Hello, my name is Jessica and I am a butter fanatic. To be honest, I’m not sure what I enjoy more, butter or a perfectly executed bread.
What's In This Article
Soft 30 Minute Dinner Rolls are easier to make than you think! Check out my speedy yeast rolls that you can make ahead and freeze.
While I appreciate a crusty sourdough, buttery brioche or soft pumpernickel, one thing remains the same, they all taste better with a slab of rich, golden butter.
Really, bread is a vehicle to get the creamy goodness of butter from point A to point B in a socially acceptable way (although I have been known to lick the butter knife).
Easy dinner rolls are one my ways to accomplish my goals.
While there are plenty of days that I have several hours to bake artisan breads, there are many more nights that I crave freshly baked bread to serve with dinner, but have limited time.
Correction: there are plenty of nights that I crave BUTTER! Easy dinner rolls are my solution. A basic recipe for the best dinner rolls, I also throw in fresh herbs, garlic or sun dried tomatoes, but one thing remains the same: butter.
And not all butter is created equal. I prefer either gourmet butter, homemade 5-minute blender butter or one of my 5 favorite compound butters.
These amazing quick rolls require yeast, but only 10 minutes to rise in a warm place. The bread requires little kneading and then only 15 minutes to bake.
From start to finish, only 30 minutes for light and fluffy dinner rolls. It is a misconception that anything using yeast will require hours of rising time. As long as the bread grows a small amount, you’ll still get the airy results you are looking for.
Tips for working with yeast:
- Make sure your yeast isn’t expired.
- Water temperature can’t be too hot or cold. 110 degrees is the optimal temperature and is just fairly hot tap water.
- Store yeast in the refrigerator for best results.
- Yeast doesn’t have to have sugar, but it can be helpful.
Can I make dinner rolls ahead of time?
Sure! Bake them whenever you have time and eat them at room temperature or warm slightly before serving. Just like the ones from the store.
They are best within 1-2 days of baking. Homemade dinner rolls are also freezer friendly. Allow to thaw at room temperature. Do not defrost in the microwave, this makes bread rubbery.
You can also half the recipe and just make 6 dinner rolls. Use a heaping teaspoon of yeast instead of the whole packet.
Good butter and a dinner roll recipe need to be paired with amazing dishes, give these a whirl!
Tools for making Easy Dinner Rolls:
Stand Mixer– I lived for years without one and I can tell you with 100% confidence that life with one is easier and it is worth the investment.
9 x 13 Glass Baking Dish– an absolute essential for any kitchen! Use it for baking, marinating or storing. Get one with a lid, you’ll thank me later.
Easy Dinner Roll Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer fitted with the bread hook, combine sugar and yeast, giving a quick stir to combine. Add warm water and allow to bloom for 10-15 minutes. The mixture should be frothy and fragrant.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking dish with a cold stick of butter.
- Add oil, egg and salt, stir to combine. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition.
- Knead until bread comes together and slaps against the side of the bowl.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured cutting board or work surface. Divide into 12 equally sized balls and place into baking dish. Cover and allow to rise for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. When you remove rolls from oven, baste the tops with melted butter. Serve warm.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
I made them, delicious 😋
Thanks!
Do you just grease the bottom of the pan with the stick of cold butter or do you let the whole stick stay in pan before putting in the dough?
You grease the bottom, so just open the stick of butter and rub a generous amount on the bottom and sides and that’s it! Don’t use the whole stick, just enough to coat the pan. 🙂
I made the recipe but there was no way it would rise in 10 minutes. After 10 or 15 minutes nothing had happened so I let it go for an hour and a half and finally it was ready for baking. I made sure that the yeast was not expired I made sure my water was the right temperature, I did everything as perfect as I could. They were very tasty and I was very pleased the way they came out they looked picture perfect but it just didn’t rise like you said in 10 or 15 minutes. And my yeast was that quick kind. I wonder if I used a double package of yeast if that would’ve helped . Comments please thank you
Hi Alice- this sounds like a yeast issue if it didn’t bloom at all. Unfortunately, even if they aren’t expired, sometimes they are still no good. The process of blooming is to make sure that the yeast is good. If it doesn’t bloom, you need to start over. I can add a little info on that into the post for ya.
Awesome easy recipe, a new family favorite!
Woohoo! Thanks for much for taking the time to come back and let us know!
Easy Dinner Rolls –
I looked up “quick dinner rolls”
your recipe popped up. Reading over your directions made it seem easy and quick. I gave it a shot. They were Lovely rolls!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
I came across this recipe today and figured why not
I often try new recipes but have never found a dinner roll that worked out or was good, I had no expectations due to previous tries
Well I was so happy when I took them out of the oven not only did my house smell amazing but they looked amazing, so far so good so next the taste test … they were light and fluffy and tasted so good even plain but with butter WOW 😳
I brought half the buns to my neighbour still warm and they loved them too 💜
Thanks so much for sharing
Thank you so much, Jo! I’m glad you loved them, and also your neighbor.
I made the easy rolls last night and my boys loved them❣️ My son told me I need to make these more often. Thank you for a great and easy recipe!
Yay! We love to hear that, Linda. And thank you for taking the time to come back and let us know.
They really were easy to make! The family loved them. I will definitely be making these again!!
Came out wonderful. Had to cook a little longer though to get them to brown. Fabulous recipe, hand mixed them and kneaded.
Nice! Thanks for letting us know. Just curious- how long did you bake them?
The yeast rolls turned out perfect!
Awesome! That is what we like to hear!
I have tried these twice now. The first time they were dense. My kitchen is a little cool so they didn’t rise well. To remedy this, I turned my oven on 200 degrees, and after it heated up, I turned off the oven and let the rolls rise there. Worked like a charm! Also, I only used 2 cups of flour. The second time, they turned out much better. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Thanks for letting us know, Gingie! I find that the majority of the time I have trouble with bread, it has to do with the yeast and rising. Glad you liked them!
Hello, so nice to meet you or should I say communicate with you. I have wasted and hour and a half trying to send you a message on face book before I looked further.
I just wanted to tell you your recipe for yeast dinner rolls looked so good and easy. I have been trying for over two years to get an tasty, light and fairly easy yeast roll recipe. I keep failing. I have made rolls that had to rise 2 or 3 times (time consuming) and the taste still was not wher4e I would like it to be. I very much want to try your recipe this weekend. Is there any hints you could give me to ensure my rolls come out tasting like heaven. It could all be the simple fact that I have had bad recipes.
I was about to give up when I saw your recipe. So my question to you is there anything I need to do that I may have missed in my prior attempts? Also should I use bread flour or regular flour as I have both.
Thank you so much for your time and thanks for posting the recipe for so many of us to enjoy. Please respond on my email. I so look forward to hearing from you. With much gratitude, JoAnn Stewart