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. 🙂
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, 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, which is also a rich dough. (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.
- 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Brown Butter Sage Dinner Rolls
- Honey Butter Rolls
- Multigrain Rolls – Here is my Multigrain Bread recipe that you can turn into rolls.
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, 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.
See Your Dinner Rolls!
Many readers have made this recipe! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos on social media. 🙂
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.
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 (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 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 | Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or 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
I love this recipe. Everyone I make them for always raves how good they are . Thank you for the perfect dinner roll recipe
These are amazing. They aren’t too sweet and are great for dipping in soup. I made them a little bigger and used them for hamburger buns as well. They’re beautiful with an egg wash.
I made this recipe and I feel like it was very bland and needed more salt maybe? The color of them were beautiful tho.
3 cups of flour… but use 1 cup, and add more just by tablespoon til the dough is workable…. Are we actually using 2 more cups by a table spoon at a time?
Hi Courtenay, No, in step 2, after you add the first 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 rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour.
I love these rolls! My husband loves them too. I was wondering how many calories are in each roll? Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Beck, we’re so glad they were a hit! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Fabulous recipe. I love to make bread and rolls. These tasted wonderful and came out picture perfect. However, I did not bake them on the lowest rack of my oven, since I have a gas range and the heat source is on the bottom. You have to know your oven. I dd bake them a few minutes longer. I will definitely make these again, and I’m excited to try more of Sally’s bread recipes.
Perfect, you (and I) nailed it! I used the bread machine to mix dough through the first rise then formed rolls and did a second rise.
These are THE BEST. They freeze extremely well. I made them for my husband to have a quick breakfast sandwich, but my kids loved them so much I’ve already run out. I doubled the recipe in perfect and worked great.
These soft dinner rolls are absolutely delicious!I didn’t use egg in the recipe because I don’t like them so I substituted it with a 1/4 a cup of sour cream and they turned out perfectly!!
These looked beautiful before going into the oven; I was so excited. I set my timer for 18 minutes to check on them. When my timer went off, I turned on the oven light and the rolls looked awful! I took them out right away but they got several minutes too done. Back to my regular roll recipe, I guess!
I have a fear of yeast. These turned out AMAZING. So easy. Crazy light and fluffy. I subbed honey for sugar because of yum
Absolute perfection. Wonderful recipe. Needs no alterations. The whole family loved them!
Turned out amazing! Soft and delicious. Served with whipped honey butter
Should I baste the rolls then refridgerate them or wait until right before baking to baste them?
Hi Le Khanh, we like to put the optional honey butter topping on after they come out of the oven, while they’re still warm.
I accidentally added both tablespoons of sugar into the milk/yeast. Would you recommend starting over or should they still turn out? Thank you so much!
Hi Maddie, did the yeast activate? (Did it become frothy?) If so, you should be fine to go ahead with the recipe!
These came out perfect kneading by hand. When I had an almost perfect window pane test I added a cup of fresh-grated cheddar and 3 large cloves puréed garlic. Thank you!
This recipe is by far my favorite! I made one half into garlic rolls and the other I kept plain and made a cinnamon butter to go with and they turned out delicious!!
Best dinner rolls ever, soft, tasty airy and easy to make. Followed directions as written, except added more salt per other reviewers. Mine took 22 minutes on next to last shelf in oven.
Turned out great. I just moved to a high altitude and have struggled with my old go to recipe. No more struggle!
I received a beautiful Dutch Oven for Christmas. Can you bake this recipe in Dutch Oven? Or can you suggest a recipe for Dutch oven baking. Not the Cranberry Nut Artisan I saw that one.
Hi Cheryl, we’re glad you enjoyed these rolls! Here is our artisan bread recipe—see recipe Notes there for baking in a Dutch oven. Hope you enjoy it just as much!
I feel bad that I haven’t reviewed this recipe given how many times I have used it and how much praise I have received for the wonderful rolls it always provides. Trying the buttermilk for milk substitution tomorrow and excited to taste the result!
For those wondering, I have found that you can halve the recipe easily by removing 20g of the halved milk volume to make up for the 1 vs. 1/2 egg.
Also, for those who have asked about using a hand mixer, my hand mixer has dough-hook like beaters which work perfectly.
Hi I tried your roll r cipe came out so well
These are delicious. I’ve never successfully made soft dinner rolls before.
Great recipe! They are light golden brown top to bottom. I made them in a metal baking pan as that’s what I have. I watched them very closely as the ones I made yesterday were over done. (my error) they only took 15min to cook perfectly but my oven runs hot. I did increase the salt to a heaping teaspoon today as they were bland yesterday. I also cover them with a towel directly out of the oven as the stream escaping keeps them soft. Overall a good way to understand recipe and I appreciate all the tips the poster left in the notes. Thank you!
These were perfectly beautiful and made my house smell delicious! I used this recipe to make 6 LARGE rolls instead. My dough only took 30 minutes on the first rise and 20 on the the 2nd rise (I am in Australia) so definitely use your gut feeling based on the look of the rise. I brushed mine with butter and sprinkled with sesame seeds before baking as well. The tops were quite hard when removing from oven, however completely softened upon cooling. Not sure how long I cooked them, but would say it was about 20-30 minutes.
This recipe is a keeper! Super simple and quick for fresh bread rolls. Wish I could post a photo they are gorgeous!
Loved these. Used my hands. No mixer here. But definitely felt they needed more salt for flavor?
I haven’t made these yet but am wondering if they could be adapted into hamburger buns? Store-bought ones are always so disappointing!
Hi Bruno, 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!
Hi. I like the blog, but I dont read from the computer. I like a hard copy to work from but 40 pages are too much of a waste. And color ink cartridge is expensive. A professional photog myself, from 1955 till now, you could narrow the concept and list the pages needed from the photo stock.
Hi Dr Paul, if you click the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page, it will take you to the printable recipe card, which usually prints on just a couple sheets of paper. Hope this helps and happy baking!
How many calories do you estimate for each of these rolls? I love this recipe but I’m trying to lose weight! Your recipes are amazing.
Hi Joanne! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Mine turned out dry and hard. I followed the recipe but maybe there are helpful tips for next time??
Hi Rae, it sounds like your dough may be over kneaded, causing the outsides to become hard and tough. You can try slightly decreasing your knead time, just until the dough slowly bounces back when poked with a finger. Be sure to also spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to measure your flour to ensure it isn’t over measured. Too much flour can cause the rolls to become dry. Hope this helps and thank you for giving these a try!
Mine were a disaster! I am so disappointed. I was planning on delivering these to a friend recovering from surgery today. Instead they are going in the trash. They rose beautifully; I punch them down & shaped them into rolls. Placed them in the 19×13 & covered them. They started to rise again but then quit. I finally baked them hoping they would rise more. Instead they sunk, didn’t brown at all & were like hockey pucks. Frustrating!
Hi Cindy! Happy to help. When yeasted rolls/breads collapse, they’ve usually been over-proofed. It sounds like your dough may have risen too much before shaping into rolls. Next time, try a shorter rise time, or a cooler spot for the dough to rise. Here’s more tips in our baking with yeast guide!