Homemade Hawaiian Rolls (+ Video)

Homemade Hawaiian rolls are ridiculously soft and delicious. The perfect dinner roll, sweetened with pineapple juice and brushed with butter.

You might also like our knotted dinner rolls, Amish dinner rolls, or pretzel dinner rolls!

Watch our step by step video!

Homemade Hawaiian Rolls

If you like King’s Hawaiian rolls you’ll love our homemade version. They are ridiculously soft and fluffy with just the right sweetness and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Where did Hawaiian rolls originate?

According to King’s Hawaiian, “Our mouthwatering tale begins in the 1950’s in Hilo, Hawaii. There Robert R. Taira, the Hawaiian-born son of Japanese immigrants who graduated top of his baking class, opened his first bakeshop: Robert’s Bakery. Here is where the first soft round loaves of the Original Hawaiian Sweet bread were made. According to locals, the loaves rarely ever made it home before being devoured.”

I altered one of my favorite dinner roll recipes and my family agreed that these were some of the best rolls that I have ever made. They are my go to dinner roll recipe now, not just because of the amazing flavor, but because of how SOFT they are. They can’t be beat.

One batch makes 24 rolls. Enough to serve with dinner and then leftovers for lunches. My kids don’t like bringing sandwiches to school and prefer rolls, bagels, muffins—basically anything else. They love bringing homemade Hawaiian rolls for lunch.

Hawaiian Dinner Rolls Ingredients

• pineapple juice: canned pineapple juice works great for this recipe. You’ll need two small (6 oz.) cans or 1 1/2 cups.
• sugar: this recipe calls for twice the amount of sugar that I typically use in dinner rolls. Don’t try to reduce the amount. These are a sweet roll and won’t be the same without the pineapple juice and sugar.
• butter: I highly recommend not using oil or shortening in place of the butter. Butter adds great flavor, both in the dough and brushed over the finished rolls.
• yeast: you can use instant or dry active yeast. I always rehydrate my yeast in water, no matter what kind I use, out of habit.
• water: just a small amount of water to help activate the yeast.
• egg: eggs add a richness and makes the rolls fluffy.
• salt: for flavor
• flour: you can use bread flour or all purpose flour. I use all purpose flour.

How To Make Hawaiian Rolls At Home

Step 1: Pour pineapple juice into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 90 seconds in the microwave.

Step 2: Add butter and sugar to pineapple juice. Stir. Allow hot pineapple juice to sit until it cools to around 110 degrees (warm, not HOT) and the butter is mostly melted.

Step 3: While the pineapple juice cools, combine water and yeast in a small bowl. Let it sit until it puffs up.

Step 4: Pour pineapple juice mixture, water and yeast mixture, and egg into a stand mixer bowl. Mix on low using the paddle attachment. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix on low.

Note: this is a SOFT dough and might start out sticky. That’s totally normal. 

Swap the paddle attachment out for the dough hook and mix in low for an additional two minutes, or until the dough starts to pull away from the sides. Add 1/4 cup of flour, if necessary, but like I mentioned before this is a soft and sticky dough, not as firm as most bread doughs. DO NOT add too much flour.

Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and form it into a ball in the center of the bowl (see photo above).

Note: If you do not have a stand mixer you can make this dough by hand using a Danish dough whisk in a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together, then knead on a lightly floured surface for 5+ minutes.

Step 5: Loosely cover the bowl with plastic and let rise in a warm location for 90 minutes.

Step 6: Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half and then in half again (you will have 4 portions of dough). Form 6 balls from each portion of dough, for 24 rolls.

Step 7: Place rolls in two greased 9″x 13″ baking pans (12 rolls per pan). Cover with plastic and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Step 8: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 20 minutes or until tops are golden.

Step 9: Brush hot rolls with melted butter.

Rolls will stay fresh for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container or bag. These rolls freeze beautifully in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Homemade Hawaiian Rolls Recipe

Hawaiian Rolls

Homemade Hawaiian rolls are ridiculously soft and delicious. The perfect dinner roll, sweetened with pineapple juice and brushed with butter.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

rise: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 3 hours hours

Servings: 24 rolls

Calories: 190kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups pineapple juice (12 ounces)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 4 1/2 teaspoons yeast (instant or dry active)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 6-7 cups all-purpose flour (see notes about flour)
• 1/4 cup melted butter (to brush over rolls)

Instructions

• Pour pineapple juice into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 90 seconds in the microwave.
• Slice butter into small squares. Add butter and sugar to pineapple juice. Stir. Allow hot pineapple juice to sit until it cools to around 110 degrees (warm, not HOT), and the butter is mostly melted.
• While the pineapple juice cools, combine water and yeast in a small bowl. Let it sit until it puffs up.
• Pour pineapple juice mixture, water and yeast mixture, and egg into a stand mixer bowl. Mix on low using the paddle attachment. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix on low.

  Note: this is a SOFT dough and might be sticky. That's totally normal.
• Swap the paddle attachment out for the dough hook and mix in low for an additional two minutes, or until the dough starts to pull away from the sides. Add 1/4 cup of flour, if necessary (see notes at the bottom of the recipe about flour).
• Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and form the dough into a ball in the center of the bowl (see photo above).

  Note: If you do not have a stand mixer you can make this dough by hand using a Danish dough whisk in a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together, then knead on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until it comes together.
• Loosely cover the bowl with plastic and let rise in a warm location for 90 minutes.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half and then in half again (you will have 4 portions of dough). Form 6 balls from each portion of dough, for 24 rolls.
• Place rolls in two greased 9"x 13" baking pans (12 rolls per pan). Cover loosely with plastic and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 20 minutes or until tops are golden.
• Brush hot rolls with melted butter.

Notes

Notes on flour: this is a soft and sticky dough. DO NOT add too much flour, just enough to be able to scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and form it into a soft ball. For me 6-6 1/2 cups is just right. Depending on the humidity and altitude where you live you might need a little more or a little less.

How to store rolls:

Rolls will stay fresh for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container or bag. These rolls freeze beautifully in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 190kcal