There’s absolutely no need to be intimidated by homemade yeast bread baking. Especially with a practically foolproof recipe like this one for the best ever Ultimate Dinner Rolls.
I promise, this dinner roll recipe is way easier than it probably seems. These will become the surprise star of your Thanksgiving dinner table, Easter brunch, or just your Sunday night family dinners!
I actually 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!
Over the years, I’ve continued to tweak and improve the recipe to make it even more soft, fluffy, and flavorful.
I hope you give this dinner roll recipe a shot soon. If you’re still freaked out by working with yeast, get my *free* Beginner’s Quick Guide to Bread here.
How to Make Dinner Rolls
Ingredients for Dinner Rolls
- Warm milk – whole milk produces the absolute best flavor and texture. We don’t recommend using a nondairy or low-fat milk unless you absolutely must.
- Unsalted butter – a little inside the dough lends richness and flavor! Plus, even more brushed on the freshly baked rolls because YUM.
- Eggs – also add richness and flavor. Two eggs go inside the dough and one gets brushed on top for an ultra shiny and golden brown exterior.
- Granulated sugar – just a touch, not too much, to help make the rolls tender and golden brown.
- Salt – fine sea salt or table salt is an absolute must in the dough, but I also love sprinkling the freshly baked and buttered rolls with flaky sea salt for even more flavor.
- Instant yeast – more on this below.
- 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. Your rolls may just be slightly shorter and less chewy.
Which Yeast Is Best to Use For Dinner Rolls?
This recipe utilizes a short cut 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 into the mix 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 into the bowl with the other ingredients.
Can I Knead the Dough By Hand?
Yes! Be sure to knead the dough properly to get rolls that hold their shape and bake up nice and fluffy. I call for a stand mixer to make easy work of kneading in this recipe, but you can also knead by hand. 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 in a lightly oiled mixing bowl. I like to use glass so I can see how much it’s rising. I’ll even snap an iPhone picture of the dough before rising so I can compare later. The dough should be turned over to oil the top so that it doesn’t dry out. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, foil, 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.
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 then 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 is.
The same finger test can be done again when the rolls are shaped and getting ready for baking. Here’s what my dough looked like before and after rising:
How to Shape Bread Rolls
Once the dough is risen, press it down to deflate it slightly. Place the dough onto 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 actually weigh the entire mass of dough, divide that number by 12, then portion each piece perfectly by weight.
As you’re shaping each piece into a round, make sure to pinch the dough into one central point to create a tight ball. 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.
You can also get creative with the shapes! Check out my article for 5 Ways to Shape Bread Rolls here.
How to Make Dinner Rolls Ahead of Time
Basically all yeast dough can be made ahead of time and baked off later on! For this recipe, I like to make the dough all the way through to rising once and shaping the rolls. Once the rolls are shaped, cover them and place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. 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.
Refrigerating basically stunts the rise time and can actually allow more flavor to develop!
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.
How to Freeze Dinner Rolls
Freeze the dough after it has risen for the first time and been shaped. Place the rolls in a baking dish, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. 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.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I have made it four times this year.
Your baking dish is so pretty.
Excellent recipe! Came out perfect first try!
thank you so much for solving my baking problems, number 1 being my oven temp. It was off by over 50 degrees!!! That in itself makes a huge difference. My frustration level has disappeared!
Wow, that’s a crazy difference, Jeanne!! So glad Tessa’s great tips helped you!! 🙂
They are great!! I followed the directions and made no changes they are a hit, thanks for the recipe!!!
I read your article about glass pans Vs metal pans in relation to baking brownies. Which 13 x 9 pan do you recommend using with this recipe?
Hi Julia! Any light-colored 9×13-inch metal pan will work (darker colored metal pans tend to brown the bottoms too quickly), but this is Tessa’s favorite 9×13-inch pan here. Tessa used this pan when originally photographing the recipe, but as you found out in this article, non-metal pans are less ideal for baking. I hope that helps! Happy baking!
I am 74 years old and have tried many times to make rolls and years ago gave up because the texture just was not right ..and I’m very picky about texture in rolls… well I came up on your recipe yesterday and decided I would try it. I tried it today . I made half the recipe because I was fearful that these too would go into trash ..but much to my amazement they turned out absolutely perfect ..perfect …the texture is beautiful.. they’re so good I can’t believe I’ve actually made a homemade roll and can enjoy it . I will certainly be making many more… and by the way I have a bread maker in which I made my dough in and then just took it out and made my rolls ..thank you so much for the recipe and for the encouragement from other comments to give it a try ..I’m so glad I did. thank you ..what a beautiful thing!!!
Hi!
Sorry this is my third comment, but I’ve seen other similar recipes call for kosher or coarse salt on top of the dinner rolls; would those be a good fit instead if I don’t have any flaky?
Thank you so much!
No problem, Zoe – yes, you can use a little kosher salt, or skip the salt topping if you prefer! 🙂
I used a scale and followed all measurements to a T, however the dough was still quite sticky, so I had to add a bit more flour. Why would this be?
Thank you!
On a side note:
I tried this recipe around a week ago and it was wonderful. Tall, fluffy, perfect! Just this time we had to add a bit more flour to make it not stick to our hands and I was just wondering why. I’m sure they’ll turn out perfect this time too 😀
Hi Zoe! I’m happy to hear that you enjoy these rolls! There are several reasons why yeasted doughs can become overly sticky. The first is environment; if the weather is humid, or your kitchen is humid, that will immediately contribute to your dough’s stickiness. Your dough can also become sticky when you add too much water, or if using the wrong kind of flour. Over proofing or under-kneading the dough can also result in sticky dough. Even if the dough is a bit sticky, as you mentioned, a tiny bit more flour on your workbench will help counteract this, and help you shape the dough! I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Hi!
I don’t have flaky salt and can’t seem to find it anywhere, what should I do?
Thank you!!!
Hi Zoe! The flaky sea salt for topping is optional, so if you cannot find it, simply leave it off 🙂 You can use fine sea salt or table salt for the actual dough. Let us know what you think of these rolls once you have given them a try!
where are the make ahead directions?
Hi Victoria! The make-ahead instructions can be found in the pink tip box, above the recipe! Happy baking 🙂
I made these a few days ago and they were perfect. My first time making dinner rolls – thank you so much for the great recipe. I have now volunteered to make them for our family Christmas dinner. When I made them the first time (it was a test run ) I made the dozen as the recipe indicated. I’m thinking I might like to make them slightly smaller – maybe measure out 15 or so. Do you think baking time would need to be adjusted, or since they all join together anyhow, will the timing not be impacted that much?
P.S. wish I could share a photo on here to show just how beautiful they were – I was so proud!
Hi Kendra! We are so glad to hear that your rolls were such a success! Unfortunately we haven’t tried baking more, smaller rolls before, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work – you’ll just have to watch them closely as they will possibly bake for less time – but again, we haven’t tried this, so I can’t say for sure. Happy baking 🙂
Your step by step instructions (and the promise they’d turn out good) gave me the confidence to make these. I followed every detail and they turned out great! Thank you.
Yay! So glad to hear this, Minki!
First time baking with yeast and this recipe was fantastic! The rolls were light & fluffy, so delicious. Thank you for giving me the confidence to do this.
You rock! My family loved them and I was happy to see how beautifully they turned out. I will bake these again.
Hooray!! So thrilled these were such a winner for you, Lisa! 🙂
Looks delish and I can’t wait to make these rolls! y question, since I’e gone down the rabbit hole of glass vs metal pans, what type of 9×13 pan should be used? What is the type of pan that she used for the rolls in this post. It is soooo beautiful! Thank you!
Hi Cynthia! Any light-colored metal pan (darker colored metal pans tend to brown the bottoms too quickly) will work, but this is Tessa’s favorite 9×13-inch pan here 🙂 Tessa used this pan when originally photographing the recipe, but non-metal pans are less ideal for baking – find out why here! Happy baking!
Can these be made ahead of time? If so, please elaborate. I would like to make today the pur in the oven tomorrow. I hope I get an answer this late on Turkey Day eve! I’m a terribly good procrastinator!
I’m attempting this recipe now. I have tried other recipes maybe 6 or 7 different times before to absolutely zero success. I was so ashamed of my terrible creations no one ever saw them. Straight to ths bottom of the trash can they went, with garbage on top to make sure no one else saw my feeble attempts & waste of ingredients! I have bought 3 pack packets of yeast over a dozen different times over the years only to chicken out & let it expire because I was afraid of the failure I just knew would come. I’ve watched countless videos & Googled “Yeast Rolls for Beginner’s” time after time. They all made it look so VERY effortlessly easy… and fun. What came out of my oven could be used as weapons! My dough never rose like the videos, nor did I seem to ever get the correct texture. Well, this time I stepped it up & bought the good high protein bread flour by ‘King Authur’. I alsi got digtal scales & weighed my flour instad of hand measuring. I was surprised to see I had nearly 1/2 a cup over when weighing! That will surely mess up a recipe! My stand mixer is broken so I had to use my hand held one, but I quickly notice a big difference! It’s covered & rising now. I’m almost scared to look. My husband & I are going to my sisters home for Thanksgiving (tomorrow, since it’s already Wed. morning, it’s 1:20 a.m.). What a hit I would be to bring beautiful & delicious homemade yeast rolls! No can cressent rolls this year! Oh, dare I dream!?? I’ll hopefully be back with pics and good news. Then pray I can do it again to take to Sissy’s!
Hi Barbie! I really hope you have success with this recipe and gain some confidence in the bread arena! You can absolutely make these rolls today, as Tessa talks about in the Tip Box above the recipe. As she says in the Tip Box, make the dough all the way through to rising once and shape the rolls. Once the rolls are shaped, cover them well with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. 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. If this makes you too nervous, you can always just make the rolls entirely today, and just reheat briefly tomorrow before serving – totally up to you! Be sure to read through everything Tessa has in the Tip Box above the recipe, to arm yourself with all the information you need before starting your roll adventure today! Good luck, and let us know how it goes 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!
Fantastic and easy!
This was my 3rd recipe I tried and the easiest. I tried two other recipes from other people but did not like the taste of the roll itself. This was the tasted i was looking for! Love the recipe and want to make it for Thanksgiving. These are so easy to make the day before and they rose in the fridge wonderfully. My only issue was how big they were for the Thanksgiving table. I made 12 in a glass pyrex pan. I just want them to be slightly smaller since everyone will be eating a big meal and these are quite filling. If I make 15 in a 9 x 13 pan would they still be a good size. What do you think the bake time should be?
Hi Linda! I’m so happy to hear that these rolls were winners for you! You probably can make the rolls smaller, but because we haven’t tried this ourselves, I can’t tell you exactly how long to bake them for, sorry. I would just recommend starting at a few minutes less than the recommended bake time, and remove from the oven once they’re golden brown. Let us know how it goes!
Made these last year for Thanksgiving and everyone loved them!
Question – can the rolls be made a smaller size to get more servings?
Hi Lilly! So glad these were a hit last year! To answer your question, I don’t see why not – but because we haven’t tried this ourselves, I can’t tell you exactly how long to bake them for. I would just recommend shaving a few minutes off the recommended bake time, and remove from the oven once they’re golden brown. Let us know how it goes! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Yes, I divided them into 15 rolls, 5 X 3 rows in a 9×13 pan. Still plenty big enough.
Y’all I do not bake. Never have because I am not good at it. I stumbled upon Handle the Heat and started trying to bake. These rolls are the 4th thing that I have baked. They were absolutely beautiful and delicious. A real hit with my family. They took a little time, but were very doable with this amazing recipe. Thank you for sharing your amazing talents with all of us.
So thrilled to hear that, Kathy!! Well done – you’ll be a total pro baker in no time 🙂
Can you freeze these then bake?
Hi Emily! Yes – Tessa has instructions for this in the tip box, above the recipe 🙂 Happy baking!
These rolls are fantastic and you’ll be a baking rock star when you make them! And coming from someone who has always been nervous baking with yeast, they are not as hard to make as you might think. The first time I made them my family devoured every last one these in less than a day and asked me to double it next time.
Yay!! So glad these are such a hit with your family, Emily!
Wondering if anyone has made this with gluten free flour?
Amazing every time I make them. My husband eats at least 5 each time. My question is can I skip the roll making and make a loaf of bread instead of rolls?
Hi Carly! We’re so glad to hear that you and your husband love these rolls so much!! We haven’t tried that, so we can’t say for sure, but with a little experimenting, it should work! Let us know how it goes if you give that a try! Happy baking 🙂
Hi are these somewhat sweet since it has 2 tblsp sugar ? If I reduce the sugar will it affect the texture?
Hi Shamistha! These rolls have a very, very slight sweetness to them, but sugar does a lot more than just sweeten in baking. In this case, the little bit of sugar is there to help make the rolls tender and golden brown. You can read more about the role of sugar in baking here! Just be aware that the rolls won’t be as moist or fluffy, and will brown less on top, with less sugar. Let us know what you think once you’ve given these rolls a try 🙂
Thank you Kirsten for prompt reply will give it a try as is then since you say its very very slightly sweet . Some dinner roll recipes are a tad bit too sweet so that’s why I was concerned
Totally get it, Shamistha! I think you’ll love these 🙂 Can’t wait to hear what you think!
These are delicious and picky eater kid approved! It’s a very simple, easy to follow recipe too. 🙂
That’s so amazing to hear, Bre!! 🙂
Hi I am wanting to make this tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Can the dough be made in a bread machine?
Hi Krista! We haven’t tried that, but a few of our readers have done so with success! Let us know how it goes 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!
These rolls were so easy to make and absolutely delicious! The family enjoyed them very much!
Yay!! So happy these were such a hit, Jean!
I made these for our Easter lunch today and they were delicious! My family loved them! They were very easy to make. I’ll definitely be making them regularly. It was nice that they were somewhat flexible on timing and didn’t fall when I waited a little longer to bake them.
This was a great recipe that was easy to follow and turned out so well!! I made rolls for Easter Dinner and they were a hit. They baked up nice and light and fluffy and were absolutely delicious. My family kept raving about how yummy they were. I brushed the tops of the rolls with honey butter and topped it with sea salt. Soooo good!!
Very easy roll recipe! I had a hard time getting them all the same size and as a result, the bigger ones were slightly doughy. Next time I will work harder to get them smaller and uniform. Salt on top was a nice added flavour!
My family loves these rolls so much..I have made them about 3 times in the last 2 weeks. They have never failed me yet..I add 3 cups bread flour initially ..roll out onto floured board and kned in gently more flour till it forms up nice..thank you for this absolute gem recipe!!!!
Wow, that’s incredible to hear! So happy they love them so much, I completely agree and could eat them every day! Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
Can you make a loaf of bread with this recipe instead of rolls
We haven’t tried that! Let us know how it goes if you do 🙂