3 Store-Bought Frozen Dinner Rolls That Are Even Better than Homemade

A dinner roll hates to see me coming, especially during what I consider Peak Roll Season, aka the holidays. Me at the dinner table looks not unlike a lion approaching a gazelle at a watering hole in a nature documentary. Another thing that is very true? I will absolutely by no means be making fresh rolls from scratch, even for a special occasion like Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

Chances are, you also won’t be attempting your own Great British Bake Off: Bread Week challenge. And you know what? You don’t need to! There’s a whole bread basket’s worth of top-notch frozen dinner rolls you can buy, proof (or likely not), bake, and eat in well under an hour. 

I took on the quest of eating my way through all the bread rolls I could get my hands on at the grocery store — nine, including gluten-free options. These are the three that could totally pass for homemade.

For me, the platonic ideal of a dinner roll includes an airy middle, a crusty exterior, and a tender crumb throughout. I also know my family and friends have wildly varying ideas about what makes a really good dinner roll: a slightly sweet, yeasty roll! A solidly crusty crunch! Something pillowy soft that excels at mopping up gravy? Well, great news: Sister Schubert’s Yeast Dinner Rolls will make everyone very happy.

I have no scientific findings to back this up, but I can assure you that the crowd will be very pleased by these rolls. It’s everything you’d want in a roll, all without buying three different bags. On the sweet side of the roll spectrum, the Sister Schubert Yeast Dinner Rolls are also super-easy to bake. Only 10 minutes in the oven stands between you and a basket of warm dinner rolls for holidays and soup season.

Buy: Sister Schubert’s Dinner Yeast Rolls, $5.44 (on sale!) for 15 ounces at Instacart

Patience is a virtue, and I think that maxim was created likely by someone who once had a Rhode’s Dinner Roll. Waiting three- to five hours for them to proof (or rise) is the only thing really barring you from being able to enjoy these flaky, yet doughy rolls (though mine were good to go after two and a half). They remind me of the ones swaddled in a steakhouse bread basket mixed with the airiness of pizza crust. 

Especially for those who want a versatile (read: less sweet) roll, it doesn’t get any better than the ones made by Rhodes. These plush little pillows of dough have yet to be par-baked, which might sound like an extra task, but to me it just screams, “POSSIBILITY.” Brush them with an egg wash or an herby butter, make a no-knead monkey bread, or stuff them with goat cheese — these perfectly crusty rolls will take you wherever you want to go.

Buy: Rhodes Bake-N-Serv Dinner Rolls, $5.79 for 48 ounces at Instacart

For those of us who sadly have to forgo gluten more often than they’d like to think about, you’ll be glad to know the days of gluten-free rolls tasting like packing peanuts are O-V-E-R — over!  Best of all, though you’ll find Canyon Bakehouse in the frozen section of your grocery store, these brioche-style rolls actually only need a quick thaw in the fridge or on the countertop. The power is almost too much, right? Right.

They’re perfectly eggy and sweet, golden brown, and almost vanilla-y in a Hawaiian roll-adjacent way, and would easily fool anyone into thinking they contain spongy, stretchy gluten. One bite convinced me of how good these rolls would be for Thanksgiving leftover sliders, day-after French toast, or your new favorite  bacon-egg-and-cheese. 

Buy: Canyon Bakehouse Gluten-Free Brioche-Style Sweet Rolls, $8.99 for 14.4 ounces at Instacart