How to Warm Dinner Rolls in a Slow Cooker (Without Drying Them Out)

This slow cooker method keeps a full batch of dinner rolls soft and warm for hours, no oven space required. A damp dish towel traps just enough steam to stop them from drying out, without making them soggy.

How I Keep a Dozen Rolls From Going Cold

Most dinner roll recipes make a dozen or more, so by the time everyone’s grabbed their first one, the rest are cooling off in the basket. Reheating a whole batch in the oven works, but it dries them out fast, especially if you made the rolls a day ahead for a holiday meal. This is the fix I turn to instead,

It sounds almost too simple to work, but a little steam is all a roll needs to come back to life. I’ve stopped timing my rolls around the rest of the meal. They’re ready whenever everyone else is.

No More Timing Dinner Around the Rolls

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A friend told me about this trick years ago, back when I was still popping a fresh pan of rolls in the oven right as everyone sat down, which meant the rest of the meal sat there getting cold while we waited on bread. Once I started warming a whole batch in the slow cooker instead, I stopped trying to time the rolls with everything else.

Now they hold at the right temperature for as long as I need them to, whether that’s twenty minutes or two hours, and I haven’t gone back to reheating rolls in the oven since. It works with whatever roll recipe you’re already making, from a basic batch of fluffy dinner rolls shaped into simple spirals to something dressed up for the holidays.

A Few Things That Make or Break This Method

• Dampen the towel, don’t soak it. Too much water and the rolls turn soggy instead of staying soft.
• This works just as well with a bag of store-bought dinner rolls as it does with homemade yeast rolls, so it’s handy for a potluck, not just a from-scratch holiday spread.
• After about two hours on the warm setting, check the towel and re-dampen it if the rolls start to dry out.
• If you want to shape rolls a day ahead for a holiday table, you can bake them in advance and just pop them in the slow cooker 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat.

Whether you make them fresh that morning or days in advance, warm rolls are one of those small but magical details that make a meal feel special. And if you’ve got a few tricks to keep them warm, you’ll never have cold rolls. This one simple swap means the rolls taste just as good ten minutes before dinner as they did fresh out of the oven, and it works just as well on a batch of Hawaiian dinner rolls made sweet with pineapple juice.

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How to Warm Dinner Rolls in a Slow Cooker (Without Drying Them Out)

Author: Barbara Curry

This slow cooker method keeps a full batch of dinner rolls soft and warm for hours, no oven space required. A damp dish towel traps just enough steam to stop them from drying out, without making them soggy.

5 from 1 vote

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Equipment

Slow Cooker

Instructions

 

• Dampen a dish towel by sprinkling it with water.
• Place the dampened towel in the bottom and up the sides of a slow cooker.
• Place rolls in the slow cooker and cover with the dampened towel, or place a 2nd towel on top of the rolls. They can be warm or room temperature but should not be frozen.
• Cover with the lid of the slow cooker and turn it to "low". Heat for 30 minutes and turn to the "warm" setting. They will stay warm for 2 hours. After that, re-wet the towels. If adding hot or warm rolls, turn it to the "warm" setting.

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