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Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls

By Nagi Maehashi
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No stand mixer, no knead, no special equipment required. These No Knead Dinner Rolls are perfectly soft and fluffy and are astonishingly effortless to make. Just combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon – that’s it! It’s the easiest recipe for bread rolls in the whole world!

Soft no knead dinner rolls, fresh out of the oven, ready to be eaten.

This recipe for bread rolls will blow your mind!

These dinner rolls are:

  • made without kneading;

  • without a stand mixer or any other electric appliance;

  • take 2 minutes of active effort to mix the dough;

  • have golden tops and are soft and fluffy on the inside.

Every single time I make these, I am in utter awe of how effortless they are, and how amazing they taste. They are in every way just as good as classic dinner rolls, made by kneading the dough by hand (tired arms, tired arms!) or using a stand mixer.

I truly believe to my very core that only those with a refined palette and/or baking experts can tell the difference between these No Knead Dinner Rolls and traditional kneaded-tired-arms dinner rolls!

Soft no knead dinner rolls on a rack, fresh out of the oven, ready to be eaten.

See how soft and fluffy they are??

Hand squeezing no knead dinner rolls to show how soft and fluffy they are.

Kneaded vs No Knead Dinner Rolls

In the interest of being completely open and honest, here are the differences that I notice between kneaded dinner rolls and these No Knead Dinner Rolls:

  1. The kneaded rolls stay a wee bit more moist for longer. ie. they are slightly better the next day compared to the No Knead ones. But actually, homemade bread, muffins etc, being preservative free that they are, are always best consumed fresh so I don’t see this as a major disadvantage. Neither the kneaded nor No Knead rolls are great the next day. They lose their moisture and both need to be warmed up before serving to make them moist again. It is just that with the kneaded ones you could possibly get away with not warming up (but they aren’t great), whereas the No Knead ones definitely need warming up;

  2. Kneaded rolls rise a wee bit more. Not noticeable for normal people, and you’d never say the No Knead ones aren’t soft and fluffy. They are, they really are. It’s just that the kneaded ones rise a touch more with the same amount of yeast.

I’m so convinced of the merits of no-knead breads however, that I have since posted No-knead Artisan Bread and Focaccia – both spectacular loaves in their own right that don’t require single minute of kneading!

These No Knead Dinner Rolls are like magic! Astonishingly easy, no stand mixer, just mix the ingredients in a bowl! recipetineats.com

Dump-and-mix NO KNEAD Dough

In terms of the prep, the batter is literally a dump-and-mix job. There is a major difference in rise time compared to kneaded dough which can rise in 30 – 45 minutes for the 1st rise, then around the same for the 2nd rise after forming the rolls. For these No Knead Dinner Rolls, the dough is much wetter than kneaded dough, so it takes longer to rise. 1.5 – 2 hours, depending on how warm it is where you are. If you use my ridiculous-but-effective tip of rising the dough in your (empty! warm!) dryer, it takes 1.5 hours. 🙂 (See recipes notes for details)

You can see in these photos how different the dough is compared to traditional bread dough. It’s not knead-able, it’s way too sticky. It’s almost more like a muffin batter!

Quick little tip: To get a beautiful golden surface, the dough needs to be rolled tightly and smoothly into balls. With sticky dough, this is tough to do. So here’s my work around: Press the dough down lightly, then bundle it up like a money-bag (mmm…Thai Money Bags…). Flip it over and you have a nice smooth surface with the dough stretched tightly = smooth golden surface. I demo this in the recipe video too (below recipe).

These No Knead Dinner Rolls are like magic! Astonishingly easy, no stand mixer, just mix the ingredients in a bowl! recipetineats.com

Make-ahead and bake on demand

Another big bonus for these rolls: you can roll the dough into rolls then refrigerate overnight (uncooked) and bake them fresh when you’re ready to serve! It’s quite amazing actually, I wasn’t sure it would work but it does.

Easter is coming up! That’s why I decided to squeeze these in so soon after sharing Hot Cross Buns (which you can make using this No Knead technique, the recipe is in that post). I know some people think baking with yeast is daunting. But I swear to you, watch the video. See how soft and irresistible these rolls come out. And be prepared to be blown away by how easy these are to make!

Carb Monsters unite! – Nagi xx

Soft no knead dinner rolls in a baking pan, fresh out of the oven.

More No Knead Breads & Flavour variation options!

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

No Knead Dinner Rolls recipe video! No laughing at the Baby Hands – you’ll cop a serious eyeful in this video!

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These No Knead Dinner Rolls are like magic! Astonishingly easy, no stand mixer, just mix the ingredients in a bowl! recipetineats.com

SOFT NO KNEAD Dinner Rolls

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Side
Western
4.97 from 506 votes
Servings12
Tap or hover to scale
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Recipe video above. These soft dinner rolls are like magic! Just mix the ingredients in a bowl – no kneading, no stand mixer, no special ingredients required. These are soft, fluffy and moist, nicely salted with a touch of sweet. This requires 2 hrs 15 minutes+ rise time. 

Ingredients

Buns:

  • 1 tbsp dry yeast (Note 1)
  • 1/4 cup caster/superfine sugar , or sub with normal white sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm water (Note 2)
  • 4 cups bread flour + extra for dusting (Note 3)
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt , cooking/kosher salt
  • 1 cup milk, lukewarm, whole or low fat, (Note 2)
  • 50g / 3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted and cooled
  • 2 eggs , at room temperature, beaten with fork

Brushing:

  • 1 tbsp butter , melted

Instructions

  • Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a medium bowl, then pour in water. Leave for 5 minutes until it froths.
  • Place flour, remaining sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix to combine.
  • Make a well in the centre. Add milk, butter, eggs and pour in the yeast liquid, including all froth.
  • Mix until combined with wooden spoon – it will be like a thick muffin batter. Not pourable, but thick and sticky.

Rise #1:

  • Leave dough in the bowl, cover with a wet (clean) tea towel and place in a warm place (25C/77F+) to rise for around 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until almost tripled in volume. See Note 4 for how I do this (you will laugh – but it works every time!). Dough surface should be bubbly (see video or photos in post).

Forming Balls (watch video, it’s helpful):

  • Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.
  • Remove tea towel and punch dough to deflate, then mix briefly in the bowl to get rid of the bubbles in the dough.
  • Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough on work surface. Dust top of dough then shape into a log. Cut log into 4 pieces, then cut each piece into 3 pieces (12 in total). 
  • Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, flip (so smooth side is up) then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that’s how I get a nice smooth surface on my roll. (For this step, use as much flour as needed to handle dough and avoid piercing inside into the wet dough)
  • Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.

Rise # 2:

  • Spray surface of rolls (or cling wrap) with oil (any), then place cling wrap over the tray.
  • Return tray to warm place and leave for 30 – 45 min, until the dough has risen by about 75% (less than double in size).
  • Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan/convection).
  • Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, or until the surface is a golden brown and the roll in the centre sounds hollow when tapped. The surface colour is the best test for this recipe.
  • Remove rolls from oven. Brush with melted butter.
  • Use overhang to lift rolls onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool to warm before serving.

Recipe Notes:

1. 1 tbsp dry yeast = 9 grams. I use Lowan Dried Instant Yeast (red tube, sold at Woolies/Coles baking aisle) which technically doesn’t need to be frothed before using but there’s no harm in doing it, and I do it out of habit + also because then the same steps apply to any dried yeast.
If you are using the packets, you can just use 2 x 7 g sachets, that is 4 1/2 tsp which is slightly more than 1 tablespoon but it works just fine. Doesn’t taste yeasty and makes it rise a touch more. Otherwise, measure out 1 tablespoon.
If your yeast doesn’t go frothy, sorry to say it’s not active so your buns won’t rise. 
To use fresh yeast (comes in a block that crumbles, not powder like dry yeast), use 27g/ 0.9 oz. You don’t actually need to dissolve it in liquid like I do with the dry, but there’s no harm in doing it and so for the sake of consistency, crumble it in and let stand until it foams up, same as using dry yeast.
2. Scalding hot milk and hot water kills the yeast. I heat milk for 45 seconds on high in the microwave, and use warm tap water. The test is this: stick your finger in. If it was a bath, would it be pleasant? Good. It’s not too hot or too cold!
3. Breads are fluffier and slightly more tender if made with bread flour rather than normal flour (plain or all purpose). However, this recipe works great with normal white flour too.
Cups around the world differ in size. If you don’t have scales to weight the flour, please use the relevant cup size. For US/Canada, use 4 1/2 cups (they are slightly different, but close enough). For rest of world other than Japan, use 4 cups of flour. For Japan, please weigh the flour.
4. WARM PLACE for dough: This is what I do all year round – use my dryer. Laugh – but try it! Run the (empty) dryer for 1 – 2 minutes, then place the bowl inside. If you do that, the dough will rise in 1.5 hours. Even if it’s snowing outside!
5. SUGAR: This is not a sweet roll (I’d use 1/2 cup+ for that) but there is a touch of sweet. 1/4 cup of sugar across 12 rolls = 1 tsp per roll. You can reduce it to 2 tablespoons of sugar.
6a. MAKE AHEAD: Follow recipe up to rolling balls and cover with cling wrap. Then refrigerate for 4 hours – 24 hours (this is the 2nd rise), take them out 30 minutes before then bake!
6b. STORING: As with all homemade bread, it is best served on the day it’s made. Things made using this No-Knead version doesn’t keep as well as the kneaded version – dries out more. For the day after, reheating makes all the difference to make them soft and moist again – 15 sec in the microwave! These freeze great cooked, then just defrost. The dough can be frozen too but it won’t rise as well (but still fluffy). To reheat batches, I pop them on a tray and cover with foil (to avoid the surface getting too crisp), then reheat at 160C/320F for 8 minutes or so. Or cut in half and toast.
6c. DOUBLING: Make double the batter in one large bowl, then divide the batter into 2 bowls for the first rise (if double the dough is in one giant bowl, may struggle to rise). Proceed with recipe and place rolls on a large tray or 2 trays, and bake them all on the same shelf in the oven.
6d. EXTREME HUMIDITY (eg. South East Asia) can make the dough stickier after the 1st rise and makes it a bit harder to form into balls. Just be generous sprinkling with flour with forming into log, cutting, rolling into balls – don’t knead the flour in, use it on the surface for handling purposes only. The dough is stickier than usual kneaded dough, so the technique I demo in the video to make the rolls is specifically to minimise making contact with the sticky dough.
7. SOURCE: This recipe is adapted from various no-knead bread recipes I’ve come across over the years. I probably first saw it on Martha Stewart or New York Times. The recipe has been tweaked and now I firmly consider this version to be “mine”! 🙂 
8. HIGH ALTITUDE: Multiple readers have now reported that this recipe worked out great! Also, varying reports on the dough seeming too dry or too wet then adjusted with more flour compared to that demonstrated in the video have all also worked out fine, proving that this recipe is actually very forgiving!
9. GLUTEN FREE: This also works with gluten free flour, though the rolls are not quite as fluffy as is usually the case when substituting GF flour. However, they are still definitely fluffy! I think you’ll be amazed how well these turn out!
10. No Knead Dinner Rolls nutrition per roll. This makes 12 fairly large rolls, about the size of a baseball.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 99.6gCalories: 255cal (13%)
Keywords: Soft no knead dinner rolls
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

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1,837 Comments

  1. Jay says

    5 stars
    10 stars! First time making yeast rolls, and they turned out fantastic! There’s no need for me to look at any other recipes, this is the one! The recipe makes nice big rolls. After eating a couple slathered with butter, I couldn’t help but think that these would make excellent sliders… yum! Thank you for such a great recipe 🙂

    Reply

  2. Jo says

    Hey Naggi thank you so much for this lovely recipe. I am from Singapore the weather is hot and humid. I followed the measurements & steps strictly. However after the first rise, the dough is sticky and wet, I did not want to apply too much flour on the dough. My biggest challenge is to divide the dough and made them into round shape. Even so, the bread roll is so soft and delicious. I will certainly bake this again.

    Reply

  3. Kimberly says

    5 stars
    I just made these for my family for thanksgiving (Canadian thanksgiving) and they were amazing!! Everyone loved how light and soft they were! Thank you!!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Awesome Kimberly!

      Reply

  4. Deborah Israel says

    Hey Nagi,
    How do you store them? (leave out on the counter at room temperature or refrigerate)
    Thanks in advance

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Deborah, I store mine in an airtight container out of the fridge – N x

      Reply

      • Lindsay Watkins says

        I have made these a few times and always lovely. This time around my mixture prior to ride 1 was a bit soupy looking. Do you think I should have added more flour to create the thicker batter looking dough you achieved in your video? Even after rise 1 my dough was sticky and not holding its shape.

        Reply

  5. Lieffie says

    Hey Nagi, I would like to bake this as a loaf of bread, would it work?

    I have a 12 x 5 inch loaf pan, would there be an increased baking time?

    Thanks so much, love all of your recipes!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Lieffie, I’ve heard that it does but I haven’t tried it!

      Reply

  6. Amber says

    I followed the recipe for the no knead dinner rolls to the letter and for some reason it was so dry and didnt come together like the video….idk why?

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Amber, sorry you had issues here – did you follow the weights correctly? – N x

      Reply

  7. Michelle says

    So easy to make and absolutely delicious. Perfect for egg and bacon toasties!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Yuuuum! Sounds great Michelle!

      Reply

  8. Karen Rowlands says

    Hi nagi I made cheek beef recipe for a dinner party I must say it went down a storm along with the sofa bread, needless to say the plates were wiped clean I also shared your recipe with them defo be making again fab keep u p the good work, I also like the video to,it’s a good idea for the non cooks lol ,gives people confidence,please keep sharing your recipes and thank you .

    Reply

  9. Sybil says

    Hi! Which bread flour from Coles/Woolies did you use?

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Sybil, Lighthouse or Defiance work well here! – N x

      Reply

  10. Jeni says

    I am so perplexed on what happened in this recipe. I am not a novice baker. I literally bake bread from scratch every single day. Your recipe is good. The yeast was good and proofed beautifully. The dough tripled in size just like it should have in the first rise. The second rise looked good. But they did not bake right. Tops are flat. It looks like focaccia bread instead of rolls. Flat squares that took about 12 extra minutes to bake before they were brown. I’m at a loss at what happened? I’ve made rolls hundreds of times but never did a no-knead recipe. Yet I do I use no-knead recipes for several other things like my pizza dough that make every Friday for our family pizza night and my crusty Italian Dutch oven bread that I make twice a week. I have no idea where I went wrong. I will say that even though they aren’t like your rolls, they still taste delicious and have a great texture. It’s tastes almost exactly like the focaccia that I make.

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Jeni, sorry you had issues here – I’m not sure where you went wrong unfortunately!

      Reply

      • Sima Hashemi says

        Probably the temperature in the oven wasn’t distributed evenly

        Reply

  11. Nanni says

    5 stars
    These are the most deliciously beautiful rolls ever. My family loved them. I’m so glad I found you, Nagi. Thank you ❤️

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      That’s so nice to hear Nanni!!

      Reply

  12. Marsha Maxwell says

    5 stars
    Thanks for this recipe, Nagi! My rolls turned out huge and fluffy! I was a little worried because my dough was stiffer than shown in the video. I think I have a brand of bread flour that absorbs a lot of water. Rolls turned out perfect anyway!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Marsha, yes all different flours have different absorption percentages. I’m so glad they worked out for you though!

      Reply

  13. Kathy says

    5 stars
    These were delicious and soooo easy. I got compliments from everyone on these, and requests to make more! Next I’m going to try using this to make larger rolls to use as hamburger buns.

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Wahoo! Great news Kathy!

      Reply

  14. Sam says

    Best and easiest

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Thanks so much Sam!

      Reply

  15. Karen says

    Hi Nagi, what would be your recommendation if I were to freeze the dough and use it days later. I am new to the baking world and have no clue.

    Reply

  16. Sheena says

    5 stars
    Just made this! It’s my first attempt at making bread and it’s this awesome recipe! It’s easy for beginner & amateur baker like me! The taste & texture of the buns are on point! Your instructions, notes & video demonstration are really clear and helpful! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thanks a lot, Nagi! 🙂

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Woot!!! Thanks so much for the awesome feedback Sheena!

      Reply

  17. Carol eghan says

    The dough is very sticky had trouble making the balls can you add less liquid would it make any difference

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Carol, how was the dough in comparison to the video? was it the same texture? – N x

      Reply

  18. Munlee says

    5 stars
    These bread rolls are yum! Next one to try is the cinnamon rolls. Thanks Nagi!

    Reply

  19. raishah says

    5 stars
    these rolls are ridiculously delicious!!! a cinch to make too. thanks loads for the recipe, Nagi. ☺️ definitely a keeper! mine weren’t perfect during the process but it really didn’t matter coz they turned out awesome anyways ❤️

    Reply

  20. Zee Gimon says

    5 stars
    Nagi!!! These are amazing! I made these with my two kids today (10 and 7 years old, I managed, they did the work) and we love them!!!

    Here’s a pic: https://scontent.fiev6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/68984103_10157792156948923_4039241073430626304_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_oc=AQku_-5DllydZHs7aBcz1j2dxmFiQD6MZQ-rIvwcEPirs7MFDAcha_JUGabNW7A22Nw&_nc_ht=scontent.fiev6-1.fna&oh=a9d18e3cf0394e9e6feea16402c07626&oe=5DCB9CA1

    I’ve added garlic, dill, and sunflower oil mix on top.

    Thank you!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      They look amazing Zee!!

      Reply