Pumpkin Dinner Rolls (Shaped Like a Pumpkin!)
, Updated Aug 01, 2025
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These festive dinner rolls bring pumpkin twice—within the dough and in their shape! With a pillowy texture and a dash of nutmeg or pumpkin spice, they pair wonderfully with soups, roasts, or fruity spreads. Love pumpkin? Try my Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
Hello Pumpkin Season!! I adore everything about you, from the chillier weather to the comforting scents of cinnamon, cloves and pumpkin spice enveloping the house when baking seasonal treats. These adorable dinner rolls hit us with a double dose of pumpkin: they are made with pumpkin purée and they are shaped like mini pumpkins.
Don’t let their cute looks deceive you though – these are honestly delicious dinner rolls whether you go to the effort to shape them or not. But if you want to wow your guests this Thanksgiving (or Halloween!) then it’s worth taking the time to create them. It’s a fun baking project that’s sure to win you a lot praise.
Serve these pumpkin bread rolls with seasonal soups, stews, casseroles and roasts – they honestly go with everything and are sure to disappear almost instantly.
Pumpkin Dinner Roll Ingredients and Tools
There’s nothing too complicated about this recipe – if you have made bread before you will be familiar with the process. Making the dough is simple, if a bit time consuming as you have to wait for it to rise. Shaping the dinner rolls into pumpkins is achieved with a little oiled kitchen twine and some patience!
- White bread flour – the higher protein gives the dough structure
- Rapid rise / instant yeast – this type of yeast is mixed directly with the flour and doesn’t require activation, saving you a little time.
- Sugar, salt and grated nutmeg (plus pumpkin spice, if you like).
Milk – warm milk helps melt the butter. Just make sure it is not hot when adding to the dry ingredients as can kill the yeast. - Pumpkin purée – make sure to use 100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
- Unsalted butter
- Large eggs
- Sesame or poppy seeds (optional)
- a little oil for greasing the bowl and the twine
How To Make Pumpkin Rolls
Make the dough / First rise
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast, nutmeg and pumpkin spice in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
- Heat the milk in a saucepan or the microwave until warm (but not hot, do not scald it). Add the butter and allow it to melt. Stir in the pumpkin purée and eggs.
- Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and beat together with a hand or stand mixer. Initially the dough will be very sticky and shaggy but it will become smoother the longer you mix it and eventually form a ball.
- Mist the bowl with a little oil and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Rise for about 90 minutes or until the dough has doubled.
Shape the pumpkin rolls
- Deflate the dough and tip onto a lightly floured worktop. Cut into eight equal pieces. Flatten each piece onto a disk and fold the edges towards the middle.
- Roll in the palm of your hand to form a smooth ball. Repeat with the remaining dough to form eight rolls.
- Cut four pieces of string or kitchen twine to approximately 12 inches / 30 cm length. Dip them into sunflower oil and pass through your fingers to get rid of excess oil.
- Arrange the oiled string in a crisscross pattern on your countertop. Place a dough ball into the center of the strings and tie them (not too tightly to allow the dough to rise) so that the roll is divided into eight equal sections. Trim any excess string and repeat with the rest of the rolls.
Second rise and Bake
- Place the rolls on a lined baking sheet, spaced apart, and cover with plastic wrap. Let them rise for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C.
- Beat an egg with a little water and brush the rolls. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if using. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden. Cool until you can handle them and snip off the string.
- Create little stalks for the pumpkins using pretzel sticks or small cinnamon sticks. Adorable AND delicious!
Recipe Tips
- Can’t be bothered to do the shaping? These pumpkin bread rolls taste just as delicious simply shaped into balls, brushed with egg wash and baked!
- You can use my Air Fryer Dinner Roll recipe to make these rolls. These don’t contain pumpkin purée but they use the Tangzhong method which creates deliciously fluffy bread!
- Store the pumpkin dinner rolls in a bread bag for two days or slice and freeze them. Toast from frozen to serve.
- Try to use plain kitchen twine not the type I used (as the color can bleed).
You will also like
- Pumpkin Apple Bread with Streusel Topping
- Easy Pumpkin Cake
- Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
- No Knead Pumpkin Bread (So Easy!)
HAVE YOU MADE MY PUMPKIN DINNER ROLLS RECIPE? Please leave a rating, post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes and make my day! If you have any questions, message me on Instagram and I will do my best to answer them quickly.
Video
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups (420) white bread flour plus extra for dusting
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp instant dry yeast suitable for bread makers
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup (80ml) milk semi-skimmed
- 1 stick (115g) unsalted butter cubed
- ½ cup (120g) pumpkin purée
- 2 large eggs
Egg Wash and Topping
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)
To decorate
- pretzel sticks
You will also need
- sunflower oil for greasing
- kitchen string
Instructions
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast, nutmeg and pumpkin spice in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.3 ½ cups (420) white bread flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp instant dry yeast, 1 ½ tsp salt
- Heat the milk in a saucepan or the microwave until warm (but not hot, do not scald it). Add the butter and allow it to melt. Stir in the pumpkin purée and eggs.⅓ cup (80ml) milk, 1 stick (115g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (120g) pumpkin purée, 2 large eggs
- Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and beat together with a hand or stand mixer. Initially the dough will be very sticky and shaggy but it will become smoother the longer you mix it and eventually form a ball. Mist the bowl with a little oil and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Rise for about 90 minutes or until the dough has doubled.
- Deflate the dough and tip onto a lightly floured worktop. Cut into eight equal pieces. Flatten each piece onto a disk and fold the edges towards the middle. Roll in the palm of your hand to form a smooth ball. Repeat with the remaining dough to form eight rolls.
- Shape the pumpkin rolls
- Cut four pieces of string or kitchen twine to approximately 12 inches / 30 cm length. Dip them into sunflower oil and pass through your fingers to get rid of excess oil.sunflower oil, kitchen string
- Arrange the oiled string in a crisscross pattern on your countertop. Place a dough ball into the center of the strings and tie them (not too tightly to allow the dough to rise) so that the roll is divided into eight equal sections. Trim any excess string and repeat with the rest of the rolls.
- Place the rolls on a lined baking sheet, spaced apart, and cover with plastic wrap. Let them rise for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C.
- Beat an egg with a little water and brush the rolls. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if using. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden. Cool until you can handle them and snip off the string.1 egg , 1 tbsp water, 3 tbsp sesame seeds
- Create little stalks for the pumpkins using pretzel sticks or small cinnamon sticks. Adorable AND delicious!pretzel sticks
Notes
- Can’t be bothered to do the shaping? These pumpkin bread rolls taste just as delicious simply shaped into balls, brushed with egg wash and baked!
- You can use my Air Fryer Dinner Roll recipe to make these rolls. These don’t contain pumpkin purée but they use the Tangzhong method which creates deliciously fluffy bread!
- Store the pumpkin dinner rolls in a bread bag for two days or slice and freeze them. Toast from frozen to serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate, and will depend on quality of ingredients and serving sizes.
