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Easy Dinner Rolls are fluffy, soft, buttery and so simple to make using quick rise yeast. These rolls turn out beautiful every time and are a perfect addition to any weeknight, Sunday or holiday dinner! Bread baking has never been so easy!
We love bread in this house. I think it is everyone's favorite side dish. For good reason, it's so delicious! These rolls are no exception. They are so easy to prep and only take half the time to rise thanks to the use of instant yeast, which makes them perfect to have any day of the week. Whip up your dinner while the clouds of dough are rising and you'll have warm fresh baked rolls to serve with your meal. Plus, who doesn't love the smell of fresh baked bread? That is exactly what your house will smell like when you make these super simple rolls.
Easy Dinner Rolls Ingredients
- Quick Rise Yeast (aka Instant)
- Sugar
- Salt
- Warm Milk
- Salted Butter
- Egg
- Unbleached All Purpose Flour
- Olive Oil Spray
Tips for Making the Best Dinner Rolls
- Milk should be lukewarm around 110-115° any warmer than that and the heat will kill the yeast. I warm the milk up in the microwave for about 45 seconds (yours may vary on time) and test it on my wrist. If the milk feels warm on your wrist, then it is just right for the yeast.
- Use fresh yeast, old yeast that is near expiring will not rise properly. To keep your yeast fresh, keep it in the freezer. I keep all my yeast in the freezer.
- Fluff your flour, then spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off. Accidently adding too much flour to bread dough is what can make it heavy and dense instead of soft and fluffy.
How to Make Easy Dinner Rolls
First thing is to make the bread dough and let it rise. To make the dough, add the warm milk, half of the sugar, and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let it stand for 5 minutes so the yeast can bloom. Then add in remaining sugar, melted butter, egg, salt, and 4 cups of the flour. Mix on low until it is all combined. Add more flour ¼ cup at a time while mixing on low, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowls and clings to the dough hook. The bottom of the dough will still be stuck to the bottom of the bowl and that is totally normal.
Hot Tip*** A good way to test if you have enough flour is to pinch the dough with your fingers, the dough should be smooth and a tad tacky, but it should not stick to your fingers when pinched.
Once there is enough flour, increase the speed on the mixer to medium-low and knead the dough for 2 minutes. Then add the dough to a bowl sprayed with olive oil, spray the top of the dough and cover the bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft free area for at least 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
After the dough has doubled, punch it down and spread it into a log on a lightly floured surface. Using a dough cutter, cut the log into 24 evenly sized pieces and shape into rolls. Place the rolls in a greased 9x13 rimmed baking sheet or dish. Cover and let rise for 15-30 minutes until doubled in size.
While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 375°. Then bake the risen rolls for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the rolls sound hollow when tapped.
Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter and serve. Best when served warm!
How to Shape Dinner Rolls
There are few different ways to shape the rolls.
- Take each piece and lay it over your thumb and then gather the edges at the bottom of your thumb, pull the roll off your thumb and push the seam into the bottom of the roll. Place the roll seam side down. (This is the easiest and fastest way for me.)
- Roll each piece in a circular motion with your hand against a board until it is smooth all around.
- Flatten each piece of dough into a small rectangle, then look at the rectangle as if you were to divide it into thirds, fold the sides down and under the middle third and pinch the seam. Place the roll seam side down.
Make Easy Dinner Rolls Without a Stand Mixer
If you don't have a stand mixer, no worries! You can also make these easy rolls with a food processor or with a bowl and wooden spoon or spatula.
Use the food processor with the plastic blade just as the directions state above, pulsing to mix everything, then leaving on to knead it until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
These rolls can simply be made with a bowl and spoon too. When it's time to mix, use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Once it gets too hard to mix with the spoon, add the dough to a floured surface and knead the remaining flour in with your hands, keep kneading until the dough is smooth. This will take about 5 minutes or so.
More Bread Recipes for Everyone to Enjoy!
- No Knead Dinner Rolls
- Homemade French Bread
- Easy Peasy Garlic Bread
- Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits
- Garlic Parmesan Focaccia Bread
- Easy Drop Biscuits
- Sweet Cornbread
- Easy Homemade Bagels
- Cheesy Zucchini Biscuits
Spread the aroma of fresh bread in your house and try these Easy Dinner Rolls and let me know how much everyone enjoys them in the comments below and leave a star rating! Pictures encouraged on Instagram with the hashtag #heathershomemadekitchen You can also follow me on Social Media to see what other crazy things my family and I are doing! If you like what you see, please share with your friends and family!
Don’t forget to pin the recipe for later!
Easy Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1½ cups warm milk, I prefer 2% cows milk
- ¼ cup sugar, divided
- 2 tablespoons quick rise yeast
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 large egg
- 5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted, for tops
Instructions
- Add warm milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar and yeast to bowl of stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add remaining sugar, melted butter, salt, egg and 4 cups of the flour. Mix on low until all combined.
- Add more flour ¼ cup at a time while mixing on low, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and clings to the dough hook. To test if you have enough flour, pinch the dough with your fingers. The dough should be smooth and a tad tacky, but it should not stick to your fingers when pinched.
- Increase the speed to medium-low and knead the dough for 2 minutes until the dough is smooth.
- Place dough in a bowl sprayed with olive oil, spray top of dough as well and cover.
- Let dough rise for at least 30 minutes and until doubled in size in a warm, draft free area.
- Punch dough down, place on lightly floured surface and shape into a rectangular log. Cut log into 24 even pieces, by cutting log in half, then each half in half, and those halves into half and then each piece into thirds.
- Shape each piece into rolls, place in a greased 9x13 rimmed baking sheet or dish.
- Cover and let rise another 15-30 minutes until doubled.
- While rising, preheat oven to 375°.
- Uncover rolls, and bake for 12-15 minutes until tops are golden brown and rolls sound hollow when tapped.
- Brush tops of rolls with 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
- Use the food processor with the plastic blade just as the directions state above, pulsing to mix everything, then leaving on to knead it until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- These rolls can simply be made with a bowl and spoon too. When it's time to mix, use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Once it gets to hard to mix with the spoon, add the dough to a floured surface and knead the remaining flour in with your hands, keep kneading until the dough is smooth. This will take about 5 minutes or so.
Can we use active yeast for this instead of quick yeast?
Yes, you can use 1 packet of active yeast or 2 heaping teaspoons, but both rise times will be longer.
I made this recipe it is amazing. I forgot to add the salt and I thought I messed it up but no. I just threw it back in the mixer dissolved the salt in a little bit of water. And mix it again. This turn out really well!!