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.
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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.
These looks really amazing. i will definitely try the recipe.
Wow! These are amazing!
Does this recipe make 15 or 30 rolls? Under servings it says 30 rolls but the instructions say to divide the dough into 15 parts.
Hi Sarah
This recipe makes total of 30 rolls. The whole dough is divided in half first, then cut each half dough into 15 pieces.
Hope this help.
Thank you for the quick response, Holly. I thought I must have missed the part about dividing the dough in half, but have reread the recipe carefully several times and still don’t see it! Am I losing it? Haha! But, this is super helpful, 30 rolls is more than enough and I’m glad I don’t have to double the recipe to get them! My family is going to love these. Thanks for the recipe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, found it. It’s in the step-by-step photo instructions, not in the printable recipe.
Oh, thanks for pointing that out. I fixed the printable recipe. Thanks!
For your pumpkin dinner rolls, what size tin of pumpkin puree should I buy?
15 oz can should be sufficient. You will need only 1 cup of pumpkin puree for this recipe.
Thanks.
We have used this recipe for 4 years at Thanksgiving. They are now a tradition, as I go to 2 Thanksgivings I make them twice . A couple of adaptations… I don’t use packets so it is about 1 tbsp loose yeast and we use a pair of kitchen shears to make the cuts..
Just made these – the didn’t “puff up” as much as I hoped – any guess what I did wrong. They look more like gourds (not a bad thing!) and taste more yeasty than I expected. Thanks!
I recently made these for a Friendsgiving meal and everyone was in love with them! The only change I made is reducing the sugar a bit by leaving out the white sugar, otherwise I made as directed. Thank you for this great recipe and adorable presentation!
Oh my, these pumpkin dinner rolls look amazing! My kids would love them!
I made these for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. I was asked to bring them for Christmas dinner as well.
I made these for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. Even my skeptical husband admitted they were better than he thought they’d be (he’s not a fan of anything with pumpkin). It’s a keeper!
These are my all-time favorite rolls! Look forward to making them again this year.
Thank you for this recipe! It has become a new Thanksgiving tradition in our house. I made them for the first time two years ago, and this year when asked what she wanted to bring for her “feast” at school, my eight year old shouted, “pumpkin rolls!” She loves to help in the kitchen, and I am grateful for a recipe that she can not only help with, but master and take pride in displaying on Thanksgiving. I almost had a heart attack today, when I realized I had not saved this recipe to my pepperplate! I frantically Googled, and fortunately found it (and immediately copied and pasted it to pepperplate!) I can’t wait to make these this afternoon with my daughter, should she let me help, and again on Thursday. Great recipe!
I made these last year for the first time and loved them. Trying to make for this Thanksgiving and it’s been a disaster. Tried the recipe twice and can’t figure out what’s going wrong. The dough is way too sticky and can’t get it to separate from the bowl. I used a mixer for the 5th cup of flour like you did and yeast was foamy and added to recipe. Any thoughts on why it’s too sticky to even come together?
Hi can these be frozen they look fantastic but ive got a lot to prepare be great if I could whip them out of the freezer on the day and re heat??? Thanks so much.
Hi Kim, I have made many different breads/rolls, including these for the past several Thanksgiving dinners. That said, I almost always make double/triple batches of buns when making any type because it is so time consuming and I like to have some on hand for other occasions. Each year, I make these rolls ahead and do everything but the last rise and baking and then I freeze them. Here is what I do:
Get them shaped and cut the little cuts to make them look like little pumpkins and skip the indent for the stem. Place each one that is completed onto a big sheet pan, not touching each other at all. As I work, I cover all of the shaped and cut rolls with a damp towel to keep them nice and moist. The reason for this towel is because if the tops of the buns get dry at any time during this process, it will cause them not to rise as well and not to look as nice in the end because it makes a tough skin on the outside.
Once each tray is full without any touching, I spray them with some non-stick canola spray all over, to ensure they will stay moist when they defrost.Then, I put them into the freezer on their trays and cover lightly with plastic (not sealed well, just enough to keep them from being dried out on the tops). Once they have frozen solid (after a few hours or overnight), I simply toss them into ziplock bags and keep them frozen for however long I need to. I’ve even had them in there for months and they still come out just fine in the end.
On the day I want to bake them off, I take them out about 4-7 hours before I will be serving them. I arrange them on a sheet pan lined with a silpat or parchment paper. And again, it is very very very important to cover them with a damp towel as they thaw. Once they thaw, they will begin to rise and once they have risen to about double their initial size, it is time to whip up your egg wash. Just before you egg wash, you will want to poke the indents into the middle of each bun, then wash away. Bake and pop your pecan stem in. Viola! It’s as if you made them the same day. I’ve never had any problems doing this. Oh, and one thing I have done with these in the past is to add just a teeny bit of cinnamon and sugar to the egg wash. Not only does it make them taste fantastic, it also caramelizes the outside really nicely making them shine even more. Hope this helps!
What size can of pumpkin puree do we use?
You will need only 1 cup, so 15 oz can would be the closest.
Wow, these look so perfect! As I’m rolling mine into balls they’re getting small little cracks & rifts in some places in the dough where I don’t want them to be (almost like the dough is ‘folding over’ just a teeny tiny bit on itself) so they are not as smooth and uniform like yours! :O And as I’m cutting the ridges into the balls, the little parts are kind of ending up kind of jagged/angled-looking and not pretty and circular. How’d you get yours to look so perfect?? 🙂 LOL 😀
I made these today and although pretty, I feel they would benefit with 2 teaspoons salt.
I made these last Thanksgiving, and they were a hit! I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year, and can’t wait to make these again. Thank you for sharing!
I am in the process of making these today (the rolls are rising right now). I was going to try to make them in my bread machine but after adding the wet ingredients there was no way 5 cups of flour was to fit, let alone have room for a rise. I suppose it depends on the size of your bread machine, but i have a bigger one (I think it makes a 1 1/2 lb loaf of bread). I ended up mixing this in my stand mixer.
This is also a fairly soft dough. I had to add probably 1/2-3/4 c flour just to pull the dough together enough so it was manageable.
I’m very anxious to see how these taste (they’ll be going in the oven very soon). I love pumpkin and if they turn out well, this will be my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.
I love this idea! They are so cute and I’m sure they taste just as good as they look. I’m going to have to remember to try these this fall.
Hi there!
I made these last year and they were a BIG hit! Everyone loved them. I was wondering if I could prepare the dough the night before to let it rise (you mention 1 hr would be enough) and bake them the day after.
You can definitely let the dough rise over night, then shape in the morning and let it rise for the second time. You will need 1 hour before you bake them. If you are short on time, let them rise in a warm place or put a bowl of hot water underneath to speed the rising.
Hi again,
Thank you for the reply! I did just that and it worked fine. But mine don’t come out golden, just yellow, even with the egg wash? And the yeast taste was very strong when I tried one. Hope the yeast ‘taste’ will be less when they cool down.
Thanks and happy thanksgiving! (From Canada)
These looks fabulous.. i will definitely try the recipe sooooon
I made these to go with my Thanksgiving dinner and they were absolutely delicious. The dough itself was perfect. Also I used the breadmaker to form the dough, they turned out wonderful.
I am so glad you shared this recipe as it will be the little something special on our Thanksgiving table.
Hi. We looooove your pumpkin rolls! We would like to feature your recipe on our Ruby for Women Blog and also in the holiday issue of our online magazine, Ruby for Women, A Voice for Every Christian Women. Would that be okay with you?