This soft, buttery, fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe is a classic side for any meal. Baked to a tempting golden brown, these rolls can be served plain, with butter, or even as sandwich bread!
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Why You’ll Love This Dinner Rolls Recipe
These easy dinner rolls are one of my favorite side dishes for the holidays and beyond.
- Perfect texture. Almost like brioche or challah, these dinner rolls are light, moist, and have a soft, pull-apart chewiness with no crumbly pieces at all.
- No special techniques. A lot of people use special techniques like the tangzhong method for making sure their rolls turn out just so but this dinner roll recipe doesn’t require any of that. My secret? Using bread flour, extra egg yolks, and a good long kneading time – 10 minutes in the stand mixer, or around 20 minutes by hand.
- Easy to make in advance. These homemade dinner rolls will last at room temperature for up to 5 days and can be frozen for up to a month, which means you can easily make them in advance – handy if you’re making them for the holidays!
Recipe Ingredients
These dinner rolls are sweet and simple, just like the list of ingredients below. Here’s what you’ll need for fluffy, buttery homemade dinner rolls in your own kitchen. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for measurements.
- Milk and Water: A little of both, warmed up to help activate the yeast.
- Sugar: Sugar gives this dinner rolls recipe a bit of sweetness and helps activate the yeast, as well.
- Yeast: Active dry yeast.
- Eggs: To make the rolls rich and soft, we’ll add whole eggs plus a couple of egg yolks.
- Honey: Or pure maple syrup.
- Salt
- Bread Flour: Bread flour is best for this recipe, but if you don’t have that you can still make dinner rolls using all-purpose flour. They won’t have quite the texture of a bread-flour dinner roll, but they’ll still be soft and tasty.
- Butter: Salted butter, softened to room temperature.
How to Make Dinner Rolls from Scratch
Like most dinner roll recipes, this one includes two rises for a fluffy, well-developed texture. Scroll down to the recipe card for more detailed instructions.
- Proof the Yeast: Combine the warm milk and water, two teaspoons of sugar and year in a bowl. Whisk on low to incorporate then let proof for 5 minutes, until bubbly and frothy.
- Make the Dough: Whisk in the sugar, eggs, honey, and salt. Use the hook attachment to knead until combined then add the butter and knead for 10 minutes.
- First Rise. Transfer the dough into a separate greased bowl. Lightly spray the top of the dough with baking spray, and cover it with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Set this in a warm place to rise, until the dough has doubled in size.
- Cut the Dough into Pieces. Turn the risen dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Use your hands to press the dough out into a rectangle, about eight by nine inches and about three-fourths of an inch thick. Cut into 12 equal pieces.
- Shape the Rolls. Fold the corners of each piece of dough into the center. Then pinch the dough into a tight ball. Roll the dough balls to make them more smooth.
- Second Rise. Transfer the rolled dough balls into a greased 9×13 baking dish to rise for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. When the rolls are just about done rising, go ahead and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake. Place the baking dish into the preheated oven on the center rack. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the dinner rolls are golden. Once they are baked, remove them from the oven and brush them with melted butter, if desired.
- Enjoy! Serve these dinner rolls warm.
Tips and Tricks
Yeast-based dinner roll recipes are a little different from other baking recipes, so I’m including this section of helpful tips for success. Read on, and enjoy your dinner rolls!
- Liquid Temperature: When working with yeast-based recipes such as this one, it is very important to have the liquids at the correct temperature. If the liquids are too hot, they will kill the yeast. If they are too cold, the yeast won’t activate, preventing the rolls from rising properly. The ideal temperature is between 105°F – 110°F. For reference, this is warmer than body temperature, but not unpleasantly hot.
- Ensure the Yeast Proofs: If the yeast doesn’t turn bubbly and frothy, something went wrong with the yeast or temperatures, and you’ll have to start over with fresh ingredients.)
- Butter Temperature: For best results, make sure you have room-temperature butter for this recipe. The butter should be soft enough to be easily pliable, but still firm enough to hold its shape. To get this consistency, set your butter out about an hour before starting this recipe.
- Window-Pane Test: You’ll know your dough is kneaded enough when you can take a small piece about the size of a golf ball and stretch it out thinly enough to see light through it. If the dough tears or breaks before you can stretch it that thin, that means you need to keep kneading!
- Heating the Rolls: These are just best served while warm. You may reheat the rolls in the microwave for a few seconds to refresh them before serving, if needed.
What Do You Eat with Dinner Rolls?
In a word? Dinner! These sweet, buttery rolls are great with just about any meal. These are a few of our favorites:
- Salmon: Balsamic Roasted Salmon is uber-flavorful, healthy, and easy to cook. Serve it with your favorite veggies and, of course, dinner rolls.
- Chicken: Every busy cook should have a sheet pan recipe up their sleeve, and this Lemon Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner is one of the best.
- Beef: There’s nothing more satisfying than a Tender Pot Roast slow-simmered in the crockpot for hours. You’ll love this hearty, homestyle recipe.
How to Store and Reheat Dinner Rolls
- Counter. Don’t stick them in the fridge – refrigeration is known to dry out baked goods. Instead, store your homemade dinner rolls in an airtight container or baggie for up to 5 days.
- Freezer. You can freeze your homemade dinner rolls for up to one month. Just bake them, cool them down, and store them in freezer bags. Thaw to room temperature before reheating or serving.
- Reheat. You can pop these dinner rolls in the microwave for a few seconds if you’d like to serve them warm.
More Homemade Bread Recipes
- Homemade Pita Bread Recipe
- Easy Mexican Bolillos
- Buttery Beer Bread
- Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
- Homemade Brioche Buns
- Hot Cross Buns
Yield: 12 Servings
Soft Dinner Rolls Recipe
Soft, buttery, fluffy Dinner Rolls are a classic side for any meal. Baked to a tempting golden brown, these rolls can be served plain, with butter, or even as sandwich bread!
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup warm whole milk
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 2 ½ tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 3 large eggs + 2 yolks
- 1 tablespoons honey
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 ½ cup bread flour
- ¾ cup salted butter, room temperature
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Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the warm milk, warm water, 2 tsp of sugar, and yeast. Whisk together on low speed until just incorporated.
- Turn the mixer off and let the mixture proof for 5 minutes, until bubbly and frothy. Once proofed, add in the remaining sugar, eggs, honey and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Swap the mixer attachment to a dough hook and add in the flour. Knead until just combined. Add in the butter and knead for 10 minutes, until a soft dough has formed.
- Once kneaded, transfer the dough into a separate greased bowl. Lightly spray the top of the dough with baking spray, then cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Press the dough out into a fairly equal rectangle that is about 3⁄4” thick and 8×9” in size. Cut into 12 equal pieces. Fold the corners of the cut out pieces into the center, then pinch into a tight ball. Roll the dough balls to make them more smooth.
- Transfer the rolled dough balls into a greased 9×13” baking dish. Let them rise for about 30 minutes, until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Once the rolls have risen, place the baking dish into the preheated oven on the center rack. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden.
- Once baked, remove from the oven. You may brush the baked rolls with melted butter if desired. Serve while warm.
Notes
- Liquid Temperature: When working with yeast-based recipes such as this one, it is very important to have the liquids at the correct temperature. If the liquids are too hot, they will kill the yeast. If they are too cold, the yeast won’t activate, preventing the rolls from rising properly. The ideal temperature is between 105°F – 110°F. For reference, this is warmer than body temperature, but not unpleasantly hot.
- Butter Temperature: For best results, make sure you have room-temperature butter for this recipe. The butter should be soft enough to be easily pliable, but still firm enough to hold its shape. To get this consistency, set your butter out about an hour before starting this recipe.
- Window-Pane Test: You’ll know your dough is kneaded enough when you can take a small piece about the size of a golf ball and stretch it out thinly enough to see light through it. If the dough tears or breaks before you can stretch it that thin, that means you need to keep kneading!
- Heating the Rolls: These are just best served while warm. You may reheat the rolls in the microwave for a few seconds to refresh before serving them, if needed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1, Calories: 341kcal, Carbohydrates: 43g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 109mg, Sodium: 338mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g
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