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
Did you make this recipe?
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.
Do u think this dough could be used for cinnamon rolls?
Hi, Juliana! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. We have not tested this dough when making sweet rolls, but you might love this Cinnamon Rolls recipe! Have a great day!
What is potatoe starch??? Can corn starch be used in place of potatoe starch?
I am a big fan of your recipes! Can I make the recipe in dough form then cook it then finish cooking it in the oven the next day?
Can these be made with bread flour?? I’m all out of APF at the moment.
Can I sub corn starch for potato starch?
The recipe shows that it makes 15 rolls in the ‘servings’ section, the instructions say to cut it into 16. Since a normal roll recipe makes a dozen, and that’s what fits a 9×13 pan better, that’s what I made. Now that they are cooled… time to make the sliders. 😀
why can’t the VIDEO’s match the recipes?
The first video shown is for the recipe. Then more videos play, for other recipes. If there is no video made for this particular recipe, other recipes will play. Hope that helps.
Looks great! I have trouble finding the King’s Hawaiian bread wheels anymore! Can this be made into a wheel? I was thinking maybe use a cat iron skillet? I like to make spinach dip and put into the cut out middle.
unfortunately this recipe did not work for me. initialy the dough was very loose and even adding 3 heaping spoons of flour did not help. i decided to give it a chance anyhow because the consistency of the dough normally improves with the first rise but if anything, it was worse.
there was no way to form buns, the dough was like melted chocolate. i floured it and tried to fold it but you cannot fold soup.
i ended up scrapping this goo into the loaf pan and simply baked it as a single loaf of bread so at least i did not waste the ingredients.
so instead of buns i ended up with bread. it tastes ok but it’s not what i came here for.
I made this recipe for the first time tonight, and they are very good! I did have to add a bit more flour, and the dough was still a bit sticky and took a very long time to rise. I let the first rise go for more than three hours, and the second rise took almost 2 hours to fluff up to the correct size. Also, I followed the recipe, exactly and baked it for 20 minutes, but I should have checked the temperature sooner because when I took them out of the oven they were beautifully brown, but they were 207° on the inside And a bit to dry. That did not stop my family from eating them, though! I will definitely try it again and I know I will have to reserve more time and begin earlier to make sure they’re finished for when I need them.
These were a bit too sweet for us. Next time I made them, I cut back the brown sugar to 1.5 TBS and sliced the horizontally. I filled them with shaved ham and swiss cheese, put the tops back on, placed in a baking pan and brushed with melted garlic butter. I baked them at 350 for 10 mins and they made delicious ham sliders!