Homemade Hawaiian Rolls are sweet and fluffy rolls that you can make at home and skip the grocery store! They have the same texture and flavor of store-bought rolls and you will be blown away by how delicious they are. The melt-in-your-mouth rolls are great on their own or perfect for burgers and sandwiches. I use them all the time for my slider sandwiches like my Cheeseburger Sliders and Ham and Cheese Sliders.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Potato starch— Be sure to use potato starch (not potato flour). Potato flour includes flavor, fiber, and protein, while potato starch is pure flavorless starch. Starch helps keep rolls soft, moist, and fresh by absorbing liquid. Starch actually slows the process of bread going stale! It is perfect for soft dinner rolls. You can find Potato Starch here. If you don’t have potato starch on hand, you can substitute the following: corn starch; arrowroot powder; rice flour; or tapioca starch.
Pineapple Juice: Pineapple juice is added to homemade Hawaiian rolls to give them their distinct sweet and slightly tangy flavor. It also helps to tenderize the dough and adds moisture to the rolls, making them softer and fluffier.
How to Shape the Dough
After the dough has risen for a few hours, it’s time to shape the rolls and put them in a greased 9×13-inch pan. There are a couple of ways you can make your 16 rolls.
- First, gently punch down the dough to deflate it. One strategy you could use is to gently roll the dough into a log on a clean surface.
- Then, use a bench knife or stiff spatula to cut the log of dough into equal-sized pieces. If you have a kitchen scale, now would be a wonderful time to use it to get the rolls as similar in size and weight as possible. You could also continue to divide the dough in half, and in half again, etc., until you get 16 pieces.
- To roll the pieces of dough, simply roll them in your hands, making sure you form a smooth top surface of each roll. Place the rolls into the greased pan and cover them with plastic wrap to allow them to rise for about an hour.
How to Store Hawaiian Rolls
To store homemade Hawaiian rolls, allow them to cool completely and then place them in an airtight container or a resealable plastic bag. You can keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you want to keep them fresh for longer, you can store them in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Can I Freeze Hawaiian Rolls?
Yes! To freeze homemade Hawaiian rolls, allow them to cool completely and then wrap them tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place the wrapped rolls in a resealable freezer bag and label the bag with the date. You can freeze the rolls for up to 2-3 months. To thaw the rolls, remove them from the freezer and let them come to room temperature for about 1-2 hours.
More Bread Recipes
Hawaiian Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- ½ cup (125 g) pineapple juice, canned
- ¼ cup (½ stick / 58 g) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup (67 g) brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk, with white reserved
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons potato starch
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the yeast, water, and pineapple juice. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, eggs, egg yolk (remembering to reserve the egg white), and vanilla, mixing until combined. (Some butter clumps are okay.)
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, potato starch, and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture, beating with the paddle attachment for about 3 minutes at medium-high speed. Scrape the dough into the center of the bowl.
- Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes at medium speed. If you notice the dough is too sticky, add a little flour.
- Round the dough into a ball and place it into a greased bowl to rise (about 3 hours).
- Spray a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Gently punch down on the risen dough to deflate it. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. (You can do this by continuing to divide the dough in half until you are down to 16 pieces. Or, roll the dough into a log and use a bench knife or stiff spatula to cut it into 16 pieces.)
- Round each piece into a smooth ball and place it in the greased pan, evenly spaced.
- Cover the rolls with a piece of greased plastic wrap and let them rise for an hour. They should be nice and puffy.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F when the rolls are just about done rising.
- Add 1 tablespoon of water to the reserved egg white to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the tops of the rolls.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the rolls reach an internal temperature of 190°F.
- Remove the rolls from the oven and let them cool a bit before turning them out onto a wire rack.
Video
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Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
The recipe say it makes 16 rolls. The picture shows 3 rows of 5 (15) 8″ X 13″ Pan? 4 rows of 4 (16) would need a square pan?
Hi, Ric! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. This recipe did make 15 rolls. I updated the recipe to reflect that. Thanks, and have a great day!
OMG! These are spot on!!! They are SO good! Worth every minute spent on them. With that said, I must comment that the 3 cups of flour just wasn’t enough. After all the mixing/kneading, it came out like cake batter. I added another full cup of flour (1/4 c at a time) until it reached the point I could turn it into a ball. Also, all our local stores are out of potato starch so I used cornstartch. Anyway…we ate a couple right out of the oven, had some with a prime rib roast that night instead of the popovers I usually make, have stuffed them with chicken salad and had them with loose meat instead of regular hamburger buns. This has definitely gone on our regular breadmaking rotation.
So glad you like them Sue! And glad you were able to make it work out for you, great idea adding more flour!
Well, I made them again. Once more, I had to add an extra cup of flour. This time I turned them into hot dog rolls. You know, the split-top New England type. I don’t have an actual hot dog pan but I still made it happen. Now if I only had lobster to stuff in them!!!
I can’t see the quantities on how much to use of each ingredient….Thankyou
Just click jump to recipe at the top or scroll to the bottom. The recipe card is right above the comment section.
I enjoyed baking these, the result was just like I imagine by the photo. I didn’t have pineapple juice so I made my own at home and the final product was great. Thank you so much for your recipes!
Thrilled to hear it, Alejandra!
I can never make these enough! Great recipe and I love how they taste! My whole family loves them. I enjoy your website so much!
Any alternate for pineapple juice please?
How nice to try…i think so simple and not so many ingredients..thanks for sharing….
Can I make these in a bread machine? What would the process be?
I haven’t made them in the bread machine so don’t have specifics.
I have searched for potato starch, but no luck.
Hi, Laura! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. There is a link to buy potato starch in the post. Have a great day!