Tessa's Recipe Rundown...
Taste: Sweet, slightly tropical, and buttery.
Texture: Soft, fluffy, and tender with a golden brown chewy exterior.
Ease: If bread baking overwhelms you this is a wonderful place to start!! Watch the video and read the above recipe notes and you’ll be good to go, promise!
Appearance: Who could resist one of these big beautiful sweet golden rolls? They look just like the store-bought ones!
Pros: Easy, relatively quick, delicious, perfect for a special dinner.
Cons: None except maybe that these are made with white flour.
Would I make this again? Oh absolutely!
These look amazing!
These look so soft and fluffy, mmm 🙂
I swear those little sweet rolls get me every time. I find myself not able to stop eating them if I have them around, but if I made them myself, I couldn’t feel bad about snarfing them down since I’d never waste anything I actually made. 🙂
I know what I’m making this weekend. These would be amazing with pulled pork.
I literally had these with pulled pork for dinner on Tuesday night!
That texture looks PERFECT! And that golden top, to die for!
So soft and with just a hint of sweetness, these would be irresistible!
Can you do this in a bread maker as a loaf?
I don’t own a bread maker but I don’t see why not… it wouldn’t exactly be a copycat recipe at that point though!
Wow, these look great, and I imagine taste even better! I love these with pork, and coleslaw.
Can’t wait to try this! Have always loved those King Hawaiian Bread Rolls. Quick question, can the recipe be halved? Otherwise would you instead recommend using some AP flour since I won’t have enough bread flour? I prob have around 3 cups of bread flour left but can’t wait to make this soon!
You should be just fine using up all the bread flour you have then substituting AP flour for the remaining amount.
I made these yesterday and they turned out harder then i’m sure there supposed to be rather than light and fluffy. I’m wondering if that is the result of not letting it rise long enough? Thanks!
Good day ma’am Tessa that was another amazing bread recipe…it’s a big help to me because here in our country philippines culinary school is so expensive ..so I’m very thankful to find your website…thank you so much…more power and Godbless…
These look great and will be the first recipe I make with my new stand mixer. Thanks so much
This was sooooo fantastic tasting and easy. I’ve turned into a Carb-Monster…. I ate two in a row !!!
I am curious. My dough has been sitting in the bowl for about 45 minutes now and it hasn’t risen at all. First time making any kind of bread.
It sounds like you didn’t use instant yeast or your yeast might be dead (or your kitchen is really cold).
Not all the flour is not being incorporated. I have followed the recipe to a T. Now what do I do? Too much money to waste.
Not all the flour is not being incorporated? I really have no idea what the means! 🙁
Hi Tessa,
I just took these rolls out of the oven and ate 2! They are wonderful! My girls really liked them too. Very easy to do. Will be making regularly. Thank you! Will be trying more of your recipes.
Yay! So glad to hear that, thanks for sharing.
What’s your recommendation for storage? I’ll need to bake this weekend for Thanksgiving. Fridge or counter?
Hi! Please see the “make ahead” advice in the post. I would not recommend baking 4-5 days ahead of time, they will go stale unless you freeze.
How did you keep the milk and pineapple from curdling when mixed? This would seem to be a possible problem with recipe
I made these rolls with my brand new Kitchenaid mixer (1st thing I made with the KA mixer). Filled them with Mojo style pulled pork, topped with pan seared pineapples.
Very delicious!
Better than the Store bought Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.
♡♡♡♡♡♡
Will make again!
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hello. The recipe states “4 1/2 cups (20 ounces) bread flour” but 4.5 cups is not 20 ounces. Which is correct for the recipe, 4.5 cups (36 ounces) or 2.5 cups (20 ounces)?
Hi! If you’re not familiar with weighing ingredients it can be a bit tricky to wrap your head around at first but think of it this way – 1 cup of feathers will not weigh the same amount as 1 cup of lead. 1 cup does not always equal 8 ounces. Please see my Ultimate Guide to Measuring for more help: https://www.handletheheat.com/ultimate-guide-measuring/
I just made these, and I don’t think they came out right. The dough didn’t double in size before I formed them for baking. Does the pineapple juice have to be warm? Mine was cold, but I had the milk warmed to the appropriate temperature. I baked them. They rose, but I think it was because of the eggs. I also kneaded by hand because I do not have a have kitchen aid, will that make a difference?
Chelsea, I had issues of whether the pineapple juice’s temperature was crucial for this recipe to come out right. I researched two other Hawaiin roll recipes and BOTH said to use ROOM temperature pineapple juice. It makes sense because of the yeast. Thanks for bringing this to light in this recipe.
I will be using Active Dry Yeast and read your instructions on how to substitute; however, I am wondering if I need to adjust the measurement you stated for the instant yeast and if so what would the new amount be for the Active Dry Yeast? Thank you and great video btw!
Active dry yeast and instant yeast can be substituted for each other 1:1. Happy baking!
Olá vou experimentar sua receita e fazer,espero acertar o que é farinha de pão para vocês aqui no Brasil eu conheço farinha de trigo .
Alexandra
Oi magiasbook.
Se vc nao achar a farinha propria para pao. Use uma farinha de boa qualidade.E so isso.
@Lola, since the OP seems confused: if all of your flour does not incorporate, it is probably due to your house/where you love being much drier. In more humid climates, you need more flour to compensate for the moisture in the air. I’ve noticed that for some bread recipes the flour requirements can fluctuate by +/- 1.5 cups from winter to summer here in the humid South.
I had to let you know that my family LOVES these rolls, thank you so much for posting your recipe!! I make them at least twice a week. I hate buying mass-produced, chemical filled bread so I always make my own and this is my kids’ favorite for their school lunches. They are delicious!
These turned out perfect! I cut the sugar in half to make less sweet rolls for the particular dinner I was making. I’ll definitely try out the original soon too!
I don’t have a stand up mixer. Can I fold in the flour by hand and how long should I knead it?
She addresses that in the post.
I used instant yeast, turn out terrible. The dough became very dry and falling apart. Oh and the yeasty smell is super awful even though I followed the recipe to a T. So I switch to active dry yeast and everything come out perfect. I’m so glad I didn’t get discourage after the first fail. Also, the second time I use only 3 2/3 cup bread flour. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe.
I’m guessing your experiences have less to do with the yeast and way more to do with the amount of flour used! Use a scale to weigh your flour for the most accurate results or be sure to use the spoon and level method of measuring flour with measuring cups. More info here: https://www.handletheheat.com/2014/07/ultimate-guide-measuring.html
I made these rolls this weekend and they turned out great! They’re not quite as sweet as regular Hawaiian rolls, which is nice. Thanks for the recipe!
I have the packets of Fleischmann’s RapidRISE HIGHLY ACTIVE YEAST. can I use it in this recipe? If so, how many packs. Should I use?
Hi, I just made these and they looked great but were really dense 🙁 . I used active yeast w 1/4 cup of water and bread flour. I also baked them in a glass dish so I lowered the temp to 350 and baked till golden brown. So bumbed. Any suggestions to make them turn out fluffier?
S
I made your recipe today. Well attempted to.
The dough was really wet and sticky…..until I realized that I added 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of juice instead of a half cup of each, lol.
Once I added twice as many of the other ingredients, it came together nicely. I cooked half of the recipe and froze the other half.
Sometimes mistakes are good, I’m glad that I had enough ingredients.
It turned out really good. 🙂
Just made these…. ABSOLUTELY delish! So easy to make. Thanks Tessa!
I have tried many copy cat Hawaiian bread recipes. This is the only one that is SPOT ON!!! These will become a regular on my “Breads To Bake List”. Thanks so much. I am a hit with my granddaughter. Hawaiian rolls are her favorite!
Just made these using the dough setting on my bread machine. I used bread machine yeast, and, OMG, they are amazing. Thank you for the best Hawaiian roll recipe ever.
Wonderful Lenore, thanks for sharing about the bread machine!
I make this recipe in my bread machine on the sweet dough cycle all the time. You will find that a sweet dough will take longer the rise once they are formed into buns. I find that if I turn on the light in my oven when I start the dough that the oven is warm enough to make an ideal environment for the dough to rise. I also put a 4 cup glass measuring cup with 3 cups of water that I have boiled in the microwave in the oven during the proofing time. The steam prevents a crust to form on the dough and the buns will rise higher. Remove the buns and the water before you preheat the oven.
Are you sure that your flour to liquid ratios are right, as the liquid seems high. When I followed your recipe, I could not achieve a soft ball using 20 oz of bread flour. I added and additional approx 6 oz and still did not have a soft ball. I had stopped at this point because the dough seemed very heavy. Current RH is 84%. Please advise.
Can I use all purpose flour?
do they freeze well ?
I’ve just made these twice in the last week. The first batch was to test the recipe and it was great. I did it exactly as the recipe called for and it came out perfect each time.
I didn’t have a mixer, or a bread maker, so I did it by hand with a fork and a bowl, then some elbow grease to knead. Each time it was delicious.
The flavor was great, not too sweet at all, and the pineapple juice really put them over the top. I don’t even like pineapple.
I wanted to give my two cents and hopefully help others feel confident about this recipe. Go ahead and make it your family will love you.
Forgot to mention I used all purpose flour.
Just a note to anyone in the same boat as I was just in. I didn’t have any pineapple juice, but had a fresh pineapple so I blended and strained 1/2 c. of the juice instead. Unfortunately, the enzymes in the fresh pineapple break down and destroy the gluten you are trying to form when kneading, leaving you with a stick, mushy dough that will not recover…baker beware!
Cant wait to try.
Need to get bread flour and my on it!!!
Tessa,
Thank you so much for this recipe I make it all the time and my family loves it . I make them hamburger bun size then make pulled pork sandwiches and cheese burgers they’re so good.
Fantastic! That sounds absolutely delicious.
These are not only delicious but they look great and easy to make.
Wonderful! Glad to hear it.
This is so much better than another recipe I tried from a different site. Your rolls rose twice as fast! The only thing I added was a half tsp. of ground ginger, which was something the other recipe called for that I really liked.
Thank you so much for posting!
Hi Tessa
The recipe look very tasty, but I was wondering if I can convert the butter with something else? We can’t it butter because of cholesterol. Thanks
I haven’t tried using a butter substitute so I can’t say for sure. If you give it a try let us know how they turn out!
Great recipe! Im uk based so i had a real struggle converting everything precisely and the mixture was extremely goey. I was concerned so i took a gamble and added more flour to half of the mixture. They both turned out great although the one with more flour was denser. The method is a quite a struggle due to the goey dough but I wouldn’t mind trying it again!!!
I made the dough for these in a bread machine. This is a great recipe ! Light and fluffy so the bread machine did the hard part. are not s sweet as the store brand. I will make these for Thanksgiving!
If I wanted to reduce the amount of rolls by half, do I just halve the ingredients? Thank you!
Wish i would have read these comments before making them. Not sure if using fresh vs canned pineapple juice made the difference but the juice kept destroying the gluten and the dough turned into a soupy, sticky mess. Adding additional flour did not make a difference as after a few minute, my nice, firm ball of dough reverted back to slime. What a waste of ingredients.
Can’t wait to try them!
I’ve learned so much from from you! As a former teacher, I’d like to give you an A+ on your instructions. Well done!!!!!
Wow, thank you so much! 🙂
This was an absolute wonderful dough to work with, I however only did one thing different, I put all my dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, then made a huge well in the center down to the bottom of the bowl, pulling the dry ingredients up the sides of the bowl, then poured the premixed dry ingredients into the center, then with a wooden spoon quickly pulled all the ingredients together, therefor the wettest in the center, then added the dough hook, and let it knead for 5 min. Perfect dough! This may help the one that said the flour didn’t incorporate into the dough, my Granny taught me that, and it helps with bread dough to incorporate the ingredients evenly.Thank you Tessa and Hope that helps Lola. May the smell of fresh bread fill your house and surround you and your loved ones with warm hugs! ^_^
Thanks for leaving your feedback, Lisa! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Your Granny sounds like she was a great baker 🙂
Hello there. Is there any way I can make these into loaves of bread instead of buns?
I’ve never tried so I’m not sure. If you do try let me know how it works out!
Question, love the Hawaiian rolls but don’t always want a sweet roll for sliders. Could I just use milk in place of pineapple juice so they would not be sweet?
Sure! Let us know how they turn out.
I tried making rolls with the fresh pineapple juice. Agreed the flour just wouldn’t stiffen up and form a ball, no matter how much I added. Does the enzyme in the fresh juice also kill the yeast?
I’ve never used fresh juice for this recipe, only canned. It would appear from other commenters that fresh juice does have a negative effect on the yeast :/
Fantastic rolls! I mixed them in my bread machine on the dough cycle (it enables me to do other things for an hour and a half while the bread machine does the mixing, kneading and proofing). I put my rolls in 2 8″ round cake pans since I was giving some to a friend if they turned out well. They turned out perfect! I’m planning to use this same recipe for hamburger buns this weekend – give the brioche recipe a rest. As another reviewer mentioned, I make all my own bread so I’m not paying big bucks for a lot of things I can barely pronounce in my food. These are going to become a firm favorite for rolls, hamburger buns and sandwich rolls for pulled pork. YUM!
Afternoon,
I haven’t made these yet. Can’t wait to make. Can I use regular flour instead of bread flour or does it have to be bread flour? I’ve enjoyed your website. Thank you Thank you
Bread flour works best to make really nice and tall, round, and slightly chewy rolls but you should be able to get away without it.
Thank you sooooo much for this easy delicious rolls. I just made with all purpose flour instead of bread flour because i didn’t havit on hand so i just used 4 cups and they turned out so yummy. My husband and son liked very much.
I was lucky enough to visit Hawii and fell in love with the rolls. Your recipe was the 5th one I tried was about to give up Your’s was the last I was trying ! So glad I tried yours !!! Excellent ! Thank you
Hi, Tessa. Could I substitute orange juice for the pineapple juice, or the syrup from a can of pineapple rings? Thanks so much.
Delicious!
@Lola the flour not being incorporated means there is too much flour (measure using spoon to fill cup, then level off lightly; do not pack the flour in or you would use too much, ending in dry, tough baked goods).
Wow these were really easy! I’m making them for the 5th time and my third variation. I do find I get up to 24 rolls per batch though. I’ve also made it into bread as well. This batch I’m using fifty percent wheat flour plus 4 tsp wheat gluten.
These were amaaaazing .. when I tried them right out of the oven I died and went to heavean .. they are like pillows soooo soft and buttery and delicious .. thank you sooo much for the recipe
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the recipe xo
I am noticing that all recipes for Hawaiian rolls call for “pineapple juice” yet original recipe there is none added. So why add?
Well, sometimes when you’re recreating a food that’s processed and packaged in the grocery store, it’s nearly impossible to use the same ingredients since we’re not in a manufacturing plant. The pineapple juice truly does give the same sweet and tropical flavor that the packaged ones have. I hope you’ll give it a try 🙂
Bravo on the Hawaiian buns recipe! I got great rise and texture. I tried to mold them into 8 big hamburger buns, worked out pretty well and they were very dark brown at 15 minutes. Not burnt and the bottoms were only lightly browned on a silpat. I am very pleased with the results, thank you.
Glad to hear it!
I made this on the dough cycle of a bread machine and used in dough to make hot dog buns in a New England hot dog bun pan! There was enough dough for the buns and 6 rolls. Taste great. I did make one small change-I subtracted a quarter cup of bread flour and added a quarter cup of potato flour, cause I find it makes the texture softer and moister. But, boy, these are great!
That’s great!! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I made these exactly as written, and they turned out fantastic! They tasted identical to the original Hawaiian rolls! I will be making these again and again! Made sliders and they were wonderful. Thanks, Tessa!
Glad to hear that, Valerie! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I just baked these today. They came out perfect! I had to add an additional 1/4 cup of flour because the dough was too sticky. It was a little hot and humid today. Wonderful recipe. Thank you!
I’m glad you made the recipe work for you!! Those humid days can really affect your dough! Enjoy xo
Can you taste the pinepple juice?
It ends up just tasting tropical 🙂
I made these twice and both times they came out flat and heavy like hockey pucks. I was so excited to make them also. Used the right yeast. Used the right flour. Leveled the flour. They never really rose thou when I let them sit. Used a Kitchen Aide to mix. Bread/Rolls skills I do not have. Bummed.
Hi Varina, it sounds like your yeast may have been dead and that’s why they didn’t rise. There’s instructions for checking for freshness here: https://www.handletheheat.com/ultimate-guide-measuring/
Also, it’s really important that the other liquids (even the melted butter) aren’t too hot. Anything beyond 120°F and the yeast will begin to die.
A friend of mine made her own Chinese style roast pork. I suggested she use Hawaiian dinner rolls in order to create char siu (baked pork buns). I am making these for her. Maybe she can recreate the buns! Very happy I found your site. Your community is very active. They have offered so many tips! Thank you one and all!.
How do you keep the milk and pineapple juice from curdling? I’m trying to use active dry yeast instead of instant. I warm the milk and then add the pineapple juice and it becomes a cheese. Please help
I made two batches of these so we would have enough for visiting my family AND have some for leftover turkey sandwiches since I was in charge of rolls. The first batch rose so nicely it FILLED the 9×11 baking pan with 16 rolls. Even so, these were a bit too much bread for us, so when I got home this afternoon I halved the other batch and put them into the pan I brought home from mom’s. These are the PERFECT size for small turkey snack sandwiches and I got 30 rolls instead of 15 (one pan had 15, the other had 16).
Also, in case anyone else uses it instead of traditional flour from the USA, I used caputo tipo 00 pizzeria flour with 4 tsp. king arthur gluten and they turned out like a dream! I’m able to eat this flour without any side effects so long as I eat it in moderation, but it’s from Italy and doesn’t have any junk added to it. Maybe that’s why.
LOVE the recipe – shared it with all my friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving!
RE: Not all the flour is not being incorporated. I have followed the recipe to a T. Now what do I do? Too much money to waste.
Tessa — November 3, 2014 at 9:30 am
Not all the flour is not being incorporated? I really have no idea what the means!
Only 2 1/2 cups of flour. Tessa obviously don’t know measurements. Please state weight instead of cups next time.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to, Kenny. The weight for the flour is listed in the recipe.
I tried making this twice, both came out the same. I have a kitchen aid, i used warm milk and room temp pineapple juice, I used instant yeast. Realized the first one didn’t rise because the yeast wasn’t fresh so we tried it again using instant yeast. It also baked longer than 25 minutes and both came out as hard as hockey puck. They were still good but not as buttery, soft or fluffy… what could have gone wrong? I live in Ca (Belmont), i’m thinking it’s because the weather has been cold? Should I have heated the pineapple juice… wanna keep trying until i get this right. Love Hawaiian bread! Thank you!!!
Hi Alex, the pineapple juice should be at room temperature. It sounds like you may not need all of the flour the recipe calls for, or you may be over-measuring the flour which is really easy to do if measuring by volume with measuring cups. I would suggest using a kitchen scale to weigh the flour instead, or try to reduce the flour slightly. Bread baking usually needs some tweaking since every kitchen environment is a little different (temperature, climate, elevation, ingredients, equipment, etc.) If it’s cold then try adding 30 min to 1 hour to the rise time so you get a more fluffy texture. Good luck!
I just made this and it’s delicious! I used 3/4 c pineapple juice instead of 1/2. It was really soft! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
One question – I’m assuming I use a 3rd egg for egg wash??? Thank you
I made these with a slight change I 1/2 USED HEAVY CREAM instead of milk 8tsp sugar…. I divided the dough using half for cinnamon buns and the other half into kaiser knots/ rolls i boiled ea knot 1 min in a water (2 cups) 1 tbs baking soda, 1tbs brwn sugar, brushed ea w egg wash topped a few w a sesame/poppy seed dried onion mix before baking. Made the perfect grilled chicken sandwiches and they made great breakfast rolls filled w sausage….mmmm delicious
Wow! These came out *fantastically*!!! So light and so fluffy! Great flavor! Definitely, this is now my go-to recipe for Hawaiian Sweet Rolls! Thank you so much for sharing! I am keeping this recipe!
Tessa,
Oh my goodness! Thank you for this timeless recipe.They are delicious!
Iris
I attempted this and my kithenaid wouldn’t mix the dough. I just got the mixer and am so disappointed, my dough didn’t raise and I ended up pitching it. Any suggestions what I did wrong or why my mixer won’t kneed the dough?
These came out beautiful my family loved them
These were delicious! They required about 5 extra minutes in the oven to get golden brown. The texture was more dense than the store bought Hawaiian sweet rolls, but they were yummy nonetheless.
Can you make these into hoggie rolls? I still there a difference between hoggie recipes and rolls? I’m wanting a Hawaiian hoggie a small a hot dog bun