The Best Homemade Dinner Rolls are buttery, fluffy, and taste heavenly! These homemade rolls will be gone in no time in your home. It is SIDE DISH week on Modern Honey so I can’t wait to share everything I have been whipping up in my kitchen.
My Mom is the Roll Master. She will shake her head and say, “no honey, I am not”….but I am here to tell you she is wearing the crown. She has always said in her perfect world, she would live on homemade bread and rolls. She is always in her kitchen making up some sort of baked good to deliver to a neighbor in need. Her heart is made of gold, I tell you.
When I was teaching cooking school for kids, I had her come over and teach them everything she knows about bread. So when I wanted to learn how to make homemade rolls, I called up my Mom and she was ready to teach me all the tricks of the trade.
These BEST Homemade Dinner Rolls are heaven sent. These rolls are made with simple ingredients — yeast, water, sugar, butter, milk, flour, and salt. It’s the ratios that matter. The dough has just the right amount of butter to make them melt-in-your-mouth rolls and enough yeast to help them rise and make them fluffy. Buttery, light, fluffy homemade dinner rolls are a must in our home! I am sharing all of the tips and tricks to make perfect dinner rolls every single time.
How to make the BEST Homemade Dinner Rolls:
- Let your YEAST PROOF. The key is to use very warm water (about 110 degrees). Adding sugar to the yeast helps it proof even faster. Let the yeast proof for at least 5 minutes. Remember to always use fresh yeast. You will know the yeast is working when it starts to form a creamy foam on the surface.
- Use BUTTER and EGGS. The butter and eggs are what adds richness to the homemade rolls dough.
- Use a STAND MIXER. This bread recipe is easiest with a stand mixer such as a Bosch (you can find an incredible discounted deal below). This is a huge time saver as you knead the rolls for 5 minutes in the mixer. It saves you from doing it yourself! If you don’t own a stand mixer, you can knead the bread dough by hand. Watch for the dough to start pulling away from the sides. You still want the dough to be slightly sticky but begin to pull away from the sides.
- Let RISE until DOUBLE in size. This can be done in a warm place. If you want the dough to rise faster, place the dough covered in a warm oven. Set the oven to 200 degrees, turn off, and then place the dough in the oven and let it rise until double in size. This expedites the rising process and cuts the time in half.
- Roll into BALLS and brush with softened BUTTER. Roll into desired size and place in baking pan. Place close together so as the rolls rise, they rise upwards and not out. It keeps them from spreading. Brush with softened butter.
- BAKE until GOLDEN BROWN. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake until light golden brown. Remove from oven and spread butter over top of rolls to give moisture and shine.
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- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Yeast
- 1/4 cup Warm Water
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1/2 cup Butter softened
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup Whole or 2% Milk best warmed
- 4 3/4 cups Flour may need to add more
- 2 teaspoons Salt
-
- Brush on top of rolls:
- 4 - 8 Tablespoons Butter softened
- In a small bowl, add yeast, warm water, and sugar and set aside to proof. Let the yeast bubble and foam for 10 minutes.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl, cream butter and sugar for 1 minute. Add eggs and milk and mix for 2 more minutes. Add in proofed yeast mixture.
- Pour in flour and salt. Mix for 5-7 minutes. Watch for the dough to start to come off the sides of the bowl. Add 1-3 Tablespoons of flour, if needed.
- Cover bowl and set aside to rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1-2 hours. If you want to expedite the rising process, heat the oven to 200 degrees, turn off the oven, and place the oven-safe bowl to rise until double in size.
- Once the dough is doubled, roll into small balls, about 16 - 20 depending on size preference. Place on greased or buttered baking sheet, close together to ensure the rolls rise upward and not spread, and brush rolls with softened butter. Cover and set aside to rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake for 14 - 18 minutes or until golden brown. Brush rolls with remaining melted butter.
- Serve warm or store in air-tight container.
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Happy Baking, my friends! xo
Followed the recipe today. The bread turned out the best i ever had. My daughter is so happy with the end product.
Thanks for sharing!!
Is it possible to make these ahead? If so, at which point would I stop and either pick up later or the next day? Thank you
Make the dough and when you get to the point where it needs to wait to rise, refrigerate it. That will slow down the rising process. Just make sure when you start up again the dough is at room temp. You should punch it down a bit to work with it, and don’t leave it in the fridge longer than 24 hours.
Receipe for
dinner rolls Ingredient 1-1/2 tablespoons of yeast is a lot. Should it not be 1-1/2 teaspoons of yeast? Shirley
I made the recipe exactly as written (tablespoons) and was successful. These rolls were so fluffy and amazing. I’ll make them again very soon!
You’ve probably already got a reply but just in case, I think 3 tsp is equal to 1 Tbs. and it’s over 4 c flour so it seems correct. Getting ready to make these rolls now for the first time so hope I’m right. Lol
What kind of flour did you use???
Super recipe
I don’t have a stand mixer, I have a hand mixer with two beaters can I use that?
I would like to make these a day before, Ex. for Thanksgiving.
Is that possible? Thank you
Can these be made a day ahead, example for Thanksgiving?
If so, at which point can they go in fridge and how long before baking should they be taken out of fridge? Thanks
Can these be made ahead and if so, at what point should they come out of fridge?
I am thinking about Thanksgiving. Thanks
I found this recipe and decided to try it after my friend baked some of her own homemade rolls. I felt inspired and wanted to find the best roll recipe. It was a hit! I followed the recipe to a T and they were melt in your mouth goodness. The dough was soft and fluffy and we didn’t need to add any extra butter on them when they were done. I highly recommend this recipe!
I am planning to make these dinner rolls this weekend; however, you did not specify if the yeast is active yeast or dry yeast. Please help!
What kind of flour, all purpose or self rising.
Trying to make these rolls right now, but the recipe does not say what kind of attachment to use with the stand mixer. Dough hook, whisk, or paddle?
Hi Rhonda! I use the dough hook usually with bread but you can use the paddle with this recipe too. I would suggest the dough hook though. Happy Baking!
Can you update the type of flour and yeast to the recipe. Or can anyone answer this question. Self rising or All purpose? And yeast type please? Im excited to try these.
All-purpose flour, do not use self-rising. You can use instant yeast, fast-rise, or standard (active dry) yeast, whichever you prefer. The rise times will be quicker with the instant and fast-rise.
All purpose flour.
I used the whisk attachment on my kitchen aid stand mixer and it worked great .
Can I make these and freeze them? If so how long do I let them sit out before baking?
Hi Melissa!
I really, really want to make these tomorrow morning. They look so delicious and yummy and puffy! One question: the recipe says “Bake for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown. Brush hot rolls with remaining melted butter.”
I don’t really understand where this melted butter came from. I do not see anywhere in the recipe it says melted butter, so I do not know what you mean by “brush them with the REMAINING melted butter.”
I would really appreciate if you could clarify this for me.
Thank you so much!
The ingredients say 1/2 c butter that goes in the rooms, and at the bottom it says 4-8 T butter for brushing on top.
Can I make these ahead for Thanksgiving and freeze them? 🙏🏻
Absolutely! You can make them ahead of time, let them cool to room temperature, and transfer them to a Ziploc freezer bag or something that will protect them once the rolls are in the freezer. I hope they turn out great!
In regards to the melted butter it is shown under the ingredients as follows:
Brush on top of rolls:
4 – 8 Tablespoons Butter softened
Hope this helps, I am going to make these for Thanksgiving, they look so good….
Thank you so much, Diana! I appreciate it.
Really want to make these for Thanksgiving, but what kind of yeast do you use? And what kind of flour??
Good evening, I want to make them for thanksgiving. Can I make Tuesday and shape rolls then freeze and defrost Thursday? If so, how long do I defrost? Do I put in fridge Wednesday night to defrost then on counter Thursday to rise?
I’ve done that many times (freezing the dough). The link below (King Arthur freeze bake rolls) is exactly what I follow to freeze and thaw and bake and never failed.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2015/10/05/freeze-bake-rolls
A few questions.. where it says 4 3/4 cups. Does that mean (4) 3/4 cups. Or a total of four cups and 3/4 of flour. I used all purpose flour. Letting dough rise as I’m typing this. Also, is it correct to cover rolls once you’ve rolled them and placed on baking sheet? Thanks in advance!
What kind of yeast do you use in this recipe? Active Yeast? Rapid Rise yeast? There are different kinds so so would assume the type matters.
Getting ready to make these rolls,
Can you use bread flour?
My dad is a person that eats to live, not lives to eat. I made these rolls for thanksgiving this year and was very clearly instructed by him to not give these away. He never says anything about the food. These are some of the best rolls my family has ever had, and I will be forced to make them for every occasion.
Unfortunately, I ran into some issues with these, which have been mentioned by others reviewers, but not addressed. I added the correct amount of flour and the dough did start to come off the sides, which about half around the dough hook and the other half in the basin of the bowl. I wasn’t sure if all of it should have formed into one ball or not, but went with your instructions which stated “when the dough starts…” my dough rose fine but was way too sticky to handle or roll into balls. I had no idea what to do. I floured a surface and would drop a lump into it, roll it in the flour, and could barely manage to get it into a ball and onto the sheet. Please update your instructions to prevent sticky dough and add a section to help people correct the issue if this happens to them. Also, why would you butter the rolls before covering them? I don’t want my dish towel covered in butter…
I tried making this with a hand held mixer and ended up having to add more flour…like a lot more. I’m curious how much time it would take to knead the dough by hand as the mixture was so sticky! It was my first time making rolls so it may have just been a rookie mistake.
Hands down the best recipe for fluffy, pillows of yeast goodness. These were beyond my expectations and I’m so looking forward to another holiday to show them off. I used fast acting yeast because I was worried about time and temperature. When I walked away and came back smelling yeast in my kitchen I knew it was ready. Frothy and foamy on top. I also used king Arthur’s bread flour. I kept mine near the stove and allowed it to rise the first time for about 2 hours then pinched out balls and shaped them. I got about 20 decent rolls in a 8×16 pan. I brushed with butter baked them off and pulled them out about 20 minutes through. So so so good.
These rolls are awesome! I followed the recipe and could not be happier with the results! They made a great side to our Thanksgiving dinner:)
Made these for Thanksgiving and they were a huge hit!! This will forever be my go to dinner roll recipe!
Are there any special instructions for doubling this recipe?
These are my absolute favorite rolls (and I’ve tried many recipes). I have to make extra because my friends are always begging for them. Thank you for sharing!
We love these rolls as well as the garlic and herb rolls on this website. We like our rolls dense and chewy, therefore I use bread flour. When making these,I had to add over an extra 1/2 cup of flour to get the right consistency. I also prefer to use Red Star Platinum Superior Baking Yeast. If you are an avid bread maker you will love this yeast!
Very nice. Fluffy, nice salt level, definitely will make these again.
Would they bake properly in a stainless steel pan? I wanted to make half a recipe, but don’t have smaller than 9×13 glass baking pans.
Is the butter in the recipe salted or unsalted? I’m never sure when I see salt also added to the mix. The last recipe I tried definitely needed salted but I didn’t know until they were done. It added salt as well so I assumed unsalted in the dough but was wrong.
This roll recipe caught my attention because of the ‘cream butter and sugar’ and the recipe having three eggs. I found it very unusual and rich sounding. I gave them four stars instead of five, only because of the recipe’s lack of instructions between bullets four and five. While making the copied recipe, not printed, I discovered there is a lot of missing instructions and expectations between ‘let raise 1-2 hours’ and ‘shape into 16-20 small balls’. Running back to the computer to see if you left out some instructions in copying the recipe is quite stressful and inconvenient with a hand full of sticky dough. I hadn’t left anything out, so I did the best I could flouring my surface and the dough, trying to stretch and tuck under 16-20 even balls (each one turned out to be 2.0 oz) with that sticky mess. I was able to get a good idea from the picture of the tray of rolls that accompanied the recipe. It was 4 X 5 rows of 20 rolls in a 10 X 15 jelly roll pan. Fortunately, they turned out delicious. They were the most delicious rolls I had ever made. They did take a few extra minutes, past 18 minutes, to finish baking completely through to the center rolls. They were beautiful! They looked just like the picture, but there was quite a bit of stress involved in the first time making the rolls. I would suggest clarifying these points in the recipe. Then they would earn five stars plus some extras!