Dinner Rolls Lab249 recipes
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What goes into dinner rolls

The main ingredient list of all 249 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Nearly all dinner roll recipes use butter (91%); 12% use oil, and 5% use both.
  • For sugar, 82% use white sugar alone and 15% honey or molasses (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 48% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 28% active dry yeast, and 11% fresh yeast.
  • For the liquid, 45% use milk alone, 32% milk and water together, and 16% water alone.
  • 7% add cheese, herbs or other savory; 92% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 500 g of flour, the size of a typical batch. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical batch on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

Margarine and vegan butter count as butter (1 recipe). Oil includes coconut oil (1 recipe) and olive oil (4%).

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

  • White sugar only

    median 47 g sugar · closest to typical: Dinner Rolls (bettycrocker.com)

    82%206 recipes

  • With honey or molasses

    median 67 g sugar · closest to typical: Homemade Dinner Roll Recipe (feelgoodfoodie.net)

    15%39 recipes

  • Everything else

    1%4 recipes

"With honey or molasses" means any liquid sweetener (honey, molasses, maple syrup and barley malt), with or without dry sugar.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 242 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

  • Instant or rapid-rise

    median 9 g yeast · closest to typical: Homemade Dinner Roll Recipe (feelgoodfoodie.net)

    48%118 recipes

  • Active dry

    median 9 g yeast · closest to typical: Cornmeal Yeast Rolls (plainchicken.com)

    28%69 recipes

  • Fresh (cake) yeast

    median 20 g yeast · closest to typical: Petit pain au lait (chefsimon.com)

    11%27 recipes

  • Either (the recipe names both)

    median 9 g yeast · closest to typical: Dinner Rolls (bettycrocker.com)

    6%15 recipes

  • Type not stated

    median 9 g yeast · closest to typical: No Knead Dinner Rolls (plainchicken.com)

    5%13 recipes

Rapid-rise, quick-rise and bread machine yeast count as instant.

Water, milk or something richer

Each recipe counted once, by the liquids in its main ingredient list.

  • Milk only

    median 289 g liquid · closest to typical: Homemade Dinner Roll Recipe (feelgoodfoodie.net)

    45%113 recipes

  • Milk and water

    median 324 g liquid · closest to typical: Dinner Rolls (bettycrocker.com)

    32%80 recipes

  • Water only

    median 300 g liquid · closest to typical: Old-School Dinner Rolls (smittenkitchen.com)

    16%40 recipes

  • Everything else

    6%16 recipes

Evaporated milk counts as milk.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

Each recipe counted once, by the parts of the egg it uses.

A large egg is about 50 g out of the shell, a yolk about 18 g, a white about 32 g.

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 92% add none of these.

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory7%

    herbs 6% · garlic 4% · cheese 2%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 249 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 500 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    249 recipes · median 7 g

  2. Yeast97%

    242 recipes · median 9 g

  3. Butter91%

    227 recipes · median 66 g

  4. Granulated sugar85%

    214 recipes · median 47 g

  5. All-purpose flour80%

    200 recipes · median: all of the flour

  6. Milk77%

    194 recipes · median 258 g

  7. Eggs70%

    175 recipes · median 64 g (about 1.5 large eggs)

  8. Water50%

    126 recipes · median 165 g

  9. Bread flour19%

    48 recipes · median: all of the flour

  10. Honey13%

    34 recipes · median 61 g

  11. Vegetable oil7%

    19 recipes · median 56 g

  12. Egg yolks6%

    17 recipes · median 23 g

  13. Herbs6%

    15 recipes · median 19 g

Toppings and extras

30% of recipes (77 of 249) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Butter17% (43)
  • Eggs8% (20)
  • Salt5% (14)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out (2 of them). Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 500 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.