Honey Lemon Dinner Rolls Recipe

5 from 2 votes

The one Thanksgiving I forgot dinner rolls, my family never let me live it down, so let's make sure the rolls are memorable. These lemon honey dinner rolls are soft, pull-apart fluffy, and bright with real lemon zest baked right into the dough. I brush warm honey butter over them the moment they leave the oven, so it melts into every layer.

Prep Time1 30

Cook Time20

Total Time1 50

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: rolls

Calories: 251kcal

Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
1/4 oz packet of Rapid Rise yeast
4 to 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 Tbsp salted butter melted
1 egg
1 tsp lemon extract
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt

Butter topping:

2 Tbsp salted butter melted
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp lemon extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Combine sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl.
Warm up your milk to 120 degrees and add warm milk to the sugar and yeast. Stir and let the mixture bloom for 10 minutes.
Add 3 cups of flour and salt to the mixing bowl of the electric mixer. Start mixing on low and pour in the milk mixture.
Add egg, melted butter, honey, lemon extract and lemon zest to the mixing bowl as well.
Add remaining flour to the mixture, while it's stirring, 1/4 cup at a time. Mix until all flour is just combined. The dough will be thick and coming off the walls but still sticky.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it a few times.
Shape it into a circle, cover with some saran wrap and a towel and let it rest and rise for 30-45 minutes. (I usually put my dough on a thick cutting board and I leave it on or near a warm stove. Make sure the stove-top is NOT on but the oven is on low temperature.)
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. (You can make smaller rolls and more rolls but dividing into 24 pieces but you will have to adjust baking temperature.)
Very lightly flour your hands and roll each dough piece into a ball.
I chose to do these dinner roll in 2 9-inch round pans because I wanted to achieve a flower look. You can choose to use a 9x13 pan and place all dough balls into one pan. Make sure to grease the pans you use.
Add rolled dough balls into greased pans. Divide the dough balls into 6 in each round pan (or place all 12 in a 9x13 pan). Cover with a towel and let them rise for 30-60 minutes, until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 375℉.
Bake dinner rolls for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown on top. (Remember to adjust time if making 24 smaller rolls.)
Melt butter in the microwave and mix it with honey and lemon extract. Brush all dinner rolls generously with the butter mixture.

Notes

Lemon: using both zest and extract creates the fullest flavor. If only one is on hand, zest alone offers a lighter, fresher note. Extract alone leans more subtle and even, without the fresh oil.
Lemon extract: in none on hand, you can use lemon zest from 1 lemon, it will be visible though.
Milk: whole milk makes the richest texture; 2% works but the rolls will be slightly less tender.
Yeast: substituting active dry yeast for Rapid Rise means blooming it in the warm milk mixture for 15 minutes first. Both rises will also take longer.
Pan: two 9-inch round pans (6 rolls each) or one 9x13 pan work equally well; only the shape changes.

Nutrition