My oat rolls are soft, tender, fluffy, and just as perfect with any weeknight family meal as they are with a Thanksgiving turkey dinner! These delicious yeast rolls have ground oats & brown sugar, making them a perfect sweet snack or an awesome side for lunch or dinner! They are easy to make and can even be prepared in advance!
Best Oatmeal Dinner Rolls
Yeast rolls are a classic accompaniment to a Sunday dinner, or anytime you want a warm delicious roll to soak up an amazing meal. My oat rolls take it up a notch! I add ground oats and a little extra brown sugar to give the rolls warm, nutty, caramelized notes.
These oat rolls are easy to make, too! Just 8 steps transform 8 ingredients into an amazing treat that you’ll want all the time. You can even make these ahead of time for the holidays, so you can spend more time with your family and less time over a hot stove!
My buttery, soft, and wholesome oat rolls will be loved by the whole family!
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🥘 Oat Rolls Ingredients, Notes, & Substitutions
My soft, fluffy oat rolls are going to amaze you and your family! This recipe uses ingredients you might already have in your pantry and fridge, making it so easy to whip these beauties up!
- Warm Water – 2 cups of warm water. You’ll want this water to be between to 105°F (40°C) and to 115°F (46°C). To ensure your water is at the proper temperature, use a thermometer! This is the best way to make sure your water isn’t too hot (which kills the yeast) or too cold (which prevents it from activating).
- Sugar – 1 tablespoon of sugar. We’ll use a small amount of granulated white sugar to help feed and activate the yeast in these rolls.
- Active Dry Yeast – 1 packet (or ¼-ounce or 2¼ teaspoons) of active dry yeast. This helps leaven our rolls to help them rise and get super fluffy.
- Quick Oats – 1 cup of quick oats. These oats will be ground and mixed with the dry ingredients to help create that warm, nutty oat flavor.
- Salted Butter – 3 tablespoons of butter. You want to melt and slightly cool the butter so that it blends perfectly into the dough. Use salted European butter for the best results!
- Light Brown Sugar – ⅓ cup of light brown sugar, packed. Brown sugar adds a deliciously sweet, rich hint to the oat rolls.
- All-Purpose Flour – 4½-5 cups of all-purpose flour. Use your favorite AP flour here, and be sure to have extra to dust your working surface.
- Salt – 1 teaspoon of salt. Salt helps balance the flavors of the roll, so it isn’t bland. Don’t skip it!
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🔪 How To Make Oat Rolls
My fluffy and soft oat rolls are so easy to make! Be sure that you let the rolls rise long enough so they bake properly.
All you will need is a food processor, your measuring utensils, a large mixing bowl, and a 9x13 baking dish.
This recipe will yield 20 soft oat dinner rolls.
Make the Dough
Step 1: Activate the yeast. Combine 2 cups (473 milliliters) of warm water with 1 tablespoon (12 grams) of granulated sugar and 1 packet of active dry yeast. Stir until smooth and set aside to activate or ‘bloom.’
Step 2: Grind the oats. Add 1 cup (80 grams) of quick oats to a food processor and pulse until the consistency is fine, with a couple of oat pieces remaining (like coarse flour).
Step 3: Mix the dough. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the dissolved, frothy yeast with the first 4 cups (512 grams) of all-purpose flour, the ground quick oats, 3 tablespoons (42 grams) of melted and slightly cool butter, ⅓ cup (73 grams) of light brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon (6 grams) of salt. Mix until smooth, adding additional flour to form your dough if needed (it should be a soft, sticky dough).
Knead and Rise
Step 4: Knead the dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured working surface and knead for 6-8 minutes (or 3-4 minutes in your stand mixer on low speed until the dough clings to your dough hook and pulls from the sides). Once the dough has a smooth, elastic consistency, transfer it into an oiled bowl and cover it with a warm, damp tea towel or plastic cling film.
Step 5: Let the dough rise. Place the dough in a warm place and allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Divide, Shape, Rise and Bake
Step 6: Form the rolls. When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down halfway and transfer it back out onto your floured working surface. Divide the dough into 20 equal-sized portions and shape them into even balls.
Step 7: Let the dough rise a second time. Place the shaped dough balls into a greased 9x13 baking pan, then cover and allow to rise until doubled (about 45 minutes).
Step 8: Bake the rolls. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C/Gas Mark 4) and bake the oat rolls for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Step 9: Cool and serve. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Transfer the rolls to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
🍽️ What To Serve With Oat Rolls
These amazing, fluffy, soft oat rolls are excellent served with a pot roast, stew, turkey dinner, or any other meal where you want a delicious piece of bread! They’re also great on their own, brushed with a little butter on top.
My delicious oatmeal rolls were AMAZING, with a smoked turkey dinner this week! Be sure to try out my amazingly addictive, savory, cheesy rolls, too! Enjoy!
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- Stir the warm water before checking the temperature with a digital thermometer.
- Make sure your yeast is fully activated.
- For consistent results every time, use all-purpose flour.
- Active dry yeast is the preferred type of yeast to use in this recipe. When using active dry yeast, you’ll know it’s been properly activated when it forms a foamy, bubbly head – kind of like beer!
- Keep leftover active dry yeast packets in your refrigerator to help extend their shelf life!
- Use quick oats for this recipe, not steel-cut oats, rolled oats, or old-fashioned oats. Quick oats are the best choice for these delicious rolls because they will cook quickly and incorporate into the dough more easily, so there isn’t any grittiness.
- Kneading by hand takes about 6-8 minutes to help properly develop the gluten in the dough, so proper kneading is important.
- When kneading the dough, first use curved fingers to fold the dough in half toward you. Then, using a rolling motion, take the heel of your hand to push the dough down and away from you.
- Give a quarter turn and repeat folding and pushing until the dough is smooth, not sticky, and springs back when pressed with your fingers!
🥄 Make Ahead Options
You can keep the shaped, unbaked rolls in your fridge for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to bake, take them out and let them rise at room temperature for 1½ hours until doubled in size and bake as usual.
Freezing
These amazing, soft oat rolls can be made ahead whenever you want fresh, tasty rolls! You can freeze shaped, unbaked rolls or previously baked rolls for up to 1 month after tightly wrapping them in plastic cling film and/or aluminum foil.
When ready to bake frozen, unbaked rolls, let them rise at room temperature for 1½ hours or until doubled in size. Then, bake as usual.
When ready to bake frozen, previously baked rolls, simply bake for 20-25 minutes at 300°F (150°C/Gas Mark 2) until the rolls are warmed all the way through.
🥡 Storing & Reheating
These incredible oat rolls don’t last long! Wrap them securely in plastic cling film, then transfer them into a plastic Ziploc bag or airtight container and store them at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
It’s not recommended to store these rolls in the fridge, as they can dry out quickly.
Reheating Day-Old Oat Rolls
When reheating fresh, day-old rolls, you can wrap them in foil and bake at 300°F (150°C/Gas Mark 2) for 10-15 minutes or until heated through. You can also use the microwave! Wrap the rolls in damp paper towels and microwave for 10-20 seconds until heated thoroughly.
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❓ Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use store-bought oat flour if you cannot grind your own oats. Oat flour typically uses rolled oats, so there could be a slight discrepancy in the finished result.
If you only have dark brown sugar, that’s okay! The rolls may have a more pronounced caramelized flavor and slightly darker color, but they won’t be any less delicious.
Salted butter adds a terrific flavor to the rolls, and it won’t be too salty! The extra salt really “seasons” the rolls and makes them even more flavorful than they would be otherwise.
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📖 Recipe Card
Oat Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 cups water (warm water between 105-115°F/40-46°C)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 packet active dry yeast (¼ ounce or 2 ¼ teaspoons)
- 1 cup quick oats (not Old Fashioned, Rolled Oats, or Steel Cut Oats)
- 3 tablespoon butter (salted - melted and cooled slightly)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 4 ½ to 5 cups all-purpose flour (+ more for your working surface)
- 1 teaspoon salt
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast then stir until smooth and set aside to activate or 'bloom'.
- Add the quick oats to a food processor and pulse until the consistency is fine, with few pieces of oats remaining (like coarse flour).
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer combine the dissolved, frothy yeast with the first 4 cups of flour, (ground) quick oats, melted butter, light brown sugar, and salt. Mix until smooth, adding the additional flour as needed to form your dough (it should be a soft, sticky dough).
- Turn the dough out onto a floured working surface and knead for 6-8 minutes (or 3-4 minutes in your stand mixer on low speed, until the dough clings to your dough hook and pulls from the sides). Once the dough has a smooth, elastic consistency transfer it into an oiled bowl and cover with a warm, damp tea towel or plastic cling film.
- Place the dough in a warm place and allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down halfway and transfer it back out onto your floured working surface. Divide the dough into 20 portions and shape them into balls.
- Place the shaped dough balls into a greased 9x13 baking pan then cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake the oat rolls for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown on the top. Remove from the oven when done and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool.
Notes
- Stir the warm water before checking the temperature with a digital thermometer.
- Make sure your yeast is fully activated.
- For consistent results every time, use all-purpose flour.
- Active dry yeast is the preferred type of yeast to use in this recipe. When using active dry yeast, you’ll know it’s been properly activated when it forms a foamy, bubbly head – kind of like beer!
- Keep leftover active dry yeast packets in your refrigerator to help extend their shelf life!
- Use quick oats for this recipe, not steel-cut oats, rolled oats, or old-fashioned oats. Quick oats are the best choice for these delicious rolls because they will cook quickly and incorporate into the dough more easily, so there isn’t any grittiness.
- Kneading by hand takes about 6-8 minutes to help properly develop the gluten in the dough, so proper kneading is important.
- When kneading the dough, first use curved fingers to fold the dough in half toward you. Then, using a rolling motion, take the heel of your hand to push the dough down and away from you.
- Give a quarter turn and repeat folding and pushing until the dough is smooth, not sticky, and springs back when pressed with your fingers!
Corrine says
I am making these oatmeal rolls for the second time. They are so delicious, soft and wonderful! These rolls are prizewinning!
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Thanks Corrine! So glad to hear that these oat rolls are a hit!
TerriO says
Hi Angela, I would really like to make these rolls for Thanksgiving! I need to used GF flour though...any idea how that would work with this recipe? TIA--TerrriO
Angela @ BakeItWithLove.com says
Hi Terri! I haven't used GF flour in this recipe but have had no issues when making rolls with it in the past. Are you making your own gluten-free flour or using a particular brand?