1-Hour Light and Buttery Dinner Rolls
Published Oct 28, 2020•Updated May 09, 2025
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As the title promises, light and fluffy 1 hour light and buttery dinner rolls are a one bowl, one hour recipe that is simple enough for any home cook. Brush melted butter over the rolls before and after baking for a golden color and buttery flavor.
Amber says: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Awesome recipe! Followed the recipe exactly but made 12 larger sized rolls instead of 24. They turned out perfect.
These classic dinner rolls have been a staple around our table since I first published them back in 2012 (!). Check out the comments to hear from many fans of these soft, light, buttery rolls. And even if you’ve never made homemade dinner rolls, give this one a try. They are easy, and turn out great every time! And pair them with this twist on classic Tomato Soup or easy, Instant Pot Lemon Chicken and Orzo Soup.
Ingredients
- Fast-Acting or “Instant” Yeast – This dough rises quickly and requires yeast labeled as Fast Acting, Instant, Quick-Rise, Bread Machine, or RapidRise. Do NOT use “Active Dry Yeast” for this recipe; it needs to be dissolved in water before using.
- Unsalted Butter – Butter shows up in this recipe in two places. Mix some softened butter into the dough and brush melted butter over the tops before and after cooking.
- Warm Water – Use water that is warm to the touch. Check the label on your brand of yeast for the recommended water temperature to get the best results.
- Sugar, Flour, Kosher Salt – Standard pantry ingredients for bread-baking.
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How to Make Dinner Rolls Ahead
To make the dinner rolls ahead, bake them as written and allow them to cool completely. Cover tightly and store at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
To Reheat: To reheat the rolls place a piece of foil on a sheet pan. Add the rolls and brush them with some melted butter. Enclose the rolls tightly with foil, sealing the edges. Warm the rolls in foil in a 350°F / 177°C oven for about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
To Freeze and Reheat Dinner Rolls
To Freeze: After testing many different methods, I have found that the best way to prepare and freeze these dinner rolls is to bake them completely as directed. Allow them to cool and then freeze flat on a baking sheet until solid, 2 to 3 hours. Transfer to a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
To Reheat: Take the rolls out of the freezer about 3 hours before baking and let fully defrost at room temperature. Place them on a sheet pan and cover tightly with foil. Bake, covered, in a 350°F / 177°C oven until warmed through, 20 to 25 minutes. Brush generously with melted butter.
Printable Freezer Label
Print and attach the label below so cooking instructions are ready when you are!
More Homemade Bread Recipes
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1-Hour Light and Buttery Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- 9×13 Baking Dish
- Serrated Knife
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Warm Water (110°F / 43°C)
- 1 Tablespoons Instant or “Fast-Acting” Yeast
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature (2 Tbsp = 28g)
- 4 cups All-Purpose Flour, divided (4 cups flour = 500g)
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
For topping:
- 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted (3 Tbsp = 40g)
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.
- Lightly grease a 9×13 baking pan.
- To the yeast mixture, add 2 Tablespoons softened butter, 2 cups of flour, and salt (making sure that the salt is added on top of the flour and doesn't come in contact with the yeast until you begin mixing). Mix on low until the ingredients begin to come together.
- Add remaining 2 cups of flour and mix again on low until flour is fully incorporated.
- Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. (You will know it is ready when the dough starts to make a slapping sound as it hits the sides of the bowl.)
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover it with a dish towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 minutes. (Note: I like to turn on the oven's light and let the dough rise inside the oven. The light produces just enough heat to help the dough rise quickly.)
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form it into an even ball.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the dough into quarters. Slice each quarter of dough into 6 even slices (you should have 24 even pieces of dough). With lightly floured hands, roll each piece of dough into a ball.
- Place rolled dough in even rows in prepared pan.
- Heat oven to 400°F / 200°C. Cover the rolls with a dish towel and put them near the warm oven to rise for 20 minutes.
- Lightly brush the rolls with half of the melted butter (reserve the other half).
- Bake until golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes.
- Immediately after removing the rolls from the oven, brush them with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with salt.
- Flip the pan over to remove the rolls.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I just made these tonight. It took about 8 min longer to cook, but wow! So delicious and fast! So soft! I’m sold! 💕
So glad you liked them Katie!
Hi there! Made these for Thanksgiving dinner today and they had a lovely pillowy texture and great taste. I split the batch in half and froze a dozen, but I am wondering how long you think they will last in the freezer for? I froze them after the second rise. I am hoping they make it to Christmas (2.5 months away) thanks for the great recipe!
If you wrapped them up tightly, I definitely think they’ll make it to Christmas, Allena!
Sorry, I got to the party late but I’m a cook from way back and these are, hands-down, some of the best and quickest rolls I’ve ever made. I love your tips for making them turn out right and followed the directions to the letter. They were exceptional. I wish I had taken a picture of the finished rolls but, unfortunately, Hubby and son grabbed them straight from the pan, right out of the oven! Talk about ‘hot rolls’….they were devoured without any additional butter. They were spongy and light inside, golden brown outside and had a yeasty aroma that just was amazing. Excellent job, Girl! These are a home run!! Thanks!
YAy! So glad you liked them Lisa! They’re definitely a favorite of ours too, and hot out of the oven is hard to beat!
Your recipe uses about 525 ml of water for 500 GM’s of floor. Are we using too much water.
literally made this recipe on accident thinking it was a different one i used the week prior & now i’m like “other recipe, who?” these are the literal best, i was so shocked with how amazing these turned out that my mouth fell open and with the scalding pan still in hand walked it over to the living room to show my husband and even he was impressed! they are a family favorite of ours now. my toddler looooooves mama’s bread. thank you so much for sharing this super quick & simple & BOMB A** recipe for fluffy, buttery rolls!
Hi from kathmandu, nepal. I tried out the receipe came out super, however crust was white how to get light brown crust. Advise.
Hi Vijaya – did you do the brush of butter over the top of the crust? If the rolls otherwise turned out good, I’d recommend just turning on the broiler for about a minute at the end of cooking. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn, but that should give them a nice golden crust. Perhaps it has to do with the altitude there in Kathmandu. (We had so hoped to make it to Nepal when we lived in Thailand, but never did – saving it for a future trip!)
These were great! I tried them just now. I can never EVER make yeast rolls. This is the first time I’ve ever had them work well. THANKS!
Nice! They really are so easy and we hear from many folks that they are able to add these little beauties to their repertoire. 🙂
Can this be made by hand without using a mixer?
Perfect!
I made these rolls and they were extremely delicious although they turned out quite dense inspite of that they disappeared in record time. I’m not sure what I did wrong because I followed the recipe exactly as written. Any ideas on what happened?
Hi Stephanie. I often find that dense rolls / breads are a result of using too much flour. If you didn’t add any extra flour, you might try decreasing the amount you use by 1/4 cup next time. There are so many factors that affect bread, your environment and ingredients may just require that the recipe needs a bit of tweaking. I’ve never had these turn out dense, so perhaps that will do the trick. Thanks so much for writing in!