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These homemade soft dinner rolls are fluffy, buttery, and only require seven ingredients that you probably already have at home.

Need more Thanksgiving Side Dishes? Here you go:

Soft Dinner Rolls Ingredients

Here’s everything you’ll need (which literally isn’t a lot):

King Arthur AP Flour: This high protein flour is perfect for these dinner rolls. I’ve also tested this recipe with Trader Joe’s All-Purpose Flour and it came out great!

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Milk: Warmed

Unsalted butter: Melted

Active dry yeast: To help the dough rise

Granulated sugar: To feed the yeast

Egg yolks: For richness

Kosher salt: For flavor

How to Make Soft Dinner Rolls

Here’s how to make these delicious rolls:

Step 1: Make your dough

To the bowl of a standing mixer add the warmed milk, melted butter, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the yeast. Mix together and let sit for 5 minutes.

Once the 5 minutes are up, add the eggs, salt, remaining sugar, and ⅓ of the flour. Mix on low, until the flour is incorporated, and then add the remaining flour. Turn the speed up to medium and continue to mix for ~2–5 minutes, or until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be slightly tacky. If the dough looks too wet, you can add a TBS of flour at a time until it’s supple, but not wet.

Step 2: Let the dough rise.

Oil a bowl and set it aside. Pour the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it just a bit so that you can form a ball. Add it to the oiled bowl, seem side down, and drizzle a bit of olive oil on the top, rubbing it all around the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm area (I use the inside of my oven with the light turned on) until doubled in size (about 3 hours). It should look like this:

Note: Because this dough is “heavier” (meaning it has eggs, butter, milk, etc.) it takes longer to rise than you may be used to. Keep this in mind when planning (and I always use multiple kitchen towels to keep it warmer).

Step 4: Make the dough balls.

Now punch the dough down to deflate it a bit and add it to your clean work surface. Make sure to have a 9×13 pan lined with parchment paper ready to go.

Working relatively quickly, measure out 1.5oz dough and form it into a ball, then add it to your baking dish. If you don’t have a scale, no worries, just divide the dough into ~20 balls.

Step 5: Perform the second rise.

Now cover the dough balls loosely with plastic wrap and a couple of kitchen towels. Let rise at room temperature for a second time. The balls should just about double in size and touching. This should take about an hour or two. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Step 6: Bake the dinner rolls.

Now bake the rolls for about 20 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned, rotating the baking sheet halfway.

Step 7: Brush the rolls.

Once the rolls are out of the oven, brush them with your topping of choice! For this I did 2 tbs of butter with a pinch of salt and some honey, but you can get as creative as you’d like (I think butter with some finely chopped herbs with be delicious!).

How to Make These Dinner Rolls Ahead of Time

If you want to make these in advance, you can go through to the second rise. So, perform the first rise, then roll out the dough balls and add them to the baking dish. Now, cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator. In the morning, take the rolls out to rise about 3 hours before you want to bake them. Once risen, bake as directed!

Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Homemade Soft Dinner Rolls

These homemade soft dinner rolls are fluffy, buttery, and only require seven ingredients that you probably already have at home.

Prep Time3 30

Cook Time17

Course: Side Dish

Keyword: dinner rolls, thanksgiving

Servings: 18 rolls

Equipment

1 9×13 baking dish

Ingredients

4 cups King Arthur AP flour, spooned and leveled I've also tested this recipe with Trader Joe's All-Purpose Flour and it came out great!
3 egg yolks
1 ¼ cup + 1 tbs milk warmed
⅓ cup granulated sugar 1 tbs separated
3 tbs unsalted butter melted
2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt or sub 1.5 teaspoon table salt

Instructions

Add the warm milk, butter, yeast, and 1 tbs sugar to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let sit for 5 minutes.
Turn the mixer on low and add the eggs, salt, remaining sugar, and ⅓ of the flour. Mix until the flour is incorporated. Add the rest of the flour and slowly turn the mixer up to medium speed. Continue mixing for about 3-5 minutes, or until the dough has begun to pull away from the sides of the bowl. It should be slightly tacky but not sticky. (If it's a little too sticky, you can just add a bit of flour in the next step).
Have an oiled bowl set aside, and then dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for just a minute so that you can form a ball, then add the ball to the oiled bowl seam side down. Oil the top of the dough then cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (I used my oven with the light turned on). This will take about 2-3 hours.
Note: Because this dough is "heavier" (meaning it has eggs, butter, milk, etc.) it takes longer to rise than you may be used to. Keep this in mind when planning (and I always use multiple kitchen towels to keep it warmer).
Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper.
Uncover the dough and punch it down to deflate it. Add it to your work surface then, working relatively quickly, weigh it out in 1.5 oz pieces, then roll it into a ball and add it to the baking sheet seam side down. (If you don't have a scale just cut about 20 balls. They should be about the size of a golf ball once rolled.)
Note: To roll the balls, I flatten the small piece of dough and fold opposite sides together (like you're wrapping a gift). Then I pinch those seams together while rotating the ball in my hand.
Once done, cover loosely with the plastic wrap and a couple of kitchen towels. Allow to rise for another hour or two at room temperature until the balls have puffed up and are touching. In the meantime preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake the rolls for 20 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove from the oven and brush with your favorite topping (like honey and melted butter, just melted butter, or even melted butter with chopped herbs!). Serve warm.

Notes

Make ahead instructions:

Comments

Dee

October 27, 2023 at 9:13 pm

Let me know if you have any questions!

- Alyssa Wolf
  
  November 15, 2023 at 1:49 pm
  
  Hi! This recipe looks delicious and I am excited to try for Thanksgiving!
  
  Have you tried making the rolls the day before and baking the day of? Trying to prep as much before Thanksgiving as I can!
  
  - Dee
    
    November 15, 2023 at 6:49 pm
    
    Hi Alyssa! I just tested this and yes you can! Do everything up until the second rise. So after the first rise, roll them into balls and put them in the baking pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave them in the refigerator. Take them out to rise a few hours before you’re ready to bake!
    
    - Alyssa Wolf
      
      November 17, 2023 at 8:10 pm
      
      Amazing, thank you!!
      
- Rob
  
  November 25, 2023 at 1:57 pm
  
  I made these rolls on Thanksgiving and they were the hit of the meal! Thank you for sharing your love of cooking with us
  
May

November 07, 2023 at 11:41 pm

Hi! How would I go about mixing the ingredients together if I don’t have a stand mixer? Thanks!

- Dee
  
  November 08, 2023 at 9:12 pm
  
  Hi May! You can absolutely do it by hand with a wooden spoon, it’ll just take a bit longer. Once it comes together, I’d dump it on to a clean work surface and knead it until it reaches the consistency (tacky).
  
- Rob
  
  November 25, 2023 at 1:59 pm
  
  I made them by hand as I don’t have a mixer. Like Dee states, it does take longer to come together, but still produces amazing results
  
Elle

November 14, 2023 at 12:15 pm

Have you frozen this dough with good results?

- Dee
  
  November 15, 2023 at 6:50 pm
  
  I haven’t tried to freeze them 🙁
  
Katherine Doyle

November 15, 2023 at 1:46 am

Hi! I made them, they were great but they had a little bit of a thick/hard top is there a way I can fix this?

- Dee
  
  November 15, 2023 at 6:51 pm
  
  Oh that’s so strange! I’ve made them multiple times without that happening, hmmmmm. Did you use King Arthur flour? Liquid has to be adjusted slightly if using a different brand.
  
Kaitlynn

November 18, 2023 at 6:25 pm

Hi,

If I wanted to make these but I’m traveling 90 mins for the meal would you recommend letting them do their second rise at home and baking on arrival? Or would you recommend baking at home and just heating them up in the oven to serve warm?
Thanks!

- Dee
  
  November 18, 2023 at 11:41 pm
  
  So I’m making these for a Friendsgiving and my plan may work for you! I’m going to make them the night before and do everything UP UNTIL the second rise. So after I roll them into the small balls I plan on putting them in the baking pan, covering in plastic wrap, and leaving in the refrigerator. Then I’ll take them out and have them rising in the car while I’m driving to my friends. Since they’re being refrigerated they take a bit longer to rise anyway (need to come to room temp). Then I’m baking at my friends once they’ve finished rising! I’ve already tested them with the overnight method, and they worked great!
  
  - Kaitlynn
    
    November 19, 2023 at 4:02 pm
    
    Great! Thanks so much. Looking forward to trying them 🙂
    
Silas

November 20, 2023 at 3:48 pm

Having a hard time finding King Arthur flour. I have gold medal. What would you suggest the liquid ratio for this one?

- Dee
  
  November 20, 2023 at 4:44 pm
  
  I’d reduce the liquid slightly to ensure the dough isn’t TOO wet — OR just have extra flour close by and add a bit (like a few TBS at a time) if the dough seems too wet until it reaches a supple and tacky consistency. Once you remove it to knead it on a floured work surface, you can just add a touch of flour at a time to form your dough ball.
  
  - Silas
    
    November 20, 2023 at 6:58 pm
    
    Thanks so much!!
    
Harley

November 30, 2023 at 12:53 am

Help. I can’t stop making these rolls. Made them for Thanksgiving dinner and have made them twice since. I think I’m in love with you lol. Tonight I put garlic butter with herbs over the top and almost died

- Dee
  
  November 30, 2023 at 8:21 pm
  
  HAHAHAHA HARLEY!!! I’m so happy to hear this. And GARLIC BUTTER WITH HERBS? That sounds heavenly.