Best Dinner Rolls Recipe

Name: Best Homemade Dinner Rolls Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 160 min
Ingredients: ½ cup warm water ((about 105 degrees F)); ¼ cup granulated sugar; 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast; 6 Tablespoons salted butter ((melted and cooled)); 1 cup whole milk ((room temperature)); 1 egg ((room temperature, lightly beaten)); ½ Tablespoon sea salt; 3-4 cups all-purpose flour; 2 Tablespoons salted butter ((melted)); Coarse Sea Salt ((for sprinkling))

By Laura

Posted Oct 28, 2018, Updated Nov 01, 2024

5 from 134 votes

226 Comments

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The best Homemade Dinner Rolls recipe! These easy, soft & fluffy dinner rolls are, slightly sweet and salty, irresistibly buttery & moist and made from scratch. They turn out perfectly every single time and are a must-make holiday side dish.

front view of 6 homemade Dinner Rolls stacked on each other in a basket after baking

No holiday is complete in my house without these homemade dinner rolls – I make them for every special occasion – Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc.

These fluffy dinner rolls are easy to make and turn out perfectly every single time. Every bite is the perfect combination of sweet, buttery & salty, and they are soft and fluffy but still substantial and so moist.

It took me years of testing and tasting to finally land on this recipe for the best dinner rolls ever. I promise you will love them as much as we do!

up close overhead view of a Homemade Dinner Roll in the pan with other rolls surrounding it after baking

Dinner Rolls Recipe Ingredients & Substitutions

An important note is that all the ingredients (especially the butter, milk and egg) need to be room temperature.

overhead photo of the labeled ingredients in this homemade dinner rolls recipe

Whole Milk. I suggest whole, 2% or half and half for the best rolls.
All-purpose flour. I don’t recommend substitutions. Try these whole wheat dinner rolls if you’d like to use whole wheat flour..
Granulated sugar. white or organic cane sugar are the best choices. You could replace the sugar with honey, if desired.
Salted Butter. unsalted butter is a great choice.

overhead/front view of a Homemade Dinner Roll cut in half with a square of butter

How to Make Dinner Rolls

Let’s walk through this dinner rolls recipe step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.

Make the Dough

A common question when it comes to making dinner rolls is, “how do you make dinner roll dough?” Well, we will walk through the process together. And trust me, this recipe yields the softest, smoothest dough that’s very easy to work with!

Begin by proofing the yeast. Mix water, sugar and yeast together and then let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.

two photos showing how to make dinner rolls - proofing yeast

Then, add the milk, butter and egg and stir to combine.

Important note

Make sure to completely cool the butter/milk mixture so you do not kill the yeast. If the ingredients are too warm (over 105 degrees F), the yeast won’t proof and then the rolls won’t rise.

two photos showing how to make dinner rolls - adding butter, milk, sugar and egg.

Next, add 3 cups of the flour and the salt and mix until the dough forms a loose ball.

It’s important to being with 3 cups of flour so you don’t add too much. So start with 3 cups and gradually knead in more as needed.

two photos showing how to make dinner rolls - adding four and salt and stirring dough

Add flour 1 TBS at a time until a slightly tacky ball forms. It should easily form into a ball but should not feel too dry.

two photos showing how to make dinner rolls - adding more flour & kneading dough

Then, form the dough into a ball.

homemade dinner roll dough shaped into a ball

First Rise

This recipe has two rises. One with the dough in a large ball, and another after the dough has been divided into rolls. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Let it rise until it has doubled in size.

How to make dough rise faster:

To help the dinner roll dough rise faster simply boil some water and put it in a bowl or measuring dish next to the bread that’s rising. Cover the bread and the vessel containing the boiling water with a damp towel and let the magic happen. This creates a warm, moist environment that yeast loves.

I also recommend putting the dough/boiling water/damp cloth apparatus in your oven with the lights turned on. This creates a warm moist environment that the yeast loves, which speeds up the rising process.

overhead view of risen dinner roll dough in a bowl

Once the dough has doubled in size, flour your hands and punch the dough down to remove the gas.

In order to ensure that all your rolls are exactly the same size, so they baked evenly, I highly recommend weighing the dough.

Start by weighing the entire batch of dough, then divide its weight divide by 12. Remember that answer (write it down) and make sure it is the weight of each dough ball. This particular batch of dough weighed 35 oz, so each dough ball weighed approximately 2.9 oz.

If you don’t have a food scale (I recommend getting one) you will have to use your own judgement/feeling to make the rolls as close to equal in size as possible.

photo showing how to make homemade dinner rolls

Once you have all your math done (phew), weigh out the dough and make each portion into a smooth ball. It’s helpful to do this step on a well floured surface with floured hands.

Second Rise

As you form the rolls, place them in a 9×13″ baking pan, spaced evenly apart. I suggest using parchment paper to line the baking dish to ensure that the rolls are easy to remove from the pan to serve.

overhead view of a pan of 12 dinner rolls dough balls before rising

Once the homemade dinner rolls are formed and placed in the baking sheet, let them rise again until they are doubled in size (30-60 minutes).

Be sure not to let the damp towel touch the tops of the rolls, otherwise the dough might stick to the towel, resulting a quite a mess.

The unbaked dinner rolls will touch. As you see in the photo below (and the video), the rolls will touch each other after they have risen. That is good and results in extraordinarily moist dinner rolls.

overhead view of a pan of dinner roll dough after it has risen

Bake the Dinner Rolls

While the dough is rising a second time, preheat your oven. After the dough is risen fully, bake in the preheated oven until the tops are golden brown and the rolls sound hollow when you gently hit them with a wooden spoon. Or, until the internal temperature is 190 degrees F in an instant read thermometer.

Baking Time variation

Please note, every oven bakes a little differently. Please watch your dinner rolls carefully and check them at the beginning of the recommended baking window to avoid over-baked rolls.

front view of a pan of Best Homemade Dinner Rolls after being baked

Butter & Salt the Tops

As soon as the dinner rolls are removed from the oven, brush them with melted butter and add a sprinkle of coarse or flaky sea salt. This is the final touch that makes the rolls extra special.

overhead view of a pan of 12 Best Homemade Dinner Rolls recipe after being baked

Serve

I recommend serving these homemade dinner rolls fresh from the oven. In order to do this, I will often prepare the rolls in advance and “slow” the rise by storing them in the fridge until I’m ready to bake.

They stand alone perfectly because they are just that good. Or you can make a batch of cinnamon honey butter to spread on top – we almost always do this.

They also make amazing leftover turkey & cranberry sandwiches after Thanksgiving or ham and cheese sliders using leftover ham!

Store

Store leftover homemade dinner rolls in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Or, you can freeze baked rolls in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 2 months.

front view of a hand removing one Best Homemade Dinner Rolls from the pan

Dinner Rolls Recipe FAQs

Can you freeze these homemade dinner rolls?

You can make these homemade dinner rolls ahead and freeze them for up to one month. Simply cover them tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil or a lid after you have placed the divided rolls onto a prepared baking dish (before they have risen the second time).
To bake: Remove the dinner rolls from the freezer, cover and let them come to room temperature and rise fully before baking.

Can you bake dinner rolls from frozen?

If you don’t have time to let them come to room temperature and rise, you can bake these dinner rolls from frozen by baking at 325 degrees F for 25 minutes, then increasing the baking temperature to 375 and baking for 10 minutes more.

How do you make soft dinner rolls?

Fat in in the dough. Both the fat from the whole milk and butter preserve the freshness of these soft dinner rolls and keeps them soft for a days. The fat keeps the rolls from drying out!
Butter brushed tops. The butter on the top of the dinner rolls also helps seal the rolls and keep them nice and soft.
Baking close together. This lowers the amount of browned “crust” on the rolls, which yields an overall softer texture!

How do you make yeast rolls light and fluffy?

These light and fluffy dinner rolls are that way because they rise twice. They rise a tad more in the oven after the second rise, but you don’t want to risk them being too dense by being hasty and not letting them rise.

How do you reheat dinner rolls?

If you need to reheat these dinner rolls to serve to company, just cover the baking pan with tin foil and place them in your oven turned on to warm (about 200 degrees F).

front view of a basket with 6 Dinner Rolls stacked on top of each other

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Best Dinner Rolls Recipe

Dinner Rolls Recipe Ingredients & Substitutions