The Best Easy Dinner Rolls Recipe

Sharing is caring!

The Best Easy Dinner Rolls Recipe – soft and fluffy homemade dinner rolls made in just one hour. Learn all of the tips to make perfect rolls every time! No stand mixer needed.

I serve these rolls for every Holiday Dinner or with a big bowl of Instant Pot Potato Soup, the Garlic and Herb Skillet Chicken and Potatoes or use them to make my Spinach Dip Sliders.

BEST HOMEMADE DINNER ROLLS

When it comes to homemade dinner rolls, I have high expectations. They have to be ultra-soft, fluffy, have gorgeous gold tops and be easy to make. While making rolls from scratch requires planning ahead, this recipe is done in just one hour. These rolls are slightly sweet, can be served for a holiday or special occasion dinner and also can be used to make sliders. I am sharing all of my tips that will help you make amazing dinner rolls right in your kitchen. You will be amazed at the results!

Dinner Rolls Recipe Ingredients:

• all-purpose flour
• active dry yeast
• milk
• sugar
• salt
• unsalted butter
• 1 egg

How to make the Best Dinner Rolls?

To make soft and fluffy dinner rolls, you will need to use a yeast dough. It is similar to a pizza dough but it has the addition of an egg, sugar, and milk. That’s what makes them ultra-soft and slightly sweet. Exactly how Dinner Rolls should be.

• Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.
• Heat up milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a saucepan. The mixture cannot be hot, just warm. If it’s hot, it will kill the yeast and the dough won’t rise.
• Use a hand mixer to mix in wet ingredients with the dry. The mixture will be runny. Mix until smooth.
• With a wooden spoon, stir in the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place dough onto a floured surface, form into a smooth ball.
• Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil into a large bowl ( you can use the same one you mixed the dough in, just wash it). Turn the dough over a few times in the bowl, to coat with oil. Cover bowl with saran wrap and place in a warm place. Let rise until doubles in size.

• Place the dough on a floured surface, divide into two and let rest for 10 minutes. This is the perfect time to butter the baking pan.
• Divide dough into 20 pieces, form into balls and place in prepared pan. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven and bake rolls until golden brown on top and the edges of rolls are white.

How to arrange the dough in the pan?

To divide the dough into equal parts to make 20 rolls, divide the whole dough into 2 parts. Let them rest 10 minutes. Then using a knife or pastry scraper, press onto the dough gently to mark where to cut. You need to make 5 lines. Make sure they look the same before cutting the dough. This recipe makes 20 rolls that are the average store-bought size. I use a glass 13″ x 9″ casserole pan. I arrange the balls of dough into 5 rows with 4 rolls in each. Leave a little bit of space between them when placing in the dish. They will rise and fill it. You can make these rolls any size you like. You can even divide the recipe to make a smaller batch that bakes in an 8″ square pan.

Can I make these rolls ahead of time?

You can make the rolls, bake them, cool them completely and store in an air-tight container. You can also form the dough and place it in a pan, then cover and store in the fridge to bake the next day. Let the pan come to room temperature before placing in the oven or it will shatter.

How do you make yeast dough rise faster?

My favorite way to create a perfect environment for a yeast dough to rise is to heat up a cup of water in a microwave-safe mug. Microwave for 1 minute. Open the microwave door and quickly but carefully place the mug with water in the corner of the microwave and place the bowl with the dough in the center. Close. Do not turn on!! Set your kitchen timer to 30 minutes. The dough should double in size. I always cover the bowl with dough with saran wrap instead of kitchen towel as the dough may stick to it and it’s a mess to clean. Saran wrap is much easier. I use this method to rise my pizza dough too!

Tips for making the Best Dinner Rolls:

• If you forgot to pull out the butter from the fridge ahead of time, place it in a bowl and microwave for just 5 to 7 seconds or to just start melting it. Add to milk and sugar mixture. If you use really cold butter, the milk will get too hot before the butter melts completely and you will have to wait for the mixture to cool to use with flour or yeast. Hot liquid will kill the yeast and the dough won’t rise.
• For this recipe, we need 1/3 cup of butter. The wrapper on a butter stick should indicate where to cut. Keep the remaining butter for brushing over the rolls before and after baking.
• If you don’t want to use granulated sugar, you can use honey instead.
• To form perfect rolls, form each piece of dough into a coin bag, by pinching the edges and forming the bag in your palm and then rolling the dough into a smooth ball.
• Do a test drive of this recipe days before the holiday dinner. It will help you to see how much time it takes and what you can do during the time the dough rises. I never recommend making a yeast dough recipe for the first time before a holiday or special occasion dinner.

More Easy Rolls Recipes:

• Garlic Parmesan Skillet Rolls (made with ready dough)
• Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
• 7-Up Biscuits

If you like this recipe and make it, snap a photo and share it on INSTAGRAM! Tag me @crunchycreamysweet so I can check it out and leave a comment! 😀

5 from 5 votes

Print

The Best Easy Dinner Rolls

Prep Time

55 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

1 hr 10 mins

 

Soft and fluffy homemade dinner rolls made in just one hour. Learn all of the tips to make perfect rolls every time!

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dinner rolls

Servings: 20 rolls

Calories: 128 kcal

Author: Anna

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup milk I used 2%
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter room temperature ( see note )
• 1 large egg beaten

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1 and 1/4 cup of flour and yeast.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat up milk, sugar, salt and butter. The mixture needs to be warm, not hot!

3. Using a hand mixer, mix the flour and yeast and wet ingredients, by adding the liquid slowly. Add the beaten egg and mix well. Mix the yeast mixture for 2 minutes, until it is smooth. It will be quite runny.

4. Switch to a wooden spoon and add stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It will take a bit of stirring so be patient.

5. Place the dough onto a floured surface. Form into a smooth ball.
6. Wash the bowl you mixed the dough in. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn over a few times to coat with oil.
7. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Place in draft-free, warm place ( see note ). Let rise for 30 minutes. It should double in size.
8. Punch the dough down and place on floured surface. Divide into two parts and let rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, butter a 13" x 9" dish.
9. Divide each piece of dough into 10 pieces and form into balls. See note below for tips on forming into smooth balls. Arrange in pan, in 5 rows of 4 balls each.
10. Brush tops of dough balls gently with melted butter ( see note ).

11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes OR until the tops are golden, the edges of rolls are white and they have risen to the top of the pan.

12. Cool before removing and serving.

Recipe Notes

• If you forgot to pull out the butter from the fridge ahead of time, place it in a bowl and microwave for just 5 to 7 seconds or to just start melting it. Add to milk and sugar mixture. If you use really cold butter, the milk will get too hot before the butter melts completely and you will have to wait for the mixture to cool to use with flour or yeast. Hot liquid will kill the yeast and the dough won't rise. 
• If you don't want to use granulated sugar, you can use honey instead. 
• To form perfect rolls, form each piece of dough into a coin bag, by pinching the edges and forming the bag in your palm and then rolling the dough into a smooth ball. 

Nutrition Facts

The Best Easy Dinner Rolls

Amount Per Serving

Calories 128 Calories from Fat 27

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 3g 5%

Saturated Fat 2g 10%

Cholesterol 17mg 6%

Sodium 96mg 4%

Potassium 47mg 1%

Total Carbohydrates 20g 7%

Sugars 3g

Protein 3g 6%

Vitamin A 2.5%

Calcium 1.9%

Iron 5.9%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe was originally published on November 19th, 2017 and updated on August 5th, 2019.