Are you looking for a quick meal or appetizer idea for this holiday weekend? Since this month we are focusing on ‘sugar’ and ways to use it in our food storage, I wanted to share two wonderful recipes with you! Not only are these recipes delicious, but they make for a quick and easy dinner idea (or appetizer) when you are in a hurry. You may feel you don’t have time to make your own BBQ sauce or rolls, but I promise, these recipes are well worth your time! Make up a large batch and store in the fridge for weeks. The few minutes it takes to make, are well worth the homemade, fresh taste.
If you are like me, you probably have a boneless pork loin roast in your freezer that you bought when it was on sale. Throw this thawed roast in a crock pot, sprinkle with Montreal Steak Seasoning, add a little water to the bottom of the pot and cook low & slow for 4-6 hours, or until pork is tender. Once the pork is tender, drain the pork juice from the crock pot and then shred into small chunks. While pork is cooking, make the homemade BBQ sauce and rolls.
Homemade BBQ Sauce
2 c. ketchup
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 + 2 T. apple cider vinegar
3 T. molasses
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. dry dehydrated onions (or fresh)
1 T. paprika
2 t. salt
1 t. coarse ground black pepper
2 t. dry mustard
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. crushed red pepper or cayenne (or more if you like it spicy)
Add of the above ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer. Simmer for 25 minutes, on low heat, stirring occasionally. Store extra sauce in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
This roll recipe is one of my favorite quick and easy dough recipes. These rolls can literally be made in minutes and taste amazing as a roll or even as a homemade deli bun, hamburger or hot dog bun. I have even used this recipe to make a French bread loaf. It is very versatile and can be made quickly before dinner needs to be served. These rolls are the perfect accompaniment for the shredded pork sandwiches. Make small rolls and place the bbq pork on them for mini pork sandwiches as an appetizer.
Easy 30 Minute Rolls
3 c. hot water
2/3 c. oil
3 1/2 T. yeast
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. salt
2 eggs (I used 1 T. egg powder and no additional water)
7-8 c. flour (I like to use half white flour and half wheat flour)–you may need a little more (or less) flour to make the dough the perfect texture. You want the dough a little soft, but firm enough to handle and roll into balls. Don’t add too much flour though or the rolls will be dry 😉
Mix first four ingredients and let rest for 15 minutes. Add the salt and eggs. Gradually add the flour. Shape dough into dinner rolls and place on a greased cookie sheet. After shaped, let rest for 10 minutes. For rolls, bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees until golden brown. Take out of the oven and brush tops with butter.
I'm doing this for my husband tomorrow! 🙂
My husband and I tried it yesterday and the rolls were a bit chewy. I had to keep adding flour since it as too runny.
I wasn't so happy with it but we're planning on doing it all over again sometime soon.
We were going back and forth about what "T" stands for. I claimed Tablespoon and he insisted on Teaspoon. We did it my way though.
T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon
Did you use white or wheat flour? I noticed when I used all white flour I needed to add more flour to the dough or it was too sticky. Because these rolls are made in 30 min. from start to finish, they will be a little more dense than a regular soft and airy roll. You can fix that by letting the dough rise for 30-40 min. before you roll them out, or let them rise longer in the pan. I acctually liked the chewy consistency, it kind of reminded me of a potato roll. Just play around with the flour until you have the right consistency of dough. If you are not in an extreme hurry, just let the rolls rise a little while longer and they will be the perfect texture. This dough is just nice because you can use it in a hurry, or wait awhile longer and have a roll with even better texture. Either way, they turn out great 🙂 Try them again and let me know what you think.
P.S. You were right. The T is for Tablespoon.
Toni: I made these with 1/2 and 1/2 flours and did need more because it was a bit moist. But you're not working with actual weight of flour, as bakers do, but direct measure. So it won't always come out the same for everyone. I let them rise about 30 minutes before I baked them. Seemed fine, but…
Shandra, you all don't say how many it makes (looks like 20-25) and how big the cookie sheet is so I had to gauge size by how big I thought they'd turn out afterwards. I made 21–probably should've been more–and had to leave in oven about 10 more minutes because the center buns were still gooey. Then the outside buns were browning too much. Still good though. Just have to figure out what works for me. I've spent years trying to find a good sandwich bun recipe and this is the first time I even came remotely close to succeeding. Will keep trying with this one. Thanks!!
I am sorry! This is my problem..I five timed the recipe (I was teaching a food storage class at my house and needed lots), so I just took out balls of the dough and placed them on several cookie sheets (jelly roll size) and stopped making dough balls when I ran out. I am pretty sure this amount made the 30 rolls on my jelly pan (the picture shows 25, but I am pretty sure I had one more row). Either way, somewhere between 25 and 30 rolls should be about right on a jelly roll pan. But..like I said, I have also used this recipe as hoagie buns, hamburger buns, hot dog buns and even French bread. Just roll the dough into whatever size you want and bake until they are golden brown and cooked through. Worse case, pull them out of the oven, take out the one in the center, give it a taste and see if it is done or not. If not, throw them back in for another few minutes. I know…I am not exact and drive people crazy with my 'whatever' attitude in the kitchen. Sorry, hopefully it still works out for you 🙂
Thank you! I needed someone to shed some light on this. I followed the recipe and used white flour since we didn't have any wheat flour. I let it rise only for 10 minutes so it didn't make much of a difference. It turned out crispy on top and chewy on the inside. lol. I just threw 80% of the bread away because it tasted like clay. 🙁
My husband was happy especially since he helped me out. Next time, we'll use wheat flour and make it rise for a longer amount of time.
I will definitely repeat this recipe until I perfect it like yours!
Thanks Shandra! Thanks TLeaves! I'm going to post recipes on my blog too since my friends have been pushing me to do so.
I realized that if I stick to the white flour, it can also make good pizza dough. 🙂
Thanks for the roll recipe! I love, love, love it and so do my family! I have made these rolls 3 times since yesterday and they turn out perfect every time. It is so quick and easy. Today I made hot dog rolls for lunch. They were really good.
These are sooo good and fast to make! I made 1/2 a batch last night and got 6 rolls and 1 loaf of bread. I let them raise for about 20 minutes and they turned out great. Thanks for the recipe, it's now my favorite!
These rolls are so soft and chewy! This recipe will be a regular at my house! I posted and linked the recipe on my own blog! Thanks!
Made these tonight and they were a hit with the 11 people of my family. The comments were things like "they are so soft" and "I like how they are just a little sweet" and of course "can I have another one?". I used only 2 1/2 cups water and since I was using fresh ground wheat for more than half the flour I added in 2 T (Large T stands for tablespoons, small t is for teaspoons) of vital wheat gluten. I also put in all my wheat flour in with the yeast, water, oil, sugar and let it proof while I nursed the baby (about 10-15 min). Then I came back and added a half cup oat flour (made in a blender)salt,eggs and regular king Arthur bread flour. It was a very sticky dough but I managed it with the least amount of flour possible and let it rise in a bowl for a few min while drained my noodles and did a few other things to prep for dinner. then I punched it down and made balls and placed them on my largest cookie sheet. I let it rise about 10 min or so (just long enough for the oven to preheat to 400* and they were done in about 12 min.WOW DID THIS MAKE A LOT OF ROLLS!
Thank you for sharing this recipe my family loved having something fresh baked and I loved that I didn't have to let them rise for an hour and a half.
I have a busy evening and almost forgot about dinner 😉 I think this recipe will save the evening. I'm very glad I have linked to your blog so I can keep up with your recipes. Thanks so much!
This may help, I learned in a bread making class once that its better to spray the area/hands with pam than use flour that has not been worked into the dough. Is it better? I don't know necessarily but I did decide to do it that way and so now, no big flour mess,I just spray Pam on my counter, do what I need to do and then wipe up. I find that even though my dough may be sticky, it is fine (as long as I am sprayed too). Anywho, just thought I would share!
Just made these….they are heavy…dense and awful…I make bread all the time and have never had it turn out this way. I'm broiling them now to see if it helps with the flavor… is something missing in the recipe. I did feel that 8 cups of flour was way over the top considering it takes 8 cups of flour to make 2 – 2 pound loafs of bread
I am sorry you did not enjoy this recipe. This roll recipe is funny. Sometimes I have to use 7 c. of flour and others 8 c. It just depends on the humility level, elevation, etc. as to how much flour to add. Just play around with it until the dough is soft and pliable but not dry. I hope these work out better the next time for you. Thanks 😉
I USE THIS RECIPE FOR CINNAMON BUNS. DON'T ADD ALL THE WATER. I ALSO QUICK YEAST 2 TBLSPS.
I love BBQ especially if it has the tasty and super delicious BBQ Sauce.