Is there anything better than warm bread smeared with melty butter? Thousands of people across the country have fallen in love with these dinner rolls, and for good reason- they truly are THE BEST! They are beginner friendly, so if you’re nervous about working with yeast, don’t be. This recipe makes two full pans of rolls and will definitely fill a standard Kitchenaid mixer to the absolute brim, so feel free to cut it in half if you are feeding a smaller crowd.
Ingredients Needed
- Milk – Whole milk is best. You can use 2% in a pinch, but avoid 1% or skim.
- Active Dry Yeast – This recipe calls for active dry yeast. I have not tried using rapid rise yeast, where the first rise is replaced by a 10 minute rest of the dough. If you feel like experimenting feel free to give it a try, just know it hasn’t been tested for this particular recipe. If you’re nervous about working with yeast, check out this post on tips for working with yeast dough.
- Eggs – You’ll notice the recipe calls for beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes–it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.
- Sugar
- Butter
- Salt
- Warm water
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
How to Make the World’s Best Dinner Rolls
- Combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. It’s salty. It’s sweet. Yum.
- Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes or until the yeast is very bubbly and the mixture has risen significantly. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled, you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been activated properly will only end in heartache.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.
- Crack your eggs and give them a good whisking (this little heart whisk is one of my favorite tools for jobs like this). Add to dough mixture and mix until well combined.
- Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense.
- Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.
- Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.
- Spray 2 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side (a plastic bowl scraper is also fantastic), so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.
- Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375°F.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown. When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it’s hot. Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.
Storing and Other Tips
- Homemade rolls are best eaten the same day as baking. If you do need to make them a day ahead of time, make sure they are cooled completely before storing in an airtight container.
- For best results, consume rolls within 1-2 days.
- P.S. Using this cinnamon roll filling or these cinnamon or orange roll filling, this dough makes fabulous cinnamon or orange rolls. Just bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these ahead and freeze?
While I do think rolls are best fresh and hot the day you make them, you can in fact prepare these ahead of time. Make dough through the roll-shaping step. Place your shaped rolls on parchment paper in a single layer and place in freezer. Once frozen solid you can place them in a bag together. When ready to cook, leave at room temperature, lightly covered with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray. They will need to defrost and then also have time to rise (think store-bought Rhodes rolls) so you will want to leave plenty of time for that (I’m guessing 3-5 hours). You can also cook the rolls, cool completely, and then freeze immediately.
My rolls are dense and doughy. What happened?
There could be a few culprits here. If your yeast is old or not activated properly, the dough will fail to rise and create air pockets, leaving the final product flat and dense. Too much flour will do the same thing. Make sure your yeast is fresh and active and refer to the pictures above to see how your dough should look when it has the perfect amount of flour! Lastly, don’t rush the rise. If your house isn’t very warm, it will take longer for your rolls to proof and be ready to bake!
Can I use rapid rise yeast and skip the first rise?
In theory, this would work ok, but I have not personally tried that method with this recipe. If you feel like trying it out, give it a go! If you’re looking for a recipe designed for use with rapid rise yeast, try out these One-Hour Dinner Rolls.
World’s Best Dinner Rolls
These reader favorite dinner rolls are soft and fluffy. Perfect for holiday dinners!
Servings rolls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk if you’re in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don’t use 1% or skim.
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar divided
- ⅓ cup butter 5 ⅓ tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 packages active dry yeast or 4 ½ teaspoons
- ⅔ cup warm water 105-115℉
- 8-9 cups all-purpose flour divided
- 3 beaten eggs
Instructions
- Combine milk, ½ cup sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled, you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been activated properly will only end in heartache.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.
- Add beaten eggs.
- Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough, about 5 – 6 cups. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.
- Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.
- Spray two 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.
- Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375℉.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.
- When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls.
Notes
- MAKING AHEAD: We have received tons of comments and emails asking about making these rolls ahead, or freezing the dough, etc. Note that we have never before tried any of these methods so we can’t give you an answer for sure. You can try freezing the dough after they have been shaped (but before the second rise) and you can certainly try cooking and cooling completely and then freezing. Just keep in mind we only make these fresh and eat them hot from the pan so that’s all the info we can give you.
- For best results, consume rolls within 1-2 days.
- P.S. Using this cinnamon roll filling or these cinnamon or orange roll filling, this dough makes fabulous cinnamon or orange rolls. Just bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition
Serving: 1roll, Calories: 214kcal, Carbohydrates: 38g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 30mg, Sodium: 231mg, Potassium: 89mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 141IU, Vitamin C: 0.002mg, Calcium: 35mg, Iron: 2mg
Calories: 214kcal
Cost: $8
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Questions & Reviews
Susie–I've never tried rising these in the fridge overnight, and if it were me, I definitely wouldn't risk it on Thanksgiving! 🙂 If it were me, I'd either get up super early on T-day make them OR make them the night before and store them in the fridge overnight; you could even slightly underbake them and then pop the in the oven for a few more minutes the next day.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Quick question…I want to make these for Thanksgiving, can I make them the night before and put them in the oven and bake them the next day? Or would it ruin them to have the dough sit in the fridge overnight?
Thanks for the easy directions on these rolls- I made them this past weekend and everyone raved about them! I will definitely be making these again for Thanksgiving!
I made these yesterday with part whole wheat flour. 4 cups whole wheat, 3 cups white, to be exact. They came out beautifully, though they were a little on the dry side the second day. I think whole wheat flour soaks up more moisture than white, and I added a little too much. Next time I'll try making the dough slightly wetter and see if that helps. They tasted so good and my kids devoured them.
I did it!!! The rolls turned out perfectly. I have not had the best of luck with yeast recipes lately but I made these for dinner last night and they were perfect. Your directions were very easy to follow. I might volunteer to make the rolls for Thanksgiving dinner (along with your sweet potato casserole dish- that was a HUGE hit last year and I've been counting down the months to make that again).
Chris–Yep, just use your dough hook! 🙂
Do you mix in a kitchenaid with the dough hook? Sorry if that is a dumb question I have never made any bread or rolls and really want to try!
Well I made rolls for the first time using this recipe and I was pretty proud of myself! I think they were pretty darn delicious. However, my husband said they weren't as good as his mother's but I wonder if it has more to do with tradition than anything else?
Thanks Kate, always nice to be remembered 😉 I tried the flax seed substitute and the rolls were fantastic so apparently it works. In case anyone wants the substitute instructions, you just use 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoon water to replace each egg. Thanks for sharing an amazing recipe, yet again.
Dana, if they come out dense, there are a couple of things you can do:
–Be sure to go easy on the flour–it's easy to overdo it and it's really hard to know how much to add in this recipe because you want it softer than usual when you're done kneading.
–Let the yeast "bloom" a little longer–maybe 15 minutes or so
–Let the rolls rise a little longer, particularly in the 2nd rise
–Try using 1% or 2% milk. The whole milk adds a richness and flavor that I really love, but when I've used lower-fat milk in the past, the rolls come out a little lighter (although I also find them a little more dry with not as much flavor).
Hope that helps! 🙂