Quick Hamburger Buns Recipe (+ Hot Dog and Breadstick Options)
A tried and true hamburger buns recipe you can make in about an hour (really!) using simple ingredients including whole wheat flour. The dough is easy to work with and can be shaped into classic buns, hot dog buns, or breadsticks, making it a flexible recipe to keep on hand for so many meals. The results are so moist and tender you may find you won’t need to buy buns again.
✩ What readers are saying…
“I have been looking for this recipe for years…decades, actually. Just made a batch – 5 hot dog buns, 4 hamburger buns and 3 cheddar hot dog buns. amazing!!! Easy quick and very light bread. Thank you. This is my go to from now on.” -Gayle
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Years ago I started searching for a hamburger buns recipe and the only criteria that I had was that they needed to be soft like store buns (though not as squishy).
You’d think I’d asked for the moon.
Most recipes I found produced hard buns. When I tried simply making my soft sandwich bread into buns, my family didn’t care for them and my soft whole wheat rolls were too soft for this.
Then I found a recipe for “quick and tender breadsticks” on a (now defunct) website and I couldn’t believe how soft and easy they were, which made me think the recipe might also make the buns we were searching for.
So I adapted it, making both hamburger and hot dog buns, and lo and behold, we loved them! They’ve become a family favorite because they are so quick and perfectly soft with a great texture.
The original recipe produced a very wet dough which I found tough to work with and a bit frustrating. My changes included using less water and yeast, adding more whole grains, and using honey instead of sugar. With these changes, the buns produced are the best hamburger buns I’ve tried (and I’ve tried a lot). I hope you think so, too!
Recipe Ingredient Questions
This recipe uses basic bread ingredients, flour, yeast, water, salt, oil, and honey, but over the years I have gotten some specific questions about them. Here are the answers:
What type of flour to use, regular or bread?
I have always used a half-and-half combo of regular unbleached flour and regular whole wheat. However, it’s perfectly okay to use bread flour if you have it.
Can I use all whole wheat flour? Or Spelt flour?
I have made them with all whole wheat flour and while they were okay they were not as tender and my family didn’t appreciate them. I have used all white whole wheat flour, though, with good results if you can find it. Spelt flour is similar to whole wheat – it’s fine to use it for half the flour, but all spelt will be less tender.
Can I use sugar instead of honey?
Yes, if you can’t have honey for some reason, use a similar amount of sugar. This ingredient flavors the dough and provides quick food for the yeast to eat to help it rise quicker.
Is it really 1 tablespoon of salt?
Yes, the original recipe called for this amount and I’ve always used it and thought the buns were great. It’s regular sea salt, not kosher. You can lower the amount if you want, of course. It’s only included for flavor.
How To Make Hamburger Buns
Step 1: Mix ingredients together to make a soft dough. The photo above shows that the dough will still be a bit wet and sticking to the bowl.
Step 2: Mix the dough about 1-2 minutes in the stand mixer (for a quick knead), adding about 1/4-1/2 cup more flour to make shaping a bit easier (it will still be a bit sticky).
Step 3: Shape into a ball and let rest in the bowl for 10 minutes.
Step 3b: You can see above that after 10 minutes it will have risen a little bit already.
Step 4: To get semi-even buns, flatten the dough out on a floured surface and pat into a squarish shape (Tip: Use a tea towel with a bit of flour for easy clean-up if you don’t have a smooth space to roll out).
Step 5: Use a knife to cut 12 pieces, cutting a bit off the bigger center pieces as needed and adding them to the smaller corner pieces before shaping.
TIP: Want bigger buns? Simply cut into 10, 8, or even 6 pieces instead of 12. You are in control of the sizes!
Step 6: Shape the buns by stretching the top towards the bottom on all sides, turn it over and pull the ends together creating a nice smooth ball (similar to how I shape our soft WW dinner rolls).
Step 7: Place the balls on a greased or silicone lined cookie sheet, flattening the dough balls around the edges- it’s okay if the edges touch. Let rest a second time (they’ll rise some, but most of the rising happens in the oven). If you’d like sesame seeds, brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with seeds after the rest.
TIP #1: Notice my well-floured hands and doughy fingers in the shaping photo? The dough will still be sticky even with floured surfaces, so you’ll want to keep your fingers nicely floured.
TIP #2: You’ll want to use a full half sheet baking pan to fit these, like this USA half sheet pans (my favorite brand).
Step 8: Bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until browned. Let cool a bit before slicing.
So, after mixing, two 10-minute rises, about 15 minutes of shaping, and 15 minutes baking you have soft, beautiful hamburger buns – in an hour. Amazing, right?
And notice all the slightly different sizes? No matter how hard I try, the buns are never all the same size. It’s just fine, though, because Brian eats the bigger buns and I like them smaller!
Oh, and this recipe still makes great breadsticks, plus the dough is easily shaped into longer buns for hot dogs, and make terrific homemade pigs in a blanket. See? It’s a keeper for sure.
Reader Raves
“These are my go to buns! I was looking for something that didn’t require me to be in the kitchen all evening. I came across your recipe and gave it a go, they were excellent. I will be making these again.” -Michaela
“This recipe is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing it. These will be in our rotation quite regularly!” -M.
“Hi, just made them and they are great. I used almost only ww flour and just about 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and they are unbelievably soft! Thank you for this great recipe.” -Petra
“I, too, have tried other homemade hamburger bun recipes with discouraging results. Today, I decided to give these a chance and….WOW!! Thanks so much for taking the time to tweak a recipe to get it to be so easy (pretty much fool-proof!) and delicious. These truly are moist and tender and I love the hearty, healthy taste that the wheat flour gives.” -Jackie
I hope you love this hamburger buns recipe like we do – please leave a rating and review to let me know!
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Quick Hamburger Buns Recipe (with Hot Dog and Breadstick Options)
Equipment
- stand mixer or hand mix
- Half sheet baking pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- 1½ tablespoons yeast (instant or active dry)
- 2 tablespoons honey or sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt or adjust to your taste
- 2½ cups whole wheat flour or spelt, or more all purpose
- 2 to 2½ cups unbleached all purpose flour* or bread flour
- Optional: egg wash and sesame seeds for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line a large, half sheet baking pan with silicone or parchment.
- Mix water, yeast, and honey until yeast and honey are dissolved. Add the salt, oil, 2½ cups whole wheat flour and 2 cups all purpose flour to make a soft dough (or use only all purpose).
- Beat with a stand mixer for a minute or two (or stir well by hand about a minute), adding up to 1/2 cup flour as needed to help dough be less sticky (you may not need all of it – it should still be somewhat sticky).
- Gather into a ball and let rest 10 minutes in the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl to a floured surface and knead by hand a few times.
- Press dough into a flat rectangle on floured surface then cut for hamburger or hotdog buns: cut into 12 even pieces (or for larger buns, cut into 8 pieces). Using floured hands, shape each piece of dough into a ball. Slightly flatten the balls and place on the prepared pan, flattening down the edges to create hamburger bun shapes. For hotdog buns, elongate the balls and place on the pan.
- Set aside to let rise 10 to 15 minutes (they will rise a bit, but not double). No need to cover them.
- Optional: If you'd like a sesame seed topping, make an egg wash of 1 egg and a tablespoon of water, brush that gently on the buns, and sprinkle with sesame seeds before putting them in the oven.
- Bake hamburger buns for 15 to 17 minutes, depending on size, until golden. Remove to a wire rack and let cool a bit before slicing in half and serving.
Notes
- Cut into 18-24 pieces, lengthwise (depending on the size you want).
- Lay them out with 1/2-inch between them on a greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden. Brush with melted butter and garlic.
Nutrition
More Easy Yeast Bread Recipes
- Soft & Easy 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- Soft, 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Easy Artisan Bread Recipe (Yeast, Dutch Oven, Whole Wheat)
This recipe has been updated, it was originally published in 2009, updated in 2016 and 2026.
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I, too, have tried other homemade hamburger bun recipes with discouraging results. Today, I decided to give these a chance and….WOW!! Thanks so much for taking the time to tweak a recipe to get it to be so easy (pretty much fool-proof!) and delicious. These truly are moist and tender and I love the hearty healthy taste that the wheat flour gives. Can’t promise “I will never buy store bought buns again”, but I will certainly think twice about it 😉
Happy to hear they turned out great for you, too, Jackie!
Found these a couple of days ago and am making them for the first time this afternoon- 1 Tb seems like a lot of salt for this- my white hamburger rolls recipe only uses 1 tsp salt for 12 rolls. Are you perhaps using kosher salt? (I’ve read that if using regular table salt, you’d need to use less than specified in a recipe that calls for kosher salt, since the crystals are finer and they pack more closely together.) Thanks!
Feel free to adjust the salt, Lynness! We use it as written with regular sea salt and it’s good for us. It makes 12 to 16 buns or sticks, so we don’t find it salty at all. 🙂
Oh and to the Anon, I also prefer baking recipes that use weight and not cups, as they are easier to double and less prone to fail. That being said if I refused to use any recipe except those by weight I’d be missing out on a lot of good ones!
I made this dough for sausage rolls (sorry can’t bring myself to call them pigs in a blanket as I don’t eat pork) and it was diviiiiiiine. 🙂 I can’t wait to make it again as either rolls or buns. It seriously was the most toothsome bread I’ve ever had.
Thanks for the comment, Yasmin! And whatever you call them, you’re right, they are good. 🙂
I have a stupid question… how do I get sesame seeds to stick to the top? I tried oil and they fell off for the most part….
An egg wash is your best bet for getting sesame seeds to stick, Yasmin. A milk wash also works to some degree, but not as well.
are these freezer friendly? and if so, how long do they last in the freezer?
Oh, definitely- I usually freeze half a recipe. As for how long, it depends on the type of freezer- auto defrost freezers produce freezer burn quicker on baked goods. Our manual defrost keeps bread with little burn for 2 to 3 months.
I made these today, using only unbleached white flour because that’s what I had on hand. I joined WW and so am making bread, ha ha! I cooked them a bit too long, but still quite good. I consistently like your recipes. Home cooks rule!Dixie
I made these this week and WOWsers! Sooo good. They were great for burgers but even better for Breakfast sandwiches in my opinion. They are pretty dense and moist and almost taste like a biscuit 🙂 Thanks so much for this awesome recipe!I shared it on my page and Pinterest.
I wanted to make your hamburger buns and hit my printer friedly button. At the bottom of the page it had a post it there and happened to hit it and it went right on my blog! That is so cool. Saved it as a draft till I make them. They look delish.
do you ever make this with 100% wheat flour instead of 1/2 and 1/2?
I have, Lyn, and they’re still good, maybe not quite as tender. I’ve used white whole wheat with good results recently, though. I’ve also used WW pastry in place of the all-purpose and then used regular WW for the rest and it was OK.
Play around with it and see what you and your family like best! We have these about 2x/mo with the rest of our bread products mostly WW, so I don’t feel bad about a little all-purpose for these. 🙂
WW pastry flour does not work well in yeasted bread reipes because it is made from soft wheat. White and Red whole wheat are made from hard wheat.
I want to try this in my bread machine!
Lizzy- All the time! We usually only easy half of whatever I’ve made (breadsticks or buns), so I freeze the other half of the batch. Works great!
This looks wonderful! I cant wait to try it. Do you ever make them ahead and freeze them for later use?
Sorry, Anon, I’m just a home cook doing the best I can.
I hate for you to miss out on these great buns, though- maybe you could make it and weigh the flour to find the exact amount and then share it with us? That would be helpful!
I can’t take any bread recipe seriously that doesn’t give the flour by weight.
This recipe looks like just what i have been looking for … I have a recipe that is similar, but reqires lots of kneading and takes ages … this one looks much less time-consuming. Its just gone into my recipe file.
Can’t wait to try this one. The one I’d been using is good but I like to try others too.
Becky- Wow, I’m surprised that the site isn’t up anymore! I will update this post with the recipe later today. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Hi there! I just found this recipe and would love to make these hamburger buns, but the site you linked is no longer up so I can’t find the recipe. Would you mind sharing?
Thanks! I am loving your helpful blog!
Becky
I believe I’m having bread envy!
I have been wanting to make buns for many months now. Thank you for the visual steps!
Thank you so much for this great recipe! You are amazing! I have a question about freezing these dogs, assuming they don’t all get eaten in one sitting 🙂 Do you freeze them in regular freezer bags? And do you thaw them first and then reheat them in the oven? At what temp and for how long?
I’m glad you like the recipe, Julie! I’m assuming you mean when I use this dough to make ‘pigs in a blanket’ with hot dogs? I just freeze in a ziplock baggie (I do suck the air out with a straw) and I usually do thaw them first and reheat at 350 for 10 or so minutes until they seem warmed (may have to cut one to make sure the centers are warm). You probably can cook from frozen if you covered them with foil for the first 10 minutes and then cooked as regular – but I actually haven’t tried it. 🙂