The ultimate sweet roll! Hawaiian Rolls are fluffy, sweet, and tropical fun – perfect for sliders. You’d never guess pineapple juice is the key ingredient!
Don’t have pineapple juice? Try My Sweet Dinner Rolls Recipe instead!
Sweet & Fluffy Hawaiian Rolls
Have you ever had a sweet and fluffy Hawaiian Rolls? Possibly you’ve have the kind sold at the supermarket, you know the ones that are super famous for their slider making prowess? They’re pretty great, I agree. But if you’ve never had a homemade Hawaiian Roll, you’re missing out!
These rolls do require yeast but I use quick yeast, which is great for beginners, or if you are short on time. I use quick yeast (aka Rapid Rise) pretty more often than not. It’s fairly foolproof!
What Are Hawaiian Rolls?
Hawaiian rolls are sweet, chewy, small round rolls that are infused with a little sugar and pineapple juice. They have a very subtle sweet flavor that makes these rolls unique. And topping a warm Hawaiian roll with butter and honey…well, there just isn’t much better1
Hawaiian rolls first came to popularity in Hawaii in the 1950’s, but the roots of these rolls can be traced back to Portugal by way of the Philippines.
Recipe Ingredients
Hawaiian rolls are both sweet and fluffy, thanks to these fabulous ingredients.
This is what you’ll need:
- buttermilk
- butter
- pineapple juice
- granulated sugar
- kosher salt
- eggs
- instant yeast
- all purpose flour
Why is there Pineapple Juice in Hawaiian Rolls?
I know, you weren’t expecting pineapple juice in a bread recipe, and typically it’s not a common ingredients…but we’re making Hawaiian Rolls! The pineapple juice adds a sweetness with a bit of bite. It also makes these rolls extra fluffy and moist!
Don’t worry that the pineapple flavor will be overpowering. It’s actually quite subtle. I am actually not a huge pineapple fan, but the flavor isn’t strong, I promise.
How to Make Hawaiian Rolls
Prep: In a microwave safe bowl combine the buttermilk and butter. Microwave in 25 second increments until the mixture is warmed (110°F – 120°F) and the butter is almost melted.
Combine: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add in the buttermilk mixture, pineapple juice, sugar, salt, eggs, and yeast. Stir on low until combined.
Mix: Add in 2 cups of flour and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually add in 2 1/2 more cups of flour, until a soft dough forms. Add more flour if necessary.
Knead: Replace the paddle attachment with a dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough forms a soft, smooth ball.
Rise: Spray a clean bowl lightly with nonstick spray. Place the dough into the prepared bowl and cover with a clean towel. Place in a warm spot in your kitchen for 1 hour until the dough has risen and doubled in size.
Spray: Coat a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Divide and Rise: Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 15 equal portions. Form the dough into balls and place in the prepared pan. Cover again with the towel and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Egg Wash: Whisk together the reserved egg and 1 teaspoon water. Lightly brush the tops of the rolls with the egg wash.
Bake: Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve: Serve warm or at room temperature
Ideas for Using These Homemade Rolls
My absolute favorite use of Hawaiian rolls is for a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Top it with your favorite slaw and serve with a pickle on the side and I am satisfied. Hawaiian rolls are great for any sandwich, really but I especially love how the sweetness and fluffiness pairs with anything BBQ. Brisket or ham would be great!
Hawaiian rolls make the perfect bun for sliders, too! These Chicken Parm Sliders would be fantastic with homemade rolls. Or even my Cheeseburger Sliders!
You can also just serve them up in a bread basket on the serving table at your next BBQ
They are also great on the side of any roasted meat or fresh salad.
How to Store These Rolls
Store your leftover Hawaiian rolls in an airtight container for up to 3 days. It’s best to leave them at room temperature and not to refrigerate them. Refrigerating them will increase the chance of them becoming stale more quickly.
You could also freeze your leftover (or a whole batch for later use) Hawaiian rolls for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to have at ‘em -allow them to thaw to room temp and then reheat them for about 10mins in a 300 degree oven.
Looking For More Easy Yeast Recipes? Try These:
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Hawaiian Rolls Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 15 rolls 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
The ultimate sweet roll! Hawaiian Rolls are fluffy, sweet, and tropical fun – perfect for sliders. You’d never guess pineapple juice is the key ingredient!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs, lightly whisked
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (1 packet)
- 4 1/2 – 5 cups all purpose flour
- Egg Wash: 1 egg + 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- In a microwave safe bowl combine the buttermilk and butter. Microwave in 25 second increments until the mixture is warmed (110°F – 120°F) and the butter is almost melted.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add in the buttermilk mixture, pineapple juice, sugar, salt, eggs, and yeast. Stir on low until combined.
- Add in 2 cups of flour and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually add in 2 1/2 more cups of flour, until a soft dough forms. Add more flour if necessary.
- Replace the paddle attachment with a dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough forms a soft, smooth ball. Alternately you can do this by hand if you don’t have a dough hook attachment.
- Spray a clean bowl lightly with nonstick spray. Place the dough into the prepared bowl and cover with a clean towel. Place in a warm spot in your kitchen for 1 hour until the dough has risen and doubled in size.
- Coat a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 15 equal portions. Form the dough into balls and place in the prepared pan. Cover again with the towel and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Whisk together the reserved egg and 1 teaspoon water. Lightly brush the tops of the rolls with the egg wash.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Store airtight for up to 3 days
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These are amazing, so soft & fluffy, great flavor!! I’m glad I doubled the recipe because the first pan is almost gone already!!
Great recipe! Fluffy and delicious little rolls. I was skeptical of whether they’d pass the squish test but when I poke them they pop right back up! Thanks for the Recipe!
These are incredible! I made them for Thanksgiving yesterday and everyone loved them! The only thing I did differently was to use my bread machine to prep the dough. I started with 4 1/2 cups of flour and added another tablespoon because the dough seemed slightly too sticky. After the dough cycle on my bread machine was done, I took it out, shaped into balls using a little more flour on my board, and let the dough rise again in greased pan covered with a towel for about 30 minutes before baking and they turned out so incredibly fluffy and delicious!
So glad you enjoyed!!
Made these & followed the recipe to a T, when the dough didn’t rise at all after the 1st hour I tried it in the Instant pot & did a few trucks to get it to proof, no dice. Baked them anyway & they do taste quite good! But they are little dense balls, not at all the type of roll I expected 🙁 will have to try other recipes to get a good hawaiian roll that works for us
Sorry you had an issue with your dough rising! Sounds like you might have had an issue with the yeast. Some common issues with yeast could be the expiration date, or the temperature..either too hot or too cold.
can you use honey in place of sugar?
I made these delicious HI Rolls today! No trouble with these rising either like in the comments.
They are perfect ❤️ I will definitely be making these again! Next time though will be for a crowd… so I don’t eat the whole pan myself!
I made this recipe today and doubled it!! They were a hit!! I noticed they were rising slow the second time so instead of the 30 minutes the recipe says I did it for almost an hour and a half,, but that could totally just be because my kitchen wasn’t warm enough! Thank you for the recipe!!
Salt is used to inhibit yeast growth and is traditionally added towards the end of the mixing process. Adding salt to yeast directly will stop your breads from rising. Yeast is typically added to a sugar base first and separately because yeast feeds on sugar and this is what makes doughs rise nicely. Directly adding salt to yeast kills it. Salt is added later. Hope this helps!!!