Pillow-y soft, buttery goodness: that’s how I’d describe these Air Fryer Dinner Rolls. Making them doesn’t get easier than this!
Fresh bread baking in your kitchen is one of life’s greatest joys, and these Air Fryer Dinner Rolls will fill your space with that delicious aroma.
That’s right. Air fryers aren’t just for frozen snacks or reheating pizza. From Sponge Cake to Baked Pasta to these Dinner Rolls – it’ll surprise you just how much you can do with your air fryer.
My new Essentials Air Fryer Cookbook has 60+ fool-proof air fryer recipes, secret tips, and other essentials to help you make the most of your air fryer! Check it out now!
These rolls are quick to make, requiring only 14 minutes of cooking time, and they’re even easy to make eggless (see below for the egg-free version). Serve them with butter (essential!), eggs, dips, or curry for a cozy meal.
Ingredients Overview
We use instant yeast, activated in warm milk and sugar, to create the dough. The rolls get a golden finish with a quick egg wash and optional sesame and kalonji seeds (optional, but highly recommended).
For the eggless version, simply swap the egg for melted butter in the dough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yeast is the key to achieving soft and fluffy dinner rolls. Without it, the rolls will turn out hard and tough.
These rolls are perfect with vadas, bhaji or stew. I honestly just love eating them with some butter before a nice soup dinner toooo!
When refrigerated in an airtight container, these dinner rolls stay fresh for up to 1 week.
You can freeze both unbaked and baked rolls for up to 2 weeks. Wrap them in foil or place them in a ziplock bag before freezing.
They’re one and the same! Mumbai folks call them ladi pav and they’re more commonly known as dinner rolls in America. I’ve got a traditional ladi pav recipe that comes together in the oven which you can check out too!
Richa’s Top Tips
- The fluffiness of your dinner rolls is all in the kneading. Make sure to knead your dough for at least 10-12 minutes – your arms should be tired by the end of it! To check if the dough is kneaded well, press the dough & it should bounce back quickly. Or take a small piece of dough, stretch till it becomes a thin film without tearing. If it tears, it should be kneaded more. If you have a stand mixer, you can use that here.
- Make sure that the milk used to activate the yeast is lukewarm and not boiling hot as this will kill the yeast and cause your dough to not rise.
- Dinner rolls aren’t just for dinner! I make these for breakfast to serve with eggs, aloo vada or misal, and as an accompaniments for soups and stews whenever we make them. It’s a really versatile recipe that you’ll find handy keeping in your back pocket 🙂
Once you start making dinner rolls in the air fryer, you’ll never buy them from the store again. These are addictive! Enjoy them fresh and you’ll be making these again and again. Send me pics of your recreations over on my IG @my_foodstory!
If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out the other recipes in my Air Fryer Series for more inspo on what you can do with your air fryer!
Watch How To Make Air Fryer Dinner Rolls Video
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Take lukewarm milk and 1 ½ tablespoons sugar in a large bowl. Add yeast and allow to stand for 3-4 minutes till it gets frothy.
3 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup lukewarm milk, 1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
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Add the remaining 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar, egg, oil & salt and whisk till everything combines well. Add all purpose flour & knead it for at least 10-12 minutes. To check if the dough is kneaded well, press the dough & it should bounce back quickly. Or take a small piece of dough, stretch till it becomes a thin film without tearing. If it tears, it should be kneaded more.
1 whole egg, ¼ cup cooking oil, ¾ teaspoon salt, 3 cups all purpose flour / maida
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Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and rest it for 1 to 2 hours in a warm place till the dough rises and almost doubles in size. Punch the dough down and transfer it onto the kitchen platform and flatten it.
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Brush the airfryer basket with butter.
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Divide the flattened dough into 15 equal portions of 52 gms each.
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Shape each portion into a smooth ball using the tuck method.(Watch my video for detailed steps)
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Place them in the airfryer basket with some gap between each other. Allow it to proof for an hour till each ball rises and gets puffed up. See note 2.
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Brush each roll with egg wash and sprinkle white sesame seeds & kalonji seeds.
1 egg whisked with 2 teaspoons of water, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon kalonji seeds
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Air fry at 150 C for 12 minutes.
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Follow the above steps 7 to 9 for the rest of dough balls to make the dinner rolls.
- Kneading the dough very well is very important, so do not skip it.
- Air fryer with 5 litres capacity holds 9 rolls at a time and the one with 7 litres capacity holds 12 rolls.
- Topping with sesame seeds and kalonji seeds is optional but do not skip it as it gives a good flavour to the dinner rolls.
Calories: 173kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 25mg, Sodium: 141mg, Potassium: 81mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 62IU, Vitamin C: 0.004mg, Calcium: 41mg, Iron: 2mg
This article was researched and written by Navya Khetarapal.
