Easy Pumpkin Dinner Rolls — 🎃🙌🧡 Big, soft pumpkin bread rolls brushed with honey butter are the best! Everyone loves them and they disappear so fast!
Table of Contents
Easy Dinner Rolls … with Pumpkin!
These pumpkin bread rolls are easy to make and are ready from start to finish in under 2 hours. Not bad at all for a yeast roll recipe.
They’re soft, slightly chewy, and the pumpkin keeps them moist and adds just enough tooth-sinking density.
The scents of pumpkin, spices, honey, and bread baking that waft thorough the house are positively intoxicating. Sure beats lighting a pumpkin-scented candle!
This pumpkin dinner roll recipe has just over 2 cups and serves a family, not an army. Any extras freeze nicely.
They’re soft, fluffy, and just chewy enough.
I hope the recipe comes in handy for your fall baking, Thanksgiving dinner table, and holiday parties. Or for soft dinner rolls any old night of the week just because.
It’s my new go-to pumpkin dinner roll recipe after playing around with many others over the years. Enjoy.
Ingredients in Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
To make this easy dinner roll recipe, you’ll need:
- Milk
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Pumpkin puree
- All-purpose flour – I always use the King Arthur brand
- Instant dry yeast – I only bake with Red Star Platinum Yeast
- Granulated sugar
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
- Combine the wet ingredients: Add milk and butter to a measuring cup. Zap it for about 45 seconds in the microwave and stir until the butter melts. Top it off with pumpkin puree, 1 egg, and whisk together. Set aside.
- Combine the dry ingredients: In another mixing bowl, add the flour, yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar (must-have, it’s the yeast’s food source), 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg. (Sounds like a lot of spices, but it’s not.)
- Knead the dough for 5 to 8 minutes. I used my stand mixer, but you can do it by hand.
- Cover and let rise: Put it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm, draft-free place until it nearly doubles in size. For me, this is the inside of my oven (powered off) and took 45 minutes.
- Shape and let rise again: I made 8 hearty rolls. Put them in a pan and wait until they’ve nearly doubled in size, likely about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Bake: Before baking, brush them with equal parts melted butter and honey.
Recipe FAQs
I’m sure you can double the recipe if you need more, although I haven’t tried. The entire batch fits on the plates shown below.
Yes! If you would like to use an overnight or make-ahead option, after you get the rolls into the pan and covered with foil, place the pan in the fridge. When ready to bake, pick up with the next step below, making sure to allow the dough to come to room temp and rise nicely; it could take longer than the 45 minutes indicated below since dough is coming right out of a cCold fridge.
The pumpkin flavor, while present, is not overly strong. If you know someone who’s on the fence about pumpkin or have a family where some people love it, but others are just so-so, these are the perfect compromise.
They give the pumpkin lovers a taste of their favorite orange-colored food group, while not alienating those who don’t love in-your-face pumpkin flavor. I’d like to call them ‘Honey Butter Gently-Flavored-With-Pumpkin Dinner Rolls’.
Most likely, but homemade pumpkin puree often contains more moisture than canned pumpkin puree. Try to drain off as much excess moisture as possible; you might also have to add more flour than the recipe calls for.
Definitely! Let them cool completely, then seal in a freezer bag for up to three months. When ready to enjoy, thaw them on your counter or gently reheat in the oven.
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Honey Butter Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, *
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
Honey Butter
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
Dough:
- Add milk to a 2-cup microwave-safe measuring cup, or microwave-safe bowl.
- Add butter and heat on high power to melt butter, about 45 seconds. Stir until butter has melted smoothly into the milk.
- Add the egg, pumpkin puree, and whisk to combine.
- Return measuring cup to microwave and heat for about 15 seconds to warm mixture up. This will help to activate the yeast; set aside briefly.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook or large mixing bowl for hand kneading, add the remaining dough ingredients, thorough optional salt.
- Pour wet pumpkin-milk mixture over the dry ingredients.
- Turn mixer to low speed, and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and has come together. This is not a sticky dough and if your dough is sticky, tacky, or gloppy, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough is no longer sticky. I doubt you will need to add any, because I could have made this recipe with 2 cups flour, but went up to 2 1/4. Don’t over-flour your dough because it creates rolls that are dense and heavy.
- Turn dough out into a mixing bowl that’s been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Flip dough over once so both sides are lightly greased, and cover bowl with plasticwrap.
- Place bowl in a warm, draft-free environment until dough has nearly doubled in bulk, about 45 to 60 minutes. Do not go by time elapsed on the clock. Wait until dough has nearly doubled in size, and if it takes longer than an hour, that’s fine.
- Punch dough down and turn it out onto a nonstick surface. I spray my counter with cooking spray and don’t even need to add flour.
- Divide dough into 8 to 12 equally-sized portions, rolling each portion into a ball. I made 8 rolls and they were very generously sized. I would aim for 9 to 10 rolls. They may look skimp now but don’t worry, they rise and swell very nicely.
- Place dough balls into a foil-lined and cooking sprayed 9-inch square pan. If you would like to use an overnight or make-ahead option, after you get the rolls into the pan and covered with foil, place pan in fridge. When ready to bake, pick up with the next step below, making sure to allow the dough to come to room temp and rise nicely; it could take longer than the 45 minutes indicated below since dough is coming right out of a cold fridge.
- Cover pan with a sheet of foil, place pan in a warm, draft-free environment until dough has nearly doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. In the last minutes of rising, preheat oven to 375F.
Honey Butter:
- Melt butter in small microwave-safe bowl, about 45 seconds on high power.
- Add the honey and stir to combine.
- Before baking, generously brush dough with honey butter; reserve any extra and brush it on after baking.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until puffed, golden, domed, cooked through, and when tapped, the rolls should sound hollow.
- Allow rolls to cool in pan until they’re cool enough to handle before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Gorgeous! I just started baking with yeast and I am so hooked — it is SO much fun! Adding this to my list of things to try. Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial (beginners like me certainly need it!)
Glad the step shots are helpful. That’s great to hear b/c they’re not my fave thing to do…LOL :)
Haha I feel the SAME way! They are such a hassle. I’ve gotten so much flour and batter and who knows what else on my camera… so your shots are very much appreciated, I know they’re not fun to get!
Love these, Averie! Last year I made some similar rolls but with sweet potato for Thanksgiving. Going to have to give these a try this year!!
I have made sweet potato quickbreads (muffins and loaves) but never used sweet potato in a yeasted dough. I want to! I imagine it’s quite similar to pumpkin in terms of how it behaves. I have made cinn rolls with pumpkin but want to try with sweet potatoes too!
Really, you can make rolls with sweet potato as well? Oh my, thanks guys, I learned so much reading this blog.
Yes you can use sweet potato or pumpkin in rolls and bread!
These look so comforting! Just what I need on this rainy day! I’m with you on the step by step pics. It’s too much work and way too much hand washing.
I consider it my very once-in-awhile ‘gift’. Definitely not something I make a habit of..LOL
Oh. My. Word. These sound wonderful!!! Mmmm!! Oh my! Now, I’m wondering what shall accompany them?
Just about anything…from a smear of butter to frosting to a sandwich to dunked in soup. Wide open! :)
I find the oven spring is all to do with the kneading for me. For my doughs I would knead for a good 25 minutes by hand, that way they are always airy and light. Love the colour of pumpkin when it dyes breads. I also made some pumpkin bagels this weekend (we never get flavour bagels in Australia); now I know why you guys love this combo so much!
Love your rolls! Give me 9 any day!
25 mins of hand-kneading, well that’s one way to work off the carbs before you eat them – you go girl! :)
Your bagels sound great! Flavored bagels are fairly common in the stores here, but dinner rolls, not as much. But homemade is always better anyway!
We had a stew last night that these dinner rolls would be perfect with! LOVE these!
You know I love homemade bread – these rolls look like perfection!
These look just perfect – especially for the holidays!
Those rolls are gorgeous. THere is nothing like fresh bread and pumpkin roll on a sunday morning, perfect. Pinning. Love your recipes.
Thanks Ash & thanks for pinning!
The first thing that popped into my head was to use these to make pulled pork sandwiches. I feel like that would be amazing….looks like I have some experimenting to do :)
What I love about blogging and sharing recipes is never in my life have, or will I, eat pulled pork (just not my thing). And it would never dawn on me to put it on one of these. I was thinking like…some cinnamon-sugar buttercream with a smear of jelly :). And you’re thinking pulled pork. The same recipe can be so versatile for so many people. Thanks for reminding me of that! And if you do try them, with pulled pork or otherwise, please LMK. Thanks, Eric!
Those dinner rolls are just so pretty looking! Love your mixing bowl. Is it Rachel’s?
Mixing bowls – oh gosh, they are like 5-6 yrs old and I get so many compliments on them. They are by Zak. If you google or Amazon it, it will come up. They come 4 in a nested set, cheap.
I so want to make these tomorrow! The honey butter part sold me before I even read the recipe :) We have a local flour mill where I buy all my flour from and it is so true that better flour makes a difference.
LMK if you try them, Jenn! I bet your crew will take down the batch, in one sitting :) And yes to good flour! Especially in bread-making. Thanks for saying you notice a difference as well!
Yum Averie! These dinner rolls sound perfect!! Love that it can be for pumpkin lovers or non-pumpkin lovers!! I can see these pairing with my beef stew!
Averie, these rolls are gorgeous!! The pumpkin and honey butter combo sounds so good and you are right, almost nothing beast fresh homemade dinner rolls! Pinning, like I do with each and every recipe of yours!
Oh and thanks for taking the time to do step by step photos. I know first hand what a pain they are, but yours are all stunning!
Thanks for pinning each and every :) I pin 100% of your sweets and most of your dips & spreads.
And yes, you know how step by step shots are so time consuming. Both while making the item, then the editing. It’s like doing 2 posts in one, for me at least :) Thanks for saying they’re appreciated!
I love this small batch recipe – that’s much appreciated. I know the feeling when seeing 4 c. of flour, so unnecessary for one meal! These dinner rolls look so yummy, I want t grab them right out of the screen.
I know, 4c of flour is like 1600 calories, or more. Just in flour. Not to mention the other ingredients. Unless you’re feeding an army or have a super sonic metabolism, it’s overkill for me as well :)
Yum in the tum. I need to make these ASAP.