Soft, fluffy, and slightly sweet, these copycat Texas Roadhouse rolls are begging to be added to your dinner menu. Pair them with cinnamon honey butter for the perfect finish!
Several years ago, I set out to make a homemade version of Texas Roadhouse rolls. I immediately knew that I wanted to adapt one of my great-grandmother’s yeast roll recipes for the project.
I didn’t anticipate that it would take me 4 tries because I kept forgetting to add the water to the recipe.
If you ever need a reminder that us recipe developers have off days, just hold onto the fact that it took me a full week of messing up this recipe to figure out what I was doing wrong.
Spoiler alert! Don’t leave the water out of this recipe. It won’t work.
But, as it turned out, it was all worth it in the long run. On the day I finally got it right, Alex came home from work, popped a warm roll into his mouth and asked, “Are these Texas Roadhouse rolls?!”
Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
If you’ve never been to Texas Roadhouse before, you’re probably wondering what the big deal is with their yeast rolls.
Aside from the fact that Texas Roadhouse rolls are cut into squares or rectangles, they are light, fluffy, and sweet.
Yes, sweet! Not dessert-level sweet, but they have a distinctly sweet flavor to them.
The secret to those rolls and this recipe? Honey.
The rolls themselves have a whopped ½ cup of honey (which is a lot of sweetener as far as dinner rolls go), and they are served with the restaurant’s famous cinnamon honey butter.
I mean, sure – you can eat Texas Roadhouse rolls without the cinnamon honey butter and they’ll be delicious. You could opt to serve the rolls with jam, or instant pot persimmon butter. They’ll be delightful, in fact.
But if you really want to take things over the edge and bring home the Texas Roadhouse experience (sans the peanuts and country music), you’re going to need to slather those warm rolls in the delight that is cinnamon honey butter.
In fact, I’m pretty certain I don’t want any other type of butter in my life ever again.
Serve these rolls alongside everything from tortellini and white bean soup to baked chicken thighs. Or, of course, with your favorite steak dinner!
How to Make Texas Roadhouse Rolls
Don’t be intimidated by the ideas of making yeast rolls. This recipe uses instant yeast, which makes things just a smidge easier.
Texas Roadhouse rolls are made with an enriched dough, which means that the dough has eggs, milk, butter and sugar (or, in this case, honey) in it.
There’s a lot of sciencey stuff that changes when these ingredients are added to a yeast dough, but the most important one for you to know is that they can sometimes increase the rising time.
You’ll need around an hour for the first rise and 30 minutes for the second, even if using a “faster rising” yeast. Just make sure you budget yourself enough time and you’ll be golden.
Ingredients you’ll need
If you do a lot of baking, you probably have everything you need for these rolls already on hand.
You’ll need:
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (2 envelopes)
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted (optional)
This recipe uses a combination of bread flour and all-purpose flour. Bread flour gives baked goods more structure and chew than all-purpose flour.
To make these rolls like the ones you’d get at the restaurant, we want them to have a little bit of structure but still be soft and fluffy in the middle. Using a combination of the two flours helps us achieve that balance.
Make sure you’re using instant yeast in this recipe. Sometimes it will be branded as “quick rise” or “rapid rise” yeast.
You don’t want active dry yeast for these rolls. Save that for recipes like paska or pan de muerto.
Making this recipe
To make these Texas Roadhouse rolls, start by whisking together 2 cups of the bread flour with the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Then add the water, milk, honey, and butter to a saucepan. Heat this mixture over medium heat just until it is warm. Don’t worry if the butter doesn’t completely melt.
Using the dough hook attachment, run the mixer on low speed and pour the milk mixture into the bowl. Mix for 2 minutes, until well combined.
Add the remaining bread flour, salt, and eggs to the bowl. Mix on low until well combined.
Now, with the mixer on medium speed, add the all-purpose flour 1 cup at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 5-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl; cover the dough lightly with a clean tea towel and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Once the dough has doubled, turn it out gently onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a large rectangle about ½-inch thick.
To make these copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls truly like the originals, they need to be shaped into rectangles or squares, unlike other rolls like my Fluffy No-Knead Refrigerator Rolls.
To do this, use a dough blade or a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 24 squares.
Place the squares onto buttered baking sheets about 1.5 inches apart and let them rise for 30 more minutes. You want the rolls to be puffy.
While the rolls rise, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake the Texas Roadhouse rolls for 15-18 minutes, until they are golden. Brush them with the melted butter as soon as you take them out of the oven and serve them warm with cinnamon honey butter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Texas Roadhouse Rolls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast 2 envelopes
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons salted butter melted (optional)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, whisk together 2 cups of the bread flour and the yeast.
- In a saucepan, combine the water, milk, honey and butter. Heat over medium heat just until warm – butter does not need to be completely melted.
- With the mixer running on low, pour the milk mixture into the bowl of the stand mixer. Beat for 2 minutes until well combined.
- Add the remaining bread flour, salt and the eggs. Mix on low speed until well combined.
- Add the all-purpose flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Place dough on a well-floured surface and knead for 5-8 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in a lightly-greased bowl, cover lightly with a clean tea towel and place in a warm place to rise. Let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Gently turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a large rectangle 1/2-inch thick. Use a dough blade, knife or pizza cutter to cut dough into 24 squares. Place rolls onto buttered baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover lightly with a tea towel and let rise for about 30 minutes or until puffy.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bake rolls for 15-18 minutes, until golden. Brush with melted butter upon removing from the oven. Serve warm with Cinnamon Honey Butter.
The ONLY reason I could to Texas Roadhouse is for those rolls. Well, and possibly the baked sweet potato too. 🙂 So fluffy!!!! I can taste them now…
Ok, those baked sweet potatoes…right??? I can never get mine to fall apart just by looking at them the way you can at TR. Drool.
The BEST part of Texas Roadhouse! My husband would claim its the peanuts and the fact that he can throw them on the floor, but he’s cray. Hands down it’s these soft sweet rolls! I cannot wait for the next time I need rolls for dinner..ahmygod. Thanks for perfecting them for us!
Hubs is totes cray. ROLLS all the way. (I’m a poet!)
I love that you used a family recipe as the starting point for these, Stephie. It makes them all the more special.
I can always rely on my Ma-ma’s recipes to see me to a good end point.
Caaaaarbs! I am glad you were persistent! The butteryness of these little, perfectly shaped rolls is killing me! I think I might have to make these for Thanksgiving. It will definitely upstage my MIL’s store-bought rolls.
Oh. OH. No way can a store-bought roll outshine these beauties. You’ll be the hero of the holiday. 😉
I love that boyfriend thought these were legit TX road house rolls – You are the queen of buns, my love! You certainly are! Also – I’m smiling so hard over the napkin you used in these photos. Where you reckon I can get a napkin like that?? 😉 And your new cutting board?! SO cool!!
I dunno, it’s like that napkin just appeared out of thin air! 😉
OM NOMMMMMMM My recipe for Texas Roadhouse rolls is my go-to and these ones look even like *gasp* they could be better…!
Thank you so much for attending week 6 of #PureBlogLove and linking your fantastic blog post. These rolls are so cute, Stephie! I love the honey in there, YUM! I can’t wait to see what you have in store for our party next week Thursday 8 PM EST- Sundays at midnight . Your post has been added to the #PureBlogLove Pinterest board for all to see 🙂 Have a great day!
Nicole
http://picnicnz.blogspot.co.nz/
Can these be possibly made the lazy way…..aka….bread machine??? Haha Every time I try to make bread without it, I screw it up big time!!
Hi Jessica- I don’t own a bread machine, so I can’t tell you how you would have to adapt the recipe. I promise that these aren’t hard to make, though – just follow the instructions, don’t be like me and forget the water, and you will be ok!
I always wanted to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing with Foodie Friends Friday!
I was going to do some exercises this morning, but am having much more fun reading about rolls and cinnamon honey butter. MUCH. more. fun. Thanks for stopping by Foodie Fridays.
I approve of this comment so.much.
HI Stephie, so great to see you at #theWeekendSocial. You always bring such yummy things to our table. Thanks for linking up. Hope to see you again Thursday 9:00 PM EST. Pinned. http://www.theKitchenChopper.com
Stephie, these sound so amazing. I am not much of a baker, but I am very tempted here. And that cinnamon honey butter…I cannot wait to try it!! So glad you linked this up with us at #FoodieFridays! Pinning and sharing!
I love the name ‘roadhouse rolls’. So cool (though if they were Australian roadhouse rolls they’d be stale and horrible. That’s what you get for living in a desert where food is trucked in!). Soft, fresh and wonderful. The butter is a BRILLIANT idea that I want to make loads of. Just so that I can eat it all… wait, scratch that… SHARE. Yes.
Luckily the recipe makes a lot, so sharing is more likely 😉
Only the best rolls ever! These are absolutely gorgeous. I currently want to shove as many in my mouth as I can.
I did that.
I am wondering about the mixer, I don’t have one, is it ok just to kneed it by hand and when you mix the milk mixture in the mixer, is that with the bread flour and yeast?
I don’t know what happen,but ever thing was going good until I baked them. I use parchment paper on the bottom of my pan baked them 15 min. And they all burned on the bottom. They look so good on the top of the rolls. What could of happen?
Do you know what kind of pan you used? (Was it light or dark colored?) Sometimes if the pan is very dark, it will cause the bottoms of whatever you are baking to darken too much.
I know this is an old post
but we made these for Thanks giving yesterday and they were A HUGE hit I
Permanent fixture now on our table
Thank you!
PS: it have made 2x, once with all bread flour, and one with AP and bread as written. Both were great
Thank you for sharing!! So glad you enjoyed. 🙂
OMG!!!! Just made these for the 1st time. This was a little puff of heaven. So incredibly fluffy and sweet. Everything I was looking for. I personally liked these better then Texas Roadhouse … same flavor but these felt softer (how is that possible?). These were not complicated to make … They took a little while … but well worth it. I also made the cinnamon honey butter. That took it right over the top. I will def make again!
I am so glad you loved them!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback.
I need to make these before Thanksgiving. If you recommend doing this, how do I store them until Thanksgiving?
If you have to make them a day or so ahead, you could try storing them in ziptop bags and reheating them in the oven before serving them. I’ve never made them too far in advance, though, so I’m not sure the best way to store them longer than that.
how many rolls does this make?
Hi there! It makes 24 rolls. Hope this helps!
Not sure if you are still checking this site, but can you use active dry yeast instead of instant? I’m guessing you’d have to proof the yeast in the water first and wait a little longer on the rise. Thoughts?
Hi Sean – I had a baby early this year and am dreadfully behind on comments! You are exactly right on how you’d adapt to use active dry yeast. Thanks for reading!
Interesting recipe, following these instructions though I had to nearly double the amount of flour- 2 1/2 cups was NOT sufficent for the amount of liquids going in…. otherwise turned out fantastic!