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Frozen Dinner Rolls are a homemade version of store-bought yeast rolls. These rolls are fluffy, tender and delicious! These Frozen Dinner Rolls are the perfect addition to every family meal!
Frozen Bread Rolls – Perfect Dinner Rolls at every meal!!
Rolls are a dinner staple at my house. I try to make sure that there are a few items on the menu that everyone in my family likes (aka a roll and some fruit).
That way if one of my picky eaters doesn’t love the main dish, said picky eater will still be able to get full off of what is already on the table.
I may run a food blog, but I am definitely not a restaurant!
These rolls are a life saver! For a long time We would have a slice of bread with dinner, but Man, we would go through a loaf of bread per day! That is a lot of money spent on only bread every week.
For a while, I went on a Rhode’s Rolls kick. Such a great tasting roll but definitely didn’t like the price tag.
Homemade bread is insanely cheap to make, so I set out to make my own Frozen Dinner Rolls. Let me tell you, these rolls do not disappoint!
Frozen Dinner Roll Dough ingredients
(Printable Recipe Below)
Frozen Dinner Rolls are a homemade version of store-bought yeast rolls. These rolls are fluffy, tender and delicious! These Frozen Dinner Rolls are the perfect addition to every family meal!
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup butter cold
- 4 1/2 tsp dry active yeast (2 packets!)
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup + 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 7 cups flour
- 1 tbsp oil for use with the Instant Pot
How to make Frozen Yeast Rolls
First thing you’ll do is scald some milk and then place a cold stick of butter into the hot milk. The cold butter will help bring the temperature of the milk back down close to room temperature.
While the milk is finishing up cooling off, mix together a little water, a lot of yeast and some sugar and get that yeast alive and kicking!
Once the milk cools and you’ve got bubbly yeast, add both the the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in some more sugar, salt, and a few eggs. Mix until well combined.
Then you’ll add in the flour. The dough will be really sticky! (See that photo above? That was taken after all of the flour had been added!) Just be prepared to wash your hands a bit. ?
If the dough isn’t sticky, you’ll have a more dense roll. The sticky dough makes for an extremely tender roll that is to-die-for!
Now it is time to rise. You can either rise the dough traditionally or make use of the yogurt function on the Instant Pot and proof the dough speedy quick!
If you are rising the dough the traditional way, rise until double (about an hour) two times pushing the dough down at the hour mark.
If you are using the Instant Pot to speed this process up, this is how you’ll do it. Pour a little oil into the liner of the Instant Pot, and roll the dough in the oil so the dough is covered.
Press the Yogurt button and make sure it is set to ‘Normal’. Cover with a glass lid and let it proof for 20 minutes. (The timer on the front will actually count up! So when the timer says 00:20 it has been 20 minutes.)
Take the lid off, and knead a bit inside the liner. Replace the lid and proof for 10 more minutes. Aaaand done! See how quick and easy it is in the Instant Pot?
Side note: if you don’t have an Instant Pot yet, get one stat!
Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a long rectangle.
Use a pizza cutter and cut the rectangle into small sections. For a full batch of bread dough, cut the rectangle into approx 40 pieces.
Take each piece of dough and form into a ball. The best way to do this is by taking the edges of the dough and pinching them together on the underside of the dough.
Repeat shaping the dough into balls until there isn’t any dough leftover.
Place onto either a parchment paper or silicone lined cookie sheet.
Freeze on the cookie sheet for one hour. Once the dough has frozen, toss all of the dough into a large plastic zip top bag and freeze until needed!
Baking Frozen Dinner Rolls
Baking the Frozen Dinner Rolls could not be any easier!!
Simply, place the frozen dinner rolls onto a greased cookie sheet. Spray the tops of the rolls with non-stick spray and then cover the rolls with plastic wrap.
Let the rolls rise on the counter for 3-5 hours or until doubled.
I usually pull these out around lunchtime and let them rise all afternoon and then just toss them into the oven for dinner!
So after 4 hours, this is what the above rolls looked like:
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Brush with melted butter after taking the rolls out of the oven.
Serve warm and seriously ENJOY!
Tips for perfectly baked Frozen Yeast Rolls
- First, thaw and rise your dough. Place the frozen rolls In a single layer on your baking sheet and then cover with a clean kitchen towel and let them thaw and rise for a few hours until double in size.
- Once double in size, bake the rolls until golden brown.
- Immediately after they come out of the oven, brush the tops of the rolls with butter to keep the outside of the rolls soft. Enjoy!
How to store the Best Frozen Dinner Rolls
If you have extra rolls, freeze them as soon as possible to maintain freshness. Place them in airtight freezer-safe bags or containers.
Can you freeze yeast dough?
Absolutely! It is best frozen after the dough has gone through its first rise and you’ve shaped the dough but before going through the second rise.
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Yeast Rolls (Frozen)
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup butter cold
- 4 1/2 tsp dry, active yeast (2 packets!)
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup + 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 7 cups flour
- 1 tbsp oil for use with the Instant Pot
Instructions
- Scald the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Take off of the heat as soon as it starts to boil.
- Place the cold stick of butter into the hot milk. Let the butter melt and then stir. Cool until almost room temperature.
- Mix the warm water, yeast and 1/2 tsp of sugar together. Let the yeast activate while the milk is cooling. The yeast will get very bubbly, this means the yeast is alive.
- Pour the room temperature milk and the yeast mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add in the remaining sugar, salt and eggs. Mix until well combined.
- Add in 3 cups of flour and briefly mix together.
- Add the remaining 4 cups of flour and slowly mix until combined. This dough will be very sticky.
- If rising the traditional way, let rise until double, punch down and then repeat once more. Move onto step 13.
- If using the Instant Pot, first pour the oil into the liner of the Instant Pot, and roll the dough in the oil so the dough is covered.
- Press the Yogurt button and make sure it is set to ‘Normal’.
- Cover with a glass lid and let it proof for 20 minutes.
- Take the lid off, and knead a bit inside the liner. Replace the lid and proof for 10 more minutes.
- Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and gently form into a rectangle. (See picture above in post.)
- Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into approx 40 equal sections.
- Form each section into a ball by pinching the edges of the dough together underneath the ball of dough.
- Repeat above step with remaining dough.
- Freeze the dough on a cookie sheet for 1 hour. Once frozen, toss all of the dough into a zip top bag and store in the freezer until needed.
- BAKING THE FROZEN DINNER ROLLS: Pull the rolls out of the freezer and place on a greased cookie sheet. Spray the top of the rolls with non-stick spray and cover with plastic wrap.
- Let rise at room temperature for 3-5 hours or until doubled.
- Heat the oven to 400°.
- Once the oven has heated, bake the rolls on the middle rack for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Brush cooked rolls with butter if desired.
Here is the recipe without the freezing. 🙂 https://cookingwithkarli.com/homemade-dinner-rolls/
Could I make these the night before thanksgiving not freeze them and instead put them in the fridge. Then pull out, let rise and bake before dinner?
Yes, just cover them in the fridge. They will rise some in the fridge, but should rise a ton. Then just let them sit on the counter to finish rising Thanksgiving morning.