Note from Crystal: I asked my sister, Gretchen, to share this recipe as she often posts it in her weekly menu plans and many of you have requested the recipe. It’s a favorite at our house, too!
Why you’ll love these Quick Yeast Rolls
This recipe has been a favorite in our family for many years. We’ve made so many batches of these rolls that I have the recipe memorized. They are so yummy and a hit with everyone who eats them.
My friends are shocked when they learn how easy and FAST they are to whip up. You can use them as dinner rolls or buns depending on the size you shape them.
30-Minute Rolls Ingredients
This recipe makes enough dough for 40-50 dinner rolls. While the dough does freeze well (see instructions below) feel free to make half a batch if you don’t need quite that many!
- 3 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
- 1 cup oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 4 Tbsp instant (or rapid-rise) yeast
- 3 eggs
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 10 1/2 cups flour
How to Make Quick Dinner Rolls
1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. In a large bowl, mix warm water, oil, honey, and yeast.
3. Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Stir in the eggs and salt.
5. Finally, mix in the flour, a few cups at a time, and knead the full mixture for 5 minutes on a floured work surface.
6. Shape into rolls (large egg size).
7. Place shaped rolls on a greased baking sheet.
8. Cover with a towel and let rise for another 10 minutes.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Freezer instructions:
My very favorite thing about these rolls (other than the fabulous taste!) is that you can freeze them before cooking and then thaw them out to cook on the day you need them.
I almost always have a bag of these frozen dough rolls in my freezer because we love them that much.
In fact, Crystal asked me to post this recipe because they are so often on my weekly menu posts.
To freeze the dough, simply follow the instructions above, through step 7 (putting the dough balls on a cookie sheet). Then, instead of letting them rest for 10 minutes, immediately put the cookie sheet in the freezer.
When the dough balls are completely frozen, take them off the baking sheet and place them into a freezer bag.
To bake frozen rolls, place frozen dough on a greased baking sheet and let thaw/rise for about 2 hours.
Bake at 425º for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Tips for the Best 30-Minute Dinner Rolls
These dinner rolls are extremely fast and easy to whip up, but here are a few tips that will make the process even more foolproof!
Make sure you use INSTANT YEAST (sometimes called “rapid-rise yeast”). If you use “active dry yeast” the rolls will take more than 30 minutes to prepare.
Try to keep your dough balls uniform in size so they are all done at the same time. A kitchen scale can be helpful for this.
Start with less flour than you think you’ll need — you can always add more later if the dough is still sticky, but if you put too much flour in at the beginning, your rolls could be very dense and tough.
If you prefer softer rolls, place 15 rolls in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and they will bake up touching the sides of the other rolls, which will reduce the amount of “crust”.
Variations of Quick Yeast Rolls
This dough recipe is very versatile and can be tweaked or altered for so many different needs.
Add in some garlic powder and/or fresh herbs for a more savory roll.
You could also roll the dough balls in butter, then cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat.
Considering mixing your favorite shredded cheese in with the dough, or stuffing a chunk of mozzarella inside each dough ball for a deliciously cheesy surprise.
Personally, we love them best when they are still fresh out of the oven, topped with butter, and drizzled with honey… or with this whipped honey butter! Yum!
If you frequently find yourself short on time when making meals, this recipe is for you.
Dinner Roll FAQs
Active dry yeast needs to be “activated” prior to use, while instant yeast is ready for use the instant you open the package. Recipes using instant yeast do not need to rise twice like those using active dry yeast — and thus, go much faster!
Homemade dinner rolls can last for up to 5 days if stored properly at normal room temperature, but we recommend eating them within 48 hours or freezing them for later.
Store them at room temperature in a tightly sealed container, preferably away from as much light as possible. Do not refrigerate as that will dry them out. If you need to store them longer than a couple of days, just put them in a ziptop bag and pop them in the freezer.
30-Minute Rolls
Ingredients
- 3½ cups warm water 110-115º
- 1 cup oil
- ½ cup honey
- 4 Tbsp instant yeast sometimes called "rapid rise yeast"
- 3 eggs
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 10½ cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- In a large bowl, mix warm water, oil, honey, and yeast.
- Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the eggs and salt.
- Finally, mix in the flour, a few cups at a time, and knead the full mixture for 5 minutes.
- Shape into rolls (large egg size).
- Place shaped rolls on a greased baking sheet.
- Cover with a towel and let rise for another 10 minutes.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Notes
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Can you make these ahead of time and keep in fridge?
You can definitely make them up ahead of time, put them in ziplock bags (after they’ve cooled) and reheat in the microwave! You can also freeze them and reheat. However, I’ll say they are the best when they are fresh out of the oven! -Olivia, MSM Team
I just made this and they were insanely sticky, even using part whole wheat flour. I think I ended using more like 15 cups flour in order to reduce the stickiness. What did I do wrong??
Does anyone have a tip on an easy way to make sure the water is the right temperature without using a thermometer? For example, microwave “x”‘ amount of time in a 1000 watt microwave oven…
Holiday time “bring rolls” is answered with this recipe for the past three years. Love them! And super quick to whip up around holiday parties
This is still my go to recipe for rolls. I have made them larger for hamburgers and they have a hit also.
I use THM baking flour which is gluten free. Would I need to change anything if I replaced the flour with the gluten free flour?
TThe rolls sound great. I cook for 2 and have limited freezer space. Could I divide the recipe in half?
I’m sure you could try that! -Meg, MSM Team
These rolls are amazing! They are a tremendous hit at every get together I’ve tried them at over the past few months! I use white whole wheat flour and cut the recipe down to make a dozen…and they are always delicious.
WOW! these were awesome. They surpassed my expectations!! I froze most of them and baked up some fresh as well. I have a 4yo and twin babies… so if I can squeeze them into my day they must be easy! I did end up adding a bit of extra flour so that I could handle the dough and baked them with the cookie sheet on my pizza stone so the bottoms stayed soft. I also wondered about placement on the sheet- with space in between or not? I placed them like I would cookie dough (with a few inches between roll) and they came out perfectly! A total treat… these will not help me lose the baby weight 😉
I am gluten free. Does this recipe adapt? My flour blend is mostly brown rice with a little bit of potato starch & xanthium gum. Could I replace the regular flour with my blend?
The recipe calls for instant active yeast….is that the quick rising yeast or regular active yeast?
These were tasty- I made them with 100% whole wheat flour and added 1 tablespoon of wheat gluten for each cup of flour. They were not dense. It took me about 45 minutes to get them mixed and made into balls. I did it all by hand. My balls were smaller than eggs so I got about 60!
What am I doing wrong??? Mine came out so sticky I could not roll them into balls. Do you knead with your hands or with a mixer? So disappointed. 🙁
I made these tonight! So quick and plentiful. I was able to give 2 bowls away and still have enough for my family. Thank you for sharing!
Crystal (and Gretchen),
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!!!!
I made these this morning albeit with some modifications since I didn’t have any eggs. For your readers who need an egg-free bread recipe, this is a great one. I substituted Energ-G egg replacer (one for one) with the three eggs called for.
I also noticed that I had to add about 1/2 to 3/4 C of additional flour while kneading the dough before breaking into pieces since the dough was very sticky – not sure if that is related to using the egg replacer. I used a jelly roll pan to fit 20 rolls on one and 10 on another (my three teen boys aren’t in the dainty-sized food portions these days – LOL) and baked for 15 minutes (my oven runs about 10 degrees hotter) due to the larger sized portions.
I got a double AND triple thumbs-up review from all five of my children. Even though the recipe sounds huge, 30 ~3″x 3″ dinner rolls is the right amount for our family of 7.
Thanks for all you do to share information and resources with us. I am blessed by your ministry!
I’m so glad that they turned out well for you!
Wah. Don’t know what I did wrong. Followed the instructions for making 15. I got 17, but I put 6 in the oven and they didn’t rise much, look pale . Cut one and it’s “wet” looking inside. I have them in their for 4-5 more minutes, but I don’t think it’s going to make much difference. 🙁
Took them out after additional time…still look sad. Browned more, but they still look nothing like yours :(. Cut them…still “wet” inside. I have had great success with the 5 minute artisan bread which involves no kneading, but wanted to go out of my comfort zone and I wish I knew what I did wrong
Is it possible the water was too hot and killed the yeast?
Trying these right now. Looking forward to eating some soon. 🙂
I will be trying these for Thanksgiving dinner! Sound delicious!
These sound absolutely wonderful! Quick question though, when you put them on your baking sheet, do you keep them close so that they will rise & be touching, or do you keep them farther apart? Some recipes bake better one way vs the other so I figured I’d ask. THANK YOU!
I just made these.
My dough was sticky, but I think it’s because I used the dry measuring cups for the liquid. I added 1/2 cup of flour to compensate and they were still a little sticky. So, dusted my hands when pinching and rolling the dough. I ended up with more than 45 rolls, but that’s ok by me. I’m taking them to a soup kitchen tomorrow. This recipe showed up just in time!
The dough was almost too much for my biggest bowl, but with carefully folding the flour in with the wet ingredients it all worked out.
My son, just ate 2, so they must be good. They smell fabulous too. I will make these again as they were pretty easy – I’m going to debate that 30 min. label though. From start to finish for the first batch to come out of the oven was 1 hour. 😉
I’m out of honey. Do you think maple syrup would be ok ? Or some kind of sugar water mixture ?
I have the same problem! I just googled it and found that you can substitute 1 and 1/4 cup sugar with a 1/4 cup water for honey in a recipe. I’m going to try it just trying to do one part water to 5 parts sugar??? We’ll see!
Crystal! I had no idea Gretchen was your sister!!
These look delicious and so easy. Yeast breads intimidate the heck out of me, so they have to be super-simple for me to attempt!
Yes, she’s my younger sister! 🙂
I got this recipe several years ago from one of Crystal’s ebooks. I made them many times & also taught my son to make them. They are always eaten quickly! I usually freeze leftovers & warm them in the microwave after thawing. But, I like the idea of freezing the unbaked dough to have fresh baked rolls!
My dough was soooo sticky.. What did I do wrong? Was I suppose to add more flour during the kneading process?
I had the same problem…missed something!
That is a HUGE recipe! I don’t know if I have a bowl that would accommodate that 🙂 My go to version is 3 c flour, 1 T sugar, 1 t salt, 1 pkg (2 2/3 tsp) yeast, 1 T oil and 1 c warm water. without the eggs it’s more like French bread than a roll though 🙂
Could I use egg whites? (I use egg whites in baking alot to cut the calories especially this time of year!!)
Since it makes so many rolls, the difference would be insignificant for calories…only 4 calories less per roll! I use egg whites all the time for scrambled eggs and omelettes.
Are they ok to bake and then freeze?
Yes, you can do that as well. We just prefer the taste of fresh rolls which is why I freeze them before baking. But I have frozen them after baking and then reheated them a few times as well.
I made these tonight and they turned out great.
http://intheblack.areavoices.com/2013/11/05/30-minutes-rolls-recipe/#
Thanks for the comment. I’m so glad you liked them. 🙂
Made these for dinner tonight. Used 4 cups WW flour and 6.5 cups regular unbleached flour, coconut oil that was warmed just to liquid form, raw honey, and rubbed a little melted butter on top of each roll after baking. Skipped the greased pan and used a Pampered Chef baking stone.
There was a fork duel for the last roll, so these are definately a winner!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them. Thanks for leaving a comment.
What size pan?
I just use my cookie sheets (they are all different sizes).
What kinds of oils have you used? What seems to work best?
Thanks!
I normally always use olive oil (extra virgin) but I’ve also used vegetable oil too.
Why are they 30 min rolls if they need to rise for 2 hours. What am I missing?
The 2 hours to rise is only if you freeze them. The total original prep time for the rolls is only 30 minutes. 🙂
Can u post the recipe for like 15 rolls or something. I don’t think we can take 45 or frozen stuff will be used. Sorry for the request but it wud be really helpful for me
1 cup + 2 3/4 T warm water (115-120 degrees)
1/3 cup oil
2 3/4 T honey
1 T + 1 tsp instant active yeast
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
That would be 1/3 of the original recipe, so approx 15 rolls.
Followed it to the T and had perfect dinner rolls….my hubby is going to be sooooo happy on seeing them
Will this recipe work with whole wheat flour?
I’ve often made it with half wheat/half white flour. The times I have made it with all whole wheat flour, the rolls have been really dense. I hope that helps!
I always use whole wheat flour, and we all love them. I do add an extra TBSP of yeast. (I’ve made these dozens of times!)
These rolls sound delicious. I am looking forward to making them. Thanks
have you tried this with wheat flour? did they turn out well or too dense?
I was wondering the same thing—how they’d work with WW flour.
Thanks! 🙂
I’ve used whole wheat flour lots of times. I would recommend doing half wheat/half white though. If you use all whole wheat, the rolls are really dense.
I can’t wait to try these! Im shocked 45 rolls!! Thats alot of rolls! lol so happy to hear they are freezer friendly theres so many times I want rolls and know they would take to long to make or dont have time to run to the store. Can’t wait to make these!