Do you ever have one of those nights when a burger sounds so good, but you don’t have any buns on hand? Or what about when you do make it to the store, but every single burger bun variety contains whey, casein, milk, or cheese? Problem solved. These Homemade Wheat Hamburger Buns are insanely fast to whip up (literally 40 minutes from start to slicing), because they do not require any rising time (just a few minutes of rest).
Homemade Wheat Hamburger Buns that Are Ready in Just 40 Minutes
I originally posted this speedy wheat hamburger buns recipe more than a decade ago. It’s since circulated quite a bit, and I’ve tested it countless times over the years. As a result, I’ve updated the recipe with more options and included it in the 2nd edition of Go Dairy Free: The Ultimate Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living.
Go Dairy Free is all about making the transition easy and delicious, but it also contains many recipes that you will use as a veteran dairy-free diner. In fact, there are over 250 recipes, ranging from homemade dairy substitutes, to any day meals, to baked goodies (enough to start your own bakery!).
Recipe Tips for Making the Perfect Speedy Wheat Hamburger Buns
Choosing the Right Flour: For the best results, I use part white all-purpose flour, part wheat flour. This gives you some of the whole grain goodness, but keeps the texture from being too dense. You can use all white flour, which will produce even softer and fluffier buns. But if you opt to go all whole wheat, I recommend adding some vital wheat gluten, about 3 tablespoons, for the best results. Without it, the buns can be too dense. If you need gluten-free, I recommend my Skinny Gluten-Free Hamburger Buns Recipe.
Sweet Adjustments: If needed, you can reduce the sweetener to 2 or 3 tablespoons without drastically affecting the results. You can pretty much use any sweetener – the two listed are just the ones that we prefer for this recipe.
You Can Let it Rise: If you prefer fluffier, traditionally risen buns, you can reduce the yeast to 1 tablespoon and cover the dough after step 4 and let it rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then let the buns rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour in step 5, or until doubled in size.
Make Sure Your Yeast is Active: The leading cause of under-risen buns is inactive yeast. Make sure you test it as noted in the recipe before committing all of your ingredients. Once open, still active yeast can be stored in the freezer to preserve it. If you use frozen yeast, it might not bubble or foam, even if it is active. But it will still give you good results. If you are sure your yeast is active, you can skip the 5 minute proofing, making this recipe even faster!
Reader Raves for My Quick & Easy Homemade Wheat Hamburger Buns
When I first shared this recipe eons ago, it was on my old blog. Over the years, it became so popular that more than a hundred people came back to comment how much they loved it. We are fully transitioning all posts from that blog to here, which means that feedback will be lost. But here are a few of the comments, randomly selected, to give you the gist.
These are great and easy! I’ve recently gone dairy and soy free after realizing that the dairy and soy in my diet was making my nursing 2 month old daughter miserable (and in turn making the rest of us miserable). It’s daunting to figure out how to cut out dairy and soy but these buns fit the bill and saved me for the 4th of July BBQ. Thanks! ~ Danica
I googled “homemade hamburger buns” and found this recipe. I just tried it – and it is fantastic! I don’t know why I’m surprised… I bake two loaves of bread a week using the recipe from your cookbook! I should have known better! ~ Heather B
Excellent recipe! I used the ener g egg replacer and they came out wonderfully. My vegan daughter and son-in-law scarfed them down, and she hates whole wheat anything. ~ Carolsue Hill
Just love your recipe! My daughter is allergic to sesame seeds and it is impossible to find store-bought buns that are undoubtedly safe for her. My family raves about these buns and I will never use another bun again!!! Thank you for making my daughter so happy now that she can have a bun with her burger just like everyone else – really, even better! I am one happy mom and very grateful! ~ DE Ladden
Just found this recipe today, took me 30 min total prep and cook time, and they are great! I did not have to leave the house to get buns for the 3 burger patties warming up for our lunch. Seriously, it was so easy and turned out so well. I will think twice before I buy buns again. ~ J L
These are wonderful, but I just want to say thank you so much. Let me explain. The veggie burgers for which these were earmarked did not turn out, so I ended up eating one of these little buns uncut as a dinner roll and it almost brought me to tears. My grandmother used to make the BEST yeast rolls and when she passed seven years ago the recipe died forever with her. Or so I thought. I could have sworn I was eating one of her rolls last night and it brought back such happy memories. Soooo happy to have found this. By the way, used a flax egg to make it vegan and whole wheat pastry flour because it tends to sub better for all purpose 🙂 ~ Brandie Rushing
And a special thank you to The Leaf, who featured Go Dairy Free on their list of 22 Healthy Living Bloggers You Need to Be Following. We do our best!
Special Diet Notes: Homemade Wheat Hamburger Buns
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, optionally egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, optionally vegan, and vegetarian.
- 1 cup warm water (about 105ºF)
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast (reduce to 1½ tablespoons above 4,000 feet)
- ⅓ cup grapeseed, olive, or rice bran oil
- ¼ cup cane sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 egg (see Vegan Option below for egg free)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ to 1¾ cups whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Put the warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes to proof and ensure the yeast is active. It should bubble or foam. If it doesn't your yeast might be inactive. Start again with fresh yeast.
- Add the oil, sugar, and egg to the yeast mixture and whisk to combine. Add the all-purpose or bread flour and salt and stir to combine. Gradually stir in the wheat flour, as needed, until soft dough forms. Bring the dough together with your hands when it becomes too thick to stir. It should be slightly tacky, but should not stick to your hands.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
- Divide the dough equally into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round and place them on your prepared baking sheet. Lightly cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest while your oven preheats (about 10 to 15 minutes).
- Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
- Gently remove the plastic wrap and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden.
- Let cool on the baking sheet or a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or individually wrap and freeze to enjoy later.
For More of My Easy Recipes, Get Go Dairy Free!
37 Comments
I’ve been experimenting with different quick mostly wheat hamburger bun recipes for years.. no more! This one is the winner! I used AP flour and white whole wheat flour, and YUM! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Kerri.
Could these be made gluten free?
Hi Liz, please see my gluten-free hamburger buns recipe -> https://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/skinny-gluten-free-hamburger-buns
It’s a very different formula, but equally delicious!
I’ve made these twice and they were perfect both times. I used agave to sweeten and Ener-G egg replacer instead of an egg. They were great! I’m so glad I stumbled onto your site!
I’ve made this recipe twice now and its come out awesome both times. thank you so much. =]
Thanks Alisa 🙂
Hello!
Any chance of having the ingredient list in grams?
I’m an Irishman up in Scotland, used to a baking world of grams 🙂
I gave the recipe a go, using some charts I found online to convert from cups to grams as best as I could, but got caught in a mire of extremely sticky dough between steps 3 and 4, and no amount of kneading could bring it under control.
I suspect that maybe I used too much oil (my scale weighs in grams, so even the correlated amount in millilitres is hard to control – I gave it a go with 70g of sunflower oil).
In the end I managed to slice away 8 pieces of sticky dough, roll them into little balls and salvaged 8 pretty delicious little burger buns, so I guess I’m not too far away from the real thing! Just the very, very sticky part was definitely not right.
A gram version of the successful recipe would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Thank you!
I would just have to use online converters like you did. Typically if the dough is too sticky, you just add more flour until it just slightly sticky, but doesn’t stick to your hands and is workable.
Followed the recipe exactly…turned out amazing! Texture was light and fluffy, they also froze well. Thanks! I am enjoying your site.
I just wanted to say thank you too. I discovered this recipe over a year ago, and now I make them regularly. It’s amazing what a difference home-made hamburger buns make! They are super easy and really yummy.
I find I get the best (fluffy and soft) results when I make sure to knead the dough really well (- easy, now that I have a kitchen aid… just let it go with the dough hook for 5-8 minutes).
Thanks for this!!
Just tried them and it worked perfect, thanks for the great recipe, I have not yet tried them as hot dog buns, but will in the future..
I also put everything in my bread machine to make the dough, and I used the Flax egg that you mentioned and it works great, so the only thing I changed in the recipe was I added a flax egg instead of a regular egg.
Now I can enjoy hamburger buns again. 🙂
Just wanted to say thanks for the recipe! I’m 4 months vegan and was looking for an easy vegan hamburger bun recipe. (I used the egg replacer) This is my first time using yeast, so needless to say I’m not a very experienced baker 😉 and even I was able to make these! And they are delicious! Thanks again!
I made these today and they seem really dense. It felt like I had to add too much flour to get a dough that wasn’t sticky. How might I fix this? Should I let them rise more after shaping them?
So it sounds like you are saying the dough seems dense. You can definitely let them rise first – cover and place in a warm draft free spot for about 1 hour. They do rise in the oven though as heated, particularly since this recipe uses a high amount of yeast. That said, I’m a little concerned about the need to add more flour. I don’t typically have to go any higher than the upper end of that range. So it’s hard to say what the dough you are dealing with is like. Adding too much flour can definitely make them more dense.
Could I use all whole wheat flour?
Technically, yes, but they won’t rise very much. The more whole wheat you use, the denser they will be. To help counteract this, you can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of wheat gluten – or just enjoy the denser buns 🙂
These were SO EASY and SO QUICK and SO GOOD! I rolled them in sesame seeds before baking, but they would have been just as yummy plain. My mother (who is the queen of processed/quick food) said that she wanted the recipe so that she could make them herself. High praise!
That’s wonderful! So glad you both enjoyed the recipe Christina 🙂
I made them today and they were very dense. I will try again with new yeast and let them proof for an hour. Hope it works.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out! Yes, they won’t rise if the yeast isn’t active. If you decide to let the buns rise, you can reduce the yeast to 1 tablespoon. It might even work fine with 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) if you are using packets and not jarred. I would rise for an hour, make the buns, and let them rise again, for about 30 minutes before preheating the oven.
I have made these 3 times as hamburger buns with rave reviews! Today I divided them into 16 dough balls and made dinner rolls. This recipe is a keeper.
I am glad to read that the amount of sugar can be reduced. Will try that next time.
OMG. So easy and so good! I will never buy them again!
Thanks!
Just wanted to let you know, I made these vegan and oil free and they were awesome. Used a flax egg and applesauce in place of the oil. Also used all white whole wheat. Going to go make some minis for sliders. Thanks so much.
Turned out wonderful and so quick and easy, perfect with my turkey avocado burger. I used my bread machine to mix the dough and let it rise some. I did not have an egg, so did the flax substitute, used coconut oil and honey for the sugar. The buns were a bit crispy on the bottom with these substitutions, so delicious. I froze some of the dough to have on hand.
I made these for our dinner last night & they turned out perfectly! I made them vegan. I used an egg replacer powder, 3 cups of all purpose flour & 1/2 cup of oat flour. It’s all I had in my cupboards, but it worked. They were delicious! I had no problems with the rising. I brushed them with a little rice milk & sprinkled extra oat flour on the top.
My husband took one to work today for his meatless burger & just texted about how good it was.
And the fact that I threw it together in less than a half hour was a huge bonus. ?
Thank you so much for the recipe!! This is now a staple in my cupboard.
These are amazing! Very fast and easy! I used bread flour and will always use this recipe for my hamburger and hot dog buns! My whole family loves them! Mine turned out nice and big too!
I tried this recipe last week and it turned out perfectly! My boyfriend said his only complaint was that it was too tasty! =) He said he could actually taste the bun more than the burger he had with it.
Thank you! I was so glad to find a recipe in which I didn’t need to wait 2 hours for the dough to rise.
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