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Soft and fluffy, these homemade Sweet Hawaiian Bread Rolls are going to be your family’s favorite. Served up as a side dish, for sandwiches, or just to snack on on their own, you’ll love how sweet and delicious these are, especially fresh from the oven. It need very minimal ingredients to put together these delicious, fluffy bread rolls.
If you’ve ever had store bought King’s Hawaiian Bread Rolls before, then you’ll know that they’re absolutely pillowy, soft and fluffy with a lightly sweet taste to it. Whenever these sweet bread rolls are in the oven and the kid’s can smell it baking, they are excited for dinner time. While the flavor is subtle, these Hawaiian rolls are sweeter than regular dinner rolls but making them is just as easy as a regular roll.
Want more bread recipes to serve up as a side for the family? Try my some of my Bread Recipes. I am sure your family will enjoy every one of them.
Why You’ll Love These Homemade King’s Hawaiian Rolls
- They’re easy. Making these Hawaiian sweet rolls for dinner has never been easier! Everything goes into the mixing bowl and there’s no fancy or difficult technique to follow.
- They’re fast. Unlike baking regular bread, these Hawaiian sweet rolls can be made in an afternoon without any prior work and long wait.
- They’re tasty. Thanks to the pineapple juice and honey, they give these dinner rolls the perfect texture and the right amount of sweetness.
Hawaiian Bread Rolls Ingredients
- Flour– I used all purpose flour for this recipe because is more versatile. You can also use bread flour if you like.
- Yeast– active yeast is used to make this recipe.
- Unsalted butter — melted, but not hot. Use unsalted so it does not affect the sweetness of the recipe. Butter makes the dough rich.
- Eggs — room temperature, plus an extra egg as an egg wash for your rolls
- Lukewarm water– warm water activates the yeast faster. Cold water slows down the rising process.
- Pineapple juice– to add flavor and sweetness to the recipe. I used the juice from a pineapple fruit can.
- Whole milk– makes the bread taste rich.
- Honey– add sweetness to the recipe, instead of using sugar. But if you like your bread to be sweeter, you can add an extra 1/4 cup of sugar.
- Salt-just a pinch to balance out the flavor.
How to Make Hawaiian Bread Rolls
- Bloom your yeast: In a small bowl, bloom the active yeast with warm water. Set aside until it’s foamy. About 10 minutes.
- Combine the wet ingredients: In the same mixing bowl, using a paddle attachment, add in butter, eggs, milk, pineapple juice, honey, and give it a quick mix on low speed until well combined.
- Mix the flour: At the lowest speed, switch to a dough hook now to mix the dough. Gradually add in the flour and salt. Once all flour has been incorporated, increase the speed to the medium speed and continue kneading until the dough collects itself from the sides of the bowl, about 8 minutes all together. Keep in mind that it is a wet dough. It will be sticky.
- Let the dough rise: Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with a tea towel or saran wrap and place it in a warm place and let it rise until it’s double in size, about one and half hour.
- Divide up the dough: After first rise, place the dough on a floured surface and divide the dough into 15 equal sizes. Shape the dough into individual balls. Place the dough balls into a 9 x 13 non stick baking, 5 rows by 3. Cover it with a tea towel and let them rise again at a warm place for about 45 minutes.
- Prepare the oven and egg wash: Preheat the oven to 375F. Brush the rolls with the egg wash and melted butter mixture.
- Bake: Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove the Hawaiian sweet rolls from the oven and brush with the butter and honey mixture. Let the rolls cool down for about 10 minutes before serving.
Tips to Make Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- If you prefer them to have a less brown color, bake at 350 F instead for 25-30 minutes, or until desired color.
- If you prefer the rolls to be more sweet, add an extra 1/4 cup of sugar into the dough mixture. Add 1 Tbsp. water if you do.
- You can turn these Hawaiian rolls into hamburger buns and give them extra space between them while baking. Just like that, you’ll have some sweet and tangy burger buns!
- Use room temperature pineapple juice for the best results.
- You can knead the dough by hand if you do not have a stand mixer. It can take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to knead the dough by hand.
- Be sure to check the expiry date of your yeast. Whenever there is an issue with the dough rising, it’s usually an issue with the yeast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lukewarm water to between 110F and 115F. If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast, and if the water is too cold, it will not activate it.
Yes, prepare the recipe as directed the day before. Store at room temperature on your counter in an air tight container. The next day you can warm them up in the oven before serving.
Yes you can freeze these rolls! You can freeze fully baked dinner rolls in an airtight container for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, thaw the Hawaiian rolls at room temperature before warming them in the oven.
If you want to freeze them raw, you can freeze the rolls 10 minutes after shaping them into balls. When ready to eat, thaw them in the fridge over night. Then allow them to sit on your kitchen counter for 1-1½ hours until their size has doubled. Then follow baking instructions.
These delicious fluffy bread rolls can be served with almost anything. Here are some of my favorite dishes to serve it with:
Creamy Tomato Soup
Easy Au Gratin Potatoes with Oven Baked Roasted Chicken
Roasted Turkey Breast with Homemade Mashed Potatoes
Easy Chicken Stew
Baked Mediterranean Chicken
More Easy Bread Recipe to Try
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Sweet Hawaiian Bread Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 2 7g active yeast packs, about 3½ tsps.
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 whole eggs
- ¼ cup water, lukewarm
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- ¼ cup whole milk, lukewarm
- ¼ cup honey, or granulated sugar (add 1 tbsp water if you use sugar)
- ¼ tsp salt
Egg Wash
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg white, from one egg
Honey Butter Glaze
- 2 tbsps unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tbsp honey, optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, bloom the active yeast with warm water. Set aside until it’s foamy. About 10 minutes.
- Combine the wet ingredients: In the same mixing bowl, using a paddle attachment, add in butter, eggs, milk, pineapple juice, honey, and give it a quick mix on low speed until well combined.
- Mix the flour: At the lowest speed, switch to a dough hook now to mix the dough. Gradually add in the flour and salt. Once all flour has been incorporated, increase the speed to the medium speed and continue kneading until the dough collects itself from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes all together. Keep in mind that it is a wet dough. It will be a bit sticky.
- Let the dough rise: Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with a tea towel or saran wrap and place it in a warm place and let it rise until it’s double in size, about one and half hour.
- Divide up the dough: After first rise, place the dough on a floured surface and divide the dough into 15 equal sizes. Shape the dough into individual balls. Place the dough balls into a 9 x 13 non stick baking, 5 rows by 3. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let them rise again at a warm place for about 45 minutes.
- Prepare the oven and egg wash: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush the rolls with the egg wash and melted butter mixture.
- Bake: Bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the Hawaiian sweet rolls from the oven and brush with the butter and honey mixture (honey optional). Let the rolls cool down for about 10 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- If you prefer them to have a less brown color, bake at 350 F instead for 25-30 minutes, or until desired color.
- If you prefer the rolls to be more sweet, add an extra 1/4 cup of sugar into the dough mixture. Add 1 tbsp. of water if you do so.
- You can turn these Hawaiian rolls into hamburger buns and give them extra space between them while baking. Just like that, you’ll have some sweet and tangy burger buns!
- Use room temperature pineapple juice for the best results.
- You can knead the dough by hand if you do not have a stand mixer. It can take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to knead the dough by hand.
- Be sure to check the expiry date of your yeast. Whenever there is an issue with the dough rising, it’s usually an issue with the yeast.
The rolls were delicious but the texture seemed almost cakey and slightly crumbly vs bread, any idea why that could have happened?
It could be the flour or the yeast. I recently traveled and when I made it here with different flour and yeast, it seemed off too. Some flour have different protein content in it. I am going to update the recipe asap so it comes out better for all types of flour.
Just made these, and while they are pretty good dinner rolls, they definitely didn’t taste like sweet Hawaiian rolls they are named after. Followed the recipe to the letter.
Not really sweet, as the pineapple juice doesn’t seem to add much, leaving the job of sweetening the bread to the honey, which really wasn’t up to the task if you’re using Hawaiian Sweet rolls as your target.
Wondering if others had better luck using sugar instead of honey?
Hello Chaz,
It’s impossible to get the same exactly recipe as the original brand. I did mention in the post notes you could add sugar if you like yours more sweet. Feel free to do so if you try they recipe again it wont affect it. You can even replace the honey amount with sugar as well and add more sugar to make it as sweet as you like. You will need no less than 3/4 cup to make it sweet. Also the sugar in the pineapple juice plays a role in the sweetness.
Wonderful recipe! Reminds me of my mother’s Portuguese sweet bread. Thank you! Much ❤️
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review.
Very easy recipe. Will make again and again..instructions were very clear for a beginner. Thank you!
Thanks for the review Amanda. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
The step for adding the salt is missing in the written instructions. I added it with the initial step of combining the yeast, pineapple juice and sugar. Other than that, I followed the recipe as written and it turned out great! The rolls were sweet and fluffy.
Thanks for letting me know I will edit it. Usually it’s added with the dry ingredients.
THANK you 💯🫶♥️🙏
Thank you too