These soft and hearty whole wheat dinner rolls are made with 100% whole wheat flour and sweetened with honey. They have structure, body, texture, and staying power—and hold their own against any white flour rolls.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Baking a batch of whole wheat rolls that are both SOFT and FLAVORFUL feels like winning the lottery. Or, at the very least, winning dinnertime.
What normally results in hockey pucks can finally grace our dinner tables proudly. These honey whole wheat dinner rolls easily compete with (and beat) the tastiest white flour rolls because they taste nutty, a little sweet, and have a bit more oomph in the texture department. Just like my whole wheat bread, this recipe is 100% whole wheat.
Whole Wheat Flour Is Picky
Whole wheat flour is picky and can be difficult to work with. Why? It’s heavy and doesn’t contain the same level of gluten as white flours. This missing gluten poses a problem when it comes to bread making. Many whole wheat bread recipes call for the addition of vital wheat gluten to make up for it, but I don’t keep that in my kitchen and you may not either. Other recipes suggest subbing some whole wheat flour for all-purpose or bread flour—but then the whole wheat rolls won’t be 100% whole wheat. Keeping this in mind (and after a few failed whole wheat dinner roll attempts), I landed on a recipe and method I loved. And I’m confident you’ll be satisfied too.
Admittedly, these whole wheat rolls aren’t as fluffy and tall as their white flour counterpart, but I like their heartier texture. If you crave extra texture in bread, you’ll love my multigrain bread recipe as well. (You can turn that recipe into rolls!)
Behind the Recipe
I adapted this whole wheat roll recipe from my dinner rolls recipe. We use the same exact ingredients, except we’ll swap the flour for whole wheat flour. A few other differences make up for the heavy and dense whole wheat flour:
- Increase the amount of butter. I tested with more butter in batch #2 and even more in test batch #3. 1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons) produced the best tasting whole wheat rolls.
- Use 2 whole eggs instead of 1 egg. The extra liquid keeps the dough a little more hydrated.
- Add honey for flavor.
For best results, use a superior baking yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star. This is an instant yeast and my preferred brand. I’m a Red Star Yeast fangirl and use it exclusively in my kitchen because it’s always a guarantee.
Baking with Yeast Guide
Reference this Baking with Yeast Guide whenever you work with baker’s yeast. I include practical answers to all of your common yeast questions.
Ingredients in Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Like my regular dinner rolls and even my sandwich bread recipe, this dough comes together easily with 7 basic ingredients. Each has an important job to do, so I don’t recommend substitutions.
- Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. For the softest rolls, use whole milk. Nondairy or low fat milks work too, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
- Yeast: I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers.
- Honey: This sweetener feeds the yeast, increases its activity, tenderizes the dough, and adds a welcome sweetness. And if you love honey in your homemade breads, you’ll enjoy this honey oat bread too.
- Eggs: 2 eggs provide structure and richness.
- Butter: Butter promises a soft, flavorful roll. Make sure you’re using room temperature butter.
- Salt: Salt adds flavor and offsets the sweetness.
- Whole Wheat Flour: We can’t have whole wheat rolls without whole wheat flour!
I recommend using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment (most stand mixers are sold with it), but if you don’t have a stand mixer, mix the dough together with a wooden spoon and knead by hand. (Feel free to reference my How to Knead Dough tutorial if you need extra help with this step.) Whole wheat dough requires a slightly longer rise time since it’s weighed down with wheat germ and bran.
The Best Shaping Trick
When making dinner rolls, I typically divide the bread dough and roll each piece into individual balls. (Just like with my dinner rolls and honey butter rolls.) It works, but this dough never rolls up perfectly. Maybe it’s because I’m impatient, but some of the rolls end up looking a little scraggly and misshaped. It’s frustrating, especially when I want uniform shaped buns. Ha!
And that brings us to the best shaping trick: Take the risen dough and shape it into a long 9×13-inch rectangle, the size of our baking pan. Almost as if we were making cinnamon rolls, but we’re not stretching the dough out quite that far. It’s pliable, so just use your hands to shape the dough as best you can.
Then, using your pizza cutter, cut into 15 evenly shaped rolls. No individual rolling:
Then it’s business as usual. Loosely cover and allow the rolls to rest and rise one more time. They’ll get nice and puffy in about 1 hour.
Two Delicious Extras
We’ll bake the whole wheat rolls until they’re golden on top and finish them with 2 goodies:
- Brush of honey butter
- Sprinkle of sea salt
You know I’m a big fan of finishing touches and trust me when I say: the brush of honey butter and sea salt are the best. The honey butter soaks into all the cracks and crevices and the sea salt makes that honey flavor pop.
While these whole wheat dinner rolls are soft, they aren’t particularly fluffy. Remember what we learned when we made whole wheat pizza dough? The reality is that whole wheat yeasted dough just cannot rise to the same level as white flour dough. But that’s honestly one of their best qualities. Unlike rolls made with refined flour, these whole wheat rolls are hearty and a little textured.
And if you love rolls with BIG flavor, try these brown butter sage dinner rolls next!
What to Serve with Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Minestrone Soup
- Walnut Crusted Chicken
- Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Slow Cooker BBQ Turkey Meatballs
- Baked Lemon Herb Salmon
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
Honey Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 15 rolls
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft, hearty, and sweet homemade honey whole wheat dinner rolls.
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
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (cut into 4 pieces)
- 1/3 cup (113g) honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for kneading/shaping
Topping
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons honey
- sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Make the dough: Pour the warm milk over yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Or, if you don’t have a stand mixer, a regular large mixing bowl. Whisk together, cover bowl with a towel, and allow to sit for 5 minutes. The mixture will be frothy and foamy after 5 minutes.
- On low speed, beat in the softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Then beat in the honey, eggs, and salt. The butter won’t really be mixing into the mixture, so don’t be alarmed if it stays in pieces. On low speed, gradually add the flour. Once it is all added, beat on medium speed until a soft dough forms.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 6-8 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6-8 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.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface (if you kneaded with your mixer) and knead it with your hands for 1 minute. Form the dough into a ball, coat your mixing bowl with nonstick spray or olive oil, and place the dough back in and turn it over so all sides of the dough are coated with the oil/spray. Cover the dough/bowl loosely with plastic wrap, a paper towel, or aluminum foil and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1.5 – 2 hours. Here’s what I do: turn the oven on to 150°F (66°C). Once heated to that temperature, turn the oven off. Stick the covered dough inside the oven and allow it to rise in this warm environment.
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- Shape the rolls: Punch the dough down to release any air bubbles and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using floured hands, stretch the dough into a 9×13 rectangle (doesn’t need to be exact, it can be a little smaller). Use a pizza cutter and cut into 15 rolls. See photo above for a visual. Round out the edges of the rolls since they stretched a bit as you cut them. Arrange in prepared pan. Loosely cover the rolls and allow to rise in a warm environment again until puffy and double in size, about 1 hour.
- Bake the rolls: Preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C). Bake rolls for about 25 minutes or until they are golden brown. About halfway through the bake time, I like to cover the rolls loosely with aluminum foil so the tops don’t brown too much. Remove pan from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
- Top the rolls: Meanwhile, mix the melted butter and honey together. Brush over warm rolls. Sprinkle with sea salt. Serve warm.
- Cover any leftover rolls and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: After dough has risen two hours in step 3, punch it down inside the mixing bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 days, then remove from the refrigerator and continue with step 4. Or freeze the dough for up to 2 months, then allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and continue with step 4. 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.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer | Whisk | Pastry Brush | Pizza Cutter | 9×13-Inch Baking Pan
- Milk: Lower fat milk can be substituted, but the rolls won’t taste as soft. I strongly suggest whole milk.
- Honey Butter: Don’t leave off that honey butter/sea salt topping. The rolls will be lacking a little flavor without it. I prefer spreading the honey butter on the rolls after they bake as opposed to before they bake. Brushing butter on top of the delicate, airy unbaked roll weighs them down and encourages them to deflate. Best to spread on the honey butter right after baking.
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
I believe I must have over proofed my rolls. They had a yeasty taste that was not desirable. Could that be the reason. Otherwise the dough rose beautifully 1st time and perhaps I left them too long before 2nd rise and baking?
Yes, letting dough rise for too long can produce an undesirable yeast or even alcohol taste. It sounds like the 2nd rise was just a bit too long. How long did you let them sit?
You recommend instant yeast. Can I use regular Fleishman’s yeast?
Yes, any instant yeast will work!
I’ve never had an issue with rising in my whole wheat rolls, it is the sweetness I’ve been looking for. The rolls in my mind came from a school cafeteria on (Chicken Fried Steak) CFS days. They were awesome, and had to be easy to make being in a school cafeteria. I’m not saying that the chefs/cooks in that job are not talented, they were, my mom was one. I’m saying it has to be a fairly simple recipe. I’m proofing my first loaf of my sourdough and with Christmas coming up I’m wanting to make some yummy whole wheat dinner rolls. I’m looking forward to trying this one and see how they turn out. I never do it the same as the original baker, but I certainly appreciate the input.
I made these for the first time a couple of months ago. My husband is going to be really disappointed if I don’t make them at least every couple of weeks from now on. He’s a bread lover and I never buy store-bought because if he’s going to eat bread, it’ll be bread I make without the long list of preservatives and other nasty stuff. This is so good and it always turns out perfect. Anyone who’s had bad luck with whole wheat recipes should try this one!
I love your recipes! Hoping to make these today…I am new to bread making. I only have half and half on hand, not whole milk. Can I use half and half in the recipe? Thank you.
Hi Chris, yes, that should be fine here if that’s all you have.
This is the best 100% whole wheat recipe that I have used. The rolls are amazing. Thank you!
Update on my message sent earlier today.
I was desperate and really wanted to make these delicious looking whole wheat dinner rolls. With the yeast and milk, I added 1-1/2 TBSP sugar and lessened the honey in the recipe by same amount. The yeast mixture was fine and frothy and the rolls were unbelieveably delicious. The texture was perfect and my husband and I really enjoyed them!
Hi!
I love all of your recipes. I started making the honey whole wheat dinner rolls and I am having problems with the starter. I cannot fine the Red Start Instant Platinum yeast. I’ve been using he Fleischman’s instant yeast. Because there’s only milk with the yeast, the yeast won’t do its thing.
can I add something to the milk, maybe sugar instead of some of the honey? I am really upset.
Hi Evelyn, you can use a bit of the honey in the recipe in that first step (mix with the milk and yeast), or if you are not using honey in the dough and you’re using sugar instead, use a little sugar in that step. 1 to 2 teaspoons is great.
I made these today but used half and half white/whole wheat flour. I also had Fleischmann quick-rise instant yeast so that’s what I used. They we’re absolutely delicious
These look great. Do you happen to have a whole wheat hamburger bun recipe? I’ve been searching online and you are the only one that actually uses whole wheat for whole wheat recipes (all other bloggers claim to, and then the recipe is 3/4 white flour), but I couldn’t find a bun recipe here. 🙁 Any suggestions?
Hi Christina, we do not have a whole wheat hamburger bun recipe at this time. You can certainly try using this dough for different shapes like hot dog and hamburger buns, but we haven’t tried it – let us know if you do!
This is the third time I made these rolls and they turn out consistently great! I usually make them the day before the event (this time St. Patrick’s Day) and then take the dough out of the refrigerator about an hour to two hours before I am going to bake them. I form them into rolls using Sally’s technique, let them rise and follow the receipe. I love Maldon salt on top of the honey butter. Sooo delicious!
Thank you Sally for translating to metric for us who cook that way and use a food scale. This way we don’t have to stop to look up the weights. Great recipe as always! You’re my fave ❤️
This recipe & writing was a good follow along for me. I opted to use a large mug to get round buns (rather than squares) and used them as a hamburger bun, the texture and structure were great! I did sub the honey for maple syrup, emergency as I unknowingly didn’t have honey! I did opt out of the honey at the last step then and plan to redo this recipe, as is with the honey to try it! I was too scared to let it rise in the Oven (newbie here!) so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and laid a tea towel across it and my salt rock, that worked delightfully!
I loved the recipe, but can I make it without eggs.
Hi Delphine, we haven’t tested an egg-free version of these rolls. The egg adds structure and richness. If you’re interested, here are all of our naturally egg-free recipes.
Normally when using instant yeast you just add it in with the dry ingredients; no need to “proof”. Is there a particular reason to add to milk in this recipe??
I do it out of habit, and to ensure the instant yeast is dissolved nicely in the dough. Feel free to skip if you’d like.
Hi! I’m excited to try making Homemade dinner rolls. I currently have White Whole Wheat flour. Would that be fine to use in either this while wheat dinner roll recipe or your regular white flour dinner roll recipe? Thanks for any feedback!
Hi Ally! White whole wheat flour would work great in this recipe. It could work in our regular dinner rolls as well, but they would turn out more dense.
Greetings from an 83 year old grandpa from South Africa. I have been searching for a recipe for soft whole wheat buns for a few years now and this is definitely the one! I followed the recipe this this morning and was rewarded with the softest whole wheat buns I have ever baked. This will be my go to recipe from now on! Thanks for your understandable explanations in the introduction.
Hi Frans, we’re so glad you found what you were looking for!
Very Tender and Fluffy! Turned out perfect! I love your recipes Sally! Thank you!
Works great for me, but I make 3-1/2 cups of flour out to be 490-500 grams; that amount sets up just fine, less is too sticky to set up. One recipe makes about 24 cloverleaf or Parket House rolls, or a pan of monkey bread.
I’m so glad you mentioned cloverleaf rolls! I have a Good Housekeeping cookbook from the 70s and I’ve always wanted to make them, but I also wanted to make them whole wheat. Now I can!