Copycat Lion House Rolls Recipe (2024)

Today’s recipe is for our family’s FAVORITE dinner rolls! My husband is really the great cook in the family, but these are my specialty. This is a copycat recipe of the amazing Lion House rolls. The Lion House is the historic home of Brigham Young in the heart of Salt Lake City. Brigham Young was the second prophet for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the first governor of Utah. His home is on the famous Temple Square in Utah. The home was given the name “The Lion House” because of the lion statue over the front doorway. The Lion House is now an event center, restaurant, and catering company. At least among Utah folks, these rolls are famous. They are AMAZING! Years ago a friend of mine who grew up in Salt Lake City shared this recipe with me and taught me how to make my own copycat Lion House Rolls. I am excited to be sharing the recipe with you today!

I will walk you through the process of making Lion House Rolls with pictures, and then I will list the detailed ingredient list and steps in a compact format at the bottom of the post.

Place the yeast in warm water and allow it to dissolve for about 5 minutes.

As the yeast is dissolving, mix together these dry ingredients and set aside: salt, sugar, and powdered milk.

Add the dry ingredient and an egg to the yeasty water and mix.

Mix in 5+ cups of flour, ONE AT A TIME. (I use a KNEADING BEATER on my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have never tried it with any other kind of mixer, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work, although maybe not as easily.) The amount of flour that you will need will vary with humidity, elevation, etc, but 5 cups is a good starting point. You don’t want the dough too sticky OR too dry. Basically, I knead it in the mixer until it starts to pull away from the edges, as shown in the second picture below.

Next I lightly spray a large bowl with cooking spray, place the dough into it, and cover it with a piece of cellophane wrap which has also been lightly sprayed (on the side facing the dough) with cooking spray. Place in a warm place and let rise for 2-3 hours until doubled in size.

Here’s my bread and roll rising secret: I use a small room to create what my husband refers to as my “roll incubator.” If I’m running behind I choose a small room and place the dough in there, along with a space heater cranked up and even put a towel to close the crack of the door on the bottom. I do that for this step and the next.

Once the dough has doubled in size, roll out the dough on a floured surface. Cut and mold them into any shape that you want. I usually do knots.

Place the rolls on a cookie sheet that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with cellophane wrap that is also lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Place the cookie sheets in a warm spot to rise for about 1 additional hour.

Bake the rolls at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes. Brush the top of the rolls with melted butter once they are removed from the oven.

Now serve and enjoy! Serve warm if possible. YUM.

If you enjoyed this recipe then I know you will love these recipes as well:

New Orleans Beignets

Creamy Spinach Tomato Tortellini

{Vegan} Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins