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,
This is the second time I tried the dinner rolls with the same result – they’re dense, hard and white (they don’t brown much). The dough seems to be doing fine throughout the first rise and seemingly the second as well but they don’t rise as much even though I leave them in a warm place where I usually put my more successful bread dough.
Can you advise some troubleshooting to why my rolls end up being so dense and not soft at all?
Thank you
Lucia
Hi Lucia, perhaps they just need longer to rise. We would let the dough rise until double in size for the first rise, then until puffy for the second. There’s more helpful information in our Baking With Yeast Guide.
I made these the other night Now mind you, I’m not very skilled at bread making. (I don’t do it ). I’m pretty skilled at cakes and deserts. My husband I’d the bread baker. Well the only change I made was I brushed them with an egg wash so I could seed some of them. I followed all your instructions. They came out beautifully. Rave reviews all the way around. I was so happy and just a little proud! Thank you sally! This opens up a whole new world to me I!! I enjoy l your other recipes too!
Hi – can I double this recipe? I have a standard sized kitchen aid mixer.
Hi Andrea! We recommend making two batches for best results.
Can I substitute half and half for whole milk in this recipe? I think I know the answer but I swear by SBA, I have had so many successes using Sally’s recipes and I followed her before she had any helpers! Thanks Sally, I have recommended your recipes and website to many people.
Ps. Don’t usually have milk on hand as I don’t drink it so am usually wasting the leftover after use in a recipe
Hi Sue, you can certainly try it, but we find that half-and-half is too heavy for this dough. We’d recommend whole milk for best results.
That’s what I thought… I am off to the store. The recipe was so successful at Thanksgiving I don’t want to mess with a good thing. I am trying the Cheddar Cheese rolls for Christmas dinner!
I’ve made a lot of bread , all different kinds . But the easiest way my bread machine dump in the ingredients turn it on and take the loaf out when it’s finished. I’m going to try your dinner roll recipe later this week I hope . I love bread actually I’m kind of a bread fanatic. The smell the texture the taste. Doesn’t matter what kind when I pull that loaf out of the oven all the memories come flooding back. Dourdoe in Burlingame( San Francisco), Italian bread in oyster bay(long island new York city), Cuban bread in little Havana (Miami) Jewish hard rolls and bagels in new York city. It doesn’t matter where I’m at like here in Texas now bake off a loaf and all the memories come flooding back in vivid detail. Love backing bread
Holy breadballs! I made this today and these are the best rolls I ever made. Fluffy, chewy, soft, and delicious! Definitely bookmarking this for the future.
i absolutely love this roll recipe! they are softer than any I have ever had. My mother was an exceptional cook and these rolls are better than hers.
In my oven the bottoms cooked more quickly than the top so I have to bake them higher in the oven, (every oven is different) If your kitchen is warm you can use the lower rise times.
If i was to use active yeste how many grams would i use for this bread roll recipe? Also what would the rise times be with this yeste thank you I’m very new to bread making so would be so greatful for a reply from anyone please thank you kg
Active yeast will take longer than instant yeast – it’s best to keep an eye on it. For the first rise you want your dough to double in size.
Just wondering if I can add mini chocolate chips, like a brioche?
Hi Eleanora, we can’t see why not!
Can you use whole wheat flour for these doctor wants me to eat healthier because of a medical condition and just wondering if you can substitute bread flour for whole wheat
Hi Tia, 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.
These were so soft and yummy!
Really great rolls!
In step 2, you don’t say what to do with the other 2c of flour
Hi Melissa, in step one, you start with one cup of 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.
Please change your recipe to make the addition of 2 more cups clearer! This caused so much distress 🙂
Unfortunately these didn’t turn out. They rose beautifully. Maybe they overproofed but they dropped during baking & were not fluffy but dense. At best, they were okay. I’ll try making this recipe again next week & will update my review if they turn out better.
when dough drops or falls during baking it is because it has over proofed
Can I use regular active dry yeast?
Hi Alaina, You can use active dry yeast instead. Rise times will be slightly longer using active dry yeast.
This recipe is terrific. I use my bread machine “dough cycle” for the first rise and then follow Sally starting at #5 in the instructions. Had to cover with aluminum foil to ensure the tops did not brown too much before the the center rolls reached 190 deg F. You need to keep an eagle eye when baking but worth it! Came out amazing!
Sally!!!!! You hit this one out of the park!! These were devoured at Thanksgiving! They are such a labor of love! Baking for people is my love language! You are now my go to page for THE BEST recipes!! I live in Southeast Texas and did have to add a little more flour so the dough wasn’t super sticky, but I’m used to doing that anyway! Our humidity down here is so high!!
These are fantastic and always turn out amazing. If I want to double for a large dinner group, is it best to make two batches? or can I just double the recipe?
Hi Karly, it’s best to make two batches. Happy baking!
Can I make this recipe gluten free anyway and it will still come out this amazing?
Hi Lori, we haven’t tested these rolls with a 1:1 gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Although some readers report using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour in many of our recipes with success, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients. Let us know if you give it a try.
These are one of the first bread items I ever baked and they turned out so well, I couldn’t believe I made them.
Been making them ever since and have moved on to other breads, but I wanted everybody to know that you can turn left over dough balls into killer cinnamon rolls. Just flatten into a rough rectangle, spread with softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. We then roll it up and cut it in half, putting them into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 15ish minutes and frost with cream cheese icing. Killer.
I have never made bread before so if I can do it, so can you. I made bread and this recipe for the first time ever for thanksgiving. This recipe was so yummy and easy. I got so many compliments. I am saving this to my folder of recipes I will be making again!
Can you tell me which size the glass KitchenAid mixing bowl is that is used in the YouTube video? I would like to buy one for my bread making. Thanks!
Hi Petra! We use KitchenAid 5 quart stand mixers.
Perfect recipe! I weighed my dough after the first proof and then divided it by 15 to get even sized rolls. (I made two batches and got 30 rolls) After they were shaped I put them in the fridge to slow the second rise, as I wasn’t quite ready to bake them yet. They went perfectly with our Thanksgiving dinner! Great taste and such a fluffy texture!
I feel like I had to put several, several spoons of flour in to make it not so sticky. it’s rising now. What would you say is a average amount of extra spoons of flour?
Hi Jennifer, that’s definitely within the range of normal. Humidity in the air, as well as other factors, can account for needing to add more flour, so go ahead and keep adding a little at a time until the dough is pulling away from the sides of the mixer bowl and is a kneadable consistency.
I’ve made this recipe several times and always end up adding about an extra quarter cup of flour or so…I make my own bread and instead of making rolls I bake it in a loaf pan and it comes out great! It’s my go to for everyday bread now.
It also makes delicious toast!!
I followed the instructions and our rolls turned out too brown on the bottom. The rolls weren’t soft like we had hoped. We used a glass baking pan. What did we do wrong?
Hi Anita, it sounds like the rolls may have been overbaked. If you give this recipe another try, take them out a couple minutes earlier than you did this time. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
I’m switching my go to recipe to this. Perfect!
My rolls turned out really good but seemed to be lacking a little salt. I used kosher salt. Is that what you would use? Thanks!
Hi Debi, unless otherwise specified, the recipe uses table salt. An easy fix for next time!
Please update Freezing Instructions. it says to remove from the freezer, wrap in plastic and allow to rise for 4 -5 hours, but it does not say where! In the fridge? In a warm place? This is vital. I made these for Thanksgiving, yesterday, and started the rise in the fridge then moved to a counter when they seemed to be rising too slowly. This impacted the results.
Hi G, you can let them thaw on the counter.
I made these for our thanksgiving dinner yesterday. So good. Another recipe of yours to save in my recipe binder!
I made these for the first time for Thanksgiving, and they were a big hit. The directions were super clear, and the timing worked out so that I took them from the oven and served them immediately. So delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe!