Photos by Constance Higley.
There’s absolutely no need to be intimidated by homemade yeast bread baking. Especially with a practically fool proof recipe like this one. I promise, it’s way easier than it probably seems!
I actually developed this recipe after testing tons of tweaks on dinner rolls for my Ultimate Dinner Roll Guide post here. I learned exactly what made dinner rolls fluffy or hard, tender or crusty, and compiled my favorite tweaks to create this recipe for Ultimate Dinner Rolls!
I hope you give this recipe a shot soon. If you’re still freaked out by working with yeast, there’s a free guide at the end of this post you can download to give yourself a confidence boost.
This recipe was originally published 10/2013 and recently updated with new photos, video, and more baking tips!
Dinner Roll Baking Tips
Yeast
This recipe utilizes a short cut ingredient: instant yeast. For this recipe you can also use rapid rise or quick rise yeast. One of the 3 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. 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.
Flour
Bread flour is used in this recipe, which should make sense simply by the name! Bread flour has a higher level of protein content than all-purpose flour, which helps to create tall dinner rolls with a nice chewy 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.
Make Ahead
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 refrigerate 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.
I hope you make this recipe soon. Just check out what Tori said in her comment below, “I MADE THESE ROLLS FOR DINNER TONIGHT AND THEY WERE AMAZING.
Thank you!! Best recipe ever, so soft and fluffy. I love them. THANK YOU.”
How to make
Ultimate Dinner Rolls
Recipe By Tessa Arias, Handle the Heat
Yield: 15 rolls
Prep Time:
30 minutes
Cook:
20 minutes
Ingredients
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup warm milk (100 to 110°F)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
4 1/2 cups (572 grams) bread flour
Flake sea salt, for sprinkling
Directions
Combine the water, milk, 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, eggs, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2 cups of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a rough, shaggy mass. Attach the dough hook to the mixer, turn to medium-low speed, and gradually add the remaining flour, kneading until a mass of dough begins to forms. Continue kneading on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes until a soft, smooth ball of dough is formed. The dough should feel elastic and slightly tacky to the touch.
Lightly spray a large clean bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature or until the dough is big, puffy, and about doubled in size.
Spray a 13×9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Gently deflate the dough. Use a bench scraper, knife, or pizza wheel to divide the dough into 15 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place in the prepared pan. Brush with the remaining 1 tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle with flake sea salt. Lightly cover the dough with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for 30 minutes, or until about doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Bake the rolls for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Serve warm. Store leftovers in a plastic bag for up to 3 days.
Recipe by Tessa of Handle the Heat
About Tessa...
Tessa is a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. She loves to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. She's on a mission to make the world a more unapologetically DELICIOUS place. Tessa lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Reader Photo!
Sabrina from Tennessee made this recipe and look how beautiful her rolls turned out! Thanks for sharing 🙂
If you’re interested in improving your bread baking skills, check out my FREE guide:
Photos by Constance Higley.
I don’t know how you can possibly top the Texas Roadhouse rolls of a few months back, which are wonderful, but I’ll give these a try and compare! In the few months I’ve been reading your blog, I’ve come to really trust your sense for a good recipe. Thanks!
I love baking bread and those are some really good results! For sure bookmarking these for Nov 28th 🙂
Thanks Gerry!
I love your videos. I’m such a roll making novice, this helps so much! Not to mention you have the prettiest hands and manicure, so it makes it really easy to watch. Is it creepy I just said that? 🙂
Hahaha thanks Heidi! 🙂
I made these tonight, and they were great! My dough didn’t quite double, and wasn’t very puffy, so I thought they might not turn out, but they were perfect! Definitely making them for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m glad they turned out!
At what point could I freeze these so that would just have to thaw and bake on Thanksgiving?
You can freeze 10 minutes after your shape the dough into rolls. Defrost overnight in the fridge and proceed with the next steps in the recipe (letting the dough rolls rise then baking).
I suck at baking bread—but no more. This recipe works super fine. I’ll use it in my experiment next weekend. Taking 3 small balls of dough and placing in muffin tins to form clover rolls.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
That’s why I love this recipe… it’s pretty foolproof even for the inexperienced bread baker. Clover rolls sound wonderful, I hope they turn out great!
I love making fluffy rolls. Still looking for the perfect recipe-yours look AMAZING! Can’t wait to try your recipe!
can i make this without using a mixer?
Certainly! It will just take about 10 minutes of kneading by hand.
The recipe says bread flour. The bread flour I have sure won’t make white fluffy roles. Did you use regular flour.
No, I used King Arthur bread flour. I’m not sure what kind of bread flour you have but if you want you can use regular all-purpose flour. I find that bread flour helps makes these rolls nice and sturdy and round while being soft with a slight chew. Stay tuned for a post I will be publishing next week breaking down all the ingredients in dinner rolls.
Just tried making these this morning and they turned out absolutely perfect! Great recipe!
Could you please post your pizza dough recepie?
Thanks,
Linda
Hi Tessa, I made these the other day and they were awesome. I want to make them again for Thanksgiving but I want to double the recipe. Do you know if I can use the same amount of yeast or should I double that as well.
Hi Erika, you should be fine with using the same amount of yeast, just be sure to use instant yeast, also sometimes called “rapid rise”. You may also not want to double the salt but instead use 1.5 times the amount, so 2 1/4 teaspoons salt. Everything else should be fine if doubled. Hope that helps. Happy Thanksgiving!
These look amazing and simple! 🙂 I’d like to make them tomorrow night for Thanksgiving… will they keep overnight in the fridge from fresh??
Thanks! I’m not sure what you mean by “from fresh” but you can either complete the recipe through shaping the dough into rolls, let the unbaked rolls rise in the fridge overnight then bake off when you’re ready or you can simply bake the rolls tomorrow, underbaking slightly, then reheat in the oven until golden and warm on Thanksgiving.
I made these today for Thanksgiving. Came out very tasty, although a little dense. I’m not sure the dough rose enough, since it didn’t appear to double in size in 1 hour like yours seems to do in the video. I’ll definitely try them again soon!
Made these for Thanksgiving today, they turned out great fluffy and delicious everyone loved them, they were so easy to make especially after watching the tutorial. thanks for sharing this recipe.
Chelsea, I made these rolls for Thanksgiving yesterday and they were PERFECT and so easy to make! Thanks girl!
Ohmygosh, I was watching Chelsea Lately on DVR and totally had her name in my head, so sorry Tessa! Oh lordy.
Haha no worries! I love Chelsea Lately! I’m so happy you enjoyed the rolls 🙂
I made these for Thanksgiving, and they were delicious! I had never made rolls from scratch before, so I was thrilled that they turned out like they were supposed to. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! 🙂
Second time’s a charm! I made these today, and they came out great. Ingredients are everything sometimes.
Glad to hear that!
After having a tried-and-true recipe for dinner rolls, i decided to try these for Easter. My other recipe took longer and was a bit more involved. This simple recipe was WONDERFUL. I do not have a mixer so I kneaded the dough about 6-8 minutes. I also made them the night before, put in the fridge and let stand before i baked them. Delicious! I love that they made 15 rolls, a perfect serving for us. They will move to the top of my list!
Lynne, thank you so much for your kind words about the recipe!! I’m so happy they made it to your Easter table. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I stumbled upon this page when seeking a new dinner roll recipe. In the time it’s taken these rolls to complete their first rise, I’ve managed to repin a good 20-30 of your recipes! This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. (And a new pant size.)
Hey Tessa. Do you think I could freeze the rolls after they have risen? Or place the rolls a good distance apart on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them to then place them in a bag? I’d love to hear your thoughts. These rolls look so freaking delicious and I cannot wait to try them.
I think flash freezing the risen rolls would work best! Defrost overnight in the fridge, then let them come to room temperature before baking as the recipe directs. I’ve also actually frozen these rolls completely baked and reheated in a 350°F oven for 7 to 10 minutes with success. Happy baking!
am i able to use regular baker’s yeast i don’t want to get a whole pack of instant yeast just for one recipe.
Sure, it’ll just take longer to rise.
Hi, Tessa. Just wondering if i could use whole wheat flour instead of normal bread flour for this recipe ? and would it be possible to skip the butter ? Im planning to serve this to a friend who is having health issue. Thank you so much.
All whole wheat flour would be pretty dense. I’d do half all-purpose, half whole-wheat if possible. The butter helps to tenderize the dough and brown the rolls as they bake. You can leave it out but it won’t be the same. If it’s a dairy thing you can use dairy-free butter substitute.
Can I make these in my bread maker?
You can make the dough through the first rise but then of course the rolls will need to rise and bake in the oven.
This roll recipe is perfection! I was so surprised when my rolls turned out just as fluffy and golden brown as yours!
I kneaded the dough by hand for 10 minutes but followed the directions exactly other than that and they are amazing!
Definitely one to add to my recipe box (: thank you!
hi tessa
i read your whole recipe but couldn’t find anything in written “freeze the dough for so-and-so minutes”. i dont understand what other people are talking about.. am i missing something? my PC crashed so I’m using my smartphone to view your recipe. i can’t find your video as well. would you be kind enough to post your original & complete recipe in this comments reply? i love these rolls and would love to try them.
thanks 🙂
First time making rolls as I have just brought a stand mixer, the dough seemed more sticky than yours but was fine when I shaped the rolls and they turned out perfect. I live in England, can you explain the difference between Dinner rolls and normal rolls? Thank you for the confidence boost, I will try other bread recipes now.
Can I use oil instead of butter for the dough and brush the top of the rolls with some eggwash instead of butter?
Thanks.
I just made these tonight for Thanksgiving tomorrow! TOTAL SUCCESS!!! I did substitute honey for the granulated sugar (because we have bees so I try to use our honey in recipes as often as I can). They turned out great, and everyone in the family fought over the sample roll. (I also doubled the recipe in my Bosch mixer and it worked great.) Thanks for the recipe!
Soooo happy they were a success! I bet your honey made them extra tasty. Happy Thanksgiving!
Is it okay to use self-rising flour for this recipe? I’m excited to try this recipe for Thanksgiving!
No, I would not use self-rising flour as the recipe does not require leavener other than the yeast.
i made these for thanksgiving 2014 they were great had nothing but compliments about them. they are also great warmed up do not get hard.
That makes me so happy! Glad the recipe was a part of your celebration.
I am a first time roll maker and your video was very helpful! I made these today for thanksgiving and they turned out awesome!
Thrilled to hear that! Hope it was a great holiday.
I’ve always been hesitant about baking homemade bread….working with yeast made me nervous. I was so pleased at how easy these rolls were to make and how absolutely perfect they came out. The video was a great addition-I could see I was on the right track during the entire process. I am more confident now about baking with yeast. Thanks so much!
I don’t have a stand mixer, can these be done by hand? I don’t expect you can use a handheld mixer either? Looking to try these for Christmas 😀
Omg this is the first time i made rolls that look like rolls and not like flat wanna be rolls great recipe thank you for sharing life saver 🙂 God bless you
Hi Tessa! I made these a couple of weeks ago and they were wonderful! I was wondering if I could use this recipe and stuff them with some pepperoni and mozzarella cheese to make Pepperoni and Chesse Rolls?
i just made these, but I knew I was in trouble after I finished mixing in the remaining bread flour. My dough wasn’t soft and fluffy like yours in the video. I did measure the flour as well as weigh it out. My dough looked like I had used too much flour. Any suggestions?
I made the dinner roll once with bread flour and once with ap flour they same to good both ways . I also made them into hamburger buns and turned out great I weigh them out at 4 oz balls and pressed them down to make them round they also turned out great thank you for your recipes al
Made these, flavored with garlic butter…10 stars!!!!!
I’ve made these three times now and they look beautiful but turn out dense. Any suggestions? I follow your recipe exactly every time and I’m stumped!
Dense bread is usually due to the flour being over-measured. If you live in a very dry climate you may need to reduce the flour but for best results always weigh the flour. If you don’t have a scale use the spoon and level method detailed here: https://www.handletheheat.com/ultimate-guide-measuring/
Another cause of dense bread is not allowing it enough time to rise. Always use the visual indication in a recipe for how the bread should look when it’s risen. You can also replace half the bread flour with all-purpose flour to create a lighter texture too. Hope that helps!
I MADE THESE ROLLS FOR DINNER TONIGHT AND THEY WERE AMAZING.
Thank you!! Best recipe ever, so soft and fluffy. I love them. THANK YOU.
I tried your recipe it was really good. Thanks. I made the dough have it refridgerated overnight and bake it the next day. Texture was really good spongy and chewy.
I havent made your rolls yet but I watched your video and they look easy and yummy! Im considering adding them to my Thanksgiving dinner but I would have to change one thing. I never buy bread flour, instead I keep some wheat gluten in my freezer and add to my plain flour whenever I make bread or rolls. That is the difference between plain flour and bread flour… bread flour has more gluten for a higher rise than when you use plain flour. Thanks for the wonderful recipe and your teaching video. Im sure it will help those who are afraid of yeast dough to try making it.
I made these for thanksgiving today – EPIC!!! So excited they turned out exactly like yours. I was worried because I just used All Purpose Flour – but they still turned out amazing.
Thank you so much for a great recipe
Saw this recipe last week and thought to try it. Made these twice so far and they are awesome. Easy to make and my family loves them. I’m also checking out your other bread recipes that I can try. Thanks for the recipe and great video tutorial.
I was looking for something I could make that was not too hard, satisfying for lots of people’s tastes, and fun to do. Your recipe filled the bill! Thanks so much. I really enjoyed the texture, handling the dough, forming the rolls, and then presenting the results to my family and to members of a class I teach. The aroma was the best advertisement! I want to work on the subtle skills that enhance flavor and texture, but try was a success.
I was looking for something I could make that was not too hard, satisfying for lots of people’s tastes, and fun to do. Your recipe filled the bill! Thanks so much. I really enjoyed the texture, handling the dough, forming the rolls, and then presenting the results to my family and to members of a class I teach. The aroma was the best advertisement! I want to work on the subtle skills that enhance flavor and texture, but my first try was a success.
Woohoo, Lindsey! Happy to hear that 🙂 And you’re so right, there’s nothing like the aroma of baking bread.
Have you tried making a loaf of bread with this recipe?
Turned out great!! My grandkids love them.
I have made these dinner rolls and each time I surprise myself with the end result. It’s easy and something to put on the table that’s tasty and beautiful to look at.
Can this particular dough be shaped into knots or other shapes?
I haven’t tried that! Let me know if you give it a try 🙂
Without a doubt the BEST and EASIEST recipe I have found…these are a big hit with everyone in my family!!!
That’s wonderful to hear, Denise!
These rolls were perfect!!! They tasted as good as they looked! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
I have used your roll recipe for years now. It is perfect, easy, and never fails me! Thank you!
So happy to hear that, Dawn!!
Hi Tess,
there are 2 comments about freezing the dinner rolls, one says to shape into rolls and let rise then flash freeze the other one says to freeze10 minutes after shaping. Which way is best and do i need extra yeast in the recipe?
Thanks,
Lori
hi Tessa..these rolls look amazing!!i would love to make them. do you mind sharing the recipe in grams? i’m not very familiar with cup measurements :p
thanks 🙂
Wow! Made these today, and they are amazing! This will now be my go to recipe! Thank you 🙂
I made these last Thanksgiving and they were the STAR of the meal. So easy and fabulous. I will never buy a dinner roll ever again.
Oh, I’m so pleased to hear that, Alex!! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I was wondering if you knew of a way, or your best suggestion for making these rolls stay fresh longer? Is there a way to store them that would help them taste and feel similar after say, three or four days? Or an ingredient you know of even? Or is feezing/thawing the dough the way you’d handle it?
Yes, freezing and thawing the dough would give you the best taste and texture!
My whole family love the buns. Going to use them for my Meat Sliders the next time. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.
These rolls came out PERFECT. Tried and approved! You will not be disappointed. My go-to dinner roll recipe from now on. Thank you!!