Dinner rolls aren’t just for bread baskets at restaurants like Texas Roadhouse. They’re also a must-have appetizer or side for family meals and parties, whether you decide to bake them from scratch or upgrade store-bought dinner rolls. But if you end up with extra dinner rolls on your hands, you may be wondering the best way to revive them in the future. After all, improperly reheated rolls can taste way too stale and lose that fluffy texture that makes us crave them in the first place.
Fortunately, expert hostess, creator behind the Straight to the Hips, Baby blog, and cookbook author Jessie-Sierra Ross exclusively told Chowhound that achieving perfect next-day bread rolls can be as quick and simple as using the microwave. Usually, bread is one of the food items we think twice about microwaving, since the microwave heat can crystallize its sugar molecules and make a chewy mess, but Ross has a method to avoid this issue.
“There’s nothing quite like the first bite of a soft and fluffy dinner roll,” she says. “To keep that same fluffy texture the next day,” she advises, arrange the rolls close together on a microwave-safe dish, then cover the rolls with a damp paper towel, and wrap the plate in a dry tea towel. “This will trap the steam, but help the rolls not get soggy,” she explains. “Heat for about 10 seconds per roll, or until nice and warm. This method is the most energy- and time-efficient,” she says.
Alternative reheating methods to explore
If you don’t have access to a microwave, prefer to limit its usage, or are still skeptical about its effect on bread, there are plenty of other reheating methods to try. One of the best ways to reheat dinner rolls so they’re good as new is to use a conventional oven. Jessie-Sierra Ross has a tried and true methodology for this strategy, as well. “Arrange the rolls tightly in a casserole dish, and cover with a large piece of foil,” she says. “Place the baking dish into a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and let them bake gently for five to 10 minutes.”
Got no patience for a preheated oven? You could also use an air fryer to reheat rolls. Since they’re smaller and work by circulating heat more rapidly than conventional ovens, air fryers typically heat up faster and produce results more similar to a toaster oven — think crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Stick with a temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and check your rolls every few minutes to prevent them from burning. Alternatively, if you’re tired of reheating plain dinner rolls, try transforming your leftovers into entirely new recipes like French toast, casserole, bread pudding, or even crowd-pleasing “breakfast sliders.”
