Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Buttery with the perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness.
Texture: Soft, fluffy, and tender with a golden brown exterior.
Ease: If you’re not familiar with making homemade bread, this roll recipe is a great place to start!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Easy, relatively quick, delicious dinner rolls, perfect for Thanksgiving or a special dinner.
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These Ultimate Dinner Rolls are the most delicious dinner rolls you and your family will ever try!
If you’re new to baking with yeast, or have previously felt intimidated by baking with yeast, this is the perfect recipe to conquer those fears! If you don’t believe me, just check out reader Jen’s sweet comment below:
Reader Love
I’m known for not being able to bake with yeast. This recipe changed that. I cant wait to try more of your recipes! Thank you!!
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I originally developed this recipe in 2013 after testing tons of tweaks on dinner rolls for my Ultimate Dinner Roll Guide post here. I learned exactly what made homemade dinner rolls fluffy or hard, tender or crusty, and compiled my favorite tweaks to create this recipe for Ultimate Dinner Rolls!
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These rolls will become the star of your Thanksgiving dinner table, Easter brunch, and Sunday night family dinners!
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How to Make the Ultimate Dinner Rolls
Top Tips for Fluffy, Soft Dinner Rolls
- Avoid adding too much extra flour to the dough. This dough is enriched with milk, butter, and sugar. These ingredients slow down gluten development and can make the dough a little sticky. Your instinct might be to add extra flour – but any extra flour will create a denser, tougher roll instead of the light, fluffy, soft dinner roll we want. If you find the dough tricky to handle, dampen your hands lightly with water instead of adding extra flour.
- Measure your flour correctly. I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale for accuracy, but if you don’t have one, be sure to use the spoon and level method to ensure you’re not accidentally compacting too much flour in your measuring cups.
- Don’t skip the sugar. There’s just a touch in these dinner rolls, to help make the rolls tender and golden brown. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here (spoiler alert: it does SO much more than simply sweetening!)
Do I Have to Use Bread Flour?
Bread flour has a higher level of protein content than all-purpose flour, which helps create tall dinner rolls with a nice chewy, fluffy texture. If you don’t have bread flour, use the same amount of all-purpose flour – but your rolls may just be slightly shorter and less chewy, and may take longer to knead and rise.
Which Yeast Is Best to Use For Dinner Rolls?
- This dinner roll recipe utilizes a shortcut ingredient: instant yeast, also called rapid-rise or quick-rise yeast.
- One of the three should be available at most grocery stores or you can buy my all-time favorite yeast on Amazon.
- These types of yeast are specifically formulated to allow you to skip proofing (aka the step where you combine the yeast with warm liquid for 5 minutes). You can add instant yeast directly in with all of the ingredients.
- If you don’t have or can’t find instant yeast, you can easily use active dry yeast instead. Add it right in with the dry ingredients like instant yeast – just know the dough will take about 20% more time to rise.
- Or, to speed up that rise time slightly, simply combine it with the warm water and milk called for in the recipe and allow it to proof for 5 minutes before adding to the bowl with the other ingredients.
What Type of Milk Should I Use?
Whole milk produces the absolute best flavor and texture. I don’t recommend using non-dairy or low-fat milk unless you absolutely must.
What Type of Salt for Dinner Rolls?
I recommend using fine sea salt inside the dinner rolls, and I also love sprinkling flaky sea salt on top of the freshly baked and buttered rolls, for even more flavor. Learn more about different types of salt in baking here.
Can I Knead the Dough By Hand?
Yes! I call for a stand mixer to make easy work of kneading this dough, but you can also knead by hand. Be sure to knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic, for rolls that hold their shape and bake up nice and fluffy. You can see my full tutorial on how to knead dough here.
How to Tell When Dough Is Risen
- After kneading, shape the dough into a ball.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl, turning the dough to oil the top so it doesn’t dry out.
- I like to snap a picture of the dough before rising so I can compare it later.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel.
- Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free location. Ideal rise temperatures are between 80°F and 90°F. Lower temperatures will require more rising time; warmer temperatures will mean a shorter rising time.
- The dough is done rising when it’s about doubled in size and passes the “ripe” test: gently stick two fingers in the risen dough up to the second knuckle and take them out. If the finger marks remain, the dough is ready for shaping into balls. If not, cover and let the dough rise longer until it passes this test.
- The same finger test can be done again when the rolls are shaped before baking. Here’s what my dough looked like before and after rising:
How to Shape Bread Rolls
- Once the dough has risen, press it down to gently deflate.
- Place the dough on a clean surface (not a floured surface).
- Use a bench scraper to section the dough into 12 equal pieces. Don’t worry if they’re not perfectly equal in size. However, if you’re a perfectionist, you can weigh the entire mass of dough, divide that number by 12, and then portion each piece perfectly by weight.
- As you’re shaping each piece of dough, pinch the dough into one central point to create a tight ball, then roll it on your work surface. This will help the rolls rise beautifully. Don’t flour your work surface when shaping the rolls because you want some resistance to roll them into taut balls.
- If you’re more of a visual learner, check out my How to Shape Dinner Rolls video to see me shape these rolls.
You can also get creative with shaping this dinner roll recipe! Check out my article for 5 Ways to Shape Bread Rolls here.
What Type of Pan for Dinner Rolls?
This recipe was written to use a 9×13-inch baking pan. While I usually prefer metal baking pans over glass or ceramic (metal conducts heat more efficiently), I actually prefer the table presentation ceramic pans offer when making dinner rolls – especially for a holiday or special celebration! Also, because ceramic (and glass) conduct heat more slowly than metal, it helps these rolls stay soft in the centers.
How to Make Dinner Rolls Ahead of Time
Most yeasted doughs can be made ahead of time and baked off later by simply chilling the dough. Refrigerating basically stunts the rise time and can actually allow more flavor to develop!
For this dinner roll recipe, here’s my recommended method:
- Make the dough, allow it to rise once, and shape into rolls.
- Once the rolls are shaped, cover the pan well with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- When ready to bake, bring to room temperature as the oven preheats before baking as the recipe directs.
- If the rolls haven’t doubled in size yet, allow to sit at room temperature until they do.
- The rolls are best served the day they’re baked. However, you can easily reheat the rolls briefly in the oven or toaster oven at 300°F until warmed through to refresh before serving.
If you need to prep these rolls further in advance, see the freezing instructions just below.
How to Freeze Dinner Rolls
- Freeze the dough after it has risen for the first time and been shaped into rolls.
- Place the rolls in a baking dish, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and store flat in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- When ready to bake, loosen the plastic wrap and thaw to room temperature.
- Let rise until an indentation made with your finger into the dough remains.
- Proceed with the recipe as written.
To freeze the baked dinner rolls, place them inside an airtight container and freeze for up to one month. Thaw to room temperature before reheating and serving.
More Side Dish Recipes You’ll Love:
Ultimate Dinner Rolls
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Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (59 grams) lukewarm water (100 to 110°F)
- 1 cup (237 grams) warm milk (100 to 110°F)
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter, melted plus more for greasing
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
- 4 1/2 cups (572 grams) bread flour
For egg wash & finishing
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- Melted butter
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Combine the water, milk, 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2 cups (254 grams) of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a rough, shaggy mass. Attach the dough hook to the mixer, turn to medium-low speed, and gradually add the remaining flour, kneading until a mass of dough begins to form. Continue kneading on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes until a soft, smooth ball of dough is formed. The dough should feel elastic and slightly tacky to the touch.
- Lightly spray a large clean bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 1 hour to 90 minutes at room temperature or until the dough is big, puffy, and about doubled in size.
- Grease a 9×13-inch or similarly shaped baking pan with butter. Gently deflate the dough. Use a bench scraper, knife, or pizza wheel to divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place in the prepared pan. Lightly cover the dough with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for about 1 hour, or until about doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Brush the rolls gently with the beaten egg. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve warm. Store leftovers in an airtight container or ziptop bag for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
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This recipe was originally published in 2013 and has been updated with new photos and more baking tips. Photos by Joanie Simon.
Delicious! Everything I was looking for in a homemade roll. I followed the suggestion for using active dry yeast and I also used all-purpose flour. Even with adding maybe an extra 1/4 cup flour the dough was pretty sticky, but still workable especially after wetting my hands. I am at higher elevation. Will definitely be making again!
I made these buns using the overnight in the fridge variation. I did the first rise, divided and shaped, put in the fridge and they rose a bunch right away then fell. All in less than 12 hours. What did I do wrong because the recipe says you can put in the fridge for 24 hours at that step.
Oh my gosh these were delishious! I halved the recipe and still got 9 average sized rolls. I ate 2 right off the bat and saving the rest for Easter dinner, that’s if I don’t eat any more before then!
Amazing recipe! So fluffy.
I didn’t have any whole milk, or enough oat milk for that matter. So I replaced with kefir and added oat milk to make it runnier.
It turned out fantastic! Will definitely make again.
I have not tasted them yet but they look and smell amazing! The only things I did different were;
I used 1/2 of the water as pineapple juice,
I used whole white wheat flour, and omitted the salt on top.
I did 2x the recipie, but I used salted butter so I didn’t 2x the amount of salt in the recipie.
The pan with the lighter ones were cooked for 15 min, the darker pan for the full 20.
Hi, I made them again today! Just as delicious 😋 . Also I originally tried to post a picture along with the first review but I guess that it didn’t work (that’s why I was talking about the darker pan and lighter pan😅)
These were amazing on Thanksgiving! Made giant fluffy rolls!
Have you tried freezing the dough? Any suggestions?
So happy to hear you enjoyed them, Mehnaz! Thanks for sharing 🙂 We’ve tested freezing the dough as well as freezing the baked dinner rolls with success, too! Especially around the holidays, our team loves fully baking the rolls a few weeks in advance, then thawing them day-of to relieve some of the stress around holiday baking. You can find both instructions above the recipe here.
I halved the recipe and doubled up on the butter, rolled each ball to 40 g. and it placed perfect in a 9 by 13 inch baking pan (12 rolls). The result was the best roll I have made so far , wife and daughter gobbled them up immediately with some coffee did not even wait till dinner time. Right now I’m in the process of making your Hawaiian rolls , hope they come out as delicious as these were.
So happy to hear they were such a hit, Lorenzo! Thanks for sharing 🙂
It is hard to find a recipe with exact measurements. I don’t do cups. Please indicate in grams how much yeast is required and what type. There are 5 and 7 gr packets here. Also there is active and speedy yeast. I am making your recipe this morning, it seems the best of the bunch that popped up, but it seems a lot of added sugar? I am in France.
Hi Lois, great question! This recipe calls for instant yeast (called “speedy yeast” in France), but you can substitute active if needed—just check out the tips section above the recipe for guidance. If you’re using packets, 1 packet in the U.S. equals 2 1/4 teaspoons or about 7 grams. I hope this helps, and I’d love to hear how the recipe turns out for you in France!
Hey, Frenchy. Quit complaining about cups vs grams, and then questioning the amount of sugar when you haven’t even tried the recipe! Sheesh…
That’s not very nice. But makes sense. Most people who don’t live in America understand most stuff we do. It’s just a country thing.
Can I use active dry yeast instead of instant/rapid rise?
Absolutely! You can add it right in with the other dry ingredients — just keep in mind that the dough will take a bit longer to rise. Tessa shared instructions above the recipe here for speeding up that process if you’re interested! 🙂
Help! Making these for a Friendsgiving tomorrow. Do I need to make adjustments for high altitude (6,000 ft)?
Hi Kaitlyn! Unfortunately, no one at Team Handle the Heat has experience baking at high altitudes, but this King Arthur Baking resource has some great tips. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
I live in the highest point of Maryland and I did these exactly like it says and they turned out fine. The only thing I did differently is I put mine on a raised wrack in a bowl and put two boiling bowls of water on each side and covered with a towel to get them to raise because I have a hard time getting dough to raise for some reason otherwise. But they turned out really good.
Sorry I meant to say the wrack I put the wrack over a heating pad and the two bowls of boiling water on each side .