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
I tried making these rolls and they taste good, but are a little dense- like a biscuit. Do you have any suggestions or ideas about what I did wrong? Thank you!
Hi Jen! 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!
Thanks for this response. I made these today and my experience was much like Jen K’s. I thought I kneaded them the correct time (with the dough hook on my mixer). I wasn’t sure what speed to use for the kneading though. I’ll try then again soon. Mine weren’t dry but were coarse and dense. Like Jen said, a little like a biscuit.
I tried them again today and they turned out much better! The first time, I used the dough hook on my mixer to knead, but I did it by hand this time to make sure I didn’t over knead the dough. Thanks for the help and suggestions!
Taste dense more like a Biscuit would.
If I do the freeze method, do I let that at room temp for 4-5 hrs before baking or in fridge for 4-5 hrs prior to baking?
Hi Sierra, you can let them thaw and rise at room temperature for 4-5 hours before baking.
These dinner rolls are AMAZING. So soft and buttery and all round goodness. I made them so my kids could handle them easier than a bigger roll for things like burgers and sandwiches and they love them as much as I do.
Definitely going to be making these again and again. I’m going to do the overnight method next time to develop even more flavour.
Just made these and wow!!! Soooooooooo good and super easy actually a lot easier than you’d think.. highly recommend trying these !
Used bread flour & fleishmans instant yeast. They came out great.
how long should the rolls be reheated if you make them ahead of time or have them another day
Hi Natalie, The best way to reheat is to loosely cover them in a 300°F (149°C) oven for about 10-15 minutes.
Followed the recipe exactly, dough did not rise enough, regardless of adding extra time at each stage. Used the correct amount of yeast, sugar and made sure milk was at the correct temperature. Used a stand mixer with a dough hook for mixing and kneading. Used a large greased bowl covered with a clean tea towel. Dough was extremely dry, and the resulting rolls were dense and unappetizing. I have no idea what happened.
Hi Erin, Thank you for giving this recipe a try. If your dough didn’t rise, it’s possible that your yeast was not active. Be sure to check the expiration date on your yeast. After you let the yeast sit in the warm milk for 5 minutes it should be very foamy on bubbly on top. If it wasn’t then you should start over with a fresh pack.
Hi! Ok so I’ve made a ton of dinner rolls using other recipes (not an expert but not an amateur I’d say lol)- always have used all purpose and so this was the first time I attempted using bread flour… the dough was quite difficult to knead (doing by hand) and then they didn’t rise great and were quite difficult to make into balls. I made three different batches of it with my husband and by the time I was finishing up the third one I used 2 3/4 cup bread flour and it was much easier to work with… I’m curious if most people here are using all purpose and what you normally make yours with? And is bread flour usually more difficult to work with? I will probably see how these turn out and then still give all purpose a try tomorrow and see if it’s easier.
I had to use 3 cups plus another 1/2 cup so I could knead the dough as it was too sticky otherwise. I also used more flour as I was kneading.
Would it be ok to use 2% milk rather than whole milk?
Hi Barb, the rolls will be *slightly* less soft, but 2% milk will work.
This will be my first time baking any type of bread, is it ok to use red star quick rise instant yeast? It will just proof faster, right?
Hi Abi, you can use Quick Rise yeast. No changes to the recipe at all.
I made some of these dinner rolls (first time making rolls) with a prime rib dinner. These were the best rolls I’ve ever had even better than our local bakery. We did them in a cast iron pan and rubbed some melted butter and sprinkled some sea salt on them once they were done. Amazing! I especially love the tips and tricks on how to freeze them. Very helpful
So glad you loved this recipe, Brittany!
Would this recipe work for runzas? Would I let it do the second one rise before rolling them out to stuff? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it, actually! Let me know if you test anything out. You may need a sturdier dough and if you decide to try something different, this dough for bread bowls usually works nicely for filled doughs.
Excellent fun buns! 5 stars for sure. I would just add that you should slowly get a feel for the dough as you’re adding the flour. I put in 1/3 C less flour and the hydration was perfect. Totally workable.
I have been using this recipe for over a year. Im a cook at a coast guard station and I make this at least once a week. The guys all love it and it is highly requested. Phenomenal recipe, I have it almost memorized at this point. Thanks!
Best bread roll recipe ever!
I make these at least once a month- only difference I make is an egg wash of a yolk and a splash of milk – everyone loves them and I always gets positive feedback
Made these a few times and they always turn out great. This time I am making them to step 6 and will freeze them for use in 4 days. Never did that before but am confident they will turn out awesome. Sally we have used so many of your recipies over they past 3 years and find that you are our go to site for about 80% of what we bake.
I’ve made these several times and they always turn out great.
I followed this recipe as is. Measured everything out, leveled out my scoops. Milk was heated to exactly 110. Dough rised perfectly. Baked them; they stayed looking pale and were dry and flakey. Flavor was awful.
I’m sure I did something wrong, but going back through each step I don’t know how I could have messed this up.
Hi Justin, I wonder if you used too much flour? I’m concerned the flavor tasted awful and they were dry, which makes me think there was too much flour. Flaky is expected, but crumbly is not. Were they crumbly?
If I were to double the recipe would I use the same amount of yeast? Thanks!
Hi Abrielle, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
I made a double batch and used 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast, they turned out perfect. Definitely needed to use a bit more flour to get the dough where it needed to be though.
This recipe was amazing. I have been making bread weekly and have tried many recipes. This was just perfect. I used this recipe to make buns you can find at the Chinese bakery. So far I’ve been a red bean and custard buns. These buns are super popular at the Chinese bakeries. Next I’ll be using this same recipe to make pork buns and cocktail buns. My goodness the bread came out super soft and it was just perfect! Wish I can post some photos here to show you. Thank you Sally! I feel so much better and confident with making bread now! Oh lastly, there is no other banana muffin recipe that I use. I’ve used yours for years!
Delicious Rolls. Soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.Very light and fluffy
These buns turn out very similar to my grandma’s beloved dinner rolls! I just made them for my relatives and everyone loves them!
Made these a few times my family loves them ☺️ . . Only thing I find is I need to use extra flour so I can work with it better . . I’m a pizza chef and I have lots of “00” Tipo flour so that’s what I bake these with and it’s perfect ❤️❤️
These were so easy and turned out wonderful first try! A touch too sweet for me but the texture was perfect and these feel like an amazing base to adjust to our liking. Thank you so much for your easy-to-follow, fool-proof recipes. Your site is easy one of my favorites!
This is a great recipe! I made 9 dinner rolls and 4 hotdog buns for future use. Make these in my kitchen aid. Easy peasy!
Super easy to make, delicious rolls! I used active dry yeast and the dough doubled in size in less than hour of rising. I didn’t have to add any extra flour to the dough due to the dry climate I live in. The dough was super soft and easy to form into dough balls. After baking they came out perfectly light and airy. Not too sweet or rich. I’ll definitely be making these again soon!
Thank you for the explanation about the weights of the flour.
I appreciate you taking the time to do that. I wanted to tell you that I entered these dinner rolls in my
local county fair and won first place! I was so surprised as I had never entered a cooking contest before. I thought the rolls tasted good but didn’t know how they would do in a contest. So thank you for this recipe!
Too much sugar but otherwise great recipe. The buns came out very sweet.
These make the best dinner rolls, but have you ever used it as the dough for cinnamon rolls?
Hi Heidi, you sure can do that! Here’s our cinnamon rolls recipe if you want to use that filling.