These Homemade King’s Hawaiian Rolls are soft, sweet, and made with simple pantry ingredients. They bake until golden, get brushed with melted butter, and cost just $0.14 each.
After 20 years of baking for my family, I have learned that homemade rolls always disappear faster than store bought. These King’s Hawaiian copycat rolls are no exception. My 8 kids love them for holiday dinners and slider nights, and at just $0.14 per roll, they are a budget friendly alternative to the store bought version.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
- Budget Friendly – only $1.29 for 9 rolls
- Perfect for sliders
- Made with 6 simple ingredients
- Soft, fluffy, and slightly sweet
- Bakes in one 8×8 dish
- Freezer friendly and easy to reheat
After 20 years of baking for my family, I know that homemade rolls always taste better and cost less than store bought versions. These King’s Hawaiian copycat rolls prove it every time.
If you love easy homemade bread recipes like this one, you will also enjoy our Easy Homemade Artisan Bread Recipe, 30 Minute Dinner Rolls, and Brioche Bun. They are all budget friendly, made with simple pantry ingredients, and make any dinner feel special.
What are King’s Hawaiian Rolls?
King’s Hawaiian rolls are soft, sweet pull apart rolls with a golden crust and fluffy center. They are sweeter and softer than traditional dinner rolls, which makes them perfect with butter or as a slider base.
A store bought bag can cost $4 to $5, while this homemade version makes nine rolls for just $1.29.
Ingredients
- Warm water – Use water between 100 degrees and 110 degrees to activate the yeast.
- Granulated sugar – Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness to the rolls.
- Active dry yeast, 1 packet – Proof it in warm water first and make sure it becomes foamy.
- Vegetable oil – Keeps the rolls soft and moist. Canola oil also works.
- Salt – Balances the sweetness and adds flavor.
- All-purpose flour – Gives the rolls structure. Measure carefully so the dough does not become too dry.
Carrie’s Tip: Always make sure your yeast is active before adding the remaining ingredients. After 10 minutes in warm water and sugar, the mixture should look foamy and bubbly. If nothing happens, start over with fresh yeast. Keep the water between 100°F and 110°F because water that is too hot can kill the yeast, while water that is too cool may prevent it from activating.
How to Make Homemade Kings Hawaiian Rolls
Step 1 – Mix together water, sugar and yeast. Let stand about 10 minutes, or until yeast begins to activate (small bubbles will form).
Step 2 – In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, slowly add in oil, salt and flour. Mix until well incorporate and then continue to knead for about 2-3 minutes.
Step 3 – Oil sides of bowl. Remove dough from mixing bowl and place in glass bowl, turning to coat with oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Step 4 – Spray an 8″ x 8″ glass baking pan with cooking spray. Divide the risen knead dough into 9 similarly sized balls.
Step 5 – Arrange in the prepared dish, leaving some space around each ball to allow for rising. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Step 6 – Once risen again, bake rolls in 350 degrees oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and immediately butter the top of each roll. Enjoy these warm, fluffy melt rolls.
Tips for Success
- Always proof the yeast first. Foamy bubbly yeast after 10 minutes means it is active and ready. Flat yeast means start over with a fresh packet
- Do not add salt directly to the yeast. Salt kills yeast on contact, always add with the flour after the yeast has been activated and mixed with the wet ingredients
- Use a dough hook, not a paddle. A dough hook develops the gluten properly for soft, fluffy rolls. A paddle just mixes without the kneading action the dough needs
- Let the dough rise in a warm spot. The ideal rising temperature is 75°F–80°F. In a cold kitchen place the covered bowl in an unheated oven with just the oven light on. The light bulb generates enough warmth for a perfect rise
- Butter the tops immediately. Brushing with melted butter the moment the rolls come out of the oven gives you that soft glossy top that makes these look and taste like the real King’s Hawaiian version
Variations and Substitutions
- Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the dough for a warmer, sweeter flavor profile closer to the original King’s Hawaiian rolls
- Stir in 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in place of some of the granulated sugar for a deeper more caramel-like sweetness
- Brush the shaped rolls with melted butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar before the second rise for a sweet roll variation
- Add minced garlic to the melted butter before brushing on top for a garlic Hawaiian roll. Perfect for sliders and sandwiches
- Stir in shredded coconut to the dough for a more tropical Hawaiian-inspired variation
- Mix poppy seeds into the melted butter topping for a more decorative finished roll
Serving Suggestions
These King Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls are delicious made into sandwiches. We love these sliders recipes but have also made ham and Swiss sandwiches.
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Sliders
- Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan Sliders
- Jalapeño Popper Burger Sliders
- Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sliders
Storage and Freezer Instructions
Room Temperature
- Store wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The rolls stay soft and fluffy for the full 3 days when wrapped properly
Freezer
- Wrap cooled rolls individually in plastic wrap then place in a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for 1–2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator
Reheating
- Wrap in foil and warm in a 325°F oven for 8–10 minutes or microwave individual rolls for 15–20 seconds. Always brush with fresh melted butter immediately after reheating
Make Ahead
- Make the dough through Step 3 cover tightly and refrigerate overnight for a slow cold rise. Remove from the refrigerator the next day shape into balls and proceed with the second rise and baking as directed
Frequent Asked Questions
The yeast was dead or the water was too hot or too cold — always proof the yeast first and look for foam and bubbles after 10 minutes before adding any other ingredients.
Yes — knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. It takes more effort but gives you the same result.
The rolls are done when the tops are golden brown — approximately 15 minutes at 350°F. The internal temperature of a fully baked roll should reach 190°F if you want to check with a thermometer.
Active dry yeast must be dissolved and proofed in warm water before use while instant yeast can be added directly to dry ingredients — this recipe uses active dry yeast so always proof it in the warm water and sugar first.
More Homemade Bread Recipes
These Homemade King’s Hawaiian Rolls are soft, sweet, and fluffy for just $0.14 each. They cost a fraction of the store bought version and taste even better. After 20 years of baking for my family, I know nothing beats the smell of fresh rolls coming out of the oven and seeing everyone reach for one as soon as they hit the table.
If you make them leave a star rating and a comment below — I love hearing whether you ate them plain with butter or turned them into sliders and whether your family could tell they were homemade!
Kings Hawaiian Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 packet active dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all purpose flour
See how we calculate recipe costs.
Instructions
- Mix together warm water, granulated sugar, and 1 packet (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast. Let stand for about 10 minutes until the yeast activates and becomes bubbly.
- In a stand mixer with a dough hook, slowly add vegetable oil, salt, and all-purpose flour. Mix until incorporated, then knead for 2–3 minutes.
- Lightly oil a glass bowl. Remove the dough and place it in the bowl, turning to coat with oil. Cover tightly and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Spray an 8×8-inch glass dish with cooking spray. Divide the dough into 9 equal balls and place them in the dish, leaving space between each. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.
- Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and immediately butter the tops if desired, then serve.
Can I make this into a loaf instead of rolls? Would I need to double the recipe for a loaf pan?
Hi Greg! This should work as a loaf, though I haven’t tested it that way. I’d start with one batch in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan—no need to double it. Shape the dough after the first rise, then let it rise again in the pan. Bake at 350°F and start checking around 30 minutes. It will need longer than the rolls, and you can loosely cover the top with foil if it browns too quickly.
Is the fought supposed to be really sticky after kneading?
Michelle – The dough should be slightly sticky but not too sticky so if yours is very sticky I would add in more flour.
Stellar recipe! I’m at high elevation so I reduced the yeast to 2tsp, added a few tbsp of water, and baked at 350 for about 27 minutes like I saw in another comment. I also used 1 cup of whey from my yogurt making instead of 1 cup of water and they came out sooo soft and fluffy. Did the butter as soon as they came out of the oven.
New family fav for sure. Thanks!
Stes – Thank you so much! I also appreciate the feedback for higher elevations! Have a great day.
I made these last week,and my carb-conscious hubby ate 3 in one evening. He’s ready for some more. Thanks for the recipe.
Beth – Wow – I love hearing this so much! Thank you so much for sharing!
Found this recipe in January and have made them weekly for my family ever since. So so simple, versatile and delicious. I find that mine are extremely pale after 15 minutes and really need 25 minutes in the oven but I have no complaints. I am hoping to experiment- eliminate the sugar and try the recipe in a loaf pan to have easy homemade sandwich bread. Thanks for a great recipe!
Ali – Thank you so much! I love hearing this so much! Thank you so much for sharing for the positive review of the recipe. It means so much to me!
Im not sure what I did wrong but they were raw after the suggested cooking time. I put them back in covered for 7 minutes more and thought they were done. Unfortunately still raw in the middle.
Corinna – I’m so sorry to hear that! There are lots of factors that could have caused them. Maybe your oven runs hotter than normal, the flour was not measured correctly or the dough was kneaded to much when preparing it. Sorry it’s hard to trouble shoot without being there. If you make again you can tent the rolls with foil toward the end of the cooking time to prevent the outside of the rolls from becoming too brown while the inside of the rolls cook through.
Hi,, can I do the dough in my bread maker, and double the recipe for a 13 x 9 pan
Yes! You can make the dough in your bread machine using the dough cycle. Once it’s finished, shape the rolls, let them rise, and bake as directed. You can also double the recipe for a 13×9-inch pan. Since there will be more rolls, they may need a few extra minutes in the oven. I hope you enjoy them! ?
These rolls are sooo delicious!! I just made a pan and they are gone!! Making a few batches today ( I only have a toaster oven for my big oven is on the blink) for a family get together tomorrow.? Thank you for this delicious recipe!! Oh, and I only have brown sugar, and that makes these so amazing!
Tamara – Yay! So glad you enjoyed them. We love them too.
It would be a lot easier to make if the yeast was in teaspoons or tablespoons instead of packets because a lot of people don’t buy packets
It’s 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast. I will update the recipe to be more clear. I hope you make the recipe and enjoy it!
Without pineapple juice, how will these taste like Hawaiian rolls? These will just be rolls.
Greg – These are a copycat of the brand, Kings Hawaiian Rolls. They do not have pineapple in them. They are just a sweet roll that tastes amazing. I hope you try this recipe and let me know what you think.
Hi – They look great but there’s no video when you click “jump to video”.
Thank you so much for letting me know David. I got that fixed and the video is showing up now. I hope you try and enjoy this recipe!
Made these twice so far and our family loves them! I added a small amount of honey.
Great recipe!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe Jennifer! The addition of the honey sounds amazing!
I made exactly as recipe stated and they were awesome. Question for the future can I use bread flour. I was surprised you used AP flour.
Lisa – I find that All Purpose flour creates a softer texture in these rolls which is similar to the store bought Hawaiian rolls. Bread flour can be used in this recipe but will create more denser rolls.
These are the best rolls I have ever made or probably ever had. Unfortunately I now have the bad habit of making them every weekend. I love that it’s such an easy recipe with so few ingredients. I did struggle the first five or so times I made it because the dough was always sticky and I had to add an additional amount of flour (about 3/4 cup) which made them pretty dense (but still delicious). For some reason with the most recent batch I decided to mix everything the the paddle until it started to form a dough and then switched to the dough hook and the dough was perfect! Didn’t need to add any extra flour. I’m waiting for it to rise right now but I’m going to see if I can get 12 out of one batch (less calories right? Haha!). Do yourself a favor and do this recipe. You won’t regret it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Amy! Thank you for the positive review!
Can this be made in a bread machine like a loaf>
I haven’t tested that yet so I’m not sure – If you try it out, please let me know how it turns out – Thank you!
These are very easy to make and delicious. I thought they tasted a little oily so going to use butter this time. Can I make the dough a day before? Any suggestions?
Yes I think you can make it the day before, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Hi! What are your thoughts on using butter instead of vegetable oil? Thanks!
I haven’t tried that yet, but I would think it would work great.
Delicious! I wanted to eat all of them myself! We ate some alone and then used the other rolls as buns for BBQ chicken sandwiches. I think they taste more like yummy yeast rolls than Hawaiian rolls, but we loved them! I will definitely make these again!
Awesome and easy. Thank you.
So tender and tasty. Would say Kings but maybe slightly sweet dinner roll. I let them rise as balls 1/2 hour second time making/came out more flulffy! Not as sweet as King but still delicious. They’re alittle more dense than Kings/hold up better for sliders/sauce. Will definitely make again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
I made these last night and they were a huge hit here in my house. As another users comment, my dough was very sticky also, but nothing a little extra flour couldn’t help. ?? I also added 3 tablespoons of Honey into the dough and topped with it a butter honey glaze at the end. They were superior! Thank you for sharing this recipe with us. ??
I can hardly wait to make them. They look so good thanks for the recipe I love them and I can’t get to the store so often but now I have this recipe Thanks again
Can this be made into a loaf? If so can you provide a few details as to how? Thanks
I haven’t tested that yet so I’m not sure. If you try it out, please let me know how it works! Thank you
These were great! The only thing is that my dough came out extremely sticky, even after adding the 3 cups of flour and allowing my mixer to knead the dough for three minutes after all of the flour was fully incorporated. I still had to add an extra 1/2 cup of flour. Do you know why this could’ve happened?
I’m not sure what could have caused it to still be sticky as there are many factors that can effect that including the humidity in the kitchen, brand of flour, etc. I’m glad that you enjoyed the rolls!
If I want to double or triple the recipe, should I bake them in a casserole dish?
I would bake them in a 9X13 baking dish when doubling the recipe.
Made a triple recipe this morning and they are outstanding and easy!
Definitely a keeper!
Only change I made was the addition of a little diastatic malt (it’s a long story)
Could you use instant yeast? Thats all I have…
Yes, instant yeast works with this recipe.
II gave the recipe because it does taste like Kings Hawaiian dinner rolls, but my dinner rolls were on the dense side. What did I do wrong? I let the dough rise for almost 2 hours. Thank you.
I’m thinking it was too much flour. Make sure you don’t pack the flour when you measure.
150 F ot 350 F?
I bake these rolls at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
I just made these. They are incredible. Highly recommend this recipe!
I’m so glad you loved the recipe.
These rolls were so good.
We love these. I double the recipe and use it to make kolaches. Usually we get 25 some we add sausage and others ham or cheese and jalapeno. Thank you for the great recipe!
So I’ve and fluffy! For the second proofing, I sprayed olive oil all over and proofed in my oven warming drawer, then after baking smothered butter on the tops. They were nice and fluffy!
These were delicious! I love to bake bread and this was such a super simple recipe, instructions were easy to follow, and the taste was really close to King’s Hawaiian. Next time I’m going to add a little more sugar and I think it’ll be a perfect copycat!
Thanks so much for commenting. I’m glad you loved them.
These rolls are really good….6/5 for yumminess. My kids gobbled them up and argued over the last one. But we all agreed, they are not the same as *name brand* Hawaiian rolls, so as a copy cat recipe…1/5. Now please excuse me while I go bake another batch 😉
Can this be made with butter instead of vegetable oil?
Yes, that would work.
I made these in the bread machine using bread flour. Add the ingredients in the order recommended by your bread machine and use the dough setting (no need to proof the yeast separately). I also put the 9 rolls in a 9×9 inch square baking pan and let them raise for 1 1/2 hours. Absolutely delicious! I had been looking for a Hawaiian roll recipe that did not use pineapple juice, since King’s Hawaiian Rolls do not list pineapple juice as an ingredient. This is the recipe I have been looking for!
The recipe I have calls for Pineapple juice for the Hawaiian rolls and they do taste like Hawaiian made them for a Christmas party at the Church everyone wanted the recipe
I didn’t see what kind of oil you were using…
I use vegetable oil for this recipe. I have updated the post and the recipe card to be more clear. Thank you!
You do not mention what type of flour…
I use All Purpose Flour for this recipe.
I live in high altitude, and the first time I made these rolls, I baked for 5 minutes longer, 20 minutes, but they were still a bit doughy. Baked them this time for 27 minutes and they look perfect!
Thanks for sharing – It’s good to know how to adjust the cooking time for a high altitude area!
In your answer to Jessica in 2019, you mentioned she could freeze the rolls after kneading the rolls and shaped. However, in your directions, I cannot find any instruction to knead after the first rise. It seems that there SHOULD be a second kneading but I don’t see it. Should I knead or not? If so, his long should I knead?
Brenda – Sorry for any confusion. I only knead once for this recipe right before the dough is added to the glass bowl to allow it to rise and then form it into rolls at this time.
I made these in a bread machine. I mixed the water, yeast and sugar in a bowl, separately and waited for the yeast to proof. Then I measured the flour, salt and oil into the bread maker, set it on “dough” and added the liquid. I live in a very dry climate and I had to add an additional 1/3 cup of water to make the dough come together properly. At the end of the 45 minute dough cycle, I pulled the dough out and rolled it into 9 balls in a greased square glass pan, and let rise in the refrigerator .
for several hours. They rose appreciably while in the refrigerator and when baked rose a bit more. They were delicious and fluffy.
Awesome! I’m so glad that worked out in your bread machine too. Thank you for sharing.
So, in step #2, you also add the yeast mixture to the oil/flour mixture for kneading? Or is #1 done *IN* the stand mixer bowl before #2, I guess? Wonder if bread machine (“rapid-rise”) yeast could work. I live in Tulsa, so I know of the record-breaking temps/weather of which you speak. Crazy. My prayers for the Texans. They’ve suffered far more than us.
Hello!
I would like to make the dough the night before, let it rise once, then refrigerate till I am ready to continue making the rolls. My question is if that’s possible. Thank you!
Yes, I think that’ll work great!
Can you make these in a Bread Machine?
Hi! Can this dough be made ahead of time and frozen for later? If so, at what part would I freeze them (before rising the second time, for example?)
Thanks!
Yes, Jessica, these can be frozen. I would freeze them after you knead the rolls and formed them into balls. Then we you bring them out to defrost them allow them to rise at that time. Thank you!
Made these rolld for Thanksgiving and they turned out perfect. The only thing I would change is add a tiny bit more sugar. I could not stop eating them, so good
has anyone tried this with gluten free flour?
These tasted wonderful!! My dough was very sticky so it was hard dividing the dough. Was yours sticky?
It is a little sticky – just add a tad more flour if you need to do make it more easy to manage.
Recipe sounds sooo good…We love King’s Hawaiian Rolls!! Can these be made in a bread machine using the recipe “as is?”
Can these rolls be made without a stand mixer with dough attachment?
Yes, they could. You would just need to do more kneading.