The 23 Best Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls, Biscuits, Loaves, and Breads

Wow your guests with Parker House rolls, angel biscuits, cornbread, or focaccia this Thanksgiving. We have many delicious recipes to help fill your holiday breadbasket!

By
Su-Jit Lin
headshot for writer Su-Jit Lin
Su-Jit Lin
Su-Jit is a freelance commerce writer for Simply Recipes. She writes about food and travel, and how they shape the human experience.
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Published November 08, 2022
headshot for writer Su-Jit Lin
Dinner rolls round up

Simply Recipes

Let’s talk about the all-important Thanksgiving bread basket—a vegetarian’s failsafe, a child’s default, and everyone else’s guilty pleasure. Warm carbs in a bread basket are the highlight of the Thanksgiving table. We have so many delicious, inventive, and beautiful options, from dinner rolls, biscuits, and cornbread to loaves, focaccia, and buns, including a few gluten-free options. Any of these could be the talk of your Thanksgiving table. Going to a Friendsgiving potluck? Bring a pan of warm bread and you’ll be the hit of the potluck!

Here are our favorite Thanksgiving recipes to help fill your bread basket.

  • Quick Dinner Rolls

    Quick Dinner Rolls in a Bread Basket

    Simply Recipes / Alison Bickel

    Got an hour? Then you can have these fluffy yeasted rolls that taste like they took hours to make.

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  • Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls

    Stack of Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls in a Bowl

    Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

    Everybody loves buttery, rich potato rolls, especially if you can whip them up in  a pinch. These freezer-friendly rolls are perfect for exactly that.

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  • Parker House Dinner Rolls

    Parker House Rolls on a Silver Plate

    Simply Recipes / Sheryl Julian

    A perfect example of how a great roll can steal the show, these iconic crescent-shaped rolls are a Bostonian hotel’s claim to fame. And they can be yours, too, faster and more easily than you think.

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  • Lion House Rolls

    Utah's Famous Lion House Rolls on a Baking Sheet with a Jar of Melted Butter to the Left

    Simply Recipes / Cindy Rahe

    Another restaurant's signature dinner roll—this one from Utah—has dramatic spirals and are made for cleaning up the last drops of gravy from your plate.

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    Continue to 5 of 23 below.

  • Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks

    Breadsticks with Garlic Butter on a Plate Covered with a Kitchen Towel

    Simply Recipes / Nick Evans

    Forget going out for all-you-can-eat breadsticks. You can bake—and freeze!—restaurant-quality breadsticks right at home.

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  • Sourdough Dinner Rolls

    Sourdough Rolls in a Baking Pan

    Simply Recipe / Mark Beahm

    Have some sourdough starter? Time to put it to good use with these pull-apart rolls with a chewy crust.

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  • Homemade Crescent Rolls

    Homemade Crescent Rolls in a Bread Bowl and in the Background, a Small Saucer of Butter with a Butter Knife

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

    Skip the can and go straight for the pop—of flavor! Lightly sweetened, flaky, and an excellent introduction to the art of laminated pastry, you will never go back to the pre-made stuff.

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  • Challah Rolls

    Challah Rolls on a Tray with Some Cut in Half and Smeared with Butter

    Simply Recipe / Micah Siva

    A beloved Jewish bread made with eggs and honey, its mild flavors and soft texture are so craveable. Top them with seeds or do without—the precious knots look dramatic and beautiful either way.

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    Continue to 9 of 23 below.

  • Milk Bread Rolls

    Milk Bread Rolls in a Lined Baking Pan

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

    The technique of making the dough might be Asian, but the appeal of these rolls are universal—light, airy, moist, and mildly sweet beneath the glossy golden top.

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  • Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Rolls

    Overhead View: Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread in a Lined Baking Pan on Top of a Kitchen Towel
    Simply Recipes / Karishma Pradhan

    Like the milk bread rolls, here is another recipe that uses tangzhong to create pillowy, elastic rolls. This one is drenched with a garlic and herb butter.

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  • Yankee Cornbread

    Two Pieces of Yankee Cornbread on a Plate with Cubes of Butter

    Simply Recipes / Sheryl Julian

    Don’t relegate cornbread to stuffing only—it's delicious as a side for turkey. This is a sweeter take on classic cornbread.

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  • Green Chile Cornbread

    Pieces of Green Chile Corn Bread on Plate with Butter

    Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

    Some like it sweet, some like it hot—cornbread, of course! Get a little bit of both with this version, which will wow your guests even more if you can snag some Hatch chile peppers.

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    Continue to 13 of 23 below.

  • Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

    Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo) in a Bowl

    Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

    Gluten-free? No problem. No stand mixer? The answer’s still the same. These delicious, puffy bites are often served at Brazilian steakhouses, and go just as well with Thanksgiving turkey.

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  • Popovers

    Popovers in a Muffin Tin

    Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

    These cloud-like popovers will first draw gasps of appreciation then sighs of delight. Make it savory or sweet with add-ins or let your guests choose their smears—butter is classic, but cranberry chutney or any preserve would be delicious.

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  • Angel Biscuits

    Pile of Angel Biscuits on a Wire Trivet and Next to It, Butter on a Butter Dish. In the Background, More Biscuits in a Pan

    Simply Recipes / Irvin Lin

    Get a rise—or three—out of your dinner guests with these triple-leavened biscuits. They call for baking soda, baking powder, and yeast, yielding light, fluffy, and of course, heavenly biscuits.

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  • Irish Brown Bread

    Slices of Irish Brown Bread (With Yeast) on a Plate with One Pieces Smeared with Butter and Preserves. Next to the Plate, a Small Container of Butter and a Cup of Tea.

    Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

    A comfort food in dining rooms across Ireland, this whole-grain rustic bread is coziness in a slice. Serve it with a block of grass-fed Irish-style butter for generous and satisfying slathering.

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    Continue to 17 of 23 below.

  • Rosemary Garlic Beer Bread

    On a Plate, Rosemary Beer Bread Slices Next to the Remaining Loaf

    Simply Recipes / Lori Rice

    For a hearty bread meant for heavy, deep-flavored autumnal meals, look no further than dense, crumbly, and malty beer bread.

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  • Soda Bread Biscuits

    Bowl of Soda Bread Biscuits

    Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

    Another great option for those who like their breads on the denser side, this recipe is perfect for anyone who—quite reasonably—feels that we shouldn’t have to wait for spring for a reason to eat soda bread.

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  • Gluten-free Dinner Rolls

    Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls with Garlic and Herbs in a Basket

    Simply Recipe / Coco Morante

    Free of yeast, nuts, and gluten, plus very adaptable—skip the garlic and herbs if you'd like—these rolls keep eating inclusivity in mind.

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  • Gluten-free Biscuits

    On a Plate, a Gluten Free Biscuits Split in Half and Smeared in Jam Next to a Stack of Biscuits

    Simply Recipes / Alison Conklin

    Surprise gluten-free guests who believe flaky biscuits out of their reach with a skillet of these gluten-free biscuits. The key is using the flour that the recipe recommends.

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    Continue to 21 of 23 below.

  • St. Lucia Saffron Buns

    Three St Lucia Saffron Buns on a Tray

    Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

    Traditionally served on St. Lucia Day—it falls in December—in Sweden, these show-stopper buns feel just as right for Thanksgiving. Saffron lends them their vibrant yellow hue, and their signature S-shape is easier to form than you’d think!

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  • Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Cranberries, and Brie

    Slices of Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Cranberries, and Brie on a Cutting Board, and Next to It, a Tray with More Focaccia

    Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

    Why choose between serving a bread or an appetizer when you can do both? Plush focaccia gets adorned with toppings like caramelized onions, cranberries, and Brie. No one will miss the butter.

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  • Pumpkin Sourdough Bread

    Pumpkin-Shaped Sourdough Bread on a Grey Table Napkin Next to a Bowl of Cinnamon Sticks

    Simply Recipes / Hannah Dela Cruz

    Not all pumpkin breads need to be cake-y and super sweet. This pumpkin-shaped and flavored loaf has the texture and tang of a good sourdough boule. This is more than a side—it’s a showpiece.

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