How To Reheat Dinner Rolls So They're Warm and Fluffy (2024)

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Meghan Splawn

Meghan Splawn

Meghan was the Food Editor for Kitchn's Skills content. She's a master of everyday baking, family cooking, and harnessing good light. Meghan approaches food with an eye towards budgeting — both time and money — and having fun. Meghan has a baking and pastry degree, and spent the first 10 years of her career as part of Alton Brown's culinary team. She co-hosts a weekly podcast about food and family called Didn't I Just Feed You.

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updated Dec 18, 2023

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How To Reheat Dinner Rolls So They're Warm and Fluffy (1)

Bake your dinner rolls in advance and use one of these three methods to reheat them for dinner the next day.

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How To Reheat Dinner Rolls So They're Warm and Fluffy (2)

You know the joy of tearing apart a dinner roll to have tufts of steam pour out of it, because it’s still warm from the oven? You can enjoy that same feeling every day until the rolls run out with three simple methods for reheating leftover dinner rolls, whether they’re store-bought or homemade.

Quick Overview

How To Reheat Dinner Rolls

  • The best method for reheating dinner rolls is in the oven. To reheat dinner rolls in the oven, preheat it to 350°F. Place the rolls in a baking dish or on a baking sheet, brush with melted butter. Bake until warm, 7 to 10 minutes.
  • Alternatively, you can reheat dinner rolls in the microwave or slow cooker. To reheat dinner rolls in the microwave, arrange rolls on a microwave-safe plate. Cover the rolls with a slightly damp, clean kitchen towel. Microwave the rolls until just warmed through, 30 to 45 seconds.
  • To reheat the dinner rolls in a slow cooker, cover the top of the slow cooker with a second damp, clean tea towel. Cover and heat on the low setting until warm, about 30 minutes.

The Best Method for Reheating Dinner Rolls: The Oven

Our favorite rule for reheating leftovers applies here (reheat the food in the way it was prepared), so into the oven your rolls should go for reheating. One caveat, though — warm your rolls in a baking dish, not on a baking pan. Placing rolls snugly together in a baking dish leaves the sides of the rolls soft, while separating them and heating on a baking sheet will result in a slightly crisper outside crust.

Our Favorite Method: The Slow Cooker

The slow cooker is a brilliant way to keep rolls warm for serving or as a means for reheating the rolls the next day if you need to bake them before a big holiday. Bonus: Warming store-bought dinner rolls in the slow cooker makes them feel more like homemade. The slow cooker isn’t the fastest method, taking at least 30 minutes depending on the number of rolls, but we’re calling it our favorite method for its multi-use capabilities.

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How To Reheat Dinner Rolls: The Best, Simplest Method (Image credit: Maria Midoes)

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How To Reheat Dinner Rolls: The Best, Simplest Method

Bake your dinner rolls in advance and use one of these three methods to reheat them for dinner the next day.

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • Leftover dinner rolls
  • Optional toppings: melted butter, coarse salt

For microwave method:

  • Microwave-safe plate
  • 2 clean kitchen towels

For oven method:

  • Pastry brush

  • Small bowl

  • Baking dish or baking sheet

For slow cooker method:

  • 2 kitchen towels

  • Slow cooker

Instructions

  1. Reheat dinner rolls in the microwave. Arrange rolls on a microwave-safe plate. Cover the rolls with a slightly damp, clean kitchen towel. Wrap the entire plate in a dry tea towel. Microwave until just warmed through, 30 to 45 seconds. The rolls should not be piping hot, or they will turn tough and chewy as they cool.

  2. Reheat dinner rolls in the oven. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Place rolls in a baking dish or arrange on a baking sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired. Bake until warm, 7 to 10 minutes.

  3. Reheat dinner rolls in the slow cooker. Lay a damp, clean kitchen towel on the bottom of the slow cooker insert. Arrange the rolls on the cloth. Cover the top of the slow cooker with a second damp, clean tea towel. Cover and heat on the LOW setting until warm, about 30 minutes. After heating, you can turn the slow cooker to the WARM setting and keep the rolls soft and warm until the top towel is dry, about 2 hours. Do not heat the rolls on HIGH — the edges touching the insert may burn and the rolls will become tough.

Filed in:

Bread

Cooking Methods

easy

How To

Side Dish

Slow Cooker

How To Reheat Dinner Rolls So They're Warm and Fluffy (2024)

FAQs

How To Reheat Dinner Rolls So They're Warm and Fluffy? ›

Place warmed heat source in bread basket: If using rice or pie weights, lay them as flat as possible in their paper or foil wrapper at the bottom of the bread basket. Cover the heat source with a clean cloth napkin or dish towel. Add the rolls and then fold the corners of the fabric over the rolls to cover.

How do you keep rolls warm and soft? ›

Place warmed heat source in bread basket: If using rice or pie weights, lay them as flat as possible in their paper or foil wrapper at the bottom of the bread basket. Cover the heat source with a clean cloth napkin or dish towel. Add the rolls and then fold the corners of the fabric over the rolls to cover.

How to warm bread in the oven without drying out? ›

Put your bread inside a brown paper bag. Dampen the paper bag under the faucet (don't make it sodden). Them, put the bread, still in the dampened bag, into an oven preheated to 300–325F for 4–5 minutes. Be careful to keep the paper away from the electric elements or gas flame.

What is the best way to reheat homemade dinner rolls? ›

Reheat dinner rolls in the oven. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Place rolls in a baking dish or arrange on a baking sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired. Bake until warm, 7 to 10 minutes.

What ingredient makes bread light and fluffy? ›

Sugar: When yeast is mixed with sugar it consumes the sugar and produces carbon dioxide gas, which causes the bread dough to rise and become light and airy. Instant Yeast: Instant dry yeast can be added directly to the flour mixture without needing to be activated first.

How can I make my bread fluffier instead of dense? ›

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier. If you are boiling potatoes, you can use the unsalted water in place of the water in your bread recipe to help out the yeast.

What is the secret of soft buns? ›

The secret to soft, light rolls, if you're looking for something like a dinner roll, is an enriched dough that contains butter or other dairy, eggs, or both. If you want something more bread-like, you want a high hydration dough that's been properly kneaded and given at least two bulk fermentations before shaping.

How do restaurants keep rolls warm? ›

Warming drawers.

These drawers serve the same purpose as a warming oven, but they take up less space. You might install a warming drawer in the prep area to keep food warm before service, for example; it's a great way to offer hot, moist bread or rolls.

Why are my dinner rolls so dense? ›

If your dinner rolls aren't fluffy it could be because of one of two reasons. Either, you added too much flour or you possibly used all bread flour. Alternately, not giving your dinner rolls enough time to proof and get puffy before baking could yield dense rolls. What is this?

How do you keep bread rolls soft when baking? ›

If you only have a fan oven, it's hard to keep them really soft; it helps to cook them at a lower temperature, maybe 170°C or even 160°C, and to wrap them in a clean tea towel immediately after cooking.

How do you make bread soft when reheating? ›

All you have to do is soak the bread in water. I know it's weird, but trust me on this one. and go ahead and reheat the pastry or the bread, and the water will help it gain its moisture back. so it comes out of the oven soft and fluffy.

How do you make bread soft and moist again? ›

If your bread is especially hard, brush the outside with water before wrapping it. Then, heat it on the center rack of your oven for about 30 minutes for a whole loaf; or 15 to 20 minutes for a partial loaf, or if you have a long, skinny loaf like a baguette.

How do you make bread soft again without an oven? ›

Step 2: Microwave Method
  1. Moisten a section of paper towel long enough to completely cover your loaf of bread (or the portion that you intend to eat). ...
  2. Wrap your portion of bread in your damp paper towel snuggly.
  3. Place your covered loaf or slice into your microwave.
  4. Microwave for 10 seconds.

How do you soften hard bread overnight? ›

Wrap your bread tightly in foil to keep as much water in as possible. If your bread is especially hard, brush the outside with water before wrapping it.

How do you soften day old hamburger buns? ›

Try steaming your burger buns on the stove.

Steaming store-bought buns can make them more tender and plump up stale buns by adding moisture. "Hot-dog stands steam their buns because it makes them taste good. You can do the same at home in just a few minutes," Alto said.

Why did my homemade rolls get hard? ›

Mistake to Avoid #2: Tough Dinner Rolls

Do your dinner rolls resemble shoe leather? Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing.

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