13 Grocery Store Bakery Dinner Rolls, Ranked

The perfect dinner roll upgrades a mediocre dinner to a great one. You can use this versatile side to make sandwiches, soak up soup or sauce, or eat it plain. Some rolls perform one task adequately, but the best ones do it all. That's what I look for when perusing my grocery store bakery for a pack.

Bakeries offer dinner rolls in many shapes, sizes, and flavors. Some are soft, pillowy, and sweet. They often come packed together in a sheet and may include ingredients like egg, milk, potato flour, or even pineapple juice. Others are saltier and crustier — for example, kaiser, bolillo, telera, and French bread. They are baked separately and tend to have thicker, crispier crusts and follow a simpler bread recipe made with just yeast, water, and flour. The type of dinner roll you prefer may depend on your personal taste, as well as what you're serving as the main dish. 

To figure out which grocery store dinner roll was the best, I tried products from several major grocers and ranked them according to texture, taste, crust, and level of moisture. The highest-ranked rolls have a springy crumb and are perfect for cutting and spreading with toppings. They also have a savory flavor that pairs well with a wide variety of foods. I also gave higher rankings to rolls that were neither excessively moist nor dry but somewhere in the middle, meaning they're ideal for sopping up sauce.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

Walmart's Hawaiian enriched dinner rolls have an unpleasant taste and are less appealing than some of the other rolls I tried. They are too sweet and artificial, and I wasn't surprised to find artificial flavoring listed in the ingredients. The rolls taste like pineapple hard candy, and while that could add an interesting layer of flavor for ham sandwiches, it would not complement tomato sauce or chicken noodle soup. As such, their uses are limited. 

These rolls have a yellowish color and come stuck together in a rectangle. There are 12 in the bag, and they pull apart easily. I did a pinch test to see how spongy the crumb was. I tore the roll in half and pressed down on one side of the exposed crumb. It stuck together rather than springing back, indicating how sticky and soft the rolls are. That makes them harder to tear, cut, or spread with butter. On the plus side, these rolls would taste ideal toasted and spread with butter for breakfast, and they're not expensive, costing less than $3.50.

Walmart's Yeasty Enriched Rolls are ranked near the bottom of this list because they have a bitter aftertaste. When I tried them, I first noticed the sweetness, then the yeastiness, but at the end, there was an unpleasant overtone that doesn't belong in bread. Even with that bitter flavor, I liked these better than Walmart's Hawaiian rolls because they tasted less artificial.

These rolls look almost identical to the Hawaiian ones but with a paler color. They are also all baked together in a rectangle and need to be pulled apart. They leave more crumbs than some of the other rolls I tried. When pinched, the crumb does not recover and stays squished down. That makes them inconvenient for cutting, and they seemed too moist and sticky to effectively wipe sauce off a plate. The best way to eat these is plain or spread with jam to cover up the bitter taste. There are 12 rolls in a bag, and they cost under $3.50.

Kroger's White Dinner Rolls have a problematic texture. They were too moist and sticky. When I  pinched them, they formed a gooey lump that stuck to my fingers. This was the stickiest product I reviewed. Yet, they were superior to Walmart's Yeasty Enriched Rolls because they were pleasantly sweet and salty and didn't have a bitter undertone. 

Like Walmart's yeasty rolls, these come in a sheet of 12 and cost around $4. I tried them plain, toasted, and with turkey, veggies, and cheese. Plain was the best way to eat them, but they were gummy and stuck to my teeth. When I cut into them, I mashed them down, and toasting didn't help dry them out. When I used them for a sandwich, they turned slimy, as the already moist crumb couldn't soak up any of the condiments or tomato juice, which led me to believe they wouldn't soak up soup or sauce well. These rolls do well as a side dish when eaten on their own, but they can't be used for much else.

The flavor of Family Fare's Potato Dinner Rolls is off-putting. At first, they taste sweet and earthy, but then there's an unpleasantly yeasty and slightly bitter ending. It was much less noticeable in this product than in Walmart's Yeasty Enriched Rolls, but similar. While the flavor of these potato rolls isn't attractive, the texture is. They weren't nearly as sticky as Kroger's White Dinner Rolls, although their crumb did not bounce back from the pinch test.

These rolls are rounder and separate more easily than the other rolls I tried. They aren't packed as close together, creating individual rolls that barely touch one another on the sides. As such, they are far more pleasing to the eye than the ones that are squished together and they would look beautiful in a basket at dinnertime. There are 12 in a bag, and they cost just under $5, which is a high price for a mediocre product.

Aldi's L'Oven Fresh Hawaiian Sweet Rolls fall somewhere in the middle of this ranking because, while they have a pleasant taste and texture, they lack versatility. They are sweet and fruity, with a hint of what tastes like maraschino cherries. Like Walmart's Hawaiian rolls, these contain artificial flavoring, but here it's less noticeable. While their flavor is pleasant, they don't go with every meal. However, the sugary taste of these rolls is more pleasant than the bitter one of Family Fare's Potato Dinner Rolls.

The 12 rolls in this pack are nestled together tightly. They are lighter in color than Walmart's Hawaiian rolls and much springier. The crumb still sticks together, but it has more give, with a softer and more pillowy texture. They would taste fabulous as the buns for pulled pork sliders, but I would never serve them with pasta. A bag costs under $3, making these rolls one of the cheapest options.

Aldi's Specially Selected Brioche Rolls, which come in a pack of 12 and cost around $4.50, have some outstanding features, but also one that is obviously negative. Although they are milky, smooth, and sweet, I disliked their unpleasant eggy smell and taste. Fortunately this diminished after some airing out. On the other hand, even with their egginess, these rolls have a more neutral taste and wider range of applications than L'Oven Fresh Hawaiian Rolls. 

These rolls are beautiful. The crust was shiny, and the rolls barely touch one another. The crumb also bounced back slightly after the taste test, meaning they can be cut more easily than some of the other rolls I tried. I appreciated that their sweet, milky flavor made for excellent peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for my kids, but they would be terrible for tuna salad sandwiches or dipping into chicken noodle soup.

The Fresh from Meijer Cheese-Topped Dinner Rolls had some great things going for them, but the cheesy topping seemed incongruous with the flavor of the bread. Usually breads with cheese have a salty or garlic flavor, but this bun tasted sweet, which did not go well with the cheese. So, this product tastes worse than about half of the rolls I tried and better than half. In particular, I was glad it didn't have as strong an egg flavor the Specially Selected Brioche Rolls.

These are some of the most attractive of all the rolls I sampled. The melted cheese on top is pleasing to the eye, and there is an attractive score mark down the middle of each individual roll. The crust of these is a bit thicker and chewier than the products I ranked lower. The crumb does not recover, though, when pinched. The best way to eat them would be to toast them and spread them with garlic butter. They come 12 to a pack and cost around $4.50.

Walmart's Yeasty Dinner Rolls share a similar name with its Yeasty Enriched Dinner Rolls, but they are a different product. The former come as individual rolls with more of a crust and a springier crumb, which made them easier to cut and add a spread to than Meijer's Cheese-Topped Dinner Rolls. Despite that wonderful crumb, they tasted too sweet, which is why they didn't end up higher on this list.

These rolls come loose in a bag, and it doesn't look like they touched when they were baked. That gives them more of a crust than the rolls that are baked together. Luckily, though, they are still soft. They're nowhere near as crunchy or crispy as something like baguette.

These were handy to grab out of the bag and give to my kids as a snack. They'd also be excellent at sopping up spaghetti sauce. I also appreciated that they come in a 12-pack and cost around $2.50, making them one of the cheapest rolls I tried.

Family Fare's Telera Rolls taste amazing but their crumb is too dry. The majority of the rolls I tried had too sweet a flavor, but these telera rolls stood out thanks to their savory and salty profile. They are better suited to pairing with main dishes than sweeter-tasting rolls, like Walmart's Yeasty Dinner Rolls. On the negative side, these rolls were also dry, so they would be hard to eat plain.

The rolls have a noticeable crust, but it's not crunchy. This product passed my pinch test and popped back easily. Each one of these rolls is large — about the size of a grapefruit. I would probably slice them into four pieces to serve. Those hunks would taste amazing dipped in any kind of sauce or soup, and they would make amazing sandwiches because they would easily soak up dressings and condiments.

A pack of six rolls costs just over $4.50. That would seem expensive compared to other dinner rolls, but it's not that bad when you consider that each package contains 20 ounces of bread, which is twice as heavy as some of the other brands.

The Fresh from Meijer Snowflake Dinner Rolls are near the top of this ranking because of their taste and texture. They have a savory, salty flavor that pairs well with an array of dishes, and their small size makes them perfect for serving as a side. The crumb easily bounces back when crushed or pinched. I also appreciated that they were moister than Family Fare's Telera Rolls. 

These snowflake rolls, which come in a bag of 12 and cost about $4, would look beautiful in a bread basket, as they are easy to pull apart at the seams. They have a sprinkling of flour on top — thus the "snowflake" name. These rolls could easily wipe up excess gravy or Alfredo sauce from a plate, and I think they would be delicious paired with pieces of sharp cheddar cheese. Some people might find them slightly dry to eat all on their own, though, which is why I couldn't rank them any higher.

The Fresh from Meijer French Dinner Rolls, which come 10 to a bag and cost around $4.50, are some of the best dinner rolls I tried. I enjoyed their fantastic chewy texture and wonderfully toasty flavor. They are slightly sweeter than the other top-ranked rolls, but they weren't as sweet as Walmart's Yeasty Dinner Rolls or Meijer's Cheese-Topped Dinner Rolls were. Additionally, these have a thicker, chewier crust than Meijer's Snowflake Rolls, as well as a moister, springier crumb.

Each roll is individually baked and shows no sign of having touched another roll in the oven. That's what makes their crusts look and taste so good. I just wish that crust were thicker, harder, and crunchier — that would make them the ideal dinner roll. The inner crumb, though, is delightful just as it is. These would be perfect for dipping, making mini sandwiches with, or eating with butter (or plain). 

Kroger's White Kaiser Rolls made it to second place on this list because they are excellent dinner rolls all the way around. Their savory flavor is salty, slightly yeasty, and sour which makes them more mouthwatering and complex than Meijer's French Dinner Rolls. The texture is a bit tough, making them more toothsome than other dinner rolls. The crumb recovers when pinched, and that means they are easy to tear, cut, and spread with toppings. They're good for sandwiches and dipping, but also taste great on their own.

These rolls don't come stuck together like some other dinner rolls. Their size is larger, too. They are about the same diameter as the telera rolls but flatter. While these would be a great side for any number of entrées, they're perfect for loose meat sandwiches like sloppy Joes, an iconic New York-style chopped cheese, or Iowa taverns. The rolls come in a 16-ounce bag of six and cost about $5. That's one of the highest prices of all the rolls I sampled, but these are worth it.

The top-ranking dinner roll is Kroger's Bolillo. This is an excellent dinner roll because it has a great texture, flavor, and crust, and the perfect amount of moisture. The crumb is springy and soft. When I pinched it, it bounced right back. Their pillowy interior stands out when compared to the toothsome texture of Kroger's Kaiser Rolls. These rolls are not too dry nor too moist, and their flavor is salty and pleasant, not sweet. The thicker and chewier crust sets these rolls apart from most other dinner rolls, but, unfortunately, it still lacks that elusive crunch.

Bolillo rolls have an almond shape with points at each end and a score down the middle. Since they are larger than most dinner rolls, they might need to be cut in halves or thirds into more manageable serving sizes. They taste amazing when eaten plain but can do everything else a dinner roll needs to do as well, including making beautiful sandwiches and tasting wonderful with butter. They're just as easy to toast as they are to dip them in soup and wipe up sauces. Each 13-ounce bag contains four rolls and costs around $2 — meaning it's one of the cheapest and highest-quality products.

To evaluate these dinner rolls, I paid close attention to four aspects of each roll: springiness of the crumb, taste, dryness, and the crust. I did a pinch test for how spongy the crumb was by tearing it in half and pressing down on the center of the roll. For some rolls, the crumb in the middle would stay stuck together, and for others, it would bounce back. The springier the crumb is, the easier it is to cut or spread toppings on it. When bread smooshes too easily, it's a headache to spread something soft as butter on it. I preferred rolls that recovered from the pinch test and ranked sticky or compact rolls lower. 

In terms of taste, I preferred salty rolls to sweet ones. More neutral-tasting or savory bread pairs better with a wider range of foods. I gave higher rankings to rolls that were perfectly moist and not too dry. Rolls that were sticky, too dry, or seemed underbaked didn't rank as high. I also gave higher rankings to rolls with pleasant crusts, although all the products I reviewed were soft on the outside. My ideal dinner roll would have had a crunchy, chewy crust (like a French baguette) and a soft, pillowy crumb inside. I'll have to keep looking. I also mention several characteristics that didn't impact the ranking, including size, price, and what each roll looks like, for context.