Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
These pumpkin dinner rolls, shaped like mini pumpkins, are soft, fluffy, and packed with pumpkin flavor. Easy and fun to make with the family, they’re the perfect addition to your Halloween party or Thanksgiving feast!
I’m bringing this beloved pumpkin dinner rolls recipe back just in time for Thanksgiving 2025 — it’s still the softest, most festive rolls you’ll ever bake.
Playing with food can be so much fun, and these Pumpkin Dinner Rolls were a joy to make! The best part? You get to enjoy them fresh from the oven.
Pumpkin makes the perfect addition to dinner rolls for the fall season. These rolls even look like little pumpkins, adding a festive touch to your Thanksgiving table.
The dough is a bit sticky, which helps create soft, fluffy rolls. Using canned pumpkin purée gives them a beautiful golden color and keeps things simple. To shape them like mini pumpkins, you just score the edges and use pecan halves for stems.
It’s easier than you might think, and it’s a fun activity to do with the family—kids will love helping out! Celebrate autumn with these adorable pumpkin dinner rolls, one of the most popular Western recipes on my site. Perfect for your Thanksgiving spread!
If you’ve got a fresh pumpkin and want a Korean twist, try my Korean pumpkin salad or creamy pumpkin porridge. Both make beautiful fall dishes—just like these dinner rolls
How to make Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Heat milk to scalding hot, add butter and let the butter melt. Add sugars, pumpkin and salt; stir everything well.
Combine yeast, 1 tsp sugar and warm water in another small bowl and let the yeast to proof (about 5 minutes). Add it to the pumpkin mixture with an egg; mix well.
Gradually add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon.
Time to knead! I used my mixer to do the job. Knead until the dough pull itself from the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes.
Dump the dough on the lightly floured surface and knead with your hand for 1 minute.
Form the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover and let it rise in a warm place until they get double in volume.
Here is the beautifully risen dough. Love the deep yellow color!
Give it a punch to deflate. The moment I’ve been waiting for…
Divide the dough in half. Roll each half to make a log and cut each log in 15 pieces or more if you prefer smaller rolls.
Shaping into mini pumpkins
Form each piece into a ball by pulling it together…
Press down gently with your hand.
Using a knife, give 8 segments of cut on the edge but leave the center uncut.
Poke deeply on the center of pedal with your pinkie.
Let them rise again. The center indentation somehow disappeared but you can always poke them again. You gotta love poking!
Brush with egg wash to give a golden look.
Bake them in the preheated 350˚F oven for 9-12 minutes. Don’t over-bake.
Brush with melted butter for a little shine. And the final touch? Use a sliced pecan piece as a stem! Cute, aren’t they?
Imagine the turkey in all its glory, surrounded by delicious fall side dishes on the Thanksgiving table. Now picture these adorable mini pumpkin rolls being passed around, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces.
In this season of gratitude, there’s so much to be thankful for—family, friends, laughter, and even the challenges that life brings. I hope these mini pumpkin dinner rolls add a special touch to your next Thanksgiving feast!
Freezing Tip
Put leftover rolls in a zipper bag and freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, bring the rolls to a room temperature first. Then warm up in the preheated 350˚F oven for 4-5 minutes or until hot to touch.
Helpful Tips and Tricks
- Using fresh pumpkin instead of canned purée: I recommend steaming the pumpkin rather than boiling it. Mash the steamed pumpkin and follow the recipe, adjusting the liquid to manage the dough’s moisture.
- Making the dough ahead: Let the dough rise in the fridge overnight. The next day, bring it to room temperature and continue with the recipe.
- Using instant yeast instead of active dry yeast: Instant yeast can be mixed directly with the flour—no proofing needed. Just ensure your liquid is lukewarm to avoid killing the yeast.
- Nut allergy? Use mini pretzel sticks, broken into small pieces, instead of pecan stems for a fun alternative.
Love this recipe? Rate it and share your experience in the comments below! On Instagram? Tag me to showcase your creation. For more delicious recipes, subscribe to our newsletter!
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole milk, scalded
- 6 tbsp butter, softened
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 2 envelope (about 4 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 egg
- 5 cup + a little extra all-purpose flour
- 10 pecan halves, sliced into 3 vertical sections
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Pour hot milk in a large mixing bowl, add butter and stir to melt. Add sugars, pumpkin puree, salt to the milk and butter mixture; mix well.
- In a small bowl, combine lukewarm water, yeast, and 1 tsp sugar. Wait 5- minute for yeast to proof. When it gets foamy, add it to the pumpkin mixture, and add the egg; mix well. Add the flour gradually and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. The dough will be sticky.
- Using electric mixer with a dough hook attached, beat the mixture on the low-speed setting until the dough itself pulls from the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes. You can add a little more flour if the dough seems too wet.
- Turn the dough out to a wooden board dusted with a little flour. Knead with hand for 1 minute. Form the dough into a ball shape, place in a greased bowl and cover with a cloth. Let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume, about 1 hr.
- Punch the dough to deflate. Knead the dough for a few seconds on a wooden board. Divide the dough into half and cut each dough half into 15 pieces, total of 30 pieces.
- Roll each dough piece into a ball shape with your hand. Flatten the piece with palm of your hand a little. Using a knife, give 8 cuts on the edge to mimic flower pedals but leave the center uncut.
- Poke the center with your finger to give a deep indentation. Repeat the same procedure to the remaining pieces.
- Place them, 2-inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or baking mat. Let them rise again until they become double in volume, about 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven 350ºF. If the center indentation doesn't look obvious on the rolls, poke them again with your finger. Brush with egg wash and bake for 9-12 minutes, until the top gets slightly golden.
- Brush the hot rolls with melted butter immediately. Insert the pecan slices on the center of the rolls to mimic the stem.
I might have missed this in the comment somewhere but I was wondering if this recipe was possible without a machine mixer, meaning is there a way to completely hand knead and achieve the same adorable result? If so, how would the recipe change?
Of course you can knead with your hand.
These are soooo cute! But a baker I’m not. Do you think you could make these with the refrigerator biscuits? Just shape them as you stated?
Thanks so much!
Sure, you can just adapt the shaping method to the store bought biscuits.
CAN THE DOUGH BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME AND FROZE?
Yes.
These rolls look too cute to eat!
These were wonderful. They remind me of a recipe that my mom made for me when I was a kid! Love the fun touch though!
These are adorable! And I bet they taste fantastic!
These are very attractive and I’m sure tasty too. I will definitely try this recipe and i love the design for my other recipes.
Thank you Holly for sharing!
The recipe calls for 2pkgs of active dry yeast but I buy my yeast by the jar. How much yeast would you say is in 2pkgs?
Usually 1 package yeast is about 2-1/4 teaspoon. 2 package will be 4-1/2 teaspoon or so.
Beautiful presentation! Thanks for sharing. I’m not crazy about the flavor of pumpkin..do you happen to have a favorite dinner roll recipe without it?
This looks amaaaazing and like something I can actually do, which doubles the amazing factor. 🙂
Can you use the dinner rolls that are premade in the containers by pillsbury or a frozen type and do they have to go through the rising process or can you just cut them, egg wash and throw them in the oven?
I was wondering the same thing?
What a wonderful idea. These are adorable and even more importantly they sound delicious. I will be pinning this to my favorite recipes. Thanks
These are so cute! I’m definitely trying these for thanksgiving but I do have a question. Do you think they would be ok made ahead of time? I’m worried they’d get hard or just wouldnt have the fresh baked taste anymore. We travel pretty far to our family’s house and I don’t think I’ll have the room to make them there.
Freeze the dough after you shape them. And have them thawed as you travel to your family’s house (You need to time well depends on how long the travel will take) in a room temperature and bake them there.
Works fine in the bread machine if you halve the recipe. Thanks for this awesome idea! The little pumpkins are so cute.
Can we bake this without eggs?
Eggs help to bind and hold baked goods in their shape. Look for egg substitute if can’t use eggs.
I just saw these on Pinterest and I am already thinking about Fall and Thanksgiving. These are adorable. Thank you so much.
I just want to say I made this recipe the other day and absolutely loved it. I used your recipe (full credit given) in a recent Dutch Oven cook-off (adapted of course). I’m happy to say we won Peoples choice. Thank you for the inspiration.
Cyndi Boyer
These remind me of the rolls from the movie Brave that the little boys keep stealing from the kitchen. Beautiful pictures!
I tried this recipe tonight. It was a total complete DISASTER!!! You said the dough would be sticky, but after gradually stirring in almost double the amount of flour, the dough was still painfully sticky and completely unworkable. I had to keep stirring because it was just too sticky to even think about kneading. I followed all of the instructions. The only thing I was uncertain about was the quantity of pumpkin. The size of the can was not listed in the recipe. I have only seen the 29 oz cans in the store, so I moved forward left to assume I had the right quantity. I hope I did. After a lot of effort and time I gave up, and threw it in a ziplock bag in the fridge, hoping maybe I can still rescue it. So sad to see so many costly ingredients go to waste 🙁
Hi Beth
So sorry to hear the disastrous experience with this recipe. I understand how frustrating it is when the recipes doesn’t turn out they way it should. I also had so many similar experiences in the past. 🙂
For the amount of pumpkin, the recipe indicates to add only 1 cup. If you used the large 29 oz can, that is almost 3 cups which means 3 times the amount it is needed. So your dough will be truthfully sticky even with added flour.
If I can suggest one recipe to rescue the failed dough, try my Korean sweet pancake recipe. You can use your pumpkin dough instead and just add the cinnamon sugar filling in the center. It is really good and many people have raved about it. You will find the tutorial in the link below.
https://www.beyondkimchee.com/hotteok/
wow, I checked back on the quantity several times and never saw the one cup, I read it as one can! yikes, no wonder I had such trouble! thanks so much for responding. worth another try another day…
Thanks for sharing, seems good!
These were awesome! And quite a hit both Thanksgiving and at church potluck the weekend before. I did find that scissors were much easier to use to do the cuts than a knife. And I did use a bread machine to mix the dough – although I found the dough was a bit too wet and had to knead in a bit more flour the first time (the second time I just watched it and added more flour to the machine).
Also, I vegan-ized the recipe for Thanksgiving (our holiday dinners usually have to accommodate both vegans and meat-eaters) and that worked fine as well (1 Tbs flaxseed meal + 3 Tbs warm water for the egg, soymilk, vegan butter, etc for the other ingredients). The only difference the vegan ones weren’t quite as orange as the original recipe ones.
Hi – I want to veganize/plant based these as well and am curious as to what you did on the sugar. I usually use maple syrup or coconut sugar for sweetening, so I was just wondering what you did in this case.
Thank you!
I made these for thanksgiving and everyone loved them. They will definitively be on the menu every year from here on out. Thank you!
These dinner rolls were so festive for Thanksgiving dinner. They were a hit and actually easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for sharing…the instructions were thorough and I was so proud of myself for how they turned out. A huge thanksgiving hit!
That is so awesome, Becca! Thank you so much for this comment.
Hi Holly ~<3 Thank You so very Much For sharing your recipie of pumpkin dinner rolls … I made them for thanksgiving for tomorrow 🙂 they turned out AmAzing 🙂 can't wait to see my families reaction tomorrow 🙂
They are soft & beautiful 🙂
(I didn't taste it … I'll wait for my husband to do that 🙂
Thank Thank you thank you !!!!
God Bless you 🙂
Anush Kirakosian
Thanks Anush. Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving with your family.