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1-Hour Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls

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My favorite 1-Hour Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls recipe is easy to make by hand or with a stand mixer and absolutely heavenly served warm out of the oven.

1-Hour Dinner Rolls Recipe in Baking Dish

Is there anything better than a freshly-baked pan of homemade dinner rolls?

Actually, yes — this easy dinner rolls recipe that can be ready to go in just one hour!

This recipe has been my go-to for years and always yields the most perfectly soft, fluffy, buttery rolls. But I especially love it because the ingredient list is simple, the rise times are minimal, and the dough can be easily made either by hand or with the help of a stand mixer. And everything can come together quickly in just an hour or so, which makes this recipe more do-able on busy weeknights when you’re craving some homemade bread, and also super-helpful on holidays when you’re trying to multi-task all the things.

Many of you have also asked about make-ahead options with this recipe over the years, so I have updated the post with instructions for how to make the bread dough in advance. And I have also included some fun variations if you would like to make your rolls more garlicky, herb-y, cheesy, or whatever other add-ins sound fun.

Bottom line, this dinner rolls recipe is a keeper and never lets me down. So if you are looking for a good one to add to your repertoire, bookmark this one and give it a try!

1-Hour Dinner Rolls Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Dinner Rolls Bread Dough Before Baking

Homemade Dinner Rolls Ingredients:

Before we get to the full recipe below, here are a few notes about the ingredients that you will need to make this homemade dinner rolls recipe:

  • Water and milk: These will serve as our base liquids for the bread dough. I used dairy milk, but you are welcome to sub in a plain plant-based milk (such as oat milk or almond milk) instead.
  • Melted butter: Which we will both bake into the rolls and brush on top.
  • Honey: To add just a hint of sweetness.
  • Active dry yeast: This recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of yeast. So if you are purchasing your yeast in 0.25-ounce packets, you will need slightly more than one packet.
  • Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. But if you try out different flours, please let us know how it goes in the comment section below!
  • Salt: Which we will mix into the rolls to bring out all of those delicious buttery flavors. Feel free to sprinkle a bit of flaky salt on top of the warm rolls just before serving too!

Brushing Dinner Rolls with Melted Butter

Tips For How To Make Dinner Rolls:

The full recipe is included below for how to make these dinner rolls, but here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind too:

  • Be sure that your yeast has not expired. This is one of the most common reasons for why a batch of bread dough does not rise. Double-check the expiration date on any yeast that may be hanging out in your pantry. And if the yeast does not begin to puff and bubble up after 5 minutes once it has been added to the wet ingredients, toss out the batch and start over with new yeast.
  • Double-check the temperature of the liquid ingredients. When heating the liquid ingredients (water, melted butter, milk and honey), it’s essential that they be within the temperature range of 100-110°F. If the mixture is too hot, it can kill the yeast. If it is too cool, the yeast may not activate. The mixture should feel warm and not hot to the touch, but I always recommend testing the mixture with a cooking thermometer just to be sure.
  • Don’t skip the rise times. They are essential to helping the dough rise and create that soft and fluffy texture we’re going for.
  • No worries about perfection. When portioning the dough into 12 rolls, don’t worry about them all being perfectly equal in size. They will all bake up together in the pan, and if some are slightly larger or smaller, hakuna matata. :)

1-Hour Soft Dinner Rolls in Pan

Possible Recipe Variations:

Here are a few other possible variations that you could make to this dinner rolls recipe:

  • Make-ahead option: For make-ahead dinner rolls, follow the recipe through the step that you shape the individual rolls and place them in the baking dish. Then tightly cover the baking dish and refrigerate for up to 48 hours. Transfer the dish to the counter and let it warm up to room temperature for 2 hours before baking, and then bake as directed.
  • Make it vegan: Use plant-based milk and butter and your preferred sweetener in place of honey.
  • Add garlic: Add in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder to the bread dough to make the rolls more garlicky, and/or you could also simmer some minced garlic with butter to brush on top of the rolls after baking.
  • Add herbs: Add in 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely-chopped fresh herbs (such as rosemary or parsley) to the bread dough to add flavor to the rolls, and/or you could also mix some fresh herbs in with the melted butter to brush on top of the rolls after baking.
  • Add cheese: You can also mix in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of freshly-grated cheddar cheese to make cheesy rolls. (Or I also love mixing in some freshly-grated Parmesan, and then sprinkling some on top of the rolls during the final 5 minutes of baking.)

Soft Dinner Roll Closeup

More Favorite Bread Recipes:

Looking for more easy bread recipes to add to your repertoire? Here are a few of my faves…

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1-Hour Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls Recipe

1-Hour Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 422 reviews
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 60 minutes
  • Yield: 15 servings 1x

Description

My favorite 1-Hour Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls recipe is easy to make by hand or with a stand mixer and absolutely heavenly served warm out of the oven.


Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Prep your oven and baking dish.  Heat the oven to 400°F.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside.
  2. Heat the liquids. In a microwave-safe bowl (or saucepan, see below), stir together the water and melted butter, then add in the milk and honey and stir until combined.  Microwave the mixture for 1 minute and give it a stir. Continue microwaving the mixture in 15 second intervals, until it reaches 110°F. It will be warm but not hot to the touch. (*Alternately, you can heat the mixture over medium-low heat in a saucepan until it reaches 110°F.)
  3. Add yeast.  Pour the liquid mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer.  Sprinkle the yeast evenly on top, give it a quick stir with a fork to combine, and let the yeast activate for 5 minutes until it is foamy.
  4. Add dry ingredients.  Add in 3 1/2 cups of flour (not all of the flour) and the salt.
  5. Mix. (See alternate instructions in the notes below for how to knead the dough by hand.) Use the dough-hook to mix in the dry ingredients on medium-low speed until combined.  If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add in 1/4 cup more flour at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is only slightly sticky to the touch.  (Only use up to 4 cups of flour total.)  Continue mixing on low speed for 4-5 minutes until the dough is smooth.  Then form the dough into a ball with your hands and transfer it to a greased bowl.
  6. Let the dough rise.  Cover the bowl with a damp towel or paper towel, and let it rise briefly for 15 minutes.
  7. Form the rolls.  Gently punch the dough down and divide into 15 equal-sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball and place the dough balls in the greased baking dish.  Cover the dish again with a damp towel or paper towel and let the dough balls rise for an additional 15-20 minutes.
  8. Bake. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes, or until the rolls are lightly golden brown on top and cooked through.
  9. Brush with more butter. Transfer the baking dish to a wire cooling rack and brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.
  10. Serve warm. Then serve warm and enjoy!


Notes

Yeast: I typically purchase my yeast in bulk. But if you are using the 0.25-ounce packets, they each contain 2.25 teaspoons of yeast.  So you will need slightly more than one packet to yield 1 tablespoon.

How to knead the dough by hand: If you do not have a stand mixer, no prob!  For step 5 (mixing the dough), simply stir the dry ingredients into the dough as much as possible.  Then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for 5 to 7 minutes until smooth, adding up to 1/4 cup of extra flour if the dough is too sticky.

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Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

826 comments on “1-Hour Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls”

  1. I think I will try this but it is going to be hard

  2. I added rosemary, thyme, and garlic salt to the meltedbutter. I brushed the tops with this before & after cooking. Simply delicious!! They turned out amazing. I will add the herbs to the dough next time before cooking and still brush it on the tops. These can have limitless taste variations. THANK YOU!!






  3. I gave the recipe 5 stars because its easy to follow, but mine came out like hockey pucks. I hope they soften up after the addition of the melted butter, but what did I do wrong?






    • sounds like the dough was not kneeded enough. rising for more time helps also with softness. Be sure to also spoon measure the flour out, scooping tends to compact the flour resulting in putting to much flour in which can also create hard rolls. hope this helps :)

  4. I absolutely love these dinner rolls. Easy and very consistent every time.
    Has anyone frozen the dough? Prepping for large dinner and would love to do these ahead.

    • I haven’t frozen but in a lot of dough recipes I make a day or two ahead of time and then refrigerate after the first rise and forming them into balls. Then before I bake just give them enough time to rise!

    • Hello! It might’ve been expired yeast or not properly activated. Did you check the temperature of the warm liquids after you added it to the mixing bowl? Sometimes the cold metal drops the temperature too low so the yeast doesn’t activate correctly. Did the top get really foamy/frothy?

    • Made these according to the directions. Adding the garlic cheese and herbs as directed. Absolutely outstanding! Definitely saving this one! Thank you so much, young lady!

    • I’ve made these a few times and they are great! We love them!

      Random question? Can I leave out the honey? I want my 8 month old to be able to try one. Thanks!






    • I’ve frozen these, before I let them rise the second time, so they’re already rolled and you can take out as many as you’d like. I froze them on a tray first not touching to make it easier. Then obviously let them thaw and rise and bake as normal

  5. I came to this recipe in a pinch and selected it because of the high reviews. I am regretting that now!!

    I have been baking bread for years but am not an ‘experienced’ baker by any means. I follow recipes to a tee because my assumption is the person writing it knows better than me. And I wish I had listened to my gut rather than followed this recipe.

    I knew that putting yeast in hot liquid kills it, and yet I did it anyway because I thought, “hey, maybe this professional knows something I don’t”. That was not the case. Maybe change the instructions to let people know to allow the liquid to cool before adding the yeast. I ended up with dense, undercooked dough balls at the end of the 15 minute cooking time, and threw it all away.






    • It says right in the insteuction when heating the liquid, that it should be around 110°. It says the liquid should be warm but not hot, I usually just feel it with my finger to see if it’s warm. I have been making this recipe for years and everyone that tries them loves them and usually eats like 4 at a time. Just make sure to check temp before adding the yeast.

    • She states in instructions 110 degrees. That’s lukewarm, not hot

    • Did you test the temperature of the liquids? I used an instant read thermometer, and microwaved slowly until I got to just over 100 degrees. I’ve made these three times with no trouble.

    • It’s interesting that Angela, a newby, had great success… twice. Ali’s recipes are ALWAYS amazing and fool proof.

    • 110° Is actually the perfect temp for yeast activation in almost all recipes, maybe you made it too hot?

    • Australian here, I think I know what’s happened. The instructions read 110°, but it never states that is in farenheit. So if you’re using celcius, that’s about 40° :)) I usually warm my milk or water to 35°c and it works perfectly every time. Hope that helped!

  6. For the past few months I’ve been learning to bake rolls (with other recipes) and they were all fails. This is my second time using this recipe and these came out excellent again. The recipe is very easy to follow and less intimidating than most. My family loved it. I printed the recipe out so l don’t lose it, plus l just sent it to my friend. Thank you!

  7. Excellent recipe. My family loved them. I made hamburger sized, though a little heavy, very tasty. About to make dinner buns.






  8. My family loved these rolls






  9. Delicious! I have been looking for a soft and light roll recipe and love this! I will make them a little smaller – maybe 20 rolls for dinner rolls and a little larger for sandwich rolls. I am excited to try it as loaf bread too. Thank you so much for a tasty recipe and I love that it comes together so quickly!!
    I use bread machine yeast (quick rise), so just dump all the ingredients in to my mixer like I am using a bread machine and then stir with the dough hook. Cuts out some of the steps for me that way.






  10. Amazing! I just had to cook mine at 375 but no other changes!






  11. Great quick recipe and told taste good. Easy to make and that is always helpful. The reason for my 3 star rating is to me they taste like fluffy biscuits not yeast rolls. I made several batches and all tasted this way. Now that said there is not a thing wrong with that but sometimes you want a really light airy yeast roll and this won’t be that recipe. However, great recipe for quick rolls and that is what it’s advertised to be!






    • Thanks, Jessica! I want yeast rolls, not biscuits, for Christmas dinner. I found this recipe and it seemed as though the length of rising times was too quick for good flavor & texture development. Your review really, really helped me not to make a mistake.

  12. I made these for Easter dinner. They were a big hit! The recipe was quick and easy to follow. Thank you!






  13. I was just playing around searching for a dinner roll recipe. I came across this first, and didn’t want to keep searching. Like I said I was just playing around, never made rolls, or bread before. I followed this recipe exact, except I had no honey. So I used 1 tbs white sugar (mixed into the dry ingredients). They turned out perfect. I was absolutely shocked and happy. I now have a dinner roll recipe. I also kneaded by hand for 7 minutes exactly. Easy easy easy, and I am no cook.

  14. Could I use sugar instead of honey if so, how much sugar equivalent to honey? Last question, will one packet of Active Dry Yeast be enough?

    • Easy to follow and came out as described. Looking forward to doing some add ins another time. I tested the temp of my liquid with instant read thermometer.






  15. This was a great side to go with our ribs! Thank you so much!






  16. Excellent recipe. Very easy to follow. Soft,fluffy bread. 5stars for me.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  17. These were amazing rolls. Can these be frozen?






    • They can be frozen, though I find they’re a bit better after you’ve rolled them but before baking

  18. Can an egg be added to this recipe, for extra nutrition?

  19. I don’t often leave comments on recipe posts but I had to this time. This recipe is absolutely amazing!! It is easy to follow and the rolls are delicious!! I will be making these many many many times more! Thank you for sharing it with us!






  20. 20220507 1st time. Though doubtful about the short bulk ferment and proof time, I mixed a full recipe, intending to follow the recipe with half the dough and allowing longer bulk ferment and proof for the other half. I used the full amount of flour (520g) to yield a very soft dough.
    I was pleasantly surprised at the resulting soft tender rolls produced by the recipe directions. 15m bulk ferment, shaped 10 50g rolls and then a 22m proof before baking 15m at 400F, to an internal temp of 197F. I melted equal parts butter and honey together to brush tops of buns after baking. Delicious.
    The remaining half of the dough, I let bulk ferment for 1 hr, then shaped 5 100g burger buns, 45m proof nd baked 15m at 400F.
    I measure by weight. Here are my conversions to gram weight.
    Ingredients
    1 cup water 260g
    2 tablespoons melted butter 28g
    1/2 cup milk 125g
    2 tablespoons honey 42g
    1 tablespoon active-dry yeast* 10g
    3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour 442-520g
    1 teaspoon fine sea salt 6g
    extra melted butter, for brushing on top & honey






  21. I am making these tonight, keep your fingers crossed they turn out. I haven’t made any bread or rolls in years. Love your blog

  22. I found this recipe a while ago and I swear by it, anytime I go to a family dinner I usually whip these up the day of and either pop them in the oven at the destination or bake them at home and bring them with. I always get compliments on how fluffy and delicious they are. If I make them to go with a meal at home they get gobbled up rather quickly. I am a stickler for following recipes to a T and as long as you heat the liquid between the suggested temp range you won’t have to worry about killing the yeast or having it not activate, also yeast needs sugar to eat along with the warmth of the liquid to wake up so to speak.






  23. I made these tonight. The were some of the best dinner rolls I have ever tasted. Thank you for sharing






  24. So good! This is now my go-to recipe for dinner rolls






  25. These were super easy and extremely good!! My family loved them!!






  26. Looks great going to try to make this. I have tried my first four times , different recipe , failed come out heavy not soft and fluffy. Almost 70 and trying new things. Wish me luck

  27. Great , fast and delicious recipe ! Thank you.






  28. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I just successfully baked my dinner rolls. Everybody loves this!

  29. Next time I will make them smaller I like my rolls smaller so I will make two pans, Other than that they were absolutely delicious. Can’t find how many calories is in just one.






  30. I have made these twice and they came out great. But both times I had to add more than 4 cups of flour to get the dough to start pulling away from the bowl. I am thinking it could be because it is summer and even though I have AC, maybe the humidity is up.

  31. I haven’t made yet, but I’m going to because my cousin made cinnamon rolls with this recipe and she said they are delicious so I have to try..






  32. Favourite dinner roll so far. I have made numerous rolls before But not as tasty as these. I have made these now at least 10 times and they come out perfectly each time.

  33. Do I use no salt butter or regular butter?

  34. I would like to freeze half the recipe. At what point would l cut it in half?

  35. Excellent quick rolls!!!
    Super easy to make.






  36. This was a great recipe! They are so soft and fluffy and I had no problem making them! I definitely recommend!!!!






  37. Ternout great 👍






  38. Can you use heavy cream instead of milk? That’s all I have.

  39. The rolls came out pretty good! I wish they were a little fluffier but the flavor is nice. I bet it would be good with some garlic and spices too :)






  40. Delicious! This is a new family favorite.






  41. Loved the recipe! I had to add the whole 4 cups of flour.. my family loved them!! Will definitely make again!!






  42. Hi!

    So I tried this but tried to make it gluten free. Used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 replacement flour. It has always worked with cream puffs and I’ve even fooled some people thinking they weren’t gluten free!
    Anyway, followed recipe and what I ended up with were these weird little biscuits???? They are OK, but not at all fluffy. Had to hand knead, was that a problem? Or is trying to make these GF a hopeless cause? Suggestions?
    (NOTE: I am only gluten free. Dairy, eggs, ect is OK)

    Thanks all!
    Elizabeth






  43. Fantastic recipe! Followed exactly as written and they turned out perfect. Enjoyed by myself, my husband and 2 toddlers. Thank you!






  44. Hi, is it possible to provide the flour measurement in grams? Thanks!

  45. My family loved these rolls. My son asked me to make them for his birthday dinner next month. I used the recipe exactly as written. Thanks!






  46. I used organic sprouted whole wheat flour & they turned out perfectly 😍 a much better carb for your body to process too!

  47. Phenomenal, always a hit, and super easy to make.
    I always add garlic powder and rosemary to the dough, and add kosher salt to the butter top.






  48. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I will try it.

  49. Hi! I tried ur recipe, I’m not much of a baker. I made with Gold Medal Bread flour. They baked nicely golden.
    I had no problem with the rise of the dough. I wanted to leave this comment to share. My husband was so impressed.
    Thank you!

  50. This is not only the easiest recipe to make. It is also one of the yummiest. I make quite often I like melting butter and a bit of honey for on the top so awsome