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’m planning on making these for Easter- I do not have the platinum instant yeast on hand, but have some “regular” instant yeast packets in my fridge that I recently purchased and are very fresh. Would that be okay, or should I go out and get the other kind? If I use the regular kind, do I need to make any modifications? Also, I want to make them ahead of time but am nervous about the freezing option because I had that fail on me one Thanksgiving (not your recipe!)…if it were you, and you were making them a day ahead of time, would you do the freezing method or just fully bake and then reheat them? I want that super fresh baked taste for my guests, but am gun shy about the freezing! 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Abby, you can absolutely use instant yeast instead. If making them one day in advance, we’d forgo the freezing and just reheat the next day, or you can follow the overnight instructions in the recipe Notes. Hope they’re a hit!
I tried your soft dinner rolls recipe. It was my first time trying to make dinner rolls. It was a fail for me. Along the way they just didn’t rise, like I thought they would. When it came time to make them. They looked flat and stayed flat when I did bake them off. They would only be good for a thick crust pizza crust, is what my results were. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
Hi Mary, I’m sorry to hear this. We’re happy to help troubleshoot. Over-kneading can create a tough dough. As for the rising, make sure your yeast isn’t expired, and that the milk is not too hot when you combine it with the yeast. If it is, it can kill the yeast and make it ineffective. This Baking with Yeast Guide might also be helpful to review. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
I made these last night and they were perfect, thank you. I would like to try to make sub rolls, hotdog rolls, and hamburger buns. Could I use this recipe and shape the dough differently or is there a better recipe to follow? Thank you!
Hi Elizabeth, 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!
Would i be able to half this recipe? How much would the rise and bake time be affected by this?
Hi Luna, you could certainly halve the recipe and bake the rolls in an 8×8 pan. It would be best to divide the egg – to halve an egg, simply crack it, whisk, and then use half. Or, the baked rolls freeze wonderfully, so you could bake the full batch and save half for another time. Let us know how they turn out!
I need to make a double batch. Can I do that or do I need to make two separate batches.
Hi Peggy, For the best results, we recommend making separate batches rather than doubling.
I have tried so many recipes trying to get the right consistency bun, but nothing did the trick until this one. I almost cried when I cut one open just now. Tasty, fluffy, perfection!
A really Lovely and easy recipe, my family loves it. Thanks for sharing
Can I sub whole milk for almond milk? And would it be the same ratio?
Hi Jules, For the softest dinner rolls, use whole milk. Nondairy or low fat milks work too, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
These came out so good! I actually mixed everything in the food processor. It took about 30 seconds.
I can’t believe how easy these are!
This dinner roll recipe is the best I’ve ever had. They are delicious. Thank you very much for sharing it.
Very tasty rolls. First time making any bread related baking for myself.
The rolls were very fresh out of the oven, tasted one right away.
However come lunch the next day, the rolls are feeling/tasting very dense and kind of stale. What could be the possible cause of this?
I tried following the recipe exactly. I did find I had to add quite a bit more flour to be able knead the dough. Maybe I put a little too much butter or milk. First time kneading dough as well. I did this via hand on the bench following your video tutorial. Kept going until I could do the window test.
What do you think would cause them to feel more dense? Over kneading, too much dry of dough?
Thank you.
Hi Nathan, we’re glad you enjoyed the rolls! It does sound like they could have been over kneaded, which can produce heavier, denser rolls. It’s certainly fine to add more flour while kneading, just be careful to use the minimum amount needed to make the dough workable, as too much can also dry out the rolls. Our Baking with Yeast Guide will also be a helpful resource. Hope this helps!
Another winner! These are so delicious. When searching for recipes I go to your site first and I haven’t been disappointed yet!
Can I still use the dough after being left in the fridge for more than 15 hours?
Hi Melanie, how long has the dough been in the refrigerator? Per the overnight instructions in the recipe Notes, you can leave the dough for about 15 hours. A little longer than this should be okay, but if it was several hours more, the dough may have over proofed in this amount of time and the rolls could collapse while baking.
Hands down the best dinner roll recipe I’ve come across!! Thank you for sharing! This one is definitely a keeper.
I make your honey butter rolls often and they are always a hit. Can i use this recipe and top with garlic butter for garlic butter rolls since the honey butter ones will likely be too sweet?
Hi Nouhad, absolutely!
Do you think i could stuff them with cheese?
Definitely! We do something similar with our pizza pull apart rolls recipe.
Easy and delicious. Next time I need to make two batches!
Would this recipe work for hamburger or hotdog buns? I’ve made the dinner rolls and they were a HUGE hit!
Hi Ruby, 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!
do you eggwash them before baking?
Hi Vanessa, the recipe doesn’t call for an egg wash, but you can add one if you’d like.
Made first with bread flour (softer rolls) and next with all purpose floor( heartier consistency)-both well appreciated by family!
My stand mixer makes life so easy.
Sally’s recipes make me feel like an expert baker:)
Incredible and easy! Came out perfect and everyone raved how delicious they were. Still wowed by how quick and easy these were to make…this will become a regular on nights we have a meal that needs dinner rolls.
I don’t have milk on me, would they still rise if I used water instead?
Hi Olivia, they will still rise, but will be a little less soft.
Can I sub honey for the sugar?
Hi Rachel, we’d recommend following our honey butter rolls instead. Hope you enjoy them!
Can I bake these in a muffin tin?
Hi Marie, We haven’t tested this recipe in muffin pans but other bakers have reported success doing so. Let us know if you try!
Hi there! I was wondering, can I use this recipe to make sweet rolls with cherry filling? And how much sugar I should use to make them a little more sweet?
Hi Mary, I’m sure this dough could work for what you are trying to make. You could increase the sugar to 1/3 cup if you’d like (about 67g).
I have never made homemade bread before. Can I use my food processor to make the dough? According to the manual, I can?
Hi Sharon, we haven’t tested it, but several readers have reported success making this dough using a food processor with the dough attachment. Let us know if you try it!
Can I make these rolls bigger in order to make hamburger rolls? Would it work?
Hi Kimberly, 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!
Oh my goodness! This is the first time I’ve made delicious rolls. They’re very close to Golden Corral’s. My family is very happy.
Hi Sally! I don’t have a pan with high rims like the one pictured. Do you think a cookie sheet would do?
Hi Anne, you can bake these on a lined baking/cookie sheet. Enjoy!
10/10 recipe
Made these rolls in the middle of a national forest over a campfire with the worlds crummiest $5 camp kit and it still turned out perfect. Subbed milk for milk powder. Very fluffy dinner rolls!
I love this recipe and so does my family! We can’t get enough. I normally double the recipe and make a few tweaks. I substitute sugar for honey equal amounts. And I normally don’t have unsalted butter so with the salted butter I just use half the salt required. Other than that the only other change I make is doubling the yeast ferment time from 5 to 10 minutes.