Overnight Dinner Rolls take the stress out of timing fresh bread since the dough is made the day before. You mix it, let it chill and then come back the next day for a simple shaping and rise. They are naturally dairy free and they bake beautifully on a single sheet pan, which makes prep and cleanup even easier. It is a simple way to bring soft warm rolls to any dinner without the usual last minute rush.
What is your favorite holiday side dish? If dinner rolls count, they are easily in my top two. Give me all the light fluffy carbs. The problem is that dinner rolls are often the first thing cut from the 'make from scratch' to-do list because the timing is just too much to handle in one day. And that is exactly why I love overnight rolls. You make the dough (and the mess) the day before, or even two days before, then simply shape, let rise and bake when you are ready. Much, much easier. And you still get the light fluffy rolls everyone loves!
Jump to:
Ingredients for dairy free dinner rolls
- Warm water
- Active dry yeast
- White sugar
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Large egg
- Neutral oil
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions
- Gluten free - some recipes can support swapping out regular all-purpose flour for a gluten free one-for-one baking replacement flour. Light breads are tricky though. I recommend using a dinner roll recipe specifically written to be gluten free. Or, use a gluten free flour that is designed to work with yeast, which is not the same as the one-for-one baking replacement flours.
- Vegan - these overnight dinner rolls are naturally dairy free but not vegan. To make the rolls vegan, use an egg replacer such as Bob Red Mill egg replacer or make a flax egg. To make one flax egg, mix 1 tablespoon of flax meal with 3 tablespoons of water and let sit for 10 minutes.
Equipment
A stand or hand mixer is needed to make these dinner rolls.
Storage
Store any leftover rolls in plastic or in an airtight container at room temperature away from heat for up to 2-3 days. These rolls can also be frozen.
Next Level Tips
- A fancy way to finish the dinner rolls, while keeping them dairy free, is to brush them with dairy free butter while they are warm and sprinkle on some flaked salt or black sesame seeds. My favorite non dairy butter is currently Myoko's plant milk butter.
- I've talked about the importance of weighing flour in my overnight cinnamon rolls post as I think it's really important to weigh flour. Always weigh your flour if you have a kitchen scale and the nutrition information on the flour you are using! But, did you know you can weigh yeast too? I buy yeast in bulk, so I also weigh yeast. Two packages of active dry yeast weighs 14 grams. So you can easily add yeast by weight too!
- You don't have to bake these rolls all at once, you can bake them in batches as needed for up to 3 days. Continue to punch down the refrigerated dough occasionally.
FAQ
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough in it and cover with plastic wrap before refrigerating. If you're concerned that your bowl is not big enough and that the dough might rise high enough to touch the plastic wrap, you can lightly spray the center of the plastic wrap before placing it on the bowl.
No, this is a no-knead recipe. I do like to switch to a dough hook for the final combining of the flour, but you can use the paddle attachment for that part as well. Kneading is not necessary.
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with overnight dinner rolls:
Overnight Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- 1 Stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 6 ½ - 7 cups all purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup neutral oil
Instructions
- Warm the water in the microwave to about 105 to 110℉. Add the warm water and yeast to a mixing bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar, salt and 3 ½ cups of the flour to the mixing bowl. Mix until smooth.
- Add egg and oil and mix until combined.
- Switch to a dough hook if you have one. Add 3 more cups of flour and mix until the flour is fully worked in. The dough should be tacky but not too sticky. If it is very sticky, add a little of the remaining half cup of flour, two tablespoons at a time.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray, add the dough, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight. If the dough rises too much, punch it down as needed.
- About 2 hours before baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Shape into 24 equal size balls about 2 ounces each. You can eyeball this or divide the total dough weight by 24 and weigh each ball.
- Spray a half sheet baking sheet with cooking spray, or spray two 9x13 pans. Place the 24 rolls on the half sheet or 12 rolls in each 9x13 pan.
- Cover with a lightly floured tea towel and let rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400 ℉. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Don't worry! We won't spam you!
Leave a Reply