These Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls are tender, fluffy, hearty and have just the perfect amount of sweetness. Simple to make and perfect for holiday dinners or any weeknight meal.
We are a bread-loving family around here, so anytime I make rolls or bread I can guarantee they’re going to get eaten.
I can also guarantee that each slice of bread or roll eaten by my boys will be slathered in a combination of butter, raspberry jam, honey butter, peanut butter and/or Nutella. What can I say, I have smart boys.
These Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls have been a huge hit with all of us. Tender, soft, slightly sweet and perfectly fluffy, these rolls have become a favorite.
If you’re looking for a new roll recipe to try for your Easter dinner, you need to give these a try.
Seriously so simple to make and kind of hard to mess up.
SHOULD MY DOUGH BE THIS STICKY?
Yes, this is a sticky dough. Please don’t add more flour. Just take a deep breath, relax and trust that it will come together and work. A quick explanation of why you want a wet dough is this. . . whole wheat flour contains a lot of healthy bran, but bran is so sharp that is cuts the strands of gluten that give bread its height and structure. To stop the bran from doing that, it needs to be softened. Keeping the dough wet softens the bran and allows the rolls to be fluffy.
HOW TO MAKE HONEY-WHEAT DINNER ROLLS:
- Combine warm milk, honey, melted butter and egg in a large glass measuring cup. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix both flours, yeast and salt. Mix on low until combined.
- Slowly add the milk mixture and mix until combined (dough will be sticky).
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover and let rise.
- Punch down dough and divide into 16 portions. Shape into balls and place in a greased 9×13-baking dish.
- Let rise until doubled in size. Brush with milk and bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes.
- Brush with melted butter and honey mixture when they come out of the oven.
Give these a try and I promise you will love them!
Oh and my raspberry honey butter is amazing on these rolls!

Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Prep Time: 2 hours (includes rise time)
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 rolls 1x
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole milk, warmed plus 1 tablespoon
- 6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon honey
- 5 tablespoons melted butter, divided
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Grease a large bowl and a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
- In a large measuring cup whisk together the 1 3/4 cup milk, 6 tablespoons honey, 4 tablespoons of the melted butter and the egg. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix together the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast and salt on low speed until combined. Slowly add milk mixture and mix until dough comes together. Increase speed to medium and mix until dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, but still sticks to the bottom. (*This dough will still be slightly sticky, DO NOT add more flour.)
- Transfer dough to prepared bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Punch dough down and turn onto a floured surface. Divide dough into four equal pieces and then cut each of the four pieces into 4 equal pieces (16 rolls total). Form each piece into a rough ball, then on a clean counter cup each dough ball with your palm and roll into a smooth, tight ball. Place each roll into the prepared baking dish and cover loosely with plastic.
- Let rolls rise at room temperature until double in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.
- While rolls are rising, you can preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Before placing in oven, brush rolls with the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk. Bake until golden grown, about 20 minutes. Rotate pan halfway through baking time.
- While rolls are baking, combing the remaining 1 tablespoon butter with 1 teaspoon of honey and stir until smooth. Brush warm rolls with honey butter mixture and let cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
- Category: Breads
Recipe Source: The Best of America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook 2013
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