All You Need Is Bacon To Make Dinner Rolls Restaurant-Worthy

Dining out at restaurants, it's usually dinner rolls that arrive at your table first. Golden, tender, and glossy, it's almost too easy to forget they're only meant to be companions for the main courses to come. The secret to this magic is surprisingly simple, and you can recreate it at home with a little help from bacon. Whether you just spent a whole afternoon baking up dinner rolls or got them straight from the supermarket, brushing them with bacon grease will give them an instant transformation. Far from the waste it's often reduced to, bacon grease can upgrade quite a lot of recipes, and for dinner rolls, it might just be the game-changer you've been looking for.

Brushing baked goods with fat is nothing new. We do it all the time with butter, finding great delight in that golden-brown exterior that slightly crisps up, beautifully contrasting the tender inside. Bacon grease creates a similar effect, only much more intricate in the flavor department. You can bring that toothsome complexity we adore so much in bacon right to dinner rolls with just a few brushes on the surface. A savory richness encompasses the typical mild taste, giving your bread rolls a depth that no amount of regular butter and seasonings can offer. Layered underneath are subtly sweet and smoky notes. These fascinating flavors not only make a home in the undertone, but also lend themselves to anything that the rolls accompany.

This might be one of the more unconventional tips for making dinner rolls, but with just how easy it is, there's no reason not to try it. No different from butter and other shortenings, bacon grease only requires a few sweeps over top of the dinner rolls before baking. Once the rolls are out of the oven, go in with another layer to intensify the smoky taste and get that coveted glossy sheen. If you're making the dinner rolls (or yeast rolls) from scratch, this pork fat can also be mixed straight in with the foamed yeast until it becomes a sticky dough. However, bear in mind that this ingredient is plenty salty on its own, so you might need to adjust the salt content so you don't accidentally oversalt the dinner rolls.

That said, there's always more room for bacon in your dinner rolls. Bacon, sliced into tiny pieces, is perpetually a great topping, and even better when it's paired with sprigs of fresh herbs. Savory and aromatic, your dinner rolls have never been more restaurant-worthy. Alternatively, cheese — tangy, rich, and beautifully melted — makes a phenomenal match for the bacon's own smoky decadence. No less formidable are caramelized onions, which you can also infuse with bacon drippings as you cook. The result is dinner rolls loaded with sweet-and-savory bacony goodness that are good enough to be a light lunch or crowd-pleasing appetizer.