So incredibly easy to make and wonderfully delicious, these 30-Minute Dinner Rolls are the perfect addition to any meal!
There is truly no smell as amazing as fresh warm bread or rolls coming out of the oven! I remember coming home from school to the smell of freshly baked buns or bread, ready and waiting as the perfect after school snack! To this day when I smell fresh baking, I am immediately transported to that happy time and place of my childhood.
Fast forward to today with busy work schedules, running to kids activities and trying to simply keep up with life, it is difficult to put together a meal – let alone add on the extras!
This 30-Minute Dinner Roll recipe is wonderful because it is truly so easy to prepare, the buns take a short time to rise and the result is such a delicious treat that it is worth the extra effort! What a great side to enjoy with a hot and tasty bowl of soup or chili!
I love the convenience of buying dinner rolls from the store and the quality is very nice. In most cases however, store bought items have additives or preservatives in order to keep a longer shelf life. Making these homemade dinner rolls from scratch ensures that nothing is added except wholesome goodness! And these tasty little buns never last long enough to have to worry about shelf life!
If you are lucky enough to have any left over the next day, they do stay fresh and are so wonderful served with butter and jam in the morning! I love to enjoy this special treat with my morning coffee – it is comfort food at it’s best!
Our sense of smell is one of the most highly acute of all our senses and tends to influence our mood. It is no small wonder that when we smell freshly baked dinner rolls, it makes us feel happy and excited in anticipation of these tender, tasty treats!
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour I use closer to 3
- ⅛ cup milk room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400*F.
- In a large bowl, combine 1 cup water, oil, sugar, and yeast. Let sit until yeast is bubbly (about 8 minutes). Stir in beaten egg, softened butter, and salt.
- With a stand mixer or by hand, add flour, one cup at a time until you have a soft dough that isn’t sticky. Knead by hand 10 minutes or 5 minutes with a stand mixer.
- Divide dough into 18 even pieces, and form into balls. Place in a greased pan and cover with parchment paper and a kitchen towel.
- Let rise 10 minutes in a warm place. (You can allow them to rise up to an additional 30 minutes if time allows).
- Lightly brush with milk and bake on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes or just until browned.
Video
Notes
- Combine 2 cups of flour with 2 packets of instant yeast (about 4½ teaspoons), sugar, and salt in a large bowl or stand mixer.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together warm water, vegetable oil, melted butter, and egg. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Add the remaining 1 to 2 cups of flour, half a cup at a time, until you have a soft dough that isn’t sticky (you may not need all of it). Knead by hand for 10 minutes or 5 minutes with a stand mixer.
- Form dough into balls. Place in a greased pan and cover with parchment paper and a kitchen towel. Let rise for 30-40 minutes or until dough is double in size.
- Brush tops with milk and bake as directed.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Whether it’s a special occasion or you simply want a delicious addition to your weeknight meal, 30-Minute Dinner Rolls are perfect! Absolutely delicate, delicious and simple to make, you will want to bake them often. And your family will ask for them even more!
More Recipes You’ll Love
For Dairy free/vegan/plant based individuals:
This recipe can be easily made by swapping out the milk with oat, soy or almond milk and the butter with Earth Balance or Miyokos Butter.
Vegans avoiding white sugar can swap the sugar with agar, maple syrup etc through I recommend keeping it to no more than a tablespoon- just enough to activate the yeast.
A fun flavor variety is cheddar and roasted garlic. Make as above but during the final kneading, knead I’m chopped Have A Heart vegan cheddar and roasted garlic. Prep and bake as usual.
Thanks for the recipe! It’s a go-to in our home and we’ve made it many, many times and never had it fail.
Thanks for the recommendations, Siobhan. So happy this recipe worked for you!
Love, love, love these rolls. Easy to make and great time saver. Made these rolls while we were having a major rain storm in February. Came out beautiful.
Did you use instant yeast?
Hi Rae, we used traditional active dry yeast in this recipe.
I used fresh yeast. All I could get. Online conversion says it’s 9 tsps. I’m nervous! They are in the oven.
How did they turn out Jessica?
I used instant yeast because I didn’t think about it and they turned out good for me.
I make bread and rolls on my Bosch a lot. These rolls are my new favorite! They were fast and perfectly fluffy! I followed recipe exactly and let them rise for about 20 minutes. I thought they were as good as Rhodes rolls.
I made these buns today for supper. They were so light and fluffy.
I’m not usually a huge fan of quick rolls, they always seem to taste a little bit funnier just don’t turn out right. These ones are really good and they have a lot of flavor to them. Great recipe.
The dinner rolls were easy to make not a little dry for me. I will play with the recipe to increase moisture and more of a yeast taste. Thank you for your wonderful efforts!
Glad you enjoyed it Urana!
Hi, I’m writing from Ireland. Having lived in the USA, I knew I was going to have to modify this recipe due to different ingredients etc so initially they didn’t work out great. They LOOKED good but they were very doughy and (sorry) tasteless. So, i decided to remak them with European adjustments. I reduced oil , added more Irish butter, and used strong flour. I doubled the amount of salt and added a teaspoon of dried rosemary. I’m out of garlic powder but that’s definitely going in the next batch. I’m excited to see how they turn out (currently proving and giving them more time) as I teach cookery to HS kids and need a quick recipe for class on yeast. So far the dough seems heavier – could be the fact i used the Kitchen Aid versus the handheld mixer lol .
Great results for what it is! Look, these are not the gourmet fluffy rolls you get at Chuck-A-Rama. Those kinds of delicate baked goods require forethought, time, effort, and maybe even a good amount of sweat and tears! The truth is, sometimes you don’t have the time to create that kind of an intense roll, but you still have a need for something bread-ish to go with dinner. Such was the case with our family tonight. Admittedly, I didn’t have high expectations for these babies, but was in a pinch and was desperate to try it. Wow! My whole family and I were very pleasantly surprised! We used bread flour, and a Bosch to mix it. Maybe those things helped create the great result. But yes, if you’re pinched for time, make these! I didn’t even let mine rise the full 10 minutes, and they really were great. I thought the milk glazing before baking was unique, but it worked and produced a shiny top. Cool! I used whole milk for that glazed with a silicone brush. Very cool. Thank you for saving dinner, friend!
We made these at our school in the cafeteria, they were a huge hit! We had to adjust the recipe to make about 200 rolls. Light and tasty, we probably wont order any store bought rolls again. Quick and easy too!!
First time making rolls. Very easy Recipe to follow. Rolls look perfect and are very soft, but dont taste very good. I also had to bake them for way more than 12min. im a pretty good cook and my kids love all kinds of foods but they spit the rolls out. :( They were so excited and said they smelt great but when they took a bite they told me to put them back in the oven for longer.. I followed the advice of others and turned them into sliders. I kind of feel like they need salt or something… too bland.. but I’m glad I gave then a try. i feel like it’s a good base for maybe something other than rolls..
I’ve made these twice now and my second batch I cut in half and used some for dinner rolls and some for cinnamon bun rolls. Super easy and delicious!!! Do you think I could make this into a loaf shape and bake for a bit longer?
Hi Tara, we have never tried this recipe as loaf but other readers have with great results. There only tip was to really let it rise in the pan before baking :) Let us know how it turns out!
I made this recipe. They turned out ok but they taste a little Yeasty. What could of I did wrong? I really want to try them as cinnamon buns as I saw someone else do.
Hi Tammy, these are a yeast roll so they do have a slight “yeast” flavor to them. You can try this delicious recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls.
I have used this recipe several times and it comes out perfect each time. These would be great for slider buns. They stay fresh for a few days and they are so quick. I always have time to make these.
Easy, quick yeast rolls, exactly what I searched for. I don’t particularly like the milk on top, it made them a bit hard. I would perfer to use butter when they come out I think. Other then that, it really is near perfect. We have been remodeling and I have misplaced my mixer so I made this in a bowl and kneaded it with my hands. It is an easy light dough. I encourage you to try it.
Waaaaaaaaay to sweet and the cook time given was not long enough. otherwise it would have been a great quick bread roll. Def didn’t need all that sugar unless I got it wrong and was meant to eat them for dessert.
I have to say , I was cooking Kraut Burgers for a fund raiser and my store bought dinner rolls would Not rise,being 30 minutes from town, I tried this recipe.The dough rolled out perfect, I filled them.They came out looking a tasting Perfect.Thank you for posting this,it saved the day!!
Hi my name is Ronald just want to know if I can use butter instead of oil
Hi Ronald, I haven’t tried it with butter but several readers have and have had good results. Let us know how it goes!
Can you use 2% milk if you don’t have whole milk on hand?
That should work just fine!
I guess this is fine in a pinch. They are fluffy and they *look* like dinner rolls, but they essentially taste like nothing. I can’t put my finger on why they are so bland. They work if you want to dunk them in something, but alone they aren’t very tasty.
Nevermind about my last comment… I saw that the milk is brushed on afterwards… lol. Oops! Made these and they were so easy and delicious!