Shortcut Bread Bowls

Shortcut Bread Bowls- Using a freezer aisle favorite and a little patience, these homemade bread bowls are perfect for soup season.

September 28, 2025 by Nicole Collins

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Today, we’re making Shortcut Bread Bowls!

People ask me all the time where I get all my recipe ideas; and honestly, I find inspiration in all kinds of places. Restaurant menus, candle fragrances, random conversations…when I say all kinds of places, I mean it.

Recently, I’ve been dreaming about food A LOT. Honestly, I’ve kinda been in a creative rut (which is why you haven’t seen much of me this month). But, my dreams have been poppin’ with ideas. At least my subconscious is still on the clock.

These food dreams come in different shapes and sizes. Sometimes, I’m performing a whole TikTok style recipe in my dream, so I have a solid gameplan when I wake. Sometimes, it’s more like an earworm but in my dreams. I wake up almost chanting the idea from my dream to awake state so I don’t forget it. That’s exactly what happened the other night. I woke up obsessively thinking about shrimp chowder in a bread bowl. Shrimp chowder in a bread bowl. Shrimp chowder in a bread bowl.

This led me to do a little research about storebought and homemade bread bowls, and that’s when the stroke of genius hit me. Can we make smaller, single serve bread bowls from some kind of frozen bread dough?

Guess what? WE CAN! And that’s exactly what we’re doing today.

The main ingredient in this recipe is time. Time to thaw. Time to rise. Time to bake. Time to cool. But the good news is, there’s no skill required for being patient. You just go about your day, stop to check on the dough here and there, and BAM…bread bowls!

We’re going to start with some frozen dinner roll bread dough. I use Rhodes Rolls, and they work absolutely perfectly.

There are two ways you can go about thawing based on your time constraints. You can either thaw at room temperature, or you can thaw overnight in the fridge. BUT, if you choose to thaw overnight, the dough will still need to sit a room temperature before we get started. So, you’re not totally off the hook that way. The first thaw at room temp takes about 3-5 hours. The first thaw overnight takes 8-10 hours PLUS 2 hours at room temp. So, I’ll let you choose which option works best for you.

The cool thing about this recipe is that you can easily make as many or as few bread bowls as you need. Per bread bowl, we need 4 frozen dinner rolls. We’ll put them in a bowl that’s been lightly sprayed with olive oil cooking spray, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough balls thaw as noted above until the dough doubles in size.

After the first thaw, we’re going to roll the 4 mini dough balls together into one bigger ball. I use the same method I would with pizza dough to do this. Tuck and fold the dough underneath itself towards the center until you have one smooth ball, then pinch the seams together at the bottom nice and tight, and lay the ball on a parchment lined baking sheet. Per large baking sheet, I usually do only 3 large dough balls. Then, we’ll cover the dough ball with the same plastic wrap we used to cover the bowl in the first rise. And, we’ll let the dough balls rest at room temp for another small rise for 30 mins.

From there, we’ll brush the dough balls all over with a simple egg wash, bake the bread bowls for 20 mins, allow them to cool for another 20 mins, and they’re ready to be filled with your favorite soup or dip. Just carefully use a sharp knife to carve a cone shape into the center of the bowl, pull out the excess bread, and you’re ready to fill.

What I really love about these bread bowls is that they’re not as dense as a typical bread bowls. I find that you get a full body workout sometimes just trying to tear a corner off of a store bought bread bowl. But these are nice and light and fluffy on the inside while still being sturdy enough to contain piping hot liquid gold. And truly, besides having to exercise a little patience, these could not be any easier. And don’t even get me started on how adorable they are or what a showstopper they are presentation wise.

These are a win win all around!

Alright, everyone! Tell me what kind of soup you’re filling these bowls with. Give me some inspo! Side note…I’m still working on that shrimp chowder.

I hope you guys enjoy! Let’s eat!

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Shortcut Bread Bowls

Serves: 1          Print

Ingredients:

• 4 frozen dinner roll dough balls (I use Rhodes Rolls)

• 1 egg + 1 tsp water, well beaten

• Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

1. Lightly spray a small bowl with cooking spray. Add frozen dough balls to the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to sit at room temperature for 3-5 hours until the dough has doubled in size. Alternately, you can let the dough thaw in the fridge overnight for 8-10 hours, then allow to sit at room temp for 1-2 hours when ready to use.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Round and combine the dough into one ball by gently tucking the edges of the dough under itself towards its center, and pinching the seams together at the bottom of the ball. Place dough ball on prepared baking sheet, and cover with the same sheet of plastic wrap used to cover the original bowl. Allow to sit for 30 mins to rise.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the dough ball, and brush the entire surface with egg wash. Use a sharp knife to score an “X” into the top of the dough ball. Bake for 20 mins until golden.

4. Allow the bread to cool for 20 mins. Then use a sharp knife, cutting at an angle towards the center, to cut a hole out of the center of the bread. Instead of pulling out more bread to make a bigger bowl inside, use your fingers to press down the bread into the shape of the bowl.

5. Fill with your favorite soup or dip, and enjoy!
   

Recipe notes:

*You can make as many bread bowls at once as you’d like! I do thaw the dough balls in individual bowls for each bread bowl. I also only bake 3 at a time per large baking sheet, as they do expand while baking.

*I have only tested these with Rhodes Rolls, but they’re perfect every time!