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My homemade Hawaiian Rolls are sweet, buttery, and tender, and they don't require any canned pineapple juice to make them! They will be a great treat on your dinner table or in a sandwich; regardless of how you use them, they'll be a hit.
Here are some great dishes to serve with your rolls: Smothered Turkey Necks, Roasted Cajun Turkey, Southern Turnip Greens, Salisbury Steak, and Braised Lamb Shanks.
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Whenever I try to make a homemade version of something I can find at the store, I read the ingredients to do my best to recreate the recipe at home, minus the food science chemicals added for texture, flavor, and preservation.
It took me six tries to test this recipe to knock it out of the park. My first goal was to identify the sweet components to get the right taste of sweetness, which included trying a combination of light brown sugar, pineapple juice, honey, vanilla extract, and corn flour.
After reading the ingredients, I noticed there's no honey, brown sugar, vanilla, or pineapple juice in it, so I quickly removed them from my ingredient list.
The corn flour gave the dough a lovely yellow color with a mild sweetness. Still, I couldn't find a fine cornmeal that blended well, and I didn't want anyone following this recipe to have to grind it into a fine powder. So, I scraped the corn flour together.
My final recipe uses evaporated milk, raw cane sugar (I no longer buy traditional granulated sugar), all-purpose flour, softened butter, egg, salt, and active yeast. And after five failed attempts, the sixth one knocked it out of the park and was perfectly golden brown with the right hint of sweetness.
Now, if you need these rolls to be sweeter, you're looking for cinnamon rolls! Let's jump into making these delicious Hawaiian rolls!
Hawaiian Rolls Key Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make these sweet Hawaiian dinner rolls.
All-Purpose Flour
You can use regular all-purpose flour, but I prefer unbleached flour for bread. It has a higher protein content than standard all-purpose flour, which helps the bread rise well, and it's free from bleaching agents. Plus, it's more affordable than bread flour. Bread flour has only 1–3% more protein, which is excellent for frequent bread baking, but if you don't bake bread often, unbleached flour is an excellent alternative.
Evaporated Milk
I found that the sweet flavor of evaporated milk, rather than pineapple juice, was perfect for adding to my homemade Hawaiian dinner rolls.
Yeast
I keep a jar of active dry yeast in my pantry and fridge. Active dry yeast gives a better rise and texture to breads. Plus, the extra five minutes you may save using instant yeast can be used to measure out the remaining ingredients while the yeast blooms.
Kosher Salt
A little salt goes a long way in adding flavor to your bread.
Eggs
One egg adds moisture and texture to the Hawaiian rolls, and the other gives it a perfect golden brown crust.
Unsalted Butter
You'll need two types of butter: one softened and added to the bread dough, and the other will be used to brush over the rolls fresh out of the oven.
How to Make Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
If you don't make bread often, this may make you hesitant, but follow the recipe and you'll have a great base for dinner rolls that you can adjust to make a variety of flavors. The key to Hawaiian rolls is getting the sweetness correct without it tasting like cake.
Stir together the milk, sugar, and yeast in a liquid measuring cup. Set aside until the mixture looks frothy, about 10 minutes. If your mixture doesn't look frothy, your yeast is likely inactive, so you should start again with new yeast.
In a stand mixer bowl, combine flour, salt, softened butter, and one egg. Using the dough-hook attachment, mix on low for 1 minute, until the mixture is well combined. Mixture should look shaggy.
First Rise
Pour the yeast mixture in and mix on the second speed for 10 minutes, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You should have a smooth ball that's firm and slightly sticky.
Transfer dough to another lightly greased bowl, cover with a towel, and set in the warm oven or a warm spot for 1 hour, until dough doubles in size.
Second Rise
Punch down dough and weigh out to 2 ounce portions (If you don't have a scale, eyeball 16 portions of equal size). To shape the dough balls, use your thumb to make an indentation in the center, then fold the dough into the center until a ball is formed.
Place rolls on the pan, and cover with a towel.
Set in a warm spot for 30 minutes, until the rolls double in size.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). In a small bowl, combine egg and one tablespoon of water to make egg wash. Gently brush rolls and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate halfway through.
Serve warm with softened salted butter, syrup, garlic butter, or cinnamon honey butter.
How To Store Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
Store Hawaiian dinner rolls in an airtight container or a storage bag on the counter for three days or in the fridge for seven days.
You can freeze the fully baked rolls by storing them in a freezer-safe storage bag and keeping them in the freezer for three months. Thaw in the fridge or counter for 24 hours before reheating them.
To reheat rolls, place them in a 350°F (176°C) oven for 8-10 minutes or until hot.
Pro Recipe Substitutions, Tips & Tricks
Here are a few notes on substitutions and handling the dough for your Hawaiian rolls.
- You can use a gluten-free flour as a one-to-one ratio substitute for the all-purpose flour.
- You can use instant rise yeast as a one-to-one ratio substitute for active dry yeast. It will dramatically accelerate the growth process but reduce the size of the dough. If you use instant rise yeast, you can skip the step of waiting for the yeast to get frothy. Add the yeast with the 3 cups of flour (step two) and proceed with the recipe.
- Here's a trick I like for proofing dough in a warm place: Cut the oven temperature to 170°F(76°C), turn off, add the dough, then leave the door ajar so it's not too hot. The perfect temperature to proof dough is 81 degrees Fahrenheit.
- This recipe uses a stand mixer, but if you do not have one, you can mix the dough by hand. Start with a wooden spoon. Once you add the remaining 2 ½ cups of flour, knead the dough by hand until a smooth dough ball forms, about eight to ten minutes. At first, the dough will look like something has gone wrong, but keep kneading and it will smooth out.
- You can brush the rolls with melted butter before baking instead of using an egg wash brush.
- If you want to break up the recipe, you can do the second proofing (step three) in the fridge overnight. Just cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
- If you have a bread machine, follow the manufacturer's instructions for making this recipe.
FAQs
Here are readers' top questions about making Hawaiian rolls at home.
What's the difference between Hawaiian rolls and dinner rolls?
Hawaiian rolls are sweeter than regular dinner rolls. They contain sugar, which makes them taste soft, sweet, and slightly fruity.
What can you use instead of pineapple juice in Hawaiian rolls?
You can use milk, evaporated milk, or even water mixed with a bit of extra sugar if you don't have pineapple juice.
What are the ingredients in Hawaiian rolls?
They usually have flour, yeast, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and salt. That's what makes them soft and sweet.
What makes Hawaiian rolls different?
The sugar makes them taste sweeter than other rolls. They're also extra soft and fluffy, which is why so many people love them.
Do you have to bake Hawaiian rolls before you eat them?
If you make them from scratch, yes — you need to bake them so they cook all the way through. But if you buy the store-bought version, they're already baked at the store, you can eat them right away or warm them up.
More Bread Recipes
If you love homemade bread recipes, you'll want to try these out!
- Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
- Homemade Dinner Rolls
- Garlic Rolls
- No-Yeast Dinner Rolls
- Honey Rolls
- Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
- Cinnamon Rolls with Mascarpone Icing
- Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
Before You Begin
Before getting started, here are the steps I use to get organized.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to proof or warm, then get all ingredients for the Hawaiian rolls on the counter.
Step 2: Measure everything out into individual bowls.
Step 3: We don't want any surprises, so make sure your oven is heating to the right temperature before getting started.
Step 4: Start following the recipe and get ready for the best Hawaiian rolls you've ever made.
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📖 Recipe
Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm evaporated milk
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 envelope active dry yeast 2 ¼ teaspoons
- 4 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour scoop and level
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to warm or proof. If you do warm cut the oven off after 10 minutes. Stir together the milk, sugar, and yeast in a liquid measuring cup. Set aside until the mixture looks frothy, about 10 minutes. If your mixture does not look frothy your yeast is probably inactive and you should start again with new yeast.
- In a stand mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, softened butter and 1 egg, using the dough-hook attachment, mix on low for 1 minute, until mixture is well combined. Mixture should look shaggy.
- Pour the yeast mixture in and mix on the second speed for 10 minutes, until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Dough should be firm and slightly sticky.
- Transfer dough to another lightly greased bowl, cover with a towel, and set in the warm over or a warm spot for 1 hour, until dough doubles in size.
- Punch down dough and weigh out to 2 ounce portions (If you don’t have a scale, eyeball 16 portions of equal size). To shape the dough balls, use your thumb to make an indention in the center then fold dough into the center until a ball is formed.
- Brush a sheet pan with melted butter, place rolls on pan, and cover with a towel. Set in a warm spot for 30 minutes, until rolls double in size.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). In a small bowl, combine egg and 1 tablespoon of water to make egg wash. Gently brush rolls and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate halfway through. Cool for 10 minutes before serving with softened salted butter, syrup, or cinnamon honey butter.
Notes
- You can use a gluten-free flour as a one-to-one ratio substitute for the all-purpose flour.
- You can use instant rise yeast as a one-to-one ratio substitute for active dry yeast. It will dramatically accelerate the growth process but reduce the size of the dough. If you use instant rise yeast, you can skip the step of waiting for the yeast to get frothy. Add the yeast with the 3 cups of flour (step two) and proceed with the recipe.
- Here's a trick I like for proofing dough in a warm place: Cut the oven temperature to 170°F(76°C), turn off, add the dough, then leave the door ajar so it's not too hot. The perfect temperature to proof dough is 81 degrees Fahrenheit.
- This recipe uses a stand mixer, but if you do not have one, you can mix the dough by hand. Start with a wooden spoon. Once you add the remaining 2 ½ cups of flour, knead the dough by hand until a smooth dough ball forms, about eight to ten minutes. At first, the dough will look like something has gone wrong, but keep kneading and it will smooth out.
- You can brush the rolls with melted butter before baking instead of using an egg wash brush.
- If you want to break up the recipe, you can do the second proofing (step three) in the fridge overnight. Just cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
- If you have a bread machine, follow the manufacturer's instructions for making this recipe.
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