I made dinner rolls using recipes from chefs like Bobby Flay and Alton Brown, and the best didn't need extra butter (2024)

• I followed four recipes by celebrity chefs to find the best dinner rolls.
• Ree Drummond's recipe uses a store-bought dough, and Trisha Yearwood's doesn't require kneading.
• Alton Brown's rolls were my favorite because they were wonderfully flavorful.

Dinner rolls are a staple for simple weeknight meals and fancy holiday feasts alike. Although store-bought options are always a hit and make meal prep easy, homemade buns offer a personal touch.

Interested in finding the best rolls for any occasion, I decided to try recipes from celebrity chefs Ree Drummond, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, and Trisha Yearwood.

Here's how each recipe turned out and which one I liked the most:

Drummond's recipe relies on store-bought rolls

These rolls from The Pioneer Woman were by far the easiest. Her recipe just calls for frozen dough, which is later spruced up with some homemade garlic butter.

The recipe says the rolls need to rise, but I didn't find that to be the case

The recipe says to let the rolls sit out at room temperature to rise, but my dough didn't budge, even after leaving it out for several hours.

This was probably due to the type I purchased, but I definitely could have let it sit for a much shorter amount of time.

Once the rolls thawed, I whipped up the garlic spread in a couple of minutes by melting butter in a small pan with minced garlic and cooking just until fragrant.

Then I brushed the rolls with the mix, sprinkled on some sea salt, and put them in the oven.

After the rolls were baked per package directions, I generously coated them again with the garlic butter.

Next time I'll cook the garlic for longer

The dinner rolls smelled phenomenal while they were baking, but that strong garlic scent was a warning of how these rolls would taste.

I love garlic, but the ingredient needed to cook until slightly browned to achieve a less pungent flavor.

Overall, I appreciated how quick and easy these were to throw together, and this recipe would be worth remaking in the future with that small tweak.

Flay's Parker House rolls require some careful planning with the ingredients

Flay's from-scratch dinner rolls include standard ingredients like yeast, butter, milk, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, and eggs. The trick here was getting some of them to the right temperature.

The recipe involves dissolving the yeast in warm water but also heating the milk and butter on the stove.

So before mixing everything together, I had to be sure the ingredients were warm enough for the yeast to come to life, yet cool enough not to kill it off.

I used a food thermometer to continuously measure both the water and milk's temperature, ensuring everything stayed between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit before I started mixing the dough.

Once the dough was prepped, these rolls were much easier to throw together

While stirring the ingredients in a stand mixer, I thought the combo looked pretty sticky and worried about kneading it.

But once I started working the dough with my hands, it quickly stopped sticking to me and the board and formed a smooth ball, which I let rest in a greased bowl for an hour.

It didn't look like it had risen much after the first resting period, but I went ahead with the next step anyway, punching down the dough and forming it into small balls on a sheet pan.

This step was also quite simple, and this time around the pieces of dough rose better after resting for another 40 minutes.

I then popped them in the oven for about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, and doused the rolls with melted butter while they were still hot.

These rolls were denser and less flavorful than I would've liked

These rolls weren't too dense by any means, but they were heavier than some of the other recipes I tested.

I prefer a lighter, fluffier dinner roll, so I'd be interested in trying this recipe by subbing a portion of the all-purpose flour with cake flour.

I also thought these lacked flavor compared to some of the others, but this flaw was easily remedied by slathering on some extra butter and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Brown's recipe looked complex at the start

Brown's dinner-roll recipe had many of the same ingredients as Flay's, but these took slightly longer to make and seemed difficult to prepare at first. But once I got started, I realized it was actually pretty simple.

My rolls didn't quite turn out like the photo, so I was worried I messed up the recipe

I started by tossing the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and warmed milk in my stand mixer, letting the dough rest for 15 minutes once combined.

I added butter and let my dough hook work the mix for several minutes before it was my turn to knead. It didn't take long for it to form a smooth ball, which I let rest for an hour.

I rolled out the dough on a floured cutting board and brushed on some melted butter, then sliced it into six strips instead of 12 since I cut the original recipe in half.

After making two piles with three strips of dough each, I cut them into thirds, turning each bundle on its side and putting it into a jumbo muffin tin.

I let the dough rest for another 40 minutes and baked the rolls for about 10, turning the muffin tin around halfway.

They weren't as golden as the others, but these rolls tasted amazing

The sides and bottoms of these rolls were golden brown, but the tops were less so. Still, I pulled off a bite without any extra butter or salt and was impressed with the yeasty, savory flavor.

I loved the pull-apart aspect of these rolls, and even though they were a little denser than I typically like, they were still delicious, with a nice contrast between the soft centers and the lightly crisped edges.

An especially picky eater when it comes to textures, my partner loved these rolls and asked for seconds, so I knew they were a hit.

Yearwood's dinner rolls involve a no-knead dough

Yearwood's dinner rolls are made with just six ingredients, including self-rising flour, which I made on my own by combining all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt.

Despite the lengthy rest time, these were very easy to make

I started by dissolving the yeast in warm water while I also creamed together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer, later adding the egg, yeast, and flour.

The dough was very sticky but didn't need to be kneaded, so I put it in a greased bowl, tightly wrapped it, and put it in the fridge to rest overnight.

The dinner rolls became a quick breakfastas I took the mix out the next morning and spooned the dough into a muffin tin.

I cooked them for 23 minutes, three longer than the recipe stated.

I loved the texture, but the flavor was not my favorite

I wasn't sure what to expect with these rolls. The reviews weren't great, and I was worried that the texture wouldn't turn out right since I made the self-rising flour myself.

Their texture actually turned out very light and bouncy, just how I like my dinner rolls, but they lacked flavor, so I added a nice slab of butter.

Because these rolls were so easy to whip up, I'd definitely make them again, but I might try adding butter and salt to the tops before baking.

I enjoyed all of these rolls, but my favorite recipe was Brown's

I'd tweak every recipe next time, but none of the rolls turned out badly.

That said, Brown's rolls took the cake because of their unique pull-apart texture and impressive savory flavor, even without adding extra butter.

Click to check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.