Homemade Crescent Rolls
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How to make homemade crescent rolls from scratch! No more canned tubes! It is so easy and can be made ahead of time! So buttery, so fluffy!
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Why you’ll love homemade crescent rolls
- So much better than store-bought. Say goodbye to the canned tubes of crescent rolls! This homemade version offers better flavor, real ingredients, and an unmatched texture with all the flaky, airy layers.
- Great make-ahead recipe. You can easily prep the dough ahead of time, storing in the fridge or freezer as needed for complete convenience.
- Perfect for all occasions. Whether you’re preparing for a big holiday gathering, a quick weeknight dinner, or a weekend brunch, these crescent rolls deliver bakery-quality rolls every single time.
What are crescent rolls?
Crescent rolls are light, buttery, yeast-based rolls shaped into a crescent moon. They are made by rolling the dough into a circle that is then cut into triangle wedges, rolling each piece from the wide base all the way to the narrow point. Finally, the two outer corners are bent inward to form a classic crescent.
how to make Homemade Crescent Rolls
- Activate the yeast. Mix the warm milk, butter, honey, and active dry yeast in a large bowl of a stand mixer. Let it sit for 5 minutes until it becomes bubbly and foamy.
- Make the dough. Add 2 cups of the flour, egg, and salt, beating on low speed with the dough hook. Then add the remaining flour until a soft, elastic dough forms, beating on medium-high for a few minutes.
- Let it rise (first rise). Place the dough ball into a large greased bowl. Cover and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Roll and cut. Deflate the dough by punching down, then divide the dough into two balls. Roll each ball into a 12-inch circle and use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut each circle into 12 wedges.
- Shape the rolls. Starting at the wide bottom edge of the triangle, roll it straight up toward the narrow tip, making sure the pointed tip of the triangle is secured and finishes underneath the roll. Gently bend the two outer ends inward to form a classic crescent curve.
- Let it rise (second rise). Place the rolls, point side down, onto a greased baking sheet. Cover and let them rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
- Bake. Bake at 400°F for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve. Immediately brush the warm rolls with melted butter and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
freezing and storage
Make-ahead
Once the crescent rolls are shaped, place the rolls on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, covering tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. To bake, let the rolls come to room temperature and rise for about 1-2 hours, then bake as directed.
Storage
Leftover crescent rolls can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days. Placing rolls in the fridge may dry them out, making them stale and hard.
Reheating
Reheat in the oven at 350°F, covered in aluminum foil until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes.
Freeze before baking
Once the crescent rolls are shaped, place the rolls on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, freezing for 1 hour until solid. Transfer the rolls to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze up to 2 months. To bake, place the rolls onto the prepared baking sheet, cover and thaw overnight in the fridge. Rise for about 1 hour and bake as directed.
Freeze after baking
Let the rolls cool completely. Transfer the rolls to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the oven at 350°F, covered in aluminum foil until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes.
More homemade bread recipes
Tools For This Recipe
Homemade Crescent Rolls: Frequently Asked Questions
The yeast is likely dead or inactive. Discard the mixture and start again using fresh yeast.
No stand mixer, no problem! It will take a little bit of elbow grease but the dough can be kneaded by hand on a lightly floured surface, kneading for about 10-15 minutes.
Use a pizza cutter for clean slices without dragging or tearing the dough.
The tops and bottoms should be golden brown and the layers will be set. An instant-read thermometer can also be used to check for doneness, and the internal temperature should reach 190-200°F.
The crescent rolls probably did not have enough time to rise properly. Always allow the dough to double in size in a warm spot during each rising phase.
Crescent rolls are very freezer-friendly, and can be frozen both before or after baking for convenience.
Homemade Crescent Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups warm whole milk, 105-110 degrees F
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
For the topping
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine milk, butter, honey and yeast; let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Add 2 cups flour, egg and salt. Using the dough hook, beat on low speed for 1-2 minutes. Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft, smooth ball of dough is formed. The dough should feel elastic and slightly tacky to the touch. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 3 minutes.
- Lightly oil a large bowl or coat with nonstick spray; place dough in bowl, turning to coat. Cover with a clean dishtowel and let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Gently deflate dough by punching down. Working on a lightly floured surface, divide in half. Roll into 12-inch rounds; cut into 12 wedges. Roll up wedges, starting from the wide end, to form a crescent shape.
- Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray. Place rolls, point side down, onto the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a clean dishtowel and let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place into oven and bake until golden brown, about 12-14 minutes.
- Brush with butter and sprinkle with flaky sea salt, to taste. Serve warm.
Equipment
Notes
- Use warm milk. The warm milk will help activate the yeast to help the dough rise. If the milk is too hot (120°F), the yeast can start to die, preventing the bread from rising.
- Whole milk is best. Using nonfat or skim milk will result in less rich flavors. Whole milk contains more fat, and will add richness, body, flavor and texture.
- A pizza cutter will allow for clean lines. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into neat, equal wedges.
- Brush with butter immediately. Brush the rolls with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven for a rich, glossy shine.
- Use the Post-It note trick. The dough should feel slightly tacky to the touch, similar to the back of a Post It note, indicating good gluten development with the right amount of moisture.
- Freeze for later. Freeze the shaped (unbaked) rolls up to 2 months, thawing overnight and letting them rise on baking day to save time (especially during the holidays).
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Just made these today. Hubby says, “every bit as good, if not better than the can.” I think they are way better! I don’t like the ones out of the can but these are delicious!9
Also should have said – I used lactaid milk and plant based olive oil Country Crock butter and they turned out great! In case you are lactose intolerant like me.
no review- just a question
Crescent rolls in the tube don’t have eggs, my grandson has an egg allergy, would love to make homemade for him, but all the recipes I have see have eggs – WHY! :0) Your recipe only has 1 egg, do you think I could use the egg subsitute? Thanks
This looks amazing, I want to try it but don’t have the mixer. I do however have a hand mixer. Same directives with a hand mixer?
You got it! 🙂
How Often can one read the reviews and eat one of these delicious hot out of the oven rolls? That’s what I’m doing this very moment…..eating of these glorious rolls.
I’m from Australia and we don’t have Crescent Rolls at all. I see a lot of recipes using dough in a can like monkey bread and garlic knots…would this work for those too?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know! 🙂
I tried them today and they were delicious. I added cheese and sausage. Eventhough it is still fluffy I can taste a little bit of the yeast. What did I do wrong?
And another question: what does it mean when you say until step 3? If the dough has risen, I can immediately put it in the fridge?
Hi Dascha! You may have added a lot of wet ingredients or ingredients that give away a lot of moisture in the cooking process which might stop the yeast from completely developing. So that might have been an issue.
And until step 3: (these are make-ahead directions only) follow the directions and make the dough, then place the dough in a Ziploc bag as directed in the notes and keep refrigerated for up to 2 days. The dough hasn’t risen at this point and won’t rise in the fridge. When you’re ready to make the rolls, continue with step 3 (the rising happens then).
Hope that helped!
I was so happy to find a recipe to replace the canned crescent rolls my son loves. I made these in the bread machine to save me some hands-on steps and it worked like a charm! The dough is super easy to work with and it could not have been easier to pull these together. I baked up a few and put the rest in the freezer. Although they’re not exactly the same as the canned (thank goodness!), they got a thumbs up from the fam, which is a win in my book! I will always have a batch of these in the freezer ready to go from now on. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks, Toni! That’s great!
I needed rolls without any soybean oil that is in most breads now. And though I am not a cook or baker by any means….these crescent rolls actually weren’t too much trouble to make and amazingly enough turned out very well! I was concerned I had overmixed the liquid ingredients as the dough initially seemed too soft but I used the oil coated plastic bag to store them in the frig overnight and we ended up being able to make the dough balls and able to cut them into the individual rolls. My husband deemed them damn delicious 🙂 and my sister was very pleased to be able to have rolls with her dinner. Thank you for the great recipe!
That’s awesome!
I made for Thanksgiving and they were great!!! The dough was so easy to work with, these looked and tasted fantastic
So happy to hear!
Hi! I LOVED this recipe! The only comment I got from my family was that they would like the rolls to be a bit sweeter. Can I add additional Tbsps. of honey? If so, would I need to edit any of the other ingredients to account for the additional liquid/sugar?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I choose the Damn Delicious rolls because they had less sugar content. I was considering this one https://laurenslatest.com/no-knead-crescent-rolls-with-cinnamon-orange-butter/ but it calls for more sugar.
maybe this is helpful to you.
To freeze these you say to prepare as directed until step 5 and then put in a single layer on a baking sheet overnight and cover tightly with plastic wrap and then transfer to freezer bags. Are they supposed to be put in the freezer for the overnight period and then put in the freezer bags?
Yes, that is correct.
I’m making these right now (they’re in the oven)…they smell amazing.
I wondered if you can make these with hot dogs and a cheese slice rolled up with them? It’s because I want to make a hot dog bake using Crescent rolls. I could always slice these once they’ve cooled and put hot dogs in them, with chilli and grated cheese on the top and oven-bake again…but I think next time, I’m going to roll them directly into the dough triangles, just before the final rise. Thank you for providing the recipe online – I can’t wait to try one! x
Hot dogs + cheese = sounds amazing!
In your make ahead and freezer instructions: when you say “until step 3” and “until step 4,” do you mean THROUGH these steps, or through steps 2 and 3 respectively? For example, do I punch down the dough and then put in the refrigerator or do I put in the refrigerator right out of the mixer?
Thanks, always love your recipes!!!
“Until step 3” does not involve continuing with step 3. Hope that helps!
That helps for make-ahead, but for freezing you are saying stop before dividing and rolling, but then say to put the rolls in the freezer. I think for that one you meant until step 5…
You are completely right – thank you!
You’re welcome!
Love these! My boys will devour these when I make them.
Do you think these will cook in the waffle machine? I currently use canned crescents for crescent waffles, but have been wanting to ditch the can.
Can you use whole wheat flour place of the AP floor?
It’s hard to say with certainty without further recipe testing but this article may help!
http://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/bake/how-to-substitute-whole-wheat-flour-for-all-purpose-flour/
I cannot wait to try this and hopefully ditch the canned rolls!
My daughter has Celiac disease, and consequently she has a gluten free household. I am wondering if I could sub with something like C4C, and surprise them on Christmas with Crescent rolls? My grandsons would be in heaven!
What a great surprise! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications. Sorry, Karen!
These sound delicious. I’m going to experiment with making the dough in my bread machine. Makes it even easier!
I have never made crescent rolls from scratch before but your recipe makes it look so easy! A little time is needed but other than that, I think I can do this recipe! Thank you! Kitty
Absolutely! Just time and patience! 🙂