Oh, boy are you in for a treat with these Easy Lemon Pull-Apart Rolls! They are such an easy recipe to make up and bake until perfectly golden brown with a tasty lemony glaze to make the best lemon rolls.
There is no need for any instant yeast or dry ingredients for this recipe because you will be making this recipe with a premade piece of dough, aka no mixing with an electric mixer making this recipe as easy as can be.
Sweet breads are perfect to serve at a weekend brunch, or when you want an easy breakfast your whole family will love, yet keep it an easy lemon pull-apart bread yeast dough recipe with the best results when you use this sweet rolls recipe.
Ingredient Notes
- Rhodes Dinner Rolls thawed but still cold
- Zest of large lemons
- Sugar
- Butter melted
Citrus Lemon Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Butter melted
- Fresh lemon juice



How to make Easy Lemon Pull-Apart Rolls:
- Mix lemon zest from the lemon peel with the sugar in a small bow to create the lemon sugar
- Cut rolls in half and place in a 12-inch sprayed deep dish pizza pan or 9×13-inch sprayed baking pan.
- Drizzle ¼ cup melted butter over the dough balls. Sprinkle with lemon zest/sugar mixture, reserving ½ of the mixture to sprinkle on just before baking.
- Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until double in size in the prepared pan.
- Remove wrap. Sprinkle on the remaining mixture. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes.
- Remove immediately from pan and place on a cooling rack or wire rack.
- Combine glaze ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over pull-aparts.

Storing and Other Tips
Super simple, all you have to do it store the rolls broken into individual rolls in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for at least 3 days.
Then just pop them in the microwave for about 15 seconds and serve them with a cup of coffee and enjoy them again!
Other Sweet Bread Recipes You Might Like
- 30 Minute Mini Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
- The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Glazed Almond Poppy Seed Bread

Easy Lemon Pull-Apart Rolls
Ingredients
- 12 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold
- zest of 2 lemons
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter, melted
Citrus Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon butter, melted
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix lemon zest with sugar.
- Cut rolls in half and place in a 12-inch sprayed deep dish pizza pan or 9×13-inch sprayed baking pan.
- Drizzle 1/4 cup melted butter over rolls. Sprinkle with lemon zest/sugar mixture, reserving 1/2 of mixture to sprinkle on just before baking.
- Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise until double in size.
- Remove wrap. Sprinkle on remaining mixture. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes.
- Remove immediately from pan and place on cooling rack.
- Combine glaze ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over pull-aparts.



















I make these, but with orange instead of lemon!! I love them.
Oh I love using Rhodes Rolls!
Mmmmm, these sounds super good. I love lemony things!
Ooooh I can see why you had a hard time staying away! I’m going to need to make these for myself…or maybe I shouldn’t, since I’d probably eat them for 3 out of 3 meals…plus snacks… 😉
Made these tonight plus a pan for a friend…..LUCIOUS…..and the lemon zest sugar….OH MY….had to make extra to put in a jar for tea. Thank you…
SO yummy looking! I can’t wait to try these!! I absolutely love making desserts! 😉
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I’m going to try these with my own roll dough and see how it goes. I can be lazy, stay home and start dough in the bread machine, and still get a treat!
I’m just wondering if you can put the rolls in the fridge over night so you can bake this in the morning? I’m not a pro at using frozen dough, but this looks too yummy to pass up!!
Putting them in the fridge overnight will slow down the raising process. Be sure you leave them enough time to raise before baking.
How long should it take these to rise?
Takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. A lot of times it just depends on how warm the house is. Doesn’t usually take very long.
What are “Rhodes Rolls”? Are they like Parkerhouse rolls? Frozen dough balls?
Rhodes Rolls is just frozen roll dough balls. Found in the freezer section. You could use store brand or whatever your store carries.
Do you store these in the fridge or on the counter?
They are fine to be left on the counter. Store them in a plastic bag or airtight container if not eaten soon! They don’t last long at our house!
When you say cut roll in half….what exactly do you mean….12 will make a whole 9x 13. Thanks for the info
You cut them in 1/2 when they are thawed but still cold. They have not yet started to rise. Space them out in the pan and they will all connect together when they begin to rise and double in size. I have a pair of kitchen scissors and that works the best for snipping them in half.
Not a big lemon fan so I am going to try orange juice & zest. I also was thinking about pineapple . Maybe bits of pineapple with the orange juice. What do you think? Thank you for this easy quick breakfast roll. Will make my family happy to have these for a quick bite in the morning before church. Then brunch afterwards. Fist time visiting your site. Not the last. : )
I am going to try this but going to add cream cheese to frosting.
These were very good. I made them in individual muffin pans and they turned out perfect!
In making them in individual servings, I split the dinner roll into quarters and lined the bottom of the muffin pan
Looks delish, but I am confused. The picture seems to show the rolls sitting in the baking dish with the glaze pooled around them, but recipe says, “Remove immediately from pan and place on cooling rack. Combine glaze ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over pull-aparts.” If they’re on a rack, won’t the glaze just run off?
Wonder how well this would work using canned refrigerated biscuits instead of the yeast rolls? Of course the baking time would be shorter… prep/waiting time would be much shorter, too, always a big plus at my house! 🙂
We left them in the pan for the picture. You can leave them in if you wish or let them cool on a wire rack. We let them cool slightly, then drizzle the glaze over the top. It runs down the side and it’s delicious! Hope this helps!