Mom’s Jumbo Dinner Rolls
on Nov 13, 2021, Updated Nov 23, 2022
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My mom has been making this homemade dinner rolls recipe for years and they’re absolutely divine. They make your house small amazing and the recipe makes perfectly soft and fluffy jumbo dinner rolls. The dough is extra soft and tender thanks to the addition of butter, milk, and eggs! So tasty and perfect for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table.
New to baking with yeast? Don’t worry, these are the easiest rolls ever! Seriously, they’re fool-proof (even if baking rolls has given you trouble in the past).
Homemade Jumbo Dinner Rolls
I’m working hard at making sure that all of my favorite recipes are up-to-date and ready for you to make.
This dinner roll recipe makes big, fluffy dinner rolls that your whole family will love to eat. They simply turn out great every time. My mom has a handful of recipes that she’s “known for,” and this, my friends, is her nearly famous dinner roll recipe. She makes it for all the major holidays and family functions, and when she flies out west to visit all the grandbabies, we always request a batch of her famous dinner rolls. They are the stuff childhood memories are made of.
This is a classic dinner roll recipe, but the trick to make the rolls extra soft and buttery is melted butter, eggs, and milk in the dough. All three of those things lend to really tender dough. This is actually a great dough recipe for cinnamon rolls, but we’ll save that for another post. I can’t wait for these simple dinner rolls to become a family favorite in your house, too.
How to shape dinner rolls:
This part is fairly easy! After you mix up the dough and the half-hour rising time has passed, divide the dough by hand into 32 pieces. Roll each piece into a round roll using your hands, and place it on a greased, rimmed baking sheet.
How to make dinner rolls ahead of time:
Follow the directions in the recipe card below to make rolls ahead of time. If I’m not serving the rolls right away, I like to remove them from the pan to cool about 15 minutes after they come out of the oven so that the bottoms don’t get steamy and soggy. You can travel with them easily by storing them in an airtight container.
How to freeze & reheat dinner rolls:
After baking your rolls, remove them from the pan and let them cool completely. Store in an airtight container or freezer-safe sealable bag to store them in your freezer for up to 4 months. To reheat, let them thaw for an hour or two at room temperature, place them back in a baking dish, and bake for about 10 minutes at 250 degrees F. Be sure to rub butter over top before serving.
Homemade dinner roll variations:
You could easily spruce these up by adding chopped herbs and garlic, cinnamon and sugar, cheese and jalapeno, or bacon bits and cheese to the dough! Just add your additions of choice before kneading the dough and letting it rise.
Troubleshooting tips:
- If your dough doesn’t rise, your yeast may be old, the room may be too cold, or you haven’t given it enough time to rise.
- If you don’t have butter, you can substitute margarine instead.
- If the rolls are too dense or hard, you may have used too much salt, you didn’t knead the dough or let it rise long enough, or the yeast died from letting the dough rise in a place that is too hot.
Common Questions When Making Yeasted Dinner Rolls
How do you know if yeast is still good?
Fill up a small measuring cup with a little warm water. Add 1/4 teaspoon of your yeast, and then add a pinch of sugar and lightly stir it together. Wait for 5 minutes. If the yeast is still active, you will see little bubbles along the top of the water, and it will start to “foam.” I think the date on the yeast package is a good guide, and I like to store my yeast in the fridge to help keep it fresh. When in doubt, get new yeast. Nothing is worse than an loaf of bread that won’t rise!
How do you keep dinner rolls warm?
I love to serve dinner rolls shortly after taking them out of the oven, when they’re still warm and buttery and soft. If you’re waiting to serve them, you can place them in a cloth napkin-lined basket and loosely cover them with another cloth napkin to keep the warmth inside.
How do you make bread soft and fluffy?
The key to these being super tender and soft is the milk, melted butter, and eggs. Be sure you scald the milk and melt the butter together to get really incredible results! Also, don’t be afraid to over-knead the dough. The longer and more you knead it, the more elastic and tender it becomes.
How do you eat dinner rolls?
I could eat these plain and have about 7 of them as a whole meal. But we also love serving them for holiday meals or other special occasions. Serve them with butter and jam if you like, or split them open and make a little turkey or ham sandwich using them.
How to Make Fluffy Dinner Rolls at Home:
- Make sure your yeast is fresh! Check the date before starting. This is the yeast that I use and have great success with.
- Don’t be afraid of over-working your dough. Kneading the dough will lead to tender and soft dough.
- This might look like a big batch of rolls, but I promise you won’t have a problem eating them all. If it’s a few too many, feel free to wrap up cooled rolls well and and stick them in the freezer. They freeze great!
- Feel free to use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose in this recipe; it works great and makes a super soft homemade wheat roll.
Mom’s Jumbo Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons instant yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 large eggs
- 6.5 to 7.5 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Heat the milk and butter together in the microwave to scald the milk and melt the butter, 2 to 3 minutes. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine milk/butter mixture, water, yeast, sugar, and salt. Let yeast rest for 5 minutes.
- Add half the flour, and mix for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated.
- Add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. The dough should be soft and elastic, but not sticky. Knead with your mixer or by hand for 5 minutes.
- Let the dough rise in a greased bowl for 30 to 60 minutes.
- After rising time has passed, divide the dough into 32 pieces. Roll each piece into a round roll, and place it on a greased, rimmed baking sheet (that is 13×18 inches).
- Once all the dough is shaped, cover the rolls, and let them rise for another 30 to 60 minutes. The sides of the rolls should be touching each other before you bake them, that’s how you know they are ready. If your house is cold it might take a longer for them to rise this much. See the photos of the risen rolls in the blog post for reference.
- Once the rolls have at least doubled in size, bake at 400 degrees F. for 14 to 18 minutes, or until the tops are nice and golden.
- Remove from the oven, and butter the tops of the rolls while still hot. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- To make this ahead of time simply make the rolls and bake them. After 10-15 minutes remove the rolls from the pan so that they bottoms don’t get soggy from steam (I try to keep them connected in 1 or 2 big pieces). Cool the rolls on a wire rack. When the rolls have cooled all the way, place them back in the pan they baked in and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. If you are just making them the day before, they can just let them rest at room temperature. If you are making them more ahead of time you can freeze them all wrapped up. Allow 6-8 hours for them to thaw at room temperature before you serve them. They are great at room temperature or you can break them apart, put them in a large oven-safe bowl with a towel in the bottom and then cover them with a clean towel and reheat in a 200 degree oven for 15 minutes or so before serving. I normally put them in my enamelware bowls for this.
- I make this recipe using butter, but my mom often makes it using margarine. It works just great with either one.
- If I’m not serving the rolls right away, I like to remove them from the pan to cool about 15 minutes after they come out of the oven so that the bottoms don’t get steamy and soggy.
Nutrition
More favorite rolls recipes:
If you’ve tried this dinner roll recipe or any other recipe on Bless this Mess, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories AND add your photo to your comment so that other can see your creation.
Proof is in the pudding friends – look at those happy little faces enjoying a perfect warm roll!
Other great roll and bread recipes you might like:
- Rustic Italian Bread
- Whole Wheat Clover Rolls
- The Best Cornbread Recipe
- Mom’s Four Loaf Wheat Bread Recipe
- Grandma Lucy’s Clover Rolls
- Homemade Pretzel Rolls
- One Hour Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Serve these fluffy dinner rolls with your favorite soup or stew or serve with a ham or turkey dinner during the holidays. We make these often for big family dinners on Sunday nights and everyone always comes back for seconds.
Thank you so much mellisa all the way from Tanzania-East Africa we are using your recipes and they have been a blessing.
Asante sana (thank you very much)
Thank you for telling me where you are coming from! So neat to see! And Africa is so high on my travel list, so much beauty!
These rolls are amazing! We’re a small family of three so we’ve been eating off my first batch for a month now. The left over went into the freezer and we just pull them out and heat them up. AMAZING! Thank you for sharing this recipe yeast rolls have plagued me for years!
I love to hear that you had success! And it’s awesome that you keep them in the freezer to use as needed. Keep up the great cooking Rachel!
Do you thaw them out before re-heating them?
If you have time, it speeds up the process!
This is my third time to make this recipe and my family loves them! Whenever I make these rolls there is no left over!!!
There needs to be more than five stars, like 10. This is hands down the easiest,, most delicious tasting roll recipe I have ever made. I have made this recipe three times. Twice for rolls and once for cinnamon rolls. Never fails. LOVE IT! Thank you, I am currently deleting all other dinner roll recipes I have pinned. Thanks!
What size is your pan?
I just measured, my cookie sheets are 17.5 inches by 12.5 inches when you measure the inside. Hope that helps!
In step 2 you say to let yeast rest, by that you mean to not mix those ingredients correct?
Yes ma’am! Just let it rest a few minutes.
When you say in step number 2 to let yeast rest, you mean not to stir those ingredients correct?
Yep, just let it sit there a minute or two to get activated!
Can you give some tips on how you prepare the flour (measuring)
Do you spoon it in measuring cup or dip and scoop
Thanks
Great question, I should weigh it sometime for a really accurate report for you. I spoon it into a measuring cup and then level the top if that helps. I don’t sift or anything before I use it.
Can you make these 2 days before eating?
Yes! Just wrap them up really well in plastic wrap after they are totally cool so they don’t dry out.
I made these for our Easter dinner, and they turned out amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE that you made these rolls, they are so special to me and I think it’s awesome that you made them for your people too!
Made these for Easter dinner today! My very first time making rolls from scratch, and my husband and kids LOVED them. Thank you for this recipe that will stay in our home for generations now. 🙂
Congrats on rocking the dinner roll Kelly! I’m so glad that you all liked them as much as we do!