Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are soft & feathery homemade rolls that are shaped like pumpkins! Easy yeast dinner rolls made with pumpkin for a perfectly festive addition to dinner.
Making these soft and fluffy pumpkin dinner rolls is actually a lot easier than it may seem. With just some baker’s twine you can shape the dough balls into small pumpkin shaped dinner rolls. So it’s as easy as making a dough and tying a knot. Of course, we don’t have to tell guests this, just let them think your a wizard in the kitchen. 😉
What Are Pumpkin Dinner Rolls?
These rolls are a pumpkin shaped and pumpkin flavored pumpkin bread. Every bite is soft thanks to the fresh pumpkin puree and you can serve them up with a sweet cream cheese or do as I do and eat them with butter and honey. Enjoy these savory pumpkin rolls however you want, just make sure to make enough for everyone to eat a few because they’re addictingly good.
Pumpkin Shaped Dinner Roll Ingredients
-Pumpkin: You’ll need just under 2 cups of cubed pumpkin to make your own fresh pumpkin puree. You could also use canned pumpkin puree to save a few steps. A 15oz can should be sufficient.
-Flour: You’ll need 1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour plus some additional flour for the kneading and dusting.
-Salt: Just a teaspoon of salt will help to enhance the flavors in this dough recipe.
-Sugar: We need 1 tablespoon of sugar to help feed the yeast and add a little bit of sweetness to these rolls.
-Yeast: 1 tablespoon of instant dry yeast will give us nice and fluffy rolls. For reference a single square packet of yeast contains 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.
-Milk: We need 3 tablespoons of milk plus some extra for brushing on the rolls. You can use a vegan non-dairy replacement option for a vegan and dairy free pumpkin bread roll.
-Oil: To grease the bakers twine so that it doesn’t stick to the bread dough balls.
You’ll also need 24 pieces of bakers twine cut to about 12″ or 30cm each.
How to Make Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200C).
Cut the pumpkin into cubes, and boil for 10 minutes, until fork-tender.
Use a masher or a magic wand to make the pumpkin purée (you’ll need about 1 1/4 cups of purée). Set aside.
Prepare the dough. In a bowl, put together flour, salt, sugar, and dry yeast. Mix with a whisk.
Add the pumpkin purée and slightly mix.
Add milk and knead until you reach a consistent dough.
The dough will be sticky so flour the bottom of the bowl and the top of the dough. Cover with kitchen film and allow to rise for two hours.
Once risen, divide the dough into 6 equal parts, shaping them into small balls. Use extra flour if needed.
Oil each piece of oven thread. You’ll need 4 pieces of thread for each ball. Place them on your surface to make the process of wrapping the thread around each ball easier. Cut the excess.
Place on an oven tray with parchment paper, allowing some space between each dough ball.
Brush the top with milk.
Bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Carefully cut and remove the thread.
Place an almond on top of each bread to resemble the pumpkin stalk.
Serve with honey, butter or another spread. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup cubed fresh pumpkin (400g) (to make 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree {280g})
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + extra for dusting
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 TBSP sugar
- 1 TBSP instant dry yeast
- 3 TBSP milk +1 teaspoon (50ml) + extra for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Cut your pumpkin into cubes and then boil them in a pot of water for 10 minutes or until fork-tender.
- Using a potato masher, make pumpkin puree. You'll need about 1 1/4 cups of puree. Set it aside.
- Prepare the dough by combining the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Using a whisk to combine.
- Add in the pumpkin puree and mix slightly.
- Add the milk and knead until it comes together to a consistent dough.
- The dough will be sticky, spray the bowl & top fo the dough with non-stick spray. Cover and allow it to rise for 2 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, divide the dough into 6 equal sized parts, shaping them into small balls. Use extra flour if needed.
- Oil each piece of oven thread. You'll need 4 pieces of thread per ball. Place them on your work surface to make the process of wrapping even easier. Cut off any excess thread bits.
- Place the tied up dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and allow some space between each ball so that the dough can rise.
- Brush the tops with extra milk.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Carefully cut and remove the threads.
- Place an almond on top of each bread roll so that it resembles the pumpkin stalk.
- You can eat these delicious bread rolls by themselves, I personally love them with butter and honey!
Notes
Nutrition
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When to serve pumpkin rolls
These pumpkin rolls would be great any time between September 1st and December 1st because that’s when pumpkins are in season, popular, and on sale! Of course, you can make up a batch and enjoy them anytime you want if you have pumpkin puree on hand! Serve them up for an addition to your Sunday dinner, make them as a Halloween snack, or show off your baking skills for Thanksgiving too.
Can I freeze pumpkin shaped dinner rolls?
After making these rolls and letting them cool completely, you can stash them in the freezer for a few weeks to save yourself some time and energy (why not?) Just make sure to store them in an airtight container and it’s recommended that they be individually wrapped in plastic wrap so that they can be at maximum freshness levels once thawed.
Can I make these pumpkin rolls gluten free?
While I have not personally tried to make these rolls gluten free I have had a lot of success using the 1:1 gluten free baking flour mixes (Bob’s Red Mill is my favorite!) when swapping out gluten flour for gluten free. If you try this recipe using gluten free baking flour let me know how it goes in the comments below, I’d love to hear!
More fun and fabulous pumpkin recipes
- Easy Pumpkin Mousse
- Pumpkin Fudge
- Best Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Bars
- 3 Ingredient Baked Pumpkin Donuts
- Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Pumpkin Pie Bars
- Skinny Pumpkin Cheesecake
- No Bake Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin Poke Cake
- Easy Pumpkin Pretzels
- Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Maple Spiced Pumpkin Bars
With fun and easy pumpkin dinner rolls like this, your holidays or dinner parties are sure to be a hit. Impressive, eye-catching, and absolutely delicious additions to any table or festivities.
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are soft & feathery homemade rolls that are shaped like pumpkins! Easy yeast dinner rolls made with pumpkin for a perfectly festive addition to dinner.
Michelle says
These were unbelievably cute and easier to make than I thought. I’ll be making these again for Thanksgiving dinner rolls. Thanks for the new idea!
Lauren Kleiman says
How fun are these?! My family will love these this Thanksgiving.