These are my all time favorite vegan dinner rolls ever! No one can tell that they’re vegan; they’re just the most melt-in-your-mouth, fluffy, and tender pull apart dinner rolls ever, perfect for any occasion and only 5 ingredients!
Why you’ll love these homemade vegan dinner rolls
No holiday is complete without some homemade dinner rolls, in my opinion, and this vegan version is about to become your new go-to classic dinner roll recipe.
These vegan dinner rolls are the epitome of fluffy, tender, light, and melt-in-your-mouth. In fact, you’d never know that ease dinner rolls are eggless and dairy free. Trust me, my entire family absolutely loved them and now requests them for our holiday gatherings.
Actually, since these vegan dinner rolls don’t call for eggs, they’re actually even easier than an easy classic dinner roll recipe. Seriously, we’re using only 5 simple plant based ingredients that you probably already have in your cupboard, whether you’re vegan or not.
These vegan buns are perfect straight out of the oven with a smear of vegan butter and/or fruit jam or a delicious herbed spread. The perfect side for any dinner party!
Ingredients
These vegan dinner rolls are incredibly simple in ingredients. In fact, you only need 5 simple ingredients:
- Dairy-free milk: I recommend using coconut or oat milk. This will yield the best taste, but you can of course use your own preference. I used unsweetened plain. You can also make your own oat milk.
- Activated yeast: you can use activated yeast or rapid rise yeast here, but the directions down in the recipe care are for activated yeast. Rapid rise will speed up the process.
- Flour: I used all-purpose flour here, and these vegan dinner rolls came out amazing. No bread flour, nor any specialty flour. You can use bread flour, but please know that if all purpose flour is all you have, these vegan rolls will still be amazingly fluffy, light and tender.
- Vegan butter: for these rolls, you’ll need to measure and weigh the vegan butter, then melt it and allow the butter to come to room temperature. It shouldn’t be hot to the touch when going into your dinner roll dough. You can use coconut oil if you’d like, but the best results will be from vegan butter. I recommend the salted Flora Plant Butter, which will then allow us to omit salt. Salt is a funky ingredient with bread, as it sometimes inhibits the rise of the dough if you use too much.
- Maple syrup: dinner rolls are notorious for just a slight hint of sweetness, so we’re using a touch of maple syrup to really bring out the flavor.
How to make vegan dinner rolls
You’ll be shocked at how easy these vegan dinner rolls are to make. The full recipe instructions, along with ingredient measurements, are found down below in the recipe card. However, let’s go over the basics here!
You can make these easy dinner rolls in either a stand mixer or by hand. I’ve made my bread by hand for years, and only recently got a stand mixer. Sometimes, I still make my bread by hand, and I’ve tested these vegan dinner rolls by hand. They work wonderfully.
You’ll first start by gathering and weighing your ingredients. For the best and most perfectly fluffy dinner rolls, I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients. I find it’s easiest that I’ve gathered everything before even blooming the yeast. This helps to create a more stream-lined process!
Then you’ll activate the yeast. Like my other bread recipes, this is a simple process of heating the dairy free milk to 110F and adding a bit of flour and yeast to the mixture. I go over tips to understand whether or not your yeast is activated in the recipe card, so be sure to read the full instructions before beginning.
dough after mixing dough before kneading
Next, we’ll make the dough! Again, you can use a stand mixer with a dough attachment or mix by hand. You’ll combine the vegan butter and maple syrup with the yeast mixture, then add in the flour a little at a time until you get a shaggy dough. Knead the dough lightly then it’s time for the first rise!
After the first rise, you’ll punch down the dough and divide the dough into 16 dinner rolls. I use a scale to get the most even measurements. On my scale, I measured the dinner rolls between 58-60 grams each. Then roll them into dinner roll balls, and place them in the casserole dish for a second rise. Here’s a great tutorial on how to properly shape dinner rolls.
Then we’ll go into the second rise. After that, lightly brush the dinner rolls with vegan butter and maple syrup (this creates an “egg wash” that’s similar to classic dinner rolls) and bake the rolls.
You’ll yield the most fluffy, light, melt-in-your-mouth pull apart dinner rolls ever! Seriously, no one will know that these dinner rolls are vegan!
Can I prepare these dinner rolls ahead of time?
Yes, you can absolutely prepare these vegan buns ahead of time. Make the dough up until you’re about to bake them. Then cover the rolls and place them in the fridge for up to 1 day. When you’re ready to bake them, simply place the casserole dish into the oven and bake for the required time.
Recipe tips & tricks to make these dinner rolls amazing
Activate your yeast properly:
This you’ll be able to tell from the very beginning. If you realize your yeast isn’t properly bloomed, then don’t proceed forward and start again. If it’s not properly bloomed from the get-go, then it won’t yield very good vegan dinner rolls. Here is a great article on how to check if your yeast is properly activated.
Basically, you want to look for foam starting to form on the top of the dairy-free milk, and the mixture will give off a yeast-like smell (almost similar to beer!).
Use a thin dish towel for the first and second rises:
Did you know that too thick of a dish towel covering the bowl will actually prevent your dough from rising? I’ve learned this throughout the years of teaching myself how to bake bread, and talk about it at length in my vegan brioche bread recipe. Yeast actually needs a bit of oxygen to get the aerobic reaction moving that will convert the carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and thus create a rise in our doughs.
Too thick of a dish towel, and you’ll cut your dough off from vital oxygen that it needs to rise. The towel in general is actually just to create a warm environment for the bread while still allowing oxygen to flow through.
Gather all of your ingredients and properly measure them before beginning:
It’s imperative that you’re measuring and weighing out your ingredients prior to beginning. This will save you so much time while making the dinner bread dough, and it will also make sure that you’re not making any mistakes in weighing too much or too little of one ingredient.
For the best results, I recommend using a scale to weigh and measure the ingredients. However, if you spoon and level the flour into cups, you will come very close to accurate.
Dough isn’t rising? Here are some tips:
If your dough isn’t rising, but you’re certain that the yeast is properly activated, here are a few suggestions to get that bread moving:
- Dampen your dish towel in warm water and place the bowl back into a warm area. Sometimes our dough needs a bit more moisture to get going. Dampening a clean dish towel that’s thin can help with this.
- If your oven doesn’t have a bread proof setting and it’s the middle of winter: preheat your oven to 100F or even 150F then turn the oven off. Turn on the oven light, and place the bowl in the oven. This will help keep the warm air in the oven, while also not baking the bread.
- Give the dough more time: if it’s in the winter, sometimes my dough takes as long as an hour and 45 minutes to fully rise. In the summer, I can put it outside in a safe area, and it will double in 35-45 minutes. Our environment and the time during the year that we’re making these dinner rolls is such a big factor in the rise time of the bread.
These vegan dinner rolls are absolutely perfect for any holiday celebration, such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, dinner parties, and more. They’re absolutely perfect with a smear of vegan butter and berry jam, or any delicious savory spread you have!
I hope you love these vegan dinner rolls as much as I do! If you make them, be sure to leave a comment down below, as well as a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others may find this recipe!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy dinner roll making!
More vegan bread recipes you’ll love:
Easy Vegan Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread
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These are my all time favorite vegan dinner rolls ever! No one can tell that they’re vegan; they’re just the most melt-in-your-mouth, fluffy, and tender pull apart dinner rolls ever, perfect for any occasion!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dairy free milk (330 grams)
- 2 1/4 tsp (7 grams) active yeast
- 4 cups flour (500 grams) + 1 tsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup vegan butter (115 grams), then melt and cool to room temperature
- 2 tbsp maple syrup, room temperature
- 1 tbsp melted vegan butter (vegan bread wash)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (vegan bread wash)
Instructions
- Measure and weigh out all ingredients before beginning. Grease a large bowl with cooking or coconut oil and set aside (this bowl is for the rising and is different than the bowl you’ll use to mix the dough).
- Heat the dairy-free milk to 110F. Use a food thermometer to ensure that it’s exactly 110F.
- Activate the yeast: Once heated, add the yeast and 1 tsp of flour to the heated dairy-free milk. Stir with a wooden spoon and cover. Place the bowl in a warm area (75-80F) to activate for 10-12 minutes. Your yeast may bloom faster or slower depending on the warmth of the area. You’ll know it’s ready when it smells yeast-like and there is foam on the top of the dairy-free milk. If this hasn’t happened, you’ll need to start over.
- Make the dough: Add the activated yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with dough paddle attachment or a large bowl. Then add in the melted vegan butter and maple syrup. Turn the stand mixer on to medium-low speed and mix (or use a large spoon to mix if doing by hand). Mix until just combined. Then add in about half of the flour mixture, and mix on medium speed until the flour starts to incorporate into the wet mixture. Add the remaining flour into the bowl and continue mixing on medium/medium-high speed until a shaggy dough forms.
- Knead the dough: lightly flour a clean surface and begin to knead the dough. You’ll knead for 2-4 minutes, until a smooth dough ball forms. Then place the dough ball into the greased bowl, and cover with a thin clean dish towel. Place the bowl in a warm area that’s at least 85F. If your oven has a proof setting, you can use that. You can also heat the oven to 100F, then turn it off and keep the oven light on. Proof the bread until it’s doubled in size, about an hour. If your area is cooler, it will take longer, if it’s warmer, it will be quicker.
- Make the dinner rolls: while the dough is rising, you can grease a medium casserole dish with cooking oil. Set aside. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down lightly and gently pull the dough from the bowl onto a clean surface. Use a pizza cutter or large kitchen knife to divide the dough into 16 even pieces. You can weigh them out for a more accurate dough. I measured mine at between 58-60 grams each. To form round down rolls, gently roll a dough ball in between your palms. Then pinch the bottom of the dinner roll together to create a more round top. See video for a visual demonstration. Repeat for the remaining dinner rolls, placing them in the casserole dish when done.
- Second rise: cover the dinner rolls with a thin clean dish towel again and place in a warm area (by the oven is fine) to nearly double in size again. Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Bake the dinner rolls: once the dinner rolls have risen and the oven is preheated, mix together the tablespoon of melted vegan butter and maple syrup for the bread wash. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the mixture over the tops of the rolls. Place the dinner rolls into the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes. The tops should be lightly golden and slightly crusted and hard, but not over baked.
- Remove the dinner rolls from the oven. Allow them to cool slightly, but serve warm with vegan butter, jam, or your favorite savory spread.
- Storage: store any leftover rolls in an airtight container or baggy. They will last at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the fridge for 4-5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
Please see the blog post above for all necessary tips & tricks.
Keywords: vegan dinner rolls, vegan bread rolls, vegan buns, easy dinner rolls
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