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
These were the easiest and most delicious rolls I ever had, don’t worry about storing or freezing we ate them all !!
Can I use this recipe to make loaf bread too
Hi Wendy, 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.
My 6 year old granddaughter requests these all the time. She told her mother not to buy the bread at the store. She calls them circle rolls and calls me “Circle Bread Queen”
We all love them and they are perfect every time! I have been making them weekly for almost a year…good for sandwiches and as dinner rolls
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
The recipe is perfection!!
I don’t normally leave reviews, but I made these to go with a chicken soup I made tonight and they are so delicious and simple! This is my new go-to recipe for dinner rolls! Thank you for sharing with us!
Mine came out like biscuits. They are not light and fluffy. The tops are hard but not burnt. What did I do wrong?
Hi Mary, Do the rolls seem quite dry? 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!
Making these for someone with an egg yolk allergy. Is there a way to make these with only egg whites and maintain the richness and correct structure? Thanks 🙂
You can simply leave out the egg yolk, and no need to add another egg white. There is still enough moisture in the dough.
Thanks for the quick response! I actually just talked to the people I’m making this for and they said they would prefer no eggs in anything actually. Could I leave it out entirely?
Hi Rey, You can leave the egg out completely, but they won’t be as soft. The texture will be closer to our sandwich bread (which doesn’t have any eggs).
Made this recpie once tasted absolutely amazing! I just have a question now though I ran out of Unsalted butter could I use regular salted butter? If so do I need to adjust the recpie? If so to what?
Hi Stacey, you can use salted butter here, it won’t make a big difference!
BEST RECIPE EVER,SUPER DELICIOUS !!!
Question: Can I quarter the recipe? I love to bake but we are a household of 2 and I don’t want to waste the bread. Thank you
Hi Claudia, You can try cutting the recipe in half but we don’t recommend quartering it. You can follow the freezing instructions in the recipe notes to freeze what you don’t want to bake right away.
Done this several times now, best recipe I’ve found. I use pizza flour which seems to give a great result, and only one tbs sugar as I don’t like sweet bread but otherwise, its perfect.
This is an excellent recipe! First time I followed it exactly and the rolls were perfect. Thank you. Now I’m experimenting, making loaves and braids. If you have issues it is most likely your tools. I use kitchen aid appliances and a laser to measure heat. Use mass in grams, cooking is science follow the directions and use accurate tools. In 6th grade science you asked “why do we have to learn this stuff?” Here is your answer “because you like tasty food.” thanks Sally for the recipes, they are excellent.
Great recipe! I have made several times and always turns out perfect! My go to recipe for yeast rolls. Thanks!!
I love all your recipes! They are so great and always so accurate and fool-proof. I’ve never baked with yeast before but your recipes have made me into a pro. Thank you Sally!
Perfect!
This recipe was absolutely amazing! Many times the picture does not match what the final product is when you bake it. This was spot on. I followed the recipe exactly as it was given and everybody loved it. Thank you so much for this recipe. I will use it again and again.
Works every time!
Do you think this recipe would work well to make hotdog buns?
Hi DQ, These will make very light and fluffy hamburger or hot dog buns and we fear they wouldn’t support the meat very well. Though you can still certainly try it. You may want to try our bread bowls dough instead. We’re unsure exactly how many either recipe would make, so let us know if you try it!
I use oatmilk in place of dairy for most of my baking. Oatmilk tends to be slightly sweet I am opting to use 1T of sugar to compensate…do you think that would effect the rolls?
Shouldn’t be a problem at all.
QQ, why is there an Astérix on the baking sheet suggested please (dinner rolls recipe)
Hi Helen, when you see an asterisk, there is a note associate with that instruction below the recipe. In this case, we prefer baking the rolls in a glass 9×13 inch baking pan because we 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.
Can this recipe be adjusted to make whole wheat buns?
Hi Sam, you could replace 1 cup of the regular flour in this recipe with whole wheat flour, but expect the rolls to taste a little heavy. Or, we recommend these whole wheat rolls if you want to use 100% whole wheat flour.
I have made the recipe 100 times and it the best soft roll ever. It’s easy to make and not complicated. My daughter now makes them to absolutely love them friends ask me to bring to all our gatherings thank you for the recipe
Easy and delicious! Browned beautifully. My brother said they tasted a bit like a croissant.
So easy and yummy; I followed directions as is, used Fleischmann’s quick rise instant yeast-less rising time needed
I see you can leave the raw dinner rolls in the fridge over night to rise. Can they be left more then 15 hours as stated??
Hi Cheryl, We recommend sticking with no more than 15 hours. If the rolls rise too long they may collapse when baked.
I dont know what the problem was I bake ALOT!!! I used to sell my baked goods so whenholiday comes around my family always turns to me I love your recipes so when they asked me to bring the rolls I turned to this recipe They turned out more like biscuits. First rise looked fine Second rise didnt look as much as I hoped but I thought would rise more in oven. Bummer!
Hi Terri! Do the rolls seem quite dry? 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. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
I made these the first time and WOW they are SO soft and delicious. I’m wondering if I could add some sourdough discard into the mixture to give it an even deeper flavor. Thoughts?
We haven’t tested that but let us know if you do!
This recipe is very easy, and they turned out soooo soft and delicious! Thank you!
I love your recipe with the dinner rolls I actually added cinnamon and raisins for Good Friday (Easter) and glazed with lemon powder glaze and they were a hit!!! I use your dinner rolls recipe all the time EXCELLENT!!
Perfection! I followed the recipe exactly and the smell took me back to my grandma’s kitchen. Thank you, Sally! You never let me down.
I made these last night after getting home from work to go with my leftover beef stew. Wow, they came out so fluffy, rich and delicious. So easy! Thanks so much for a another great one
Hi just wondering if we could use this recipe for slightly bigger rolls like lunchtime rolls instead of dinner rolls and if so do you recommend a different temp and time for baking?
Hi Patrice, Larger rolls should be fine although we haven’t tested it. Use the same baking temperature but we are unsure of the bake time needed.
I have used this recipe for years. I have it memorized and it’s the go-to roll for everyday meals and holidays. I love it so much that I’ve made it into hamburger/sandwich buns, cinnamon rolls, and even a loaf of sandwich bread. I bake at the recommended temp and find hamburger buns, being separated on a sheet pan (not squished together like the rolls get in a 9×13) bake for about 20 minutes, just like the rolls do. A loaf will take a bit longer of course… The eyes and nose work after some experience baking bread, but the best practice would be to get a reading from an instant-read thermometer. Like most soft, tender, enriched breads (this is enriched with eggs and butter) this bread is done and best when baked to 195°F but little difference will be noticed if it’s out of the oven before it hits 210°F. Hope this helps!
This recipe was surprisingly easy to make and turned out delicious, even without a mixer and using all-purpose flour.
I’ve tried baking dinner rolls before and I’m glad I found your recipe. I made 16 rolls. My family loves it so much I’d be making this again and again, and again!!!!