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Soft, buttery, and slightly sweet, these Skinny Dinner Rolls are out-of-this-world delicious and only 70 calories each!
Believe it or not, it’s actually pretty easy to make your own dinner rolls. The hardest part is waiting for the dough to rise. Actually, the hardest part might be waiting for them to cool enough to eat right out of the oven. The way these make your house smell is worth the wait!
If you’ve made my Light Brioche Buns, then this recipe will look pretty familiar. These are way more fool-proof than the buns, though. Since these rise to the point where they are touching each other, they won’t deflate on you when you put the egg wash on.
Plus, this can be made ahead! Perfect for a busy holiday dinner.
How to make the dough
It’s easiest to make these rolls if you have a stand mixer, but don’t worry if you don’t I’ve used a food processor before and it worked just fine.
You start by mixing up the dry ingredients, then adding the butter and mixing until it is dispersed through the flour mixture. Then, add your wet ingredients and let the mixer knead until a smooth dough forms, about 3-5 minutes.
If using a food processor, pulse until the dough pulls from the sides of the bowl and forms together, about 2-3 minutes.
In order to get that soft and fluffy texture, we’re going to let the dough rise twice. When you first mix it together, it should look like this:
Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has more than doubled in size. If you’re working in a cold kitchen, let your oven heat for a minute or two, turn it off, then let your dough rise in there.
It should look like this, with lots of air bubbles:
Now you’re ready to form your dough balls. Cut and form into 24 balls. Divide the dough into half, then divide each half into 6ths. Cut each 6th in half, and there you go!
Line them up in a 13×9 baking dish. I do six rows of four rolls each. Space them as evenly as you can, then cover and let rise again for another hour. They should look like this:
Gently top with egg wash you’re good to go! They’ll continue to rise a little bit as they bake. If you’re having a hard time getting them to brown on top, just broil for 30 seconds or so.
Can I make Skinny Dinner Rolls ahead of time?
Yes! They reheat beautifully, either in the microwave or in the oven.
If you’re looking to prep the dough ahead of time for fresh-baked rolls, you can make the dough the day before. Follow the recipe up to the point where you’ve formed the rolls in the baking dish. Cover and refrigerate over night.
Just make sure you take them out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to bake them to allow the rolls to come to room temperature. Otherwise, they won’t bake evenly.
Can I Freeze Skinny Dinner Rolls?
Yes! The recipe makes 24 rolls, which is A LOT. But if I’m going to go through the trouble to make my own rolls, I want to make sure I have a lot of them. I always end up freezing about half of the recipe.
You could separate them all and freeze individually, or freeze a whole section of them. Wrap with with aluminum foil, then wrap again with plastic wrap. This should prevent them from freezer burn for up to a month.
Reheat in the microwave or oven for quick rolls! We love to use them as slider buns, too. Leftovers would be great in a french toast casserole or as the base for Sausage and Apple Stuffing!
I’d love to hear from you if you make this recipe! It makes my day when you share your pics on Instagram and tag me (@litecravings). Don’t forget to use #litecravingsrecipes to make sure I see it. If I don’t get a chance to scroll through my tags quickly enough, I won’t see your post. I always make a point to look through the hashtags, though, so I’ll see it there.
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5 from 2 votes
Skinny Dinner Rolls
Soft, buttery, and slightly sweet, these Skinny Dinner Rolls are out-of-this-world delicious and only 70 calories each!
Prep Time2 hours hrs
Cook Time25 minutes mins
Total Time2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Servings: 24 rolls
Calories: 70kcal
Author: Geri
Ingredients
- 3 1/3 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp light butter (I used Earth Balance Whipped)
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp almond milk (skim milk will work)
- 2 eggs, divided
- 2 tbsp flour, or kneading the dough
Instructions
Whisk together flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in your large bowl. In a microwave-safe measuring cup, add water and milk. Microwave for 45 seconds, until very warm. Whisk 1 egg in separate bowl.
Set your mixer on low, then add in light butter. Mix for about a minute, or until butter is distributed through flour mixture.
Turn the speed up to medium and slowly add in your wet ingredients, including the whisked egg. "Knead" the dough with your mixer for about 5 minutes, or until dough is slightly elastic. (See blog notes for using a food processor instead.)
Use a spatula to form the dough into a ball. Cover and let rise in a warm place until more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes-1 hour.
Dust a cutting board with 1 tbsp flour. Use the extra tbsp to flour your hands. Scrape the dough onto your cutting board and knead just until the dough is not as sticky.
Grease a 13×9 baking pan. Cut dough into 24 portions, roll each into a small disk, and place in your baking pan. You should have 6 rows of dough balls, 4 of each across (see picture above).
Cover and let rise again. The rolls should rise until they are fully touching each other.
Preheat oven to 350F Whisk remaining egg with 1 tbsp water. Lightly brush tops of rolls with egg wash. Bake for 20-25 minutes, broiling in the last 30 seconds if the tops aren't brown enough.
Notes
Click here to determine your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe (if you are logged in to your WW app, it should calculate for you automatically). Calculated per roll.
WW Green, Blue, and Purple SmartPoints: 2 per roll (4 SP for 2 rolls; 7 SP for 3 rolls)
Nutrition
Calories: 70kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 0.5g | Sugar: 0.5g
