Hawaiian dinner rolls (aka Hawaiian sweet rolls), with their soft pillowy texture and slightly sweet flavor, are guaranteed to become a family favorite. With just a little prep work, you’ll have the best dinner rolls you’ve ever made.
Perfect for an easy weeknight dinner, a fancy dinner party, or as a roll for game day sliders. Our copycat recipe of King’s Hawaiian rolls is sure to please!
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Be warned- golden brown sweet Hawaiian rolls are addicting. And they’re not just for dinnertime; you’ll find yourself reaching for these at breakfast, lunch, and snack time.
The secret ingredient in these sweet, flavorful rolls is the pineapple juice, and that’s about as complicated as it gets!
Our homemade Hawaiian rolls are made with simple ingredients, like all-purpose flour rather than bread flour.
Many of these ingredients you’ll find in the recipe card will be ones you already have in your pantry or can easily find at the grocery store. And the best part is there are additives you can’t pronounce!
What to Serve with Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
Hawaiian dinner rolls will go with just about any entree you serve. The light, sweet pineapple flavor is a delicious accompaniment with our smoked ham or slow-cooker ham, grilled shrimp and pineapple skewers, or our pineapple shrimp luau dinner!
They also make a great roll for sliders. Ham and cheese sliders with a drizzle of honey are the perfect sweet and savory mix. Pulled pork with our Memphis barbecue sauce and your choice of cheese is another delicious way to enjoy them!
Don’t limit yourself to just dinner- the best part of these rolls is how versatile they are. Because they’re sweet, you can use Hawaiian rolls for French toast or in desserts like bread pudding or strawberry shortcake.
I also like them warm with butter, sprinkled lightly with cinnamon and sugar for an added treat.
Ingredients to make Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make our Hawaiian Roll recipe. In Chef Speak, this is called the Mise en Place, which translates into Everything in its Place.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How to make Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
- Add the room temperature pineapple juice, whole milk, melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and instant yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl and electric mixer).
- Mix to combine and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate.
- Add the table salt and all-purpose flour to a large bowl.
- Whisk to combine.
- Add all but ½ cup of the flour mixture to the yeast mixture.
- Mix at medium-low speed, just long enough for the dough to come together.
*If the dough looks too sticky, add the remainder of the flour to it.
- Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix with the dough hook for 4- 5 minutes until a smooth ball of dough forms.
*Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Lightly wet your hands, remove the dough from the mixer, and place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean towel (or plastic wrap) and let it rise in a warm, draft-free area of the kitchen until it has doubled in size (about 75-90 minutes).
- Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces.
- Spray a 9 x 13-inch metal baking pan liberally with cooking spray. Shape each piece into a ball and place them into the prepared baking pan.
- Add the egg and water to a small bowl to make the egg wash.
- Whisk the egg mixture until well combined.
- Brush the rolls with the egg wash, then cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until they’ve almost doubled in size ( about 60- 75 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place the rolls on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Brush the hot Hawaiian dinner rolls with melted butter and serve warm.
Our easy-to-make Hawaiian dinner rolls are light, fluffy, and ah-mazingly delicious. I think they’re even better than the store-bought version!
Store leftover Hawaiian dinner rolls in an airtight container or tightly wrapped with plastic wrap on the counter for 2-3 days. Kept refrigerated, they will last for 3-4 days.
If you need to save them longer, I recommend freezing them. Frozen Hawaiian dinner rolls last for up to 3 months. Thaw them on the kitchen counter until soft and then bake in the oven at 350 F for 5-7 minutes.
*This recipe does not contain preservatives, so the shelf life is shorter than store-bought rolls, which seem to last forever.
Recipe FAQ’s
Hawaiian rolls are sweeter and softer than traditional dinner rolls. Hawaiian rolls are also richer and more dense, due to the addition of eggs and butter.
Our Hawaiian roll recipe requires baking before consumption. We do not recommend eating the raw dough, as it contains eggs.
Hawaiian rolls purchased at a store are already baked and can be served at room temperature straight from the packaging or be heated up as a matter of preference.
Hawaiian rolls are sweeter than brioche and additionally contain pineapple juice. While they are both dense and sweet breads, they are not the same. They can, however, be used interchangeably in some recipes, such as French toast, sandwiches, or puddings.
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Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
Dinner Rolls
- ½ cup pineapple juice (canned) -room temperature
- ½ cup whole milk heated to 100 -110 degrees F.
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and kept slightly warm
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs – room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk – room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet instant yeast 2 ¼ teaspoons
- 1 teaspoon table salt
Last Steps
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons water cool to the touch
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
Instructions
Dinner Rolls
- Add the pineapple juice, whole milk, melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and instant yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl and electric mixer).
- Mix to combine and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to let the yeast activate.
- Add the table salt and all-purpose flour to a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add all but ½ cup of the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and mix on medium-low speed, just long enough for the dough to come together.*If the dough looks too sticky, add the remainder of the flour to it..
- Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix with the dough hook for 4- 5 minutes until a smooth ball of dough forms.
- Lightly wet your hands, and remove the dough from the mixer.
- Place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel (or plastic wrap) and let it rise in a warm, draft-free area of the kitchen until it has doubled in size (about 75-90 minutes).
- Spray a 9 x 13 inch metal baking pan liberally with cooking spray.
- Divide the dough into 15 equal-sized pieces.
- Shape each piece into a ball and place into the prepared baking pan.
- Add the egg and water to a small bowl and whisk to make the egg wash.
- Brush the rolls with the egg wash, then cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until they've almost doubled in size ( about 60-75 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place the rolls on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until gold brown.
- Brush the hot Hawaiian dinner rolls with melted butter and serve warm.
Linda says
Will this recipe for Hawaiian rolls work with regular dry yeast?
Chef Dennis Littley says
Yes it will, it will just take longer for the dough to rise.