Step aside, brown and serve rolls! These Super Easy No Yeast Dinner Rolls are ready in under 25 minutes but taste like you slaved over them all day!
Whether you're looking for a quick night dinner side or a delicious, yet easy dinner roll for your holiday dinner spread, these Super Easy No-Yeast Dinner Rolls will have you covered!
Just whisk up the dough, roll it out, brush with egg (if you'd like), give the rolls a quick bake, and you're ready to go! See? I wasn't joking about how easy these are. 😉
This recipe is for all of us that don't always have time to deal with yeast!
(Or maybe also those of us who don't currently have yeast!)
Because, even though yeast is fun and a cool skill set to master, sometimes we need a quick side dish bread that isn't a biscuit.
Or we need want to impress our holiday dinner guests with homemade bread but have too many other dishes on our hands to fuss with proofing and kneading.
I mean, I can't be the only one who's been in this situation before, can I?!
As much as I love homemade yeasted bread, when it comes to a holiday spread, homemade rolls are delicious but aren't always worth the fuss. I'd rather spend that time, say, throwing together an easy turkey brine, making a potato casserole, or whipping up a homemade cranberry sauce.
Or, just hanging out with my guests drinking a good glass of wine!
Whatever you'd rather do -- or even for those busy weeknights that you want nice warm rolls without having to use brown and serve buns -- these no easy yeast dinner rolls are for you!
Whisk all the ingredients up in one bowl, roll out the dough, brush with an egg wash (if you please) and pop these guys in the oven.
Before you know it, you'll have hot, fresh, and fluffy rolls on your table -- making that Wednesday night dinner OR that holiday spread that much more special.
This easy dinner roll recipe is...
- Fluffy
- Lightly buttery
- Versatile
- Great for busy weeknights
- Impressive enough for holiday dinners
- Easy to freeze
- Require no yeast, kneading, or proofing!!
Do yourself and your family a favor and make these tasty dinner rolls tonight!
Recipe ingredients
- Flour - all we need is the traditional all-purpose white flour!
- Buttermilk - see my notes below on how to make your own
- Granulated sugar - just a touch of sugar takes these rolls to a whole new level
- Salt - one of the most important elements in giving bread flavor
- Baking soda & Baking powder - work together to make the dinner rolls fluffy and light
- Unsalted butter - we'll be using just enough to impart a light buttery flavor without overpowering or making these rolls biscuity
- Egg whites (optional) - for a shiny finish to the rolls, you can brush them with an egg white wash before baking.
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter - if you don't have unsalted butter you can use salted butter. Reduce your salt to a heaping ¼ teaspoon if using salted butter, however.
- Flour - if you'd like a whole wheat roll, you can substitute in ½ cup whole wheat flour for ½ cup of the all-purpose flour.
- Sweetener - keep the rolls processed sugar-free and use 1 tablespoon raw honey in place of the granulated sugar. It will add a lightly nuttier taste to the rolls, but will still be delicious!
How do you make your own buttermilk?
To make your own buttermilk, add 2 teaspoons distilled white or apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup. Fill the cup to the ⅔ cup line with milk, give the milk a gently stir, and let it sit for 5 minutes or until it starts to curdle.
How do you quickly bring buttermilk to room temperature?
You can quickly bring your buttermilk to room temperature by popping it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds at 20-30% heat, or until it is room temperature.
How do you melt butter?
You can easily and quickly melt better in the microwave.
Place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl or cup and cover it with a paper towel. Melt the butter on 30% heat in 30 second intervals, or until the butter is melted.
Can you make these rolls gluten-free?
I have not done so already, so I cannot make any promises but you can try this recipe with a gluten-free one to 1 flour. If you're adventuresome and would like to try this out, please let me know it goes in the comments below!
How do you make these no yeast dinner rolls?
Below are my illustrated instructions on how to make these dinner rolls. For specific measurements and detailed instructions, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post!
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper sprayed with non-stick spray or greased with butter.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients until incorporated.
- Whisk together the sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. It's ok if the liquid foams.
- Whisk the flour into the liquids in 2 batches, just until the flour absorbs into the liquids.
- Roll the dough into 2 tablespoon-size balls, flouring your hands before and between rolling the balls.
- Brush the rolls with an egg white wash, if desired.
- Bake the rolls for 13-15 minutes, or until the rolls are golden on the top and bottom.
- Cool the rolls and serve when at your desired temperature!
Pro-tips for dinner roll success-- everytime!
- Use fresh flour & leavening agents -- fresh flour tastes better and bakes up fluffier; fresh leavening agents also make the rolls nice and fluffy.
- Weigh your flour -- the most accurate way to measure flour is by weighing it. One of my favorite kitchen scales is available on Amazon for less than $10. If you can't get a scale before making this recipe, you can spoon and level your flour.
- Roll out the dough with floured hands -- keep the dough from sticking to your hands by flouring your hands before rolling the dough and between rolling, if needed.
- Use room temp buttermilk -- cold milk will solidify the melted butter, making it harder to whisk the dough and for it to incorporate. It also makes the rolls taste more like biscuits.
Can kids help with this recipe?
Yes, kids can definitely help with this recipe! They can help measure the ingredients, whisk them together, and brush the rolls with the egg whites! Older kids can help roll out the dough.
How can you serve these rolls?
These rolls are good so many ways. Here are a few of my favorite ways to enjoy them:
- For breakfast: spread with butter, jam, or pumpkin butter
- For a snack: pop them in the toaster to be warm and fluffy and top them with a delicious homemade jam!
- For dinner: serve them with a quick weeknight dinner or with your holiday dinner spread!
Can you bake these rolls at high altitude?
Yes, you can definitely bake these rolls at high atltitude. In fact, I baked these at 5000 feet and had no issues at all! Just follow the recipe as directed and you should be all set.
Tools needed to make this recipe:
- Large mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Flour scale
- Measuring spoons & cups
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper or silicone baking sheet
More bread recipes
- Sweet Yeast Dinner Rolls
- No Yeast Oatmeal Bread
- Whole Wheat Beer Bread
- Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Blueberry Lemon Bread
If you make and like this recipe, please review and rate it 5-stars at the top of the recipe card. This helps other people to find the recipes and helps this reader-supported publication, too!
Thank you so much for your feedback and support of Mae's Menu!
No Yeast Dinner Rolls (Super Easy!)
Brush the egg white wash on top of the rolls if you would like a shiny finish on the rolls. Otherwise, you can just skip that step!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅔ cup low-fat buttermilk, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons (or 255g) all-purpose flour
- 1 egg white, whisked (optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees and spray a parchment paper-lined baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, buttermilk, and butter together until combined. The mixture may foam.
3. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir the flour into the liquid in 2 batches, until no streaks of flour remain and a craggy mass has formed.
4. Cover your hands with flour and roll out 2 tablespoon-size pieces of dough into balls. Place the balls on the baking sheet 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough, re-flouring your hands if needed.
5 Brush the rolls with egg white if desired. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the rolls are golden on the tops and bottom. Move to a cooling rack and cool until the desired temperature.
Notes
1. Leftover rolls store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. They also freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
2. Flour your hands well when rolling out the rolls to keep the dough from sticking to your hands! I like to reflour my hands between every roll.
3. You can substitute in 1 tablespoon raw honey in place of the granulated sugar to make these rolls processed sugar-free.
4. For most consistent and accurate results, use a kitchen scale to measure your flour. You can find good-quality scales on Amazon for less than $10. Otherwise, you can spoon and level your flour into measuring cups.
5. To make your own buttermilk, add 2 teaspoons distilled white or apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup. Fill the cup to the ⅔ cup line with milk, give it a gentle stir, and let the milk sit for 5 minutes, or until it starts to curdle.
6. Make whole wheat rolls by substituting in ½ cup whole wheat flour for ½ cup of the all-purpose flour.
Nutrition Information
Yield
11Serving Size
1 rollAmount Per Serving Calories 112Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 6mgSodium 284mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 3g
This nutrition breakdown is just an estimate of the nutritional value of this recipe and cannot be taken as facts. The owners of Mae's Menu are not nutritionists or dietitians and therefore cannot be held accountable for this nutrition estimate. Please contact your nutritionist or medical professional for a nutritional breakdown of this food. Furthermore, this food is not intended to prevent, diagnose, cure, or treat any disease.
Elaine says
I'm going to try this tomorrow for Thanksgiving. How early can I make the dough before baking? If I can make it earlier how much earlier and should it sit at room temp or refrigerate?
Mae's Menu says
Hi, Elaine!
So glad to hear that! I have yet to make the dough and let it rest before baking and would hate to lead you astray on that. So I recommend making and baking the rolls ahead of time and then just reheating right before serving.
Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Best,
Chelsea
Lilian says
I saw your new recipe on my news feed I wanted the full recipe. I went to your website and I found it very difficult to get to the actual recipe. It kept bringing me to the page that keeps flipping pages. And kept asking me to sign up for recipes, which I tried to"X" out. I finally was able to bypass all of that to search for the recipe. I love that you give alternatives for the recipe, if you don't have certain ingredients, etc.
Can't wait to make the no-yeast no-knead dinner rolls. Thank you!
Mae's Menu says
Hi Lilian,
Thank you so much for the feedback! It looks like the issue with the pages flipping is a feature of Google Web Stories (that is, the stories on your news feed). You should, however, be able to click the image on a story and it will direct you to the recipe post. I just turned off the pop-up that you mentioned so that should no longer be an issue for you. Thanks so much for hanging in there to find the recipe! I hope you enjoy the dinner rolls!
Best,
Chelsea
Ember says
Can you eliminate some of the flour and leveling agents by using self rising flour?
Mae's Menu says
Hi, Ember! The ratios of flour and leavening agents in this recipe aren't the same as in self-rising flour, so I recommend sticking with the recipe ingredients as directed.
To learn more about when and how to substitute self rising flour, I recommend checking out this helpful article: https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/featured-articles/what-is-self-rising-flour/
Hope that helps!
Mary says
Idk what I did wrong, but these turned out nothing like rolls. Hard as a rock and taste like a cup of flour 🤢
Mae's Menu says
Hmm-- I wonder what happened. I've never received that feedback before. Would love to help you troubleshoot. Did you use the correct amount of milk and wet ingredients? Did you weigh the flour? Does your flour have a good date?
Best,
Chelsea
Val says
I just made them (they are literally in the oven rn). I like how easy to follow was the recipe, but it seems some measurements are off. The recipe says it is for 9-10rolls and I only got 6 very small ones. You also mention your dough is sticky, and mine was nothing like that and I wonder why 🤔 I made sure to follow the recipe, but still...
I hope they taste good tho.
Mae's Menu says
Hi Val,
Thanks so much for your message. I recommend weighing the flour and measuring out the rolls before rolling. Weighing the flour means you get the most accurate measurement (other measuring techniques can measure up to 20% more flour) and they only run about $10 on Amazon. I don't weigh anything else, just my flour, and it's made the biggest difference in my baking!
Hope this helps!
Best,
Chelsea
Echo says
They are dense and a little more like biscuits but they are sooo yummy! I popped a tab of butter inside each roll before baking and brushed the top with a bit of garlic butter, 11/10!!
Brandon says
I think this is a buttermilk biscuit. Rolls are defined by their use of yeast, while biscuits use baking soda/powder. So I don't think this can be called a roll, but a biscuit. They look delicious, though.
Brandon says
After thinking about it, I decided that I could be wrong here and to adjust my post, but there is no way to edit or delete it. It would be to my advantage that you are right and these be called rolls, and if it can be justified in some way, good. I've been asked to bring rolls to a dinner, and since I do not care for yeast products, I would prefer to bring something like this.
Furthermore, I have read that rolls and biscuits may be better distinguished by how they are composed, rather than how they are made to rise. And since your process doesn't cut the fat into the flour—the biscuit method—but instead kneads it, I can see how these can be called rolls.
I do wonder, moreover, whether how each baker kneads it can affect how they rise; if the glucose chains aren't allowed to align, I expect the dough won't rise like a typical roll and the result will be something more dense. Maybe that's why some people on here are getting these results, in addition, of course, to not using fresh ingredients, as you've stated. So maybe when mixing the dough with the fat, do so in unidirectional and consistently circular motions to optimize fluffiness.
Jill says
Mine also turned out heavy, dry, and flavorless. My ingredients are fine, also made a yeast French bread that turned out fine. I did not weigh the flour. MAybe you could amend the flour measurement to include a measure of flour without having to weigh it.
Mae's Menu says
Hi, Jill!
Thanks for the feedback. I do have the imperial measurements on the recipe card (2 cups + 2 tablespoons), though measuring the flour by weighing it can make a huge difference in the end result. If you don't have a scale, spooning and leveling the flour should help. Hope this helps!
Chelsea
Dave_F says
I made this - this evening, it turned out really well.
I like this recipe, the instructions were clear and easy to follow, and the ingredients were basic and readily available.
admittedly, i followed the recipe closely to a point, but i reduced the liquid slightly when making the dough because i divided the recipe into 2, and filled them with two different vegetable and meat fillings
(one tuna, and one chicken)
granted, i altered the recipe to incorporate a filling, but the dough was very tasty and perfectly done following these instructions.
thank you.
Mae's Menu says
So glad to hear that you liked them, Dave!
Amy says
Well these came out perfectly! I only had baking powder and use 2 spoons of that and your recipe was STILL perfect.
Id just tried to make them using a different recipe from another site and they came out flat as a pancake and brick hard. Her comments were full of people telling her they'd had the same results and she was angrily CAPS LOCK YELLING at people it was their fault and their flour wasn't fresh.
I think your recipe working pretty much proves their flour was fine lol.
Thanks for this recipe and making my first roll baking experience so nice 😉
Mae's Menu says
Hi Amy,
Oh, I am so glad to hear that you loved the recipe and enjoyed baking. That's the way it always should be! Appreciate you sharing your feedback. Have a great day!
Chelsea
Linda says
I just made these, followed the recipe only I had no baking soda so I used instruction I found for subbing baking powder. My dough was super dry. I ended up adding more milk. They're in the oven now, so fingers crossed they turn out okay.
Linda says
Update: They are fabulous! A little crusty, which I like, but even without adding butter I could eat a ton of them. I made them last minute for Christmas dinner and they are going to be a hit!
Maria says
Hmm.. Brand New ingredients, little hockey pucks with zero flavor. I didn't have buttermilk, but I followed the recipe for homemade buttermilk with room temp milk and white vinegar.. not sure what I did wrong, but in the trash they go.