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These easy homemade hoagie rolls are soft, chewy, and sturdy enough to hold all your favorite sandwich fillings — yet simple enough for even beginner bakers. With just a handful of pantry staples and straightforward steps, you can skip the store-bought rolls and bake bakery-style hoagies right at home.
Made with just 9 simple ingredients, these easy Hoagie Rolls are the perfect base for French dip sandwiches, meatball sliders, pesto meatball sandwich and more!
Why Make Fresh Hoagie Rolls?
BECAUSE YOU WILL BE A HERO.
We make our own hoagie rolls because it goes so fast, it’s easier for me than to remember to run to the store. The only problem is, I didn’t think everyone else would want to make them too, but boy was I wrong!
We received a comment on our french dip sandwiches post saying they would like the recipe for the hoagies and I had stated I would post it, but I forgot and got busy aka side tracked with the gazillion recipes always floating around in my head. And then that recipe has gotten really popular and I not only started getting more comments, but emails too!
One night, we were eating french dip for dinner when, BAM! I remembered that I was going to photograph them. I had hardly any light left and we were literally eating them so I quickly threw the hoagies on a board, snapped a few shots and now here we are.
What’s Needed for Hoagie Rolls?
To make this hoagie bread recipe, you need 9 simple ingredients:
- Warm Water: Activates the yeast and hydrates the flour, helping the dough come together smoothly.
- Instant Yeast: Leavens the dough, allowing the rolls to rise and develop a light, airy texture.
- Granulated Sugar: Feeds the yeast to encourage rising and adds a subtle sweetness to the rolls.
- Honey: Enhances flavor, adds gentle sweetness, and helps create a softer crumb and lightly golden crust.
- Flour: Provides structure and strength while keeping the rolls soft and tender.
- Salt: Balances sweetness and enhances flavor while strengthening the dough’s structure.
- Butter: Adds richness and tenderness, creating soft, fluffy hoagie rolls.
- Egg: Used for brushing the rolls before baking to promote a shiny, golden finish.
- Milk: Combined with the egg white to thin the wash and help create an evenly browned crust.
The measurements for all the ingredients are listed in the recipe card at the end of the post.
How to Make Hoagie Buns
This sub roll recipe is incredibly easy, but it does require some patience as the dough goes through two separate rises.
- Make the Dough: Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, make the dough (**see section below for tips on making the dough).
- First Rise: Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled.
- Shape the Dough: Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper and shape the dough into 4-8 hoagies.
- Second Rise: Cover lightly with a towel and allow to rise another 1 to 2 hours.
- Slash: Slash the top of each roll with a really sharp knife or blade and brush with egg and milk mixture.
- Bake: Bake until golden and sound hard when you gently tap the outside. Brush with butter.
The complete instructions are listed in the recipe card. You can also print or save the recipe there.
Tips for Finishing Hoagie Rolls
- I highly recommend brushing the hoagie bread with butter before serving it.
- If you like a little crunch and an added flavor, sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top right after brushing with butter.
- The bread is hard upon removal but quickly softens, so don’t worry that you over baked.
- Let the sub rolls cool for 15 or so minutes before cutting them.
Hoagie Roll FAQs
A hoagie roll is a type of long flat roll used to prepare hoagie sandwiches. A Hoagie is the same thing as a Sub sandwich, hero sandwich, or grinder.
There is no difference. They are the same thing, but they just are called a variety of names depending on where you are from.
In all my research, it’s a little hard to say where the word “hoagie” comes from. There’s a consensus that it comes from the Philadelphia area in the mid 1900s, but where it exactly originates is debatable.
Wrap the rolls well, or place in a zip lock bag. Hoagie rolls will keep for 5-7 days at room temperature.
Yes! To freeze hoagie rolls and buns, place them inside a freezer bag and seal tightly. Hoagie rolls will keep 3 months in the freezer.
Tips for Making the Dough
- Since posting this recipe, we have received several comments about the recipe being wrong, the dough is too wet, the ratios are off, etc. I started to wonder if somehow the recipe had been changed without my knowing it. So I made the recipe again exactly how it is written, and they came out perfectly!
- In fact, they were so good, I re-photographed them and those pictures are the ones you see now.
- The dough will seem a little wet and shaggy at first (known as slack dough which is like a blog and will not hold a shape), but you just have to keep mixing it. As you work the gluten, the dough become so smooth and silky. Patience is key and trust the process!
Homemade hoagie rolls might sound intimidating, but this easy recipe proves just how achievable they really are. Soft, chewy, and incredibly versatile, and homemade is always better. Make a batch for dinner, freeze extras for later, and enjoy fresh, bakery-quality bread whenever you need it.
More Easy Bread Recipes to Try:
- No-Knead Artisan Bread
- French Bread
- Herbed Focaccia Bread
- Classic Potato Rolls
- Homemade Naan
- 7 Up Biscuits
- All of our bread recipes!
Watch How Each Step of This Recipe Should Look…
Easy Hoagie Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups Warm Water
- 1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
- 1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 3 ¾ Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Salt
- 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cubed
- 1 Egg White
- 1 Tablespoon Milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the warm water, yeast, sugar, and honey.1 ½ Cups Warm Water, 1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast, 1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Honey
- Allow to foam up for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the flour and using a dough hook mix for 4 minutes on low.3 ¾ Cups All-Purpose Flour
- Increase the speed to medium and add the salt, mixing for another 3 minutes.1 Tablespoon Salt
- Finally, add the cold butter, one tablespoon at a time and mix for another minute or two after each addition. Continue to mix until no pieces of butter remain. This is going to be odd to see that butter slapping around in there, but trust me, as you mix, the dough will firm up and be silky and all butter will be incorporated.3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled (olive oil or vegetable oil is great) bowl, turning over to coat, cover with a towel and allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours.
- Place a silpat or parchment paper on a baking sheet and shape the dough into 4-8 hoagies depending on size preference. I like to flatten each piece into a rectangle, fold one end up like an envelope, turn 180 degrees and fold up the other end over the first. Repeat until you've formed a hoagie and pinch shut the seam and end seams.
- Place seam side down and repeat with remaining dough.
- Cover lightly with a towel and allow to rise another 1 to 2 hours.
- Whisk together the egg white and milk. Using a razor blade, make a slit down the top of each roll. Brush each top with the egg mixture.1 Egg White, 1 Tablespoon Milk
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF, place the hoagie rolls on the baking pan and bake for 16 to 22 minutes.
- Remove from the oven when they are lightly golden and feel hard when you tap the crust.
- Rub with a little butter if desired and allow to cool.
- The bread is hard upon removal but quickly softens, so don't worry that you over baked.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Question: Ihave a screenshot of your website and some flour dusted hoagie rolls (my timestamp says 2015). Are these the same rolls, just rephotographed? Thanks!
Yes, exactly! We were getting so many questions about this recipe that I decided to make them again and re-photograph them. Enjoy!
My daughter is allergic to dairy so I substituted coconut oil and sprayed with oil before baking and they turned out great! Thanks for this simple, delicious recipe
That is great to know! Thank you so much for taking time to leave a comment, especially for substitutions that work. That helps other readers so much!
I was looking for a hoagie roll recipe to make for Italian Beef sandwiches tonight – New Years Eve. These were a disaster – and I have a lot of baking experience – dough had no real substance to it – when you sliced it with a knife on top the dough immediately collapsed – taste was not too bad – but they were not a pretty sight – very flat. I am baking at sea level so altitude not a factor and I followed recipe exactly.
Hi Elizabeth, we haven’t ever had that issue. Did you add enough flour or let them over-rise? If you watch in the video they turn out beautifully there as well and the video was actually made in a totally different altitude as well. I’d love to help you troubleshoot if you’d like.
I think the dough may need to be turned onto flour before shaping into hoagies? I definitely mixed my long enough, the initial proof was beautiful, but I couldn’t shape them it was so sticky. They turned out into horrible, ugly, large, wet, dough blobs no matter how gently I handled them. I bake a lot of bread, something is missing here….typically you turn onto flour before shaping.
Hi Kait! I just retested this recipe because we were getting so many similar comments. It is a sticky dough but it becomes satiny and smooth as you knead it. You can definitely turn it out onto a lightly floured surface if you feel like you needs it. I’m sorry it didn’t work out the first time. I appreciate the feedback!
These turned out great.. I followed the recipe to the t and yes they were sticky, but used a couple of tbsp of flour to make it workable while making loaves and had no trouble. Thanks for the detailed, but more importantly yummy recipe..
Yay! Thank you so much Gail! So glad you enjoyed them!
I hate to say this, but I don’t believe the measurements are accurate. I followed your recipe to a “T” but I had to keep adding more and more AP flour until it got to the right consistency. I’m not a novice when baking bread or rolls; I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now, so I thought I’d try this recipe, and it just did not work. I believe at least 5+ cups of flour would be right. After constant addition of flour and kneading in my mixer, it all came together. It rose perfectly, and I was able to make the rolls, and they were really good – a tad sweet, so next time, I’d cut the sugar and honey in half, at least…don’t need that much sweetness in a savory bread or roll. Just tellin’ ya like it is, for me anyway! Be well!
Hi Pamela! That definitely doesn’t sound right. I’m so sorry for the frustration! The dough should be a little tacky but not sticky at all. More flour should be added as needed. I’m going to review this recipe again and make sure nothing has been changed. Thank you for bringing this to my attention!
Hi Pamela! I just made these again this weekend exactly as written and they turned out perfectly. I am thinking that the dough wasn’t mixed long enough. It’s a little shaggy at first, but as you mix it and work the gluten, it become super smooth and silky.
How do you measure your flour? Weigh, scoop or scoop and shake or with a spoon? I use the bakers way of measuring flour and this Was far too wet. I had to add a full cup of flour to obtain the correct Consistency. Luckily I am not a novice at bread making but you may want to
Specify the way you measure your flour. I use liquid measuring cups for all my liquids. Could get frustrating for newbies! Hope it tastes great Tonight for my meatball subs!
Head to our post on how to measure flour: https://ohsweetbasil.com/how-to-measure-flour-plus-giveaway/
This recipe is very forgiving and we’ve had readers add up to a cup of extra flour.
My dough was very sticky. Did I do something wrong? Any tips?
I’m so sorry for the frustration on this! It should be a little tacky but not sticky if everything was measured properly. I’ve had readers add up to a cup more flour to get the right texture. Be sure you knead it on a floured surface, and make sure you are also using liquid measuring cups for your wet ingredients.
Hello! If I don’t own standup mixer, how would I make it?
Thank you!
Hi! You can do it by hand. When it says let the dough hook mix for a certain amount if time, then you’ll just knead it for that long. Enjoy!
I used a little extra flour for my hands and cutting board to knead but it came out yummy following exactly as your instructions!!!
Thank you!!
Thank you for the feedback!
I followed the recipe to the T, except when I added the flour. I added a 1/4 cup to the dough mixture until the dough became tacky, then I kneaded the dough on a lightly floured surface (adding more flour when needed) for about 6-8 minutes. After this I followed the rest of the recipe. These hoagies turned out really good. I will make them again.
Thank you so much for the feedback!