No-Knead Rolls with Honey Butter — These soft, light, fluffy yeast dinner rolls are so easy to make! They’re practically work-free because there’s no-kneading involved.
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Easiest No-Knead Bread Rolls Recipe
There’s nothing better than warm, fresh, buttery homemade dinner rolls. The only thing better than the rolls is that the dough is a make-ahead and no-knead dough.
This quick dinner roll recipe is perfect for anyone who’s never worked with yeast because it’s almost impossible to screw up. If you can dump ingredients in a bowl and stir, you can make these.
I like to brush the tops with honey butter before baking and it makes them even more irresistible. Schmear the extra honey butter on after they’ve baked as you’re devouring them. So good.
The rolls are light, soft, and fluffy. I just want to rip them apart and drench them in honey butter.
Ingredients in No-Knead Dinner Rolls
These are such easy homemade dinner rolls to make, and they call for minimal ingredients. To make these no-knead dinner rolls, gather the following:
- Water
- Instant yeast
- Eggs
- Oil (canola or vegetable work well)
- Honey
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Butter (for the honey butter)
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make No-Knead Rolls
These no-knead bread rolls are practically work-free because there’s no-kneading involved. Since there’s no kneading, I don’t even use my stand mixer and stir everything together with a wooden spoon in a bowl.
Here’s an overview of how the rolls come together:
- Simply combine warm water, yeast, two eggs, honey, oil and flour.
- Stir the dough together, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for about two hours to rise.
- Gently punch down the dough. Knead it only so much as necessary to shape it into balls for dinner rolls.
- Place balls of dough in a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray. Let rise for 1 more hour.
- Bake the rolls for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden and puffed.
Baking Tip: Use the Dough for Other Kinds of Bread!
The recipe will yield about 14 to 16 dinner rolls, but I don’t only make rolls with this dough. Sometimes I make mini challah loaves, or I make mini loaves of bread in mini loaf pans.
You can see how much mileage I got from one batch of dough. And it’s not even that much dough, just a 3 1/2 cups flour recipe, but I love the flexibility of it!
Make-Ahead Instructions
These no-knead dinner rolls can easily be prepared in advance and baked off just before you plan on serving them.
To make the rolls in advance:
- Let the dough rise once, then place it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- When ready to use, punch down the dough and form the rolls.
- Let the rolls rise a second time (about 1 hour) before baking them as instructed in the recipe card below.
Recipe FAQs
I’ve made this no-knead roll recipe using a blend of all-purpose and bread flour, but I prefer using just all-purpose flour because it creates softer, squishier bread and it’s not quite as high-rising. If you want to use bread flour as well, I’ve also tested this recipe with a blend of 2 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 cup all-purpose.
You can’t simply substitute all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour in baked goods, as they have different protein contents, etc. However, if you’re looking for a whole wheat dinner roll recipe I recommend making these Whole Wheat No-Knead Rolls. I’ve tested this recipe many times and know it works!
In my experience, no. I recommend baking the yeast dinner rolls as written and then freezing them. Frozen dinner rolls thaw beautifully — just set them on your counter and let them come to room temperature!
You want to use an active dry yeast or an instant yeast. I use Red Star Platinum Yeast and it never lets me down!
Proofing the yeast is when you sprinkle it over warm water and let it foam up for 5 to 10 minutes. Technically you don’t have to proof instant yeast (which is what this recipe calls for) but because this is a no-knead rolls recipe I prefer proofing the yeast anyways just to make sure it’s “alive.”
Tips for Making No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Using oil vs butter: You can use oil or melted butter in the no-knead yeast rolls. Oil creates a softer loaf, and butter creates a crustier crust. Also, butter-based dough is firmer and slightly easier to work with, but I have no trouble with oil-based dough and prefer it.
First rise: For the first rise, you need to put the dough somewhere warm and draft-free. Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off!
Second rise: For the second rise, make sure to cover the dish with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap is very important and shouldn’t be overlooked! If you leave off the plastic wrap, you’ll wind up with dense dough balls.
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No-Knead Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls with Honey Butter
Ingredients
Rolls
- ⅞ cup water, scant 1 cup, warmed to about 125F for Platinum yeast, about 105 to 115F for most other yeast
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant or active dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil, or 1/4 cup butter (oil creates a softer loaf, butter creates a crustier crust; butter-based dough is firmer and slightly easier to work with, but I have no trouble with oil-based dough and prefer the bread)
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, I have also used 2 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 cup all-purpose; bread flour creates chewier, firmer bread; AP creates softer, squisher bread and it’s not quite as high-rising
Honey Butter
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, very soft
- 2 to 3 tablespoons honey
Instructions
Make the dough:
- Pour water into a microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl and warm it to manufacturer’s directions on yeast packet, about 45 seconds on high power. Take the temperature with a thermometer. If you don’t have one, water should be warm to the touch, but not hot. Err on the side of too cool rather than too hot because you don’t want to kill the yeast.
- Pour water into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top; wait 5 to 10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy. This means it’s alive and will work. (This is proofing and technically with instant dry yeast you don’t have to proof it, but for this recipe, I do)
- Add the eggs, oil, 1/4 cup honey, optional salt, and whisk to combine, about 30 seconds.
- Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate the flour. Stir for about 1 minute more. This is as much ‘kneading’ as the recipe requires. Dough will be thick, lumpy, bumpy, and not smooth. This is okay.
- Make a ball with the dough in the center of the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. * (see note below)
- At this point, you have two choices: bake the rolls now or bake them later.
If baking immediately:
- If you plan to bake now, punch dough down, remove it from bowl, and turn it out onto a well-floured surface.
- Knead it only so much as necessary to shape it into balls for rolls (I divide the dough in half, and if I’m making rolls, I make 8 rolls from each half, for 16 rolls total, they’re just a bit bigger than golf balls). Or form desired shapes such as mini loaves, challah, breadsticks, pretzels, etc. Use only what you need and save the rest for later in the refrigerator.
- Place balls of dough in a cooking sprayed round baking dish or pie plate, or in an 8×8 or 9×9 pan; size depends on how many you’re making. They can be close to each other, but if they’re overly squished they’ll bake into each other.
- Cover baking dish with plastic wrap, and allow rolls to rise in a warm, draft-free environment for about 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. I use the preheated oven trick again.
- In the final minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350F.
- Bake rolls for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden and puffed. Baking time will vary greatly based on how many rolls you’re baking, or if it’s another shape such as a mini loaf, the size of the pan, and personal preference. Watch your bread, not the clock.
- Serve as soon as bread is cool enough to handle.
If baking later:
- If you plan to bake later, take dough that’s risen for about 2 hours from step 5, keep it covered, and refrigerate it. Dough may be kept refrigerated for up to 5 days before baking.
- When you plan to bake, pick up at step 5 and follow through the section labeled "if baking immediately."
Make the honey butter:
- Stir to combine the butter and honey. Generously brush or spread the mixture over the top of the dough before baking.
- Reserve remainder to serve with rolls after baking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Dinner Roll Recipes:
Texas Roadhouse Rolls — Soft, buttery, fluffy, and light this easy COPYCAT recipe for Texas Roadhouse rolls with cinnamon honey butter is INCREDIBLE!
Parker House Rolls — The BEST homemade dinner rolls because they’re so light, airy, fluffy and practically melt in your mouth!
Honey Dinner Rolls — Lightly sweetened from honey in the dough and are then brushed with honey-butter prior to baking, which lends both a golden color to the rolls and infuses them with a subtle sweetness.
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls — These rolls are soft, slightly chewy, and the pumpkin puree keeps them moist and adds just enough tooth-sinking density.
Whole Wheat No-Knead Dinner Rolls — These 100% whole wheat dinner rolls are soft, light, fluffy, and so easy. They’re practically work-free because there’s no kneading!
Do you have your honey butter roll recipie in grams or ounces pls
But for now, I’ll probably stick with this one so I can make some challah bread later this week with the other half that I don’t use on the rolls!
Averie,
Great recipe! However, I also saw that you have a recipe for Honey Dinner Rolls. I like these because they’re easy, but how do they compare to the Honey Dinner Rolls?
Thanks!
They’re both great rolls. You cannot go wrong with either. The recipes are very similar in terms of finished rolls. I think that just on pure taste and texture, the other recipe for me is maybe the winner but for speed and ease, this one. Honestly, they’re very very close! Hard to pick between them for me b/c they’re so close!
Thanks for the reply, guess I’ll have to try them both!
Searching for a fluffier no knead bread recipe and found You. AMEN!!! Averie, can I substitute Avocado Oil or Grapeseed Oil for the canola/vegetable oil? Any thoughts?
I would use grapeseed. It’s very flavor neutral and what you want here. Enjoy! :)
Hey Averie, I made your awesome rolls! I baked a batch right away and I baked a batch after refrigerating the dough overnight. Both are amazing. This is a really good roll recipe. I’ll post about it sometime tonight if you care to check it out. Thanks!
Hi Jenn! Glad you loved them and thanks for LMK you tried the recipe! I look forward to seeing the linkback and your pics! Yay :)
I tried this out for the first time and it was a disaster! The rolls were hard and dense and don’t look like yours at all!
Gosh with yeast-based recipes, there are so many things that can go wrong that it’s hard for me to troubleshoot based on what you wrote. I’d love to help walk you through your mistakes and where you took a wrong turn but you didn’t give enough info for me to help suggest fixes for the future. Everything from dead yeast to not letting them rise long enough to over-flouring the dough to overbaking – all could make dense, hard rolls.
It was probably the yeast. If you got Active Dry Yeast then you have to follow the directions before dumping the rest of the ingredients. To proof Active Dry Yeast you have to stir 1tsp of sugar into the yeast; letting it sit for 10 mins before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Hi Averie! These rolls sound just right!( easy and delicious!) Just wondering if this would work well as a hamburger bun?
Yes I think they’d work great as whole-wheat hamburger buns!
These look so amazing! Nothing is better than buttery rolls with dinner :)
These look SERIOUSLY easy!! Gotta try…. but I wonder if I could FREEZE the dough? I’m on my own and don’t really want to eat them EVERY day LOL
I haven’t tried freezing the unbaked dough but you could always just make the rolls and freeze any extras and then thaw them out as needed. That works just fine and I do that all the time!
Came back to tell you this is great! Made these today and loved them, everything went well except that I put the remaining of the risen dough in a bowl that was too tiny apparently! The dough went on rising in the fridge and exploded :) I caught it soon enough and put it in a bigger bowl but it was funny!!
Oh I am so glad to hear you made them and that they were a success! And that they rose so well, even without kneading AND in a cold fridge – that they continued to puff right out of the bowl. I actually see that as a sign of success (and very fresh yeast!). Good call on the bigger bowl :) I have a whole wheat version coming soon. Stay tuned!
These rolls look terrific! But breads usually use more than just a pinch of salt. Is that amount correct?
Because I was making these with honey, I really didn’t want to go overboard with the salt. I also do not heavily salt our food as we watch our sodium intake. Salt should be added to taste with this recipe, and with any. Keep in mind, that adding salt also inhibits yeast from working to their fullest; it can impede rising. LMK when you make them what you do!
I made these with 2 cups bread flour and 1.5 all purpose, and I used the oil. I aged the dough for a couple days. The rolls were really fluffy and light!! Thanks for the super easy recipe!
Yay! So glad to hear that you tried them and what you did with bread/AP and oil. So glad you liked them and they turned out light and fluffy for you with dough that was aged a few days! Thanks so much for coming back and LMK!
Ever since I had to part ways with the Kitchen Aid mixer we had at my house no-knead bread has been my salvation :)
No knead bread is great! as much as I love kneading (i find it as a form of kitchen therapy).
I can not wait to try this with nutella swirl in the middle!
These just look perfect averie! I’m trying to cut out the white flour… I would love something this easy and fluffy in a whole wheat version…. can it be done?
Stand by. I have a recipe coming up next week. Best whole wheat bread/rolls I have ever made!! Til then, make these. They’re so good!
I can smell them baking now Averie…your rolls look so good. I’m going to try your method for bread in 5 minutes a day; we LOVE our bread
LMK if you try and what you think!