Homemade Hamburger Buns - a simple recipe for the best hamburger buns you will ever eat - soft, pillowy and perfect for burgers!
If there is one thing that ruins a great burger more than anything, it's putting it in an average bun, am I right? So because we are coming into summer, prime burger making and eating time, I thought it was only appropriate to make the bread baking challenge recipe for this month the most delicious, soft and fluffy homemade hamburger buns ever!
I've been making burger buns for years but I've never been 100% happy with any recipe. So in the name of perfecting them for this month, I have made dozens and dozens of burger buns - they are now a compulsory meal each week until we get through them all! But the good news for you is that the recipe is now perfect, and you won't need to look for another one again.
As always, there are step by step photos in the post and a video at the bottom showing you exactly how to make them.
Click here to pin this post to your bread recipes board on Pinterest to save it for later
Step 1: Make the dough and first rise
The dough is simple – add water, yeast and sugar and leave it for 5 minutes for the yeast to activate. I love this step as you know for sure that the bread will rise if your mixture gets all bubbly and foamy! If this doesn’t happen, your yeast may be old or expired, so you will need to ditch it and start over. It’s great that you can figure this out at the start, rather than going through the whole bread making process to be disappointed! Add the flour, salt, and melted butter and milk (I like to melt them together in the microwave so that the milk is warm too)
Mix together until a dough forms and then knead either by hand for 7 minutes or in a stand mixer for 5 minutes. Place back in a clean bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave somewhere warm to rise until doubled in size. This usually takes about an hour.
Step 2: Shape & second rise
Once the dough has doubled in size, tip it onto a lightly floured surface and split the dough into 8 even pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicone liner. Leave the dough uncovered and put back in a warm place to rise for another 45 minutes – the buns will almost double in size again and will go puffy.
Step 3: Baking
Whisk together an egg wash - 1 egg with 1 Tablespoon of water and brush it over the risen buns. This is what gives them that glossy golden brown look. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 14 minutes until golden brown all over.
Now either eat them immediately (I would definitely suggest making Josh's famous homemade burger patties to go in them!) or they also freeze really well, so place in a snaplock bag once they've cooled down, freeze and just pull out as many as you need!
Happy burger making!
Other bread recipes to try:
Made this? Tag me on Instagram @thekiwicountrygirl and hashtag it #thekiwicountrygirl.
Homemade Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (43°C/110°F)
- 2 ½ teaspoons active dried yeast
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup milk
- 75 grams butter
- 4 ½ cups high grade flour (bread flour)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Optional
- Sesame seeds for sprinkling
Instructions
- In large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, yeast and sugar. Let it rest for 5 minutes until foamy.
- Add the milk and the butter to a small microwavable jug and heat until the butter has melted.
- Add flour, salt and milk/melted butter to the yeast mixture and using either a wooden spoon or the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer, mix on low speed until a dough forms.
- Continue to knead by hand for 7 minutes or with the stand mixer for 5 minutes on medium speed until the dough is soft and springs back when lightly touched.
- Shape the dough into ball and place in a large lightly greased bowl (or leave in the bowl of your stand mixer). Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Lightly punch down the dough and turn out onto a clean work surface. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll into smooth balls. Arrange them on 2 baking trays lined with baking paper or a silicone liner, leaving plenty of room between each bun and leave to rise in a warm, draught free place for about 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size again and puffy.
- Whisk egg wash ingredients together and lightly brush over the buns and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 200°C for 14 minutes until golden brown on top and underneath.
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If you tried and loved this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below!
Ange says
These were awesome! I just chucked everything in my breadmaker on the dough cycle (in the order the breadmaker likes it) & then shaped and did the second rise. My house is very cold & I was a bit neglectful of the dough so they probably didn't rise 100% but still light, fluffy & super tasty!
Anna says
These buns are so delicious! I’ll never go back to buying buns again- thank you!
Ariana says
This was an amazing recipe, I am 11 and made this. It was soooooooooooo easy!!
Laura says
That is amazing! Well done!
Kelly A says
Great recipe thank you!! Mine rose beautifully but when I put the egg wash on they deflated and ended up rather flat…why do you think that happened? Will keep trying as they were delicious!
Laura says
Hi Kelly! They may have just risen for slightly too long - I would catch them a little earlier next time and gently egg wash before baking and they should be fine!
Alycia says
This was so easy to make and turned out exactly like the picture. Not to mention they were delicious!
Rina says
Absolutely delicious. My oldest son had 5 buns if I did not stop him he would have eaten them all. He and the other family members 💯 recommends this recipe. Very yummi 😋 thanks.
Cherie says
I've made this recipe twice now - and it's great! Thanks for your hard work and experiments.
Lesley says
Pressed the print option and walked away. Didn't realise it'd print this entire page including all the reviews. Managed to turn off the printer after 30 odd pages. Should that option be better set up? I don't usually have to cut and paste recipes!
Laura says
Hi Lesley - that shouldn't have happened, if you click the print recipe button on the recipe card it should open it up in a new page with just the recipe card
Aharon says
After trying this recipe, I left behind all the other Burger Bun and sticking to this one.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Samara says
Made this recipe a few times now including for long buns and sliders, it has never failed me!! We love it and last night we actually made a double batch for the freezer!
charisse Huntley says
The most perfect buns! Doubled the recipe and made 14 large instead of 16 and still at 14min 200°c they are great! Happy kids and have bookmarked this page to be my go-to bun recipe!
Alice says
Amazing! Tasted a bit like brioche. Thanks so much.
Veronica says
These worked out so well! I’ve never had a lot of luck making bread but these turned out great. We had home made burger rolls with vegan burgers, home made air fryer chips, home grown tomatoes and home made caramelised onions. Love doing it myself as much as possible. An easy recipe to follow. Keeping this recipe. Thanks so much!
Kelly says
I made these using oat milk and olivani to make them dairy free. Worked perfectly. Even made mini hamburgers for the toddler.
Adrienne says
Nice scones. Disappointed these were not like burger buns . Texture was light enough but hard on the outside and quite flat despite rising beautifully both times.
The mixture was more like scones - and when I think about it of course it would be having milk and butter.
Next time I’ll be looking for a bread roll recipe and adjusting the size .
Laura says
Hi Adrienne. That is very disappointing that you didn't have success with this recipe! The addition of butter and milk into a bread dough makes it an enriched dough which should help them become softer and more buttery with a really tender crumb, it shouldn't make them scone like at all! If they rose well, I would suggest maybe making sure that the dough has been kneaded for long enough and making sure the dough isn't too dry or too sticky. Otherwise, I have made bread rolls successfully using my basic white bread recipe! Laura
Kate Olson says
Hi Laura. I love your site and your recipes. The mayo is life changing!! I made these buns last night and found the dough to be very stiff. Needed extra 5 mins, still didn’t soften. I pushed on and end result was tasty but very dense. I make a fair bit of bread.
Any chance you could please put the weight of flour in for us nerds if you have time?!
Laura says
Hi Kate! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I'm sorry the buns didn't quite turn out, definitely sounds like a bit too much flour - you are ok to add more water if the dough is looking a little stiff until you get back to a nice soft dough while kneading. I know how many people love grams when it comes to baking but for bread I am definitely a fan of doing it by how the dough looks rather than weights as there are so many variables with bread! In saying that, if you wanted a starting point, I work on 140 grams of flour being 1 cup so 4.5 cups would be about 630 grams.
Laura
Kate Olson says
Laura! Thanks for the gms. You are a champ. I hope you are going to do a recipe book. I will definitely buy it!
Carol says
Hi Adrienne,
I had the same issue at first also, it was a mixture of either too much flour or not kneaded long enough. Now have it sorted and my kids refuse to have store bought buns now 😊 good luck!
Carol
Vix says
Great recipe. Delicious burger buns. Easily adjusted to accommodate dairy and egg allergies.
John says
Will never buy burger buns again ,thankyou for recipe that's easy to follow
Abby says
The dough rose heaps but they spread kinda flat - like giant frizbees! Any advice for that? I did 4tsp surebake yeast (got bread improvers in but you usually need more than the equivalent for dry yeast). Did the two rises in an oven with a tray of hot water under to help them grow
Laura says
Hi Abby, it sounds like they may have been left to rise for too long! Sometimes I find that if they have over risen, they do deflate a little bit
Michelle Neems says
I have made these twice now as always wanted to make my own hamburger buns after being disappointed with the bought ones. These are perfect and taste amazing, as well as the texture doesn't crumble like the bought ones. The only thing I do is make 6, not 8.
Sfdo says
Perfect recipe. Followed it exactly as instructed and the buns looked amazing... fresh and so soft.
The best thing about them is how easy they are to make. Another addition to my lockdown food diaries..
Wish I could add a photo of them here. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe