Garlic Butter and Parmesan Dinner Rolls
Published Nov 15, 2021•Updated Jul 23, 2024
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Ready in just about an hour, Garlic Butter and Parmesan Dinner Rolls are wrapped in buttery garlic flavor and dusted with parmesan cheese. They have golden crusts, soft centers, and don’t take long to make. .
No celebratory meal is complete without soft, buttery dinner rolls. Even if you’ve never made homemade dinner rolls, you can make this recipe that is based on my favorite 1-Hour Light and Buttery Dinner Rolls. They’re fast, easy, and fail-proof. Brushing garlic butter over the cake pan and over the rolls during cooking infuses the dough with even more flavor while they bake. You’ll wonder what took you so long to make dinner rolls from scratch.
How Long Can Yeast Be Stored?
Both Fast Acting and Active yeast can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. Yeast can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a year.
You’ll know the yeast is still active when it becomes foamy in the proofing process. If the proofed yeast is flat in the bowl, it’s gone bad.
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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 extra 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.
How to Freeze and Reheat Dinner Rolls after Baking
Prepare the rolls as directed, including placing them in the cake pans and allowing them to complete the second rise. After the second rise, transfer the pans to the freezer. Freeze for 4 to 6 months.
To bake, defrost at room temperature until they are fully defrosted and starting to rise again, 4 to 6 hours. Transfer to the oven and bake as directed (they may take an extra minute or two if still cold when baked).
Printable Freezer Label
Print and attach the label below so cooking instructions are ready when you are!
Ingredients
- Warm Water – Keep an eye on the water temperature for this recipe. Instant and Fast Acting Yeast becomes inactive at temperatures over 130 degrees F / 54 degrees C.
- Instant / Fast Acting Yeast – I recommend Instant / Fast Acting yeast for this recipe because these yeasts have more shelf-life stability compared to Active Yeast, which is notoriously unstable. The last thing you want when you’re in the middle of making these dinner rolls is to discover you have a dead yeast packet!
- Sugar – Helps the yeast work it’s magic to create a foolproof dough.
- All-Purpose Flour – No specialty flour is needed for these rolls. This pantry staple has you covered.
- Parmesan Cheese – This hard, dry Italian cheese adds just the right amount of salty texture to the top of the garlic butter dinner rolls.
- Garlic Butter – Fragrant garlic and unsalted butter give these dinner rolls a flavor boost. Use unsalted butter to prevent the rolls from becoming too salty.
Possible Variations
- Add herbs – Mix dried rosemary or thyme into the dough for a unique flavor. (Last year I made these Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls by Claire Saffitz, and they were great – chives are a great addition!)
- Try honey butter – Omit garlic and add honey to your melted butter for a salty, sweet dinner roll.
More Homemade Bread Recipes
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Garlic Butter and Parmesan Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Sauce Pan
- 2 8" Cake Pans or 1 9" x 13" Baking Dish
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 1/2 cups Warm Water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 1 Tablespoon Instant or "Fast-Acting" Yeast
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups All-Purpose Flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup and leveled off (4 cups = 500g)
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt, plus more for sprinkling over top
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1 Tablespoon chopped Parsley (optional)
for Garlic Butter:
- 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 3 cloves Garlic, grated
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.
- To the yeast mixture, add 2 Tablespoon softened butter, flour, and salt. Mix on low until the ingredients begin to come together.
- 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 to 30 minutes (if the kitchen is on the cooler side, use the higher end of the rise time).
- While dough rises, combine 6 Tablespoons butter and garlic in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Heat until butter is melted and garlic is fragrant.
- Brush about half the garlic butter (reserve the second half) over the bottom and sides of 2 cake pans (alternatively, you can bake all of the rolls together in a 9×13 baking dish).
- After the dough has completed its first rise, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and form it into an even ball.
- Slice the dough into 16 even portions and gently form them into balls. Place the dough balls in prepared cake pans.
- Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C. Place cake pans near the warm oven and let dough rise for 15 minutes more.
- Bake rolls until just starting to turn golden brown on top, 15 minutes.
- Remove rolls from the oven and brush generously with remaining garlic butter. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
- Return rolls to oven and continue baking just until cooked through and deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes more.
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley if you’d like.
- Let rolls cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out of the pan. Best served the same day they’re baked.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
