Soft Pumpkin Dinner Rolls with Honey Butter
These pumpkin dinner rolls are super soft and gently spiced. After baking, they’re coated with sweet honey butter. They are a great way to use pumpkin puree during the pumpkin season.

These pumpkin dinner rolls use a lightly enriched dough with great texture and flavor and can be made by hand or in a mixer. They are a perfect addition to the Thanksgiving dinner table. They’re gently spiced with a beautiful yellow hue, thanks to the pumpkin purée.
If you love pumpkin season right now, check out my other pumpkin recipes! I have pumpkin pie, pumpkin sticky buns, pumpkin bagels, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, pumpkin raisin bread and pumpkin no-bake cheesecake bars just to name a few!
The bread dough can be made and baked all in one day which is perfect for dinner rolls or given a cold rise overnight. This is a great option if you want to make the dough ahead of time. After the cold rise overnight, the following morning the rolls can be shaped and risen for the second time before being baked.
Ingredients needed
Find the actual recipe amounts in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, but here are some details about them.
Equipment
- You will need a 9x13inch baking dish or one of a similar size.
- A stand mixer is helpful but the rolls can be made by hand.
Method
- Warm the milk and sprinkle yeast and half the sugar over it.
- Add in the flour, salt, pumpkin puree, spices, remaining sugar, and egg.
- Fit the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment and mix on low speed to form a thick dough.
- Add in the softened butter, a few cubes at a time.
- Keep mixing on medium speed for around 10 minutes until the soft dough is smooth and strong and it pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
- Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
- If making overnight pumpkin bread rolls, the dough can be covered tightly and refrigerated for up to 16 hours.
- Cut the dough into 15, and use the scales to ensure they are even.
- Shape each piece of dough into a tight ball and place it in a parchment paper-lined or greased baking pan.
- Let the rolls rise in a warm spot until doubled in size.
- Whip together the honey and butter.
- Brush the baked rolls with honey butter.
- Serve the rolls warm, with extra honey butter on the side.
Storing
Leftover pumpkin rolls can store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days. On the following days, gently warm the rolls in the microwave to make them soft dinner rolls again. The baked rolls can be frozen for up to 3 months too. Thaw the rolls overnight in the refrigerator and warm them up in the microwave before serving.
Soft Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
Pumpkin bread rolls
- 180 g whole milk
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry yeast
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 170 g pure pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 55 g unsalted butter room temperature
Honey butter
- 55 g unsalted butter room temperature
- Tiny pinch of salt
- 1 Tablespoon liquid honey
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, warm the milk to around 95-104°F / 35-40°C and pour the warm milk into a bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast and half the sugar over the milk. If using active dry yeast, let this sit for around 5-10 minutes until it becomes foamy, if using instant yeast this step can be skipped.
- Add in the flour, remaining sugar, pumpkin puree, egg, spices, and salt. Fit the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment and mix on low speed to form a thick dough.
- Add in the softened butter, a few cubes at a time, and keep mixing on medium speed for around 10 minutes until the soft dough is smooth and strong and it pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
- Proper gluten development will allow you to stretch the dough so thin you can almost see through it. This is called the windowpane test. To test this, let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then grab a piece and stretch it.
- Kneading by hand – Use a wooden spoon and mix the dough until it forms a shaggy dough ball. Once it forms a dough ball, pull it onto a floured surface and knead in the butter, a few cubes at a time. The butter will make it a bit of a sticky dough initially. Knead by hand for around 10-15 minutes until it becomes a strong and smooth dough. If you need a break, take it. The dough responds well to resting time.
First rise
- Once kneaded, form the dough into a smooth ball. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with a lid, plastic wrap, or beeswax wrap
- Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, around about 1 hour. The exact time the dough rises will depend on your room temperature.
- If making overnight pumpkin bread rolls, the dough can be covered tightly and refrigerated for up to 16 hours.
Shaping
- After the first rise, punch down the risen dough and pull it from the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. If the dough has come from the fridge, it will be very stiff. You can let it warm up to room temperature for 10 minutes first before shaping.
- Use a kitchen scale to measure the weight of the whole dough, then divide this by 15. That's how heavy each of the dough balls needs to be and using scales ensures they are all equal pieces. Cut the dough into 15, and use the scales to ensure they are even.
- Shape each piece of dough into a tight ball and place it in a parchment paper-lined or greased baking pan.
Second rise
- Once all the pieces are in the pan, cover it and let the rolls rise in a warm spot until doubled in size. Around 1 -1 ½ hours depending on room temperature.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Bake the rolls for around 25 minutes until deep golden brown. If they are browning too fast, you can cover the top of the rolls loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Honey butter
- Honey butter
- While the rolls are baking, prepare the honey butter. Whip the butter and salt until light and creamy, then drizzle in the honey and keep whipping til combined.
- As the rolls come from the oven, brush the tops of the rolls with honey butter. The leftover honey butter can be used to spread inside the rolls when serving.
These are so good! I did a test run today for Thanksgiving and they definitely make the cut. I used home-made pumpkin puree and the dough hook on my Kitchenaid until the dough passed the window-pane test. A few years ago I attempted a similar recipe without a trial run on Thanksgiving day and they were dense and awful. Against my better judgement I used only the blogger’s suggested time for kneading instead of ensuring it reached the windowpane stage. These are definitely what my daughter would call a “redemption bake.” Mine took about 4 extra minutes to bake. Possibly because I used a glass 9×13. I just mention these random things in case they are helpful for anyone else giving these a try. They came out perfectly. Thanks for a great recipe!
Yay so happy to read this! Thank you so much!