These homemade dinner rolls have been a favorite in our family for generations. We serve these soft, buttery rolls with soup, salad, and, of course, every holiday dinner!
Dinner Rolls
Dinner RollsOur mom has made these homemade dinner rolls as far back as I can remember for Sunday dinners and special occasions. They are definitely a favorite of our family and always get devoured. They are so soft, fluffy, buttery, and go perfectly with ANY meal!
How to Make Dinner Rolls Fluffy and Soft
If you follow this recipe as outlined, you will get soft, fluffy dinner rolls every time. The best way you can tell if you are going to get soft rolls is by how the dough rises. If your dough isn’t rising well, your rolls are going to be denser.
The key is to make sure your yeast is activated in the warm water and sugar mixture before you add it to the bowl of other ingredients. Visually, it should look foamy, not like a liquid.
Always check the labels on your yeast packages to make sure they aren’t expired and that you are using it within 4-6 months from the first use. Also, be sure to keep yeast refrigerated or frozen after breaking the original seal.
How to Make Dough Without a Stand Mixer
No stand mixer? No problem. After you add the flour, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough by hand until it is soft and smooth. Add a flour a little at a time as needed—just make sure not to add too much. You want the dough to be soft but not too dense or the rolls won’t be as fluffy as you would probably like.
How to Store Homemade Dinner Rolls
We have found the best way to store homemade dinner rolls is to first allow them to cool, and then place them in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out all the air, then seal the bag tightly and store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
If you would like to reheat them in the microwave, you can wrap them one at a time in a paper towel and heat for 7-8 seconds.
Can dinner rolls be frozen?
Absolutely! When you prepare the rolls, use COLD milk. Make them as you normally would but form them before they rise. Remove them from the mixer and knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until you can form the balls.
Place them on a greased baking sheet and freeze them right away. You don’t want them to rise at all. Once frozen, place them in a plastic sealed bag and store for up to 6 months.
How to Cook Frozen Dinner Rolls
You would make these much like you would frozen dinner rolls you buy in the store. Place them in a greased 9×13 baking dish at room temperature, cover, and allow them to thaw and rise for anywhere from 2-6 hours, depending on how warm it is where they are thawing.
Once they have risen, bake them as you normally would per the instructions below. Don’t forget to butter them when they come out of the oven!
What to Eat With Homemade Rolls
There are so many possibilities with these rolls! They literally go with everything. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Butter and honey – this is how we always served these growing up!
- Butter and jam (this raspberry peach freezer jam or this fresh and easy strawberry jam recipe would be great!)
- Turn them into sliders: White Castle sliders copycat, mushroom swiss roast beef sliders, or mini grilled pork loin and apple burgers
- Enjoy them as a side with dinner – they would go great with this lemon pepper chicken
- Eat with soup like crock pot white chicken chili, slow cooker chicken and rice soup, or Mulligatawny soup
- Add a roll to your salad plate when you make berries salad, ramen noodle salad, or cold pasta salad
How to Make Dinner Rolls
Homemade dinner rolls are SO easy to make. The hardest thing about this recipe is just having a little patience while the dough rises. First you combine the ingredients.
Add flour and mix.
Let the dough rise
Form into rolls and let rise again.
Bake, butter, and serve!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, and warm water in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large stand-mixer bowl combine, add scalded milk, softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and egg. Stir until well combined.
- Stir in yeast mixture.
- Add 4 cups flour and mix using the dough hook attachment.
- Add 1/2 cup flour at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, it should still be slightly sticky. You may need more flour or even a little less than the full amount- it is best to eyeball this and go by feel than exact amounts.
- Slightly oil a large mixing bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn once to lightly cover dough in oil.
- Cover lightly with plastic wrap or light kitchen cloth.
- Allow dough to rise for 1 hour.
- Punch down dough. Lightly knead on a floured surface if dough is too sticky.
- Break off sections to form into small rolls. They should be roughly the size of a ping-pong ball (or approximately 2 oz.).
- Pinch the bottom of the rolls (so you have a smooth, round top) and place seam-side down in a greased 9x13 glass baking dish. You should be able to get 6 rows of 4 rolls (24 rolls total) and possibly a few extra.
- Cover lightly with plastic wrap (greased so dough doesn't stick to it) or light kitchen towel and allow to rise 30-45 minutes or until rolls have at least doubled in size.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops of the rolls become light golden brown.
- Remove from oven and brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter. Cool slightly and serve.
Equipment
- 9x13 inch pan
Nina says
Will these be good with bread flour too?
Favorite Family Recipes says
I haven’t tried making them with bread flour, so I’m not sure! Let me know how it turns out if you do try it!
Jane Saunders says
I love making these in advance and freezing as you instruct above – great for when catering for a crowd like at Christmas.
Nellie Tracy says
These really are the best of the best!
Lynette Siler says
Do these stay soft a day or two later? That’s the biggest problem with most homemade roll recipes…they’re great when they first come out of the oven only??
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yes! Ours usually stay good and soft for a couple of days.
Christi says
Do you have to use whole milk or will 1% work?
Favorite Family Recipes says
1% should work!
Sophie May says
hello – can this be done in a bread maker?
thanks,
Erica Walker says
Yes, you can make the dough in a bread machine and let it rise in there. Take the dough out and knead if needed and then roll into individual rolls and allow to rise again before baking in the oven (it won’t work to bake them in the bread machine– it will all clump together and just make bread). Hope this makes sense!
Amber says
Salted or unsalted is what I meant lol
Elanor says
We used this recipe to make garlic butter pull apart bread. SO yummy! I love it and will be using it again! Thank you!
Elaine says
Hi there. I am going to try this recipe but I am doing MyFitnessPal and noticed that the calorie count listed is 256. How many rolls would that calorie count be in reference to? Thanks in advance.
Echo Blickenstaff says
Hi Elaine, I’m so glad you asked! I reviewed our nutrition information on the recipe and found we had an error. I thought 256 calories seemed really high for one roll. I’ve corrected the error. There are 169 calories in one serving (1 roll). Thank you for asking!
Paola says
I made these rolls tonight and everything went perfectly… until I baked them. I baked them at 375° for 12 minutes and they didn’t look done so I baked them 2 more minutes… then 2 more minutes… I finally took them out and after cooling for 5 minutes, the rolls in the middle of the pan kind of shrunk into themselves. So I put them back into the oven for 10 more minutes, this time at 350° and they are finally baked enough so we can eat them. They are delicious and I love this recipe, but why didn’t mine bake well?
Favorite Family Recipes says
It is so hard to know why a recipe doesn’t turn out! It could be the altitude, a difference in oven temp, or freshness of ingredients. The climate where you live can affect it too. I am so sorry it didn’t bake well for you.
Sue Clark says
What flour do you use please?
Favorite Family Recipes says
All-Purpose!
Bridgette says
So when you freeze them, do you let the dough do a first rise, shape then freeze them before the second rise? Thanks for the post I will be making these in the near future!
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yes, that is exactly right! We hope you enjoy!
Donna says
I just love homemade dinner rolls, they make a meal so much more special. These made the house smell amazing too which always makes me happy 🙂
Erica Walker says
I agree, nothing beats that smell! So glad you liked this recipe!
Amber says
Salted or unsalted is what I meant lol
Favorite Family Recipes says
I always use salted butter, but the dough has salt in it already if you are worried about the salt content.
Bhawana says
wow, I am so tempted to try these soft and fluffy dinner rolls. You nailed it.
Jade says
These rolls are so light and fluffy just like the ones you get in a good restaurant. I make a double batch and freeze one for later.
Jaclyn says
Amazing! Who knew making dinner rolls from scratch was so simple?!
Christina says
I’ve always struggled with making these from scratch, but this recipe is so easy. Even I can do it!
Rita says
what wattage microwave for the milk? or what watt micro did you use?
Favorite Family Recipes says
We have a 1,000 watt microwave. Hope this helps!