Homemade Hamburger Buns are the best way to elevate your burger game. Imagine how impressed everyone will be when you tell them you not only made the Hamburgers from scratch but you also made the buns!
This recipe comes together easily with staple ingredients. It’s freezer-friendly, so you can make it in a large batch and freeze it for later. Watch the video tutorial, and you’ll see that it isn’t any more complicated than making dinner rolls.
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Homemade Hamburger Buns
The first time I made my own hamburger buns, my family wouldn’t stop talking about how much they loved their burgers (case in point: don’t miss my darling daughter who guest stared in the video taste test below). That’s when I knew I’d be making my own homemade burger buns forever. With the right buns, your Hamburger will taste like a gourmet burger from a fancy steakhouse.
I’m all for making foods from scratch – especially home-baked bread, from Sourdough Bread to Dinner Rolls and of course, Overnight Pizza Dough! You can control the quality of the ingredients and avoid preservatives and highly processed foods by making them from scratch. And most importantly, they taste so much better and it’s easier to make than you think.
Since these freeze well, you can make them now and stash them for later which is what we do. We have zip bags full of homemade hamburger buns stashed in the freezer ready for the next time the burger craving strikes!
Burger Buns Video Tutorial
Watch Natasha make these homemade hamburger buns from scratch! You’ll never reach for the store-bought burger buns again.
Ingredients
Pantry staples are all you need to make these easy homemade hamburger buns.
- Eggs – Eggs keep the crumb moist and help to puff the roll. We also use an egg for the egg wash to give it a golden glossy finish.
- Sugar – This won’t make the bread sweet. Instead, sugar feeds the yeast for a fluffy crumb
- Salt – provides stability in the breads rise and flavors the bread
- Instant yeast – you’ll need a Tablespoon which is slightly more than 1 packet. It’s quicker than active dry yeast and creates a bigger rise. You can substitute with active yeast if that’s all you have, but be sure to activate it for 7-10 minutes before adding flour. Also, be aware that the bread may take longer to rise.
- Butter – unsalted is best so you can control the sodium in the buns. Soften the butter by leaving it at room temperature for an hour or heating it in a microwave for 10-15 seconds. You want to be able to easily dent the surface with a finger.
- Flour – Watch this tutorial on how to measure flour. Too much flour could make the bread dense and dry, while too little will be sticky and flat.
- Toppings – optional, we like to add sesame seeds or Everything Bagel Seasoning
Pro Tip:
Be sure your ingredients are at room temperature (including the eggs) to help the yeast activate for the best rise and crumb.
How to Make Homemade Hamburger Buns
This simple recipe creates 8 beautiful, airy burger buns in only a few hours of rise time. It’s one of my favorite baking projects – I especially love working with this dough, it’s almost therapeutic to shape and press it into buns.
Make the Hamburger Bun Dough
- Hydrate the Yeast – In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water (about 110°F), egg, sugar, salt, and yeast and whisk for 1 minute. You can mix these right in the bowl of a stand mixer if you are using one.
- Make the Dough – Add the butter and nearly all of the flour, leaving 2 tablespoons of flour reserved. Mix until the dough comes together. If it feels too sticky to the touch add the remaining flour just until it isn’t too sticky to knead (be careful not to add too much flour). Knead or mix using a dough hook for 5-6 minutes.
- Rest the Dough – Cover and let the dough double in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I like to put the whole bowl in my oven (turned off!) with the light on to speed it along, but it can also sit at room temperature.
- Shape the Hamburger Buns – Once doubled, turn the dough onto a work surface and cut into 8 pieces (about 100g each). Roll each piece into a tight ball (see my video above to see my technique).
- Second Rise – Place rolled burger buns on a lined baking sheet. Flatten to about 3” diameter and cover with plastic wrap until puffed (1 to 1 1/2 hours).
- Bake – Make the egg wash by beating the egg and water together, and then brush it on the top and the sides of each bun. Sprinkle the toppings on top if using, then bake at 400°F for 15-16 minutes. Cool completely on a rack and store uncut until ready to use.
Pro Tip:
This recipe makes 8 regular-sized hamburger buns, but you can roll the buns in step 4 into 16 (50g) balls for Cheeseburger Sliders! Don’t forget to reduce the bake time.
Pro Tip:
For the best texture and taste, cool the hamburger buns completely, and then store them uncut right away. Cut them just before you are ready to serve so they don’t dry out.
How to Serve Homemade Hamburger Buns
Once ready to serve, slice the burger buns with a serrated knife, and then load them up with your favorite sandwich or burger toppings (don’t miss the Cowboy Burgers in the Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook). Here are a few of our favorite ways to use burger buns:
- Smashburgers
- Crispy Chicken Sandwich
- Portobello Sandwich
- Sloppy Joes
- Tuna Salad Sandwich
- Shrimp Sandwiches
- Garlic and Herb Burgers
Pro Tip:
To keep the buns from getting soggy from condiments, cut and then spread butter on both sides and place on the grill or toast in a skillet for a few minutes. This golden browning keeps the sauces from soaking into the bread and gives even more flavor.
Make-Ahead
Be sure the buns are completely cooled before storing them in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.
- To Refrigerate: Store in an airtight container for 5 days
- Freezing: Freeze the cooled hamburger buns in zip-top bags for 3 months
- To Reheat: Thaw on the counter
Our homemade Hamburger Buns are so easy to make but still impress all our friends and family. The burger bun is made with pantry staples and it just tastes amazing. Try this recipe for a fun and delicious bread you will love making—and eating!
More Homemade Bread Recipes
Once you make these homemade hamburger buns, you’ll be hooked on fresh-baked bread. Try these easy recipes:
- Crusty French Bread
- No-Knead Bread
- Brioche Bread Recipe
- Focaccia Bread
- Rye Whole Wheat Bread
- Pita Bread
- Homemade Biscuits
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Homemade Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
Ingredients for Burger Buns:
- 3/4 cup warm water, about 110 ̊F
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 Tbsp instant yeast, rapid rise
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 3 1/4 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour (400g)*, plus more as needed
Egg Wash and Toppings:
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds, or Everything Bagel Seasoning
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine warm water, egg, sugar, salt, and yeast. Whisk for 1 minute to hydrate the yeast.
- Add softened butter then add most of your flour (leave out about 1-2 Tbsp of flour). Use a firm spatula or dough hook attachment to mix the dough just until it comes together. Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes or until it is smooth, soft, and elastic. The dough should feel sticky to the touch but should not stick to clean/dry fingertips. If it’s too sticky to knead, add more flour or until you reach the desired consistency.
- Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place (I like to put it in my oven with the light on so it’s not hotter than 100 ̊F) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or at room temperature for about 2 hours. The dough must double in volume.
- Scrape the dough out onto a clean work surface and use a food scraper or knife to cut it into 8 equal pieces, about 100 grams each piece. Cup your hand around a piece of dough and gently roll each piece of dough into a ball over your clean work surface or over the palm of your hand. Roll the dough balls until the surface is smooth and the dimple underneath shrinks.
- Set dough balls onto a silicone or parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping them evenly spaced. Flatten each dough ball into a 3” to 3 1/2” wide diameter, patting it down evenly. Cover the baking sheet loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature until visibly puffed (1 to 1 1/2 hours). Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400 ̊F.
- Make the egg wash by beating together egg and water with a fork then brush it generously over the tops and sides of the buns. Sprinkle on sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning if desired and bake at 400 ̊F for 15 to 16 minutes, or until the tops are deeply golden. Transfer to a rack to cool completely then cover and store until ready to use. Before serving, slice the buns in half lengthwise with a serrated knife.
Notes
2. To keep the buns from getting too soft or soggy from the burger sauces, spread the cut sides of the bun lightly with butter and toast on a skillet or griddle until golden brown. This creates a barrier for the sauces and also adds great flavor and texture to the burger bun.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
I never bake but we wanted to have burgers on the 4th of July and buns were the only thing we were missing. I found this recipe and OMG! Not only was it easy but they came out perfect! My husband uses them for burgers, BLT’s, tuna sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, fried egg breakfast sandwiches, chicken, pulled pork, EVERYTHING! We love them with the “Everything Bagel” seasoning. Thank you so much. I’m never buying store bought buns again.
Hi Brianna! I’m so glad to hear that. Thanks so much for sharing!
Amazing recipe! Honestly every recipe on this site is a banger but these buns brought our Fourth of July bbq to the next level. Make sure the whole bun gets egg wash for the beautiful sheen!
Do you have any suggestions for making these dairy free?
Happy 4th!
Hi Bailey! Happy 4th! One of our readers shared this comment “First time making these buns and they were a hit with my family!
I didn’t have butter so I substituted avocado oil and honey for sugar.” Hope that helps.
Hi Natasha. I love your recipes. This bread didn’t turn out the way it should have. I used active dry yeast. Would that have affected the bread? I followed the recipe using all the other ingredients listed, weighing the flour and kneading by hand. However, the moment I started mixing the flour with the yeast mixture, it was tough and I immediately knew something was wrong. Kneading wasn’t what it should have been. They turned out more like soft ciabatta bread. What did I do wrong? Thank you!
Hi MB! Using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast can definitely affect the dough if it was not used correctly. See my notes under the “ingredients” section above for how to properly use it in this recipe.
Tried your hamburger bun recipe after using a King Arthur recipe for years.They turned out great. Made four with sesame seeds and four with everything bagel seasoning.
One tip for those who had problems with plastic wrap sticking during the second rise: After I form the eight 90-gram dough balls, I put then on a silicone mat on a heavy-duty rimmed cookie sheet. Then, using two hands, I dip my fingers is a glass of warm water and press the balls into disk, working from the center out. Takes two or three times doing this as the dough tends to resist. Dip my fingers each time I move to the next ball. I’ve been doing this for years! Don’t give up. The beauty of this method is… the discs are quite moist from the water from your fingers… so moist that the buns can rise without any covering. I put them in our microwave to rise. Should they dry out, just spritz ‘em with a little water, but I don’t think you’ll have to. Once they’d risen, I did the egg wash and sprinkled on the sesame seeds and everything seasoning. Baked them at 375 on convection bake for 12 minutes. They were 200 degrees internally and beautifully browned.
Love your recipes, Natasha. Thanks a bunch.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes.
I followed the recipe exactly and the dough turned out great, but the recommendation to put a plastic wrap “loosely” on top of the rising buns in the 2nd rise is a bad idea. The plastic wrap stuck to my dough (even though the dough was not sticky to touch!) and I ended up losing all the rise after removing the wrap! The recipe should state that the plastic wrap should not touch the dough, or maybe put some olive oil to avoid it. I see now that someone in the previous comments had the same problem and did a reshaping and a 3rd rise which fixed the issue — adding some stars for that ! (Please disregard my previous review, thank you Natasha!)
Thanks for pointing that out. I updated the recipe to say oiled plastic wrap which should help if your bowl is smaller and the dough fills the space more.
Re: buns sticking to plastic wrap
I put a sheet of parchment paper over shaped buns. Then cover loosely with a light weight kitchen towel and set to rise.
I followed the recipe exactly and the dough turned out great, but the recommendation to put a plastic wrap “loosely” on top of the rising buns in the 2nd rise is a bad idea. The plastic wrap stuck to my dough (even though the dough was not sticky to touch!) and I ended up losing all the rise after removing the wrap! The recipe should state that the plastic wrap should not touch the dough, or maybe put some olive oil to avoid it. A bit disappointing.
Hi Sandra! I just updated the recipe the other day to state, “oiled plastic wrap.” Sorry for the inconvenience.
I have used this recipe several times, and the buns always turn out amazing. As with any bread recipe, you need to “read” your dough to adjust the amount of flour. I will never go back to store-bought buns – it is hard to describe how these buns elevate a basic burger! Delicious!
Hi Natalie! I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying the recipe. Thank you for the feedback!
We love these hamburger buns! I have one problem though. The tops tend to break and fall apart. I followed the recipe exactly. What am I doing wrong?
Hello Diane! There are several factors that can lead the top to break and fall apart. On your next try, you can knead the dough for about 8–10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic then do the windowpane test: stretch a small piece of dough between your fingers; if it does tearm the gluten is well-developed. If a dough is also too dry, it can result to crumbly buns. You can add small amounts of water if it looks to dry.
This recipe did not work at all. 3/4 cup water to 3 1/2 cups of flour was way wrong. I had to add 1 1/2 cups of water to get the dough where it should be instead of the 3/4 cup in the recipe. It is difficult to add water to a dry dough because it just turns to slime but after about 20 minutes of adding a little water kneading, adding a little more water, and kneading, it finally came together after and additional 3/4 cup of water had been added.
After baking, the buns were great.
Hi Carl, the proportions are well balanced with liquid to dry ingredients for a soft dough. Did you change anything in the recipe such as omitting butter or egg? Also, did you use a different type of flour? Was it 400 grams when you measured it? If you don’t have a kitchen scale, I suggest reviewing my post on how to measure ingredients for baking.
Hey Carl,
Use 400 grams of flour instead of 3-1/2 cups. Just made these and for the fun of it, I decided to weigh the flour. After adding 3 cups to the scale, I was already at 412 grams. Used that amount and worked perfectly… for me. Had I added another half cup of flour, I woulda been sitting right next to you in the way-to-dry boat.
That is bizarre. Ive followed her recipe SEVERAL times and it always come out perfectly.
I ordered your cookbook and so glad I did – love your recipes
Love this recipe …made it several times. I have a question to make hot dog buns with this recipe….is there a certain weight and size to shape the hot dog buns and would it be baked the same amount of time?
Hi Diane! I haven’t tested that to provide those instructions. Here is what one of my viewers said, “Use the same recipe, but make them hot dog bun shaped. I allow mine to rise next to each other for New England style buns, but you can use bun molds also.”
Thank you, AGAIN, Natasha’s Kitchen!! Last week, I tried a bun recipe from a chef on a different recipe website. It had so many great reviews AND a video too. I failed. I knew I should have used your recipe from the beginning. I made your recipe tonight, and the bundt came out perfect! My first choice will always be recipes from your site!!!
I’m so thrilled to hear you loved this one, Ama! Thank you for your review!
Hi Natasha! I have been watching you for years and have made a great deal of your recipes. I have enjoyed them all. I have never written a review for you before now. I made these hamburger rolls since we are trying to eat less carbs and healthier overall. I had burgers on the menu today and wanted a healthier alternative to store bought. These couldn’t have been easier to make. I did it by hand, no stand mixer. Everything turned out step by step as you said. All you need a lot of is time. My husband was so proud. They aren’t as pretty as yours, they look rustic and homemade. No shame in that. I’ve been married over 42 years and appreciate your recipes and videos so much! Thank you and God bless your family. Cheryl
Can I use regular active dry yeast and if so will this change the texture?
Hi Pam, you can, I share how to change the recipe when using it under the Ingredients description section of the recipe post where it says “Instant yeast” I hope that helps.
follow the directions exactly and you will have the best hamburger buns you’ve ever had! I baked for 12 min at 400 in an oven with propane heat. These are so easy to make and so delish! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Very tasty for regular bread and butter, but a bit dense for hamburger buns. Followed recipe exactly but forgot the egg wash prior to baking.
Delicious! But I need to or give my technique I rolling them.
Hello! I made this recipe today. I wanted to make hamburgers for dinner but hubby decided he wanted steaks so….
I almost went by the recipe, the changes I made were: I used ¾ tsp Microsoft because my husband has high blood pressure and I used 1 TB honey instead if the sugar. I melted the butter in hot water rather then room temperature butter.
I put everything in my stand mixer. The flour and yeast were on the cooler side since I keep both in the freezer. It all went beautifully. After the first rise I rolled 3 9g bread sticks (for dinner tonight) and flattened 4 10g hamburger rolls and have them in the refrigerator for dinner tomorrow. I baked the breadsticks 13 minutes at 400° F and they are perfect! I brushed melted butter on the baked breadsticks instead of using an egg wash.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, I hope you’re okay with the changes.
By any chance, would you know how to make hot dog buns?
Hi Bridgette! I don’t have a specific recipe for that.
Use the same recipe, but make them hot dog bun shaped. I allow mine to rise next to each other for New England style buns, but you can use bun molds also.
I love that idea to make hotdog buns out of this recipe. Any tips on shaping them?