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
Loved making these rolls for dinner last week, but I have a few non-glutinous friends who were left out. Can I substitute a 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour here and expect the same result?
Hi Jon, we haven’t tested this recipe using gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
These are the best and easiest rolls I have ever made. HUGE hit this holiday season. Will continue to be a staple. Are you able to use this recipe for a braided bread??
Hi Kandie, a few readers have reported success doing so! Let us know if you give it a try. So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
These rolls are easy to make and so fluffy
Hi Sally,
Recipe says the milk needs to be 110 F is there a alternative since I don’t own a kitchen thermometer
Hi K, you want the milk to be warm, but not hot to the touch.
I have made this many times. Easy to make and delicious!
I’ve made them a few times now with different flours, and I always need to add at least 1/2 cup so it’s not too sticky for kneading. Just wanted to mention it in case others wonder why it’s unmanageable with only 3 cups of flour :p I bake them on the lower third in the oven and they come out perfect after 25 minutes!
Great recipe!! Super fluffy rolls♥️
Tastes good and easy to make.
I enjoyed making this recipe. It came together beautifully and rose just great. The problem was as the baked the never browned. They looked as pale as when they went in the oven. I left several in for about 35 minutes and they never browned. Just wondering if you had any ideas why.
Hi Mary Beth, When yeast breads rise, then fall flat– and/or are pale even after baking– the dough was likely over-proofed or over-worked. Make sure the milk isn’t too hot and that the rise times aren’t extended longer than they need to be. I hope this helps for next time.
I loved how easy the recipe was but I seemed to screw it up. My rolls did not rise at all . I was so sad because I was so excited . Do you know any ways I can fix it ?
Hi Anna, did the dough not rise from the start? We’d check to make sure that your yeast is not expired and that the warm milk is not so hot that it kills the yeast. Over-kneading the dough can also prevent the dough from rising properly. Our Baking with Yeast Guide will be a helpful resource to review if you wish to try these again.
I keep coming back to this recipe for Thanksgiving and when I have meatloaf or steak dinners. I try to do more whole wheat options when it comes to bread so making bread products like rolls where I can’t get whole wheat options easily is basically my option. I’m using half bread flour and half whole wheat and when I made it most recently, they came out so perfectly soft and delicious I wound up having a couple extra with my dinner. (I also used water and buttermilk culture powder instead of milk.) I keep them sealed in a Ziploc bag, freeze them, and when I know I’ll be having a meal that calls for them, thaw them in the bag, microwave a couple for a minute, add butter, and we’re good to go. I don’t think I’ll be buying premade rolls again!
I baked these today and they turned out perfect! I brushed them with honey butter and they were scrumptious!
I have made these rolls before and they were absolutely amazing! I’m planning on making them again this week but I don’t have unsalted butter on hand. Would it be OK if I use salted butter and just leave out the 1 teaspoon of salt? Same goes for the melted butter to brush on top once baked. Thank you!
Hi Shan, you can reduce the added salt to 3/4 teaspoon, or leave it out if that suits your tastes. Enjoy!
I have made this recipe many times, always turns out great!!
This is my favourite dinner roll recipe! I always have to double the recipe when I make it because my family finishes them in no time. My home smells amazing when I bake these, and they’re 1000x better than store-bought
These rolls are perfection! They came out perfectly and the steps were clear and easy to follow. Made them as sandwich rolls for my kids’ lunches and ended up stealing some for myself. Cooked in 2 9″ cake pans so I can freeze half for the end of the week… Hoping this keeps them fresh.
Soooooo so good and so soft!! This was my first time and they are perfection.
I followed the recipe ingredients exactly, though I used my bread machine’s 1.5 hour dough cycle to knead and rise for me. These were amazing and the best rolls I’ve ever made. Just as good as a restaurant!
These rolls are delicious and so easy! I made a few “test batches” prior to Thanksgiving and then four separate batches on Thanksgiving Day. No issues at all! We made them into breakfast sandwiches the next day and they were to die for! The sweet potato rolls are spectacular too and so pretty!
I did this for Christmas dinner for my family and they all LOVED IT. Definitely going to make it again.
This recipe looks great, and I would like to use it for a party!
Quick question: I was thinking about adding some squid ink to the recipe to turn the dinner rolls black, do you think it could hurt the rising process or the texture? Thank you in advance!
Hi Jezikah, we have not tested adding squid ink here – does it usually work well in yeasted bread recipes? Let us know if you try it.
Followed the recipe to a T and the rolls were delicious! Soft fluffy and beautiful.
This recipe was absolutely perfect! I loved it and so did our guests. The rolls were so soft and delicious A recipe which made me realise I can do breads!
Finally, a dinner roll recipe that is easy and good enough to write down in my book! I’ve had a lot of success with this recipe and everyone raves about them. Thank you!
I’ve been baking bread/rolls for 50 years and had misgivings about using a glass baking dish. However, I wanted to follow the recipe exactly and thought I’d give it a try. They didn’t brown on the sides/bottom (which is what I feared). Followed recipe exactly. Next time I will use my aluminum baking pan. They also fell a bit after taking out of the pan, which was probably because they weren’t completely cooked. They were good though, and I will make them again.
What did I do wrong? The recipe says “light and fluffy” but mine were dense and chewy. Very tasty and the rose nicely but didn’t have the fluffy lightness I had hoped for.
Hi Cathy, 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 dough can also cause the rolls to be tough and dense. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I have never baked bread before, but this recipe was so easy to follow and the rolls came out perfect! So light and fluffy. I don’t have a stand mixer so I did everything by hand, but the windowpane test is a great way to tell when the dough has been kneaded enough. Everyone said they loved them, so definitely a repeat recipe in my book 🙂
Does it matter if I use bleached or unbleached all purpose?
Hi Amber, It won’t make a huge difference either way, but we always try to use unbleached flour when we can.
Perfect rolls! I have been looking for a great all purpose dinner roll that isn’t fussy, rises quick, and tastes delicious, and this one is it! Seriously, I’ve used several other recipes and while many were excellent, none of them quite worked as well as these. Thrilled to have found this versatile recipe, it will be my go-to from here on out. And don’t be scared if it looks like an absolute mess before you get the rest of the flour in, it’ll come together and produce a beautiful dough. 🙂 Even my picky mom loved these, and she’s hard to please.
Question, the recipe calls for 3 cups (390 g) of all purpose flour. I have always used 12o grams per cup as all purpose flour’s weight, and 130 g for bread flour. So, is it really 390 g for all purpose flour? Thanks.
Hi Jan, I measure 1 cup of spooned and leveled flour to be 125g. For this recipe, even if you’re using bread flour or all-purpose flour, use 390g. The extra 15g of all-purpose flour won’t make any difference; in fact it will be good for the dough because this tends to be sticky.