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Frozen Dinner Rolls
When there isn't time to make fresh dinner rolls, the frozen variety can be a tempting alternative.
Top Pick
WinnerPepperidge Farm Stone Baked Artisan French Dinner Rolls
These rolls were “surprisingly good,” “wheaty,” and “yeasty,” with a perfect, flavorful hint of salt. They were “supercrispy” outside and “chewy” yet “tender” inside. As one taster put it: “I respect this roll. It can come to dinner with me.”
Sodium: 300 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Unbromated unbleached enriched wheat flour, water; Less than 2% of salt, white rice flour, malt syrup, yeast, sesame seed meal
Price at Time of Testing: $3.99 for 8 rolls, 14 oz ($0.50 per roll, $0.29 per oz)
These rolls were “surprisingly good,” “wheaty,” and “yeasty,” with a perfect, flavorful hint of salt. They were “supercrispy” outside and “chewy” yet “tender” inside. As one taster put it: “I respect this roll. It can come to dinner with me.”
Sodium: 300 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Unbromated unbleached enriched wheat flour, water; Less than 2% of salt, white rice flour, malt syrup, yeast, sesame seed meal
Price at Time of Testing: $3.99 for 8 rolls, 14 oz ($0.50 per roll, $0.29 per oz)
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What You Need to Know
Frozen rolls pale in comparison with good fresh ones, but they do have their perks. They keep for months in the freezer, so you can always have bread on hand. And you can bake only what you need and forgo that leftover half of a baguette that often lurks for days, stale and forgotten. We’ve tasted frozen rolls before and found them so-so—OK in a pinch, but it would have to be quite a firm pinch. Our previous winner was discontinued, so we returned to the freezer aisle and found new lines touting “stone baked,” “artisan,” “crusty,” and “French” rolls. They certainly sound better—are they?
We tasted three nationally available products; two are partially baked at the factory, and one is fully baked, quickly frozen, and reheated at home. We cooked them according to their package instructions and called 21 editors and test cooks to the table. One product completely tanked, but we liked a second product and really liked the third.
Tasters wanted rolls that were crusty outside and tender inside. Both of our top two products nailed this, but the bottom-ranking product was “gummy” and “dense.” We compared labels and saw that the dense rolls had 17 different ingredients. (The other two had seven and eight, respectively.) Among these were vital wheat gluten, guar gum, and xanthan gum; all three ingredients retain moisture and create a gummy texture. These rolls were also the only ones to include some whole-wheat flour, which makes for denser bread.
As for flavor, the two products we liked were pleasantly wheaty and yeasty. Our favorite product earned extra points for tasting “the most homemade.” We checked and found that it uses a basic recipe of mostly flour, water, salt, and yeast. These rolls also have 40 to 60 milligrams more sodium per serving than the others, which enhanced the bread’s flavor without overwhelming it. Tasters noted that the lowest-scoring product was “funky” and “tart.” We found that it’s the only one that adds sourdough starter. Sourdough flavor can be excellent, but here it was off: “Not like sourdough. More like gym shoes,” said one taster.
Pleasantly wheaty, crispy, and chewy, our dairy-free winning rolls are better than any frozen rolls we’ve tasted before. They’re also the only product that’s fully cooked at the factory in a stone oven, which yielded the crispiest, lightest rolls. Good fresh bread is always our first choice, but when it’s unavailable, we’d be happy to serve our winning rolls at our table.
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Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
WinnerPepperidge Farm Stone Baked Artisan French Dinner Rolls
These rolls were “surprisingly good,” “wheaty,” and “yeasty,” with a perfect, flavorful hint of salt. They were “supercrispy” outside and “chewy” yet “tender” inside. As one taster put it: “I respect this roll. It can come to dinner with me.”
Sodium: 300 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Unbromated unbleached enriched wheat flour, water; Less than 2% of salt, white rice flour, malt syrup, yeast, sesame seed meal
Price at Time of Testing: $3.99 for 8 rolls, 14 oz ($0.50 per roll, $0.29 per oz)
These rolls were “surprisingly good,” “wheaty,” and “yeasty,” with a perfect, flavorful hint of salt. They were “supercrispy” outside and “chewy” yet “tender” inside. As one taster put it: “I respect this roll. It can come to dinner with me.”
Sodium: 300 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Unbromated unbleached enriched wheat flour, water; Less than 2% of salt, white rice flour, malt syrup, yeast, sesame seed meal
Price at Time of Testing: $3.99 for 8 rolls, 14 oz ($0.50 per roll, $0.29 per oz)
Recommended
Rhodes Warm-N-Serv French Crusty Rolls
These rolls were mildly “yeasty” and could have used more salt for a few tasters who thought they were “neutral” and “sort of bland.” But they had great “crackly,” “crispy” crusts, and inside they were perfectly “tender,” “soft,” and “pillowy.”
Sodium: 241 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Unbleached enriched white flour, water, salt, malt, yeast, ascorbic acid, butter, nonfat dried milk
Price at Time of Testing: $2.99 for 8 rolls, 11.5 oz ($0.37 per roll, $0.26 per oz)
These rolls were mildly “yeasty” and could have used more salt for a few tasters who thought they were “neutral” and “sort of bland.” But they had great “crackly,” “crispy” crusts, and inside they were perfectly “tender,” “soft,” and “pillowy.”
Sodium: 241 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Unbleached enriched white flour, water, salt, malt, yeast, ascorbic acid, butter, nonfat dried milk
Price at Time of Testing: $2.99 for 8 rolls, 11.5 oz ($0.37 per roll, $0.26 per oz)
Not Recommended
Alexia Artisan French Rolls
The sourdough starter in these rolls made them taste “fermented” and “weirdly funky.” Worse, inside they were “gummy” and “sticky” and seemed “underbaked,” even when we cooked them far longer than recommended.
Sodium: 267 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Wheat flour, whole wheat flour, water, rye flour, yeast, sea salt, vital wheat gluten, rye sourdough culture (rye flour, water, salt, starter culture), cane sugar, fava bean flour, malted barley flour, guar gum, xanthan gum, organic dried cane syrup, malt extract, sunflower lecithin, enzymes
Price at Time of Testing: $2.99 for 8 rolls, 12 oz ($0.37 per roll, $0.25 per oz)
The sourdough starter in these rolls made them taste “fermented” and “weirdly funky.” Worse, inside they were “gummy” and “sticky” and seemed “underbaked,” even when we cooked them far longer than recommended.
Sodium: 267 mg per 50-g serving
Ingredients: Wheat flour, whole wheat flour, water, rye flour, yeast, sea salt, vital wheat gluten, rye sourdough culture (rye flour, water, salt, starter culture), cane sugar, fava bean flour, malted barley flour, guar gum, xanthan gum, organic dried cane syrup, malt extract, sunflower lecithin, enzymes
Price at Time of Testing: $2.99 for 8 rolls, 12 oz ($0.37 per roll, $0.25 per oz)
*All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.
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