World’s Best Dinner Rolls

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These World’s Best Dinner Rolls are golden, soft and so delicious. You’ll want to make these rolls time and time again!

The Best Dinner Rolls are buttery, soft rolls that make the perfect addition to dinner. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

I know the title of these World’s Best Dinner Rolls is pretty bold but it could not be any more true. These are the softest, most delicious rolls I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating.

There are so many reasons why I love these rolls and it is not just because they taste so good. They are SUPER EASY to make. No kneading required! 🙂

The Best Dinner Rolls are buttery, soft rolls that make the perfect addition to dinner. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

These World’s Best Dinner Rolls are easy to make in the sense where you don’t have to ‘shape’ them before they bake. You only need to roll them in balls and then place them in a 9×13 glass pan.

As these bake they puff up into these beautiful, uniform mounds of deliciousness. They have become my ‘go-to’ dinner rolls, and I am pretty confident they will be yours too!

The Best Dinner Rolls are buttery, soft rolls that make the perfect addition to dinner. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

MORE DINNER ROLL RECIPES YOU MAY WANT TO TRY: 

The Best Dinner Rolls

Rosemary Rolls

French Bread Rolls

Amazing Dinner Rolls

Best Dinner Rolls
The Best Dinner Rolls are buttery, soft rolls that make the perfect addition to dinner. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com
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5 from 5 votes

World’s Best Dinner Rolls

These World's Best Dinner Rolls are golden, soft and so delicious. You'll want to make these time and time again!
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 24
Author Life in the Lofthouse

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole milk (2% milk also works, but whole is best)
  • 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar divided
  • 1/3 cup salted butter
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 4 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
  • 8 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 large eggs beaten

Instructions

  • Combine milk, 1/2 cup sugar, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat and allow to cool until lukewarm. (This step is 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 of sugar in the warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. (after the 10 minutes, the yeast should be very bubbly and foamy)
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes. Add in beaten eggs. Then stir in remaining 5 cups of flour to make a soft dough.
  • *NOTE- The dough will be very soft and coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still be sticky. Don’t worry about this. It will firm up a little during the rising process*
  • Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise for 1 hour.
  • Punch down dough, and turn dough onto a lightly floured clean surface. Divide in half. Spray two 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray.
  • Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut into 12 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then place in prepared pans. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan. Cover pans with clean kitchen towels, and let rise 30-45 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.
  • When done baking, remove rolls from oven and then rub a stick of cold butter all over the tops!

Notes

*This recipe yields 24 large rolls. You can reduce the roll size in half to create 48 small rolls.

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The Best Dinner Rolls are buttery, soft rolls that make the perfect addition to dinner. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com
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103 thoughts on “World’s Best Dinner Rolls

    1. I have never made Home Made Rolls and out of my 67 years I have always wanteded to try, l make the Bread Machine as far as doing Rolls I would love to try to make them! Please tell me is this an Easy Recipe l am willing to try just always nervous will Dry Yeast. Thanks, auntbea (From North East, Maryland) ([email protected])

      1. Hi, I am so sorry but I messed up on some of my words l shake as l type l have Parkinson`s !!! May God Bless, auntbea (This is for Dorothy@crazydorcurst)

      2. I am going to try this recipe. I am baking bread and trying to perfect my technique. I make great biscuits now but they were not as good when I first started. I think yeast bread is the same way. Takes some practice, but don’t give up or you will never bake good bread. I am baking some really good bread but I have had some failures too. When I get something that does not come out right I figure out why and then feed the failures to the birds. It means I waste some flour and ingredients some times but I will learn and get better. In the mean time I dont think I am losing much, and flour and ingredients are fairly cheap. And the birds are eating better.

      3. Hi bea, these rolls are very easy to make. just be sure to check your water and milk temperatures. Also, as the recipe says dough is sticky, I find a little flour on my fingers when I am shaping the balls helps a lot.

  1. These look fabulous… I can almost smell the aroma from here! I agree with the comment about eating the whole pan… and pass the butter! You have great commenters 🙂 It’s been a long time since I baked dinner rolls, but these are very tempting indeed. Thanks!

  2. I love, love, love making rolls. They always taste so good, and I’m always impressed with myself when I make rolls. They look like store-bought, but they’re better. How could you not be impressed with yourself when you do that?!

    1. The Kings Hawaiian Rolls secret to my understanding, shhhh, is to add some sweetened pineapple juice. Pineapple juice is naturally a little sweet unless you purchase it in the 64 oz cans. YUCKY lol I would add about 1/3 to 1/2 c. after adding sugar or Splenda to taste when cutting this recipe in half. Then add a little more if you’re making two pans. You have to be careful not to add so much that your dough is too watery. I would recommend using less milk. Whatever ratio of pineapple juice you are using, I would omit the equal amount of milk.
      Example: You are making the full recipe and want to add 3/4 c of pineapple juice. Only use
      1 1/4 c of milk to have your total of 2 cups of liquid.

  3. Used to make these when my kids were little – I’d double the recipe, and with second batch, roll out dough, sprinkle with lots of cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins and pecans then jelly roll and cut then place on buttered pan face up then press down, let rise an make cinnamon rolls. Frost w/ butter cream frosting and ymmm, – also after I let rise would freeze and bake next morning for breakfast – what a smell to wake up to: Love in the kitchen

  4. I love these rolls! They’re. Soo good! The only thing I did differently was add 1 cup of sugar with the milk, butter & sea salt instead of of a half cup! Thanks!

  5. Yikes! I am making these right now and just realized, I am going to have to let the dough rise longer than an hour! 🙁 FOrgot I had to take my daughter somewhere after school. Do you think it would be ok? Or did I just set myself up for failire? THanks

    1. Lori, you should be fine letting them rise more than an hour. The rising of the rolls really depends on how warm your kitchen is… But it’s no big deal if they go longer. Hope you enjoy these rolls! They are my favorite! 🙂

  6. These are amazing! I made them tonight to bring to a Friendsgiving party tomorrow and I’ve already eaten 2 of them! They are bigger than I thought they would be, but they are soft and delicious! Thanks!

      1. Holly, can these be made the day before, and still be light and fluffy? We are celebrating Thanksgiving on Sun, Dec. 1st and I wanted to make them Saturday. I don’t want them to be dry, or tough when we eat them.

        1. Patti, yes you can make these the day before. Just make recipe as instructed up until you roll the dough in balls and place in pan. Don’t rise the second time. Cover tightly and place in refrigerator over-night. 4 hours before you bake rolls, place them on counter-top to rise and then bake as directed 🙂

  7. I made these for Thanksgiving. I used 2 percent milk. They turned out great. I just made them again for a party and they were a hit. Super easy and light and fluffy! This recipe is a keeper! What a great idea to use this dough for cinnamon rolls. You can bake them in 1 large pan, doesn’t need to be glass. Cooking times are very accurate. I’m glad I found this recipe and have shared it with friends.

      1. Great thanks! Made these last week and my husband and kids loved them! Didn’t think I would come out with 24 rolls though

  8. I’ve never had a good bread hand my bread always turned out very dense and heavy UNTIL I tried these. Thank you for sharing the recipe if I can make them beautifully anybody can. They were light and soft and tasted delicious.

  9. HOLLY , I THINK THAT YOU HAVE THE FINEST RECIPES ON THE INTERNET !!! I AM JUST CRAZY ABOUT THIS WARM ROLLS RECIPE HERE !!! I JUST LOVE ALL OF THE OTHER RECIPES, AND ESPECIALLY THE FRENCH ROLLS !! WOW !!! YOU ARE SUCH A GREAT COOK !!!! I WILL DEFINITELY BE LEARNING FROM YOUR STUFF !!! I WANT TO LEARN TO COOK . THIS IS A PERFECT START !!! YOURE DESSERTS ARE SUPERB !!! YOU’RE THE BEST !!!!

  10. I just tried this recipe yesterday got perfect results! I actually halved the recipe and used some of the dough to make rolls, and on whim I assembled the rest of the dough into a braid. The end result looked like challah bread! It was not my intention, but nonetheless, the rolls and “challah” bread came out to be nothing but heavenly, fluffy goodness. I can’t wait to make more again soon. Thanks for sharing, Holly!

  11. Holly-I’ve been following your site for about 3.5 years now. There is NOT one recipe that I have made that wasn’t gobbled up! I’ve followed all your post. You are such a fabulous cook, mother and wife. I am so glad you decided to stay at home now and focus on your site. Truly, your love for this comes out in your writings and in your prep work for the recipes. I just simply love, love and love all your recipes. Happy Easter, Holly!

    1. Georgia girl- wow! Such an amazing and sweet comment. I am truly touched. Thank you so much!!! 🙂 Hope you have a great Easter, too!

  12. Your recipe looks fantastic and easy! I am not experienced in bread baking at all, and wanted to ask if rolling the dough into a rectangle before forming balls is necessary? Or can I make this even easier by skipping the rolling and just forming 12 same-size balls for each pan? AND, can you freeze half the dough for later? What steps would you take for freezing and thawing? Thanks sooo much!!

    1. I am kind of a stickler for each roll being the same size, i weigh the dough first, divide by 24, I the take off a piece of the dough and weigh it (usually each roll weighs 77 or 78 grams), and then I shape it into a ball. The way I shape it is with the piece of dough in one hand with the other hand I pull the sides of the dough to the bottom and pinch it a little to seal it, forms a beautiful ball with a smooth top. They turn out beautiful.

  13. I made these tonight. I halved the recipe and used 1% milk since that’s all I had. They were delicious! I brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with course sea salt…yum! I think I will make these for thanksgiving since they are a little easier than my other homemade dinner rolls.
    Thanks for the recipe!

  14. I’d love to make these for my Thanksgiving dinner. Any way that I could make the dough & freeze it to make the rolls the day of?

  15. These rolls are really the worlds best. I have made them a few times and get compliments everytime. My mom actually asked me to make rolls for thanksgiving again this year since she said I make good rolls.Thank you for the amazing recipe from our best bites. This has become my go to roll recipe.

  16. made these today for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I halved the recipe and found that my dough was very sticky and it needed more than 4 cups…however, the final product is very good. My kids devoured one with butter and honey smashed together! Hope everyone likes them tomorrow!

  17. These rolls really are the world’s best dinner rolls. I’ve made them twice, once on Thanksgiving and again this morning. The recipe is really forgiving. I’m allergic to dairy, so I used lite coconut milk in place of regular milk, and olive oil in place of the butter. You can’t taste the coconut at all.

    They are light and fluffy, with a nice crust on the outside. And they make my whole house smell amazing! We have an antique wood cookstove that we cook them in, and placing them on top of the stove helps the rising process.

    Please, for your own sake, MAKE THESE ROLLS!

    1. Kirstan! I am so happy you could change them to fit your dietary needs and they were still so wonderful! 🙂 Thanks for your amazing comment. 🙂

  18. These truly ARE the World’s Best Dinner Rolls!!

    My confession: I was mixing the dough in my KitchenAid, and was pretty much done, but thinking that it was bogging down the machine a bit…it was sort of stodgy, but I carried on. I took the bowl off and went to cover it for the first rise, and to my horror I spot a bowl of 3 beaten eggs on the counter…I had totally forgotten to add them!!

    Well, somewhere between stomping around the kitchen saying not-so-nice words, and deciding to throw the whole mess in the garbage, something told me to give it a shot to see what happened. I did it. I added the eggs to the dough bowl and started kneading like mad until they were pretty much mixed in. What a mess.

    I set the dough to rise, and to my surprise it really did. So far, so good. Then I rolled them into balls and set them into the pan to rise. Again, they did. Baked them. They looked great. Tried one, and I was completely floored.

    They turned out FANTASTIC. They’re so good that I’m serving them to company for lunch today as slider sandwiches with soup (which is why I was making them in the first place). I have extras in the freezer too!

    If my rolls survived (and thrived in spite of) a major faux pas like that one (I still can’t believe I did that), then I figure you pretty much can’t mess these up. TRY THEM. They’re totally worth the effort.

    Thanks for the recipe, Holly. It’s a keeper!

  19. I just made these rolls (1/2 a recipe) for Easter dinner for my family. I was a little worried after they rose the first time because they were so sticky I could not roll them into balls. I had to add about another cup or cup and a half of flour and work it in. My fear was that they would turn out really dry from being overworked. Not so! I let them rise after putting them in my 9 x 13 pan and baked them for approximately 18 minutes. I brushed melted butter over the tops and they looked so delicious. I decided I had better try one to make sure they weren’t dry as dust. I cut one in half, added a little butter and gave my husband the other half. Oh my goodness, they are delicious! They came out light, fluffy and yummy despite my adding extra flour to them. My husband loved them too. Can’t wait to serve them to my family for our Easter dinner celebration. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

  20. I used your recipe for my first ever batch of made from scratch dinner rolls. I made a couple of adjustments due to my 5000+ft. elevation: 1/3rd less yeast, I cut the first rise time in half, as well as let them rise the second time in the oven with a baking sheet full of boiling water below. I allowed them to rise in the oven the second time for 15-20 minutes then just turned the oven to 375 and let them finish rising as the oven warmed. They turned out absolutely amazing!!! I am so glad I chose your recipe, and will certainly be making these again very soon! Thank you for this classically wonderful recipe…I haven’t had rolls like these in 20+ years!

    1. Kristen, Make them up until you place them in the pan for the second rise. Then cover with saran wrap and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours only. Then place on counter for second rise (about 4 hours so they reach room temp and rise) then bake!

  21. Stulid question but I’m baking these tomorrow (half recipe ) and I will have my oven at 350 for the pork I’m also cooking. Do you think the rolls will still be OK to cook at this temp?

  22. I have been making these rolls for 4 yrs! I love them & so does my family! I’m currently making them for Easter dinner!

  23. I love these rolls and so does my family. The only addition is I add 1cup of sugar instead of 1/2 cup per instructions and I add a stick of margarine instead of 1/3 cup! It’s wonderful!

  24. Yummy!! Made these today and they turned out very well, I followed the recipe EXACTLY. This is honestly the very first time that I have been SUCCESSFUL in making a loaf of bread or rolls, usually I have difficulties with the rising process. You really have to use a thermometer and strictly adhere to the temperatures the recipe recommends.
    Next time I will try to make a half recipe because I made the mistake of making the entire 24 large rolls for just 4 people, and these rolls are large, and filling. I HIGHLY recommend making these, they are tasty.

  25. I’m an old single guy who always gets to go to some very good friend’s house for Thanksgiving. This is last’s years tale.
    Was asked to bring 2 dozen dinner rolls. First thought : those twisty things in a paper tube right next to the butter case at the grocery store”.
    Had them before at some point, and they were never that bad. BUT…I remember on Xmas…..someplace,,
    and we had homemade dinner rolls. Yikes…still remember how great they were. Putting any commercial ones to shame.

    Now, mind you, the closest I have ever come to “baking” was to slip something with “Hungry Man” on the outer package, (being sure to puncture the cellophane covering first!) into an oven that would fit quite well in an 1800’s log cabin.

    Long story, short. I got inspired to something nice for my hosts and fellow diners: “I’ll bake the d*** things myself.

    Did a Google search for “Worlds best dinner rolls”. And there you and your dinner rolls were. The recipe was less intimidating than the assembly instructions for an IKEA 3 legged stool, so……….I went for it.

    Went to the store, bought all the stuff on the list. (as well as an ample supply of the commercial stuff, just in case!).
    Followed as per your instructions. To the “T”.

    I will just say that I would challenge anyone to a dinner roll making competition. Using your recipe I get the blue ribbon everytime.
    Lordy….were they good. I mean GOOD.
    And though there were a few disbelievers at the table when I said I made them……..a couple teaspoons of flung mashed spuds in their direction soon quelled their doubts. (Just kidding). The rolls were a hit. And as it turned out I could have made another 2 dozen and had that plate to take home empty as well.

    Guess who now gets to turn on the oven before each T day gathering? I am the dinner roll guy now. And I really don’t mind at all. The smiles are worth it.

    Thanks SO much for such a very delicious recipe. YOU deserve all the praise.
    G.

  26. Great recipe. I’m a long time bread baker and I couldn’t help but notice you don’t knead the dough. Why?

  27. About how long should you mix it after you add the last bit of flour until it becomes a soft dough?

    1. Jody, you will heat the milk up along with the butter and sugar in the first step 🙂
      I hope you make them and enjoy them as much as we do! xo

    1. Yes Sharon, you can easily cut this recipe in half to make 12 rolls. Since there is 3 eggs in the full recipe, you only need 1 egg when halving the recipe. Enjoy! 🙂

  28. Can you make the dough ahead if time? I would like to make everything a day early sunce we are doing a turkey trot 5 k on Thanksgiving.

    1. Yes. I always make my rolls the day before. I make the dough and shape the dough into the balls. Don’t do the second rise or bake them yet. Cover the pan/s in saran wrap and place in the fridge. The day I want to bake them, I let them sit out at room temperature to rise before baking. 🙂

  29. 5 stars
    These are the best dinner rolls, i found this recipe 2 or 3 years ago and have been making them ever since. my family raves about them, they are so fluffy and light. my granddaughter asked me to teach her how to bake and this was one of the first things she asked me to show her how to make. Easy to make, dough is sticky but a little flour on the fingers helps a lot in handling the dough. These are a little piece of heaven here on earth.

  30. I only have instant yeast can I make it with that or do i have to use active yeast? If I can use Instant yeast do I need to do anything diffrent? Thank you!

    1. Instant yeast works great! The only change is that you won’t have to wait the 10 minutes to let the yeast proof. You can just proceed with the recipe. 🙂

  31. 5 stars
    This is an amazing recipe. Ive made it many times.
    Has anyone tried to freeze these rolls?-at what point in the process?

  32. 5 stars
    I make fresh homemade dinner rolls at holidays, nothing better to mop up Thanksgiving gravy or make a turkey sandwich. I’m going to try this recipe. It looks really good!

  33. 5 stars
    I’ve tried different roll and bread recipes, this is the first one that has turned out great! (I made only a half batch with 1 egg.) making cinnamon rolls with the same dough recipe.

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