finish with Melted Butter & Sea Salt
The herb rolls are done when they’re golden brown… and when your kitchen smells like an herb garden. Brush warm rolls with melted butter and finish with sea salt. If you’re ever shopping online for sea salt and need a recommendation, I use and love Maldon flaky sea salt or this coarse sea salt from Whole Foods.
There’s a crunch from the salt on top and the centers are as soft as a mountain of cushy pillows. They’re truly out of this world warm from the oven and when you set them down on the table, all eyes will immediately dart over their way. (Impossible to resist!)
More Standout Bread Recipes
- Pizza Pull Apart Rolls
- Brown Butter Sage Dinner Rolls & Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
- Focaccia
- Homemade Bread Bowls
- Sandwich Bread
- Pizza Dough (great for beginners!)
- Soft Multigrain Bread
- Croissant Bread
- Homemade Breadsticks
Sea Salt & Herb Skillet Rolls
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sea salt & herb skillet rolls are the fluffiest, softest, most flavorful homemade rolls to have with dinner tonight!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 standard packet)*
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 56g) unsalted butter, melted + slightly cooled and divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons each: dried rosemary, dried basil, & dried parsley*
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 teaspoons minced garlic)
- 3 cups (390g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for work surface
- flaky sea salt or coarse sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon 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, 2 Tablespoons butter, salt, rosemary, basil, parsley, garlic powder, 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. 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 10-12 inch oven-safe skillet or 9×13-inch baking pan. If using cast iron skillet and it’s already seasoned, no need to grease it. You can also bake the rolls on a lined baking sheet.
- Shape the rolls: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it—doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange in prepared skillet/baking pan or a couple inches apart on a lined baking sheet.
- 2nd Rise: Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 45-60 minutes.
- 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 23-27 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 warm rolls with remaining melted butter and sprinkle tops with sea salt. 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 rolls. Allow them to cool completely and then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. 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 Large Glass Mixing Bowl with Wooden Spoon / Silicone Spatula | 10- to 12-inch Oven-Safe Skillet, 9×13-inch Baking Pan, or Baking Sheet | Pastry Brush | Flaky Sea Salt or Coarse Sea Salt
- Milk: Whole milk is best. If needed, you can substitute with lower fat milk or nondairy milk. Avoid nonfat milk.
- Yeast: You can substitute instant yeast with no other changes to the recipe. The rise times may be a little shorter. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Fresh Herbs: You can substitute the dried herbs with 1 Tablespoon EACH of freshly chopped herbs.
- Salt & Sea Salt Topping: Flaky or coarse sea salt is best for topping. If you’re ever shopping online for flaky sea salt and need a recommendation, I use and love Maldon flaky sea salt. I do not recommend coarse/flaky sea salt in the dough—you need fine salt. You can use fine sea salt or regular table salt.
- Flour: I recommend bread flour for extra chewy and flaky rolls. You can use all-purpose flour if needed instead. Either flour is fine and there are no other changes to the recipe if you use one or the other.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Can I use water instead of milk? Thanks!
Hi E, We don’t recommend it. Whole milk is best. If needed, you can substitute with lower fat milk or nondairy milk, but avoid nonfat milk.
This is a great recipe. I doubled it (made 26 rolls). When doubling, I used approximately 4 cups bread flour and 2 cups of whole wheat flour. I used fresh herbs, and as we have dairy allergies in the family, I used soy milk and vegan butter. They came out delicious-they were so light and flavorful; everyone loved them!
Hi, I made these yesterday, I forgot to add the 1 tsp of salt and by mistake I put all the butter in the dough. They were very good but the texture was very crumbly, not what I was looking for. Does leaving out the salt make a difference in texture? Otherwise they had an excellent taste. I will still give them 5 starts and will try again. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi Kathryn, it very much could have been the salt or using too much butter. Try the recipe again as written and I think you’ll have much better results.
These rolls were nice and fluffy and tender. However, I found the spices to be overpowering. Next time I will cut the herbs and spices in half . Will definitely make these again, thank you!
How would you make in a bread machine?
Hi Joan, we don’t own a bread machine and haven’t tested it in one, but let us know of the results if you do!
These rolls came together really quickly and were such an easy and delicious addition to a weeknight meal. The flavor and texture are fantastic and I can’t wait to make them again!
These were some of the best rolls I have ever eaten! Made them to go with lasagna and they were perfect. My first rise took about an hour. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hello, can this dough be used to be shaped into a bread loaf (made in a 8.5 loaf tin or unshaped)? Asking because I’m looking for a recipe for parsley bread that can be sliced and used like sandwich bread.
Hi S, Yes! You can use this exact dough and shape and bake it exactly how we make Sandwich Bread. Enjoy!
I made this exactly per the recipe in my 10.25” cast iron skillet. As my husband ate this third (!!) roll, he said, “You should make me again.” Definitely a keeper.
Mine didn’t rise and I followed the recipe exactly. I don’t understand.
Hi April, your yeast may have been expired or dead. Did you proof it in step 1? Was it foamy on top after a few minutes? Here’s more guidance if you’re interested: Baking with Yeast Guide. Specifically, the section called What if My Dough Isn’t Rising?
when I read over the recipe did I miss a step where you add the 2 cups of flour at the time after yeast has become active and then the other 1 cup of flour with the remaining sugar and the dried herbs
Hi Gayle! See step 2 🙂
Very fluffy and super flavorful! Great recipe!
Made these in a cast iron skillet – using the overnight refrigerator method. Took them along on my way to a Friendsgiving blathering and popped them into their oven while we carved the bird and arranged the feast. What great rolls – buttery and totally delicious!!
I have a question, did you let them in the fridge in the cast iron skillet or in something else and transferred in the morning? I’m asking because the skillet will be so cold in the fridge, and took a longer to adjust to the room temperature, maybe it will mess with the second proof?
These came out soft, fluffy and absolutely delicious. So easy to whip up too. Thank you for an amazing recipe!
I made these twice for Thanksgiving. Turns out first batch I actually put in all the butter (instead of saving half for brushing the tops at the end) and they still came out perfect. I fixed it the second time and they were still amazing. Everyone loved them and I have no leftovers. Super easy to prep ahead, too!
I made these rolls for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. I will be making them again, for sure. I used a quarter sheet pan and weighed the dough so each roll was the same size. They looked and tasted delicious. The addition a bit of Maldon Sea Salt flakes was just perfect. Thanks for a great recipe.
These were awesome! I made 2 batches; the first batch had its 1st rise overnight in the fridge for 18 hrs. I let it rest on the counter for a bit, and gave it time for it’s 2nd rise for an hour.
The second batch had both rises on the counter, just as the recipe was written. The first batch was extra flavorful, due to the long rise- but dense. The second batch was less flavorful, but fluffy and light. Both were delicious and it was interesting how different they were. Will definitely make again!
I left no stars because I haven’t made this yet. If this is anywhere close to your other recipes, it will be outstanding. I just wanted you to know you are a breath of fresh air in the baking genre and I just love watching and listening to you. I’m 65 and have been baking for over 40 years for family and friends. When I retired a couple of years ago, I decided to start a “small bite” dessert catering business and so far, so good. I’m building a slow but steady client base which has become a great referral partner. Any time someone asks if I can do something I haven’t done before, your site is the first place I look for ideas. Keep up the good work, young lady. You are an inspiration!!!
can I skip the egg in this recipe ? or Do I need to replace egg with something else ?
Hi Nishi, we don’t recommend leaving it out and haven’t tried any other replacements. Let us know if you give anything a try.
Thanks
Made these for our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and they were a huge hit with everyone! Thanks for an easy recipe! It was the first time I used my dough hook to my KitchenAide, and I’ve had that for over twenty years.
YUM!!! These are sooooo good!!! Everyone loved them, and instructions are simple and clear!!! Five stars!!!!
Just made these for Thanksgiving and they were AMAZING! Can’t wait to make again- definitely a crowd pleaser.
These came out beautifully!
Dear Sally, can these rolls be made with wholemeal bread flour?
Can I use wheat bread flour, presifted
Hi Kate, using any kind of whole wheat flour will lead to a more dense, dry roll. You could try replacing half the flour to see how it goes!
just saying but these are insane;) they turned out just like the picture and were delightful;) I especially liked how the herbs were inside the dough and not just on top;) thanks Sally!
They were amazing, my family loved them. I made the dough last night and as I was cleaning up I realized I forgot the egg (I was sure they wouldn’t be right), anyways I added it then put the dough in the fridge.
They didn’t look like they rose much when I took them out of the fridge so I left them on the counter for a few hours before baking. They were delicious and would definitely make them again!
Hey! I’ve just made this recipe and I can’t seem to see where the other 2 tablespoons of butter go. In the instructions it only accounts for 2 of the 4 tablespoons.. thanks!
Oops, it goes on top!
Oops— meant to leave star rating on my previous comment!
Made these rolls for Friendsgiving last night and they were a hit!! So flavorful and tender. The recipe directions were easy to follow and I had so much fun making the bread!