This Is What Makes Texas Roadhouse Rolls So Delicious
Famed country-themed restaurant Texas Roadhouse first opened its doors to the public in 1993 (per Texas Roadhouse). Since its opening, the company has grown to more than 520 locations and 10 foreign countries where customers have been able to enjoy "hand-cut steaks, fall-off-the-bone ribs, made-from-scratch sides," 15 varieties of margaritas, and more. But, there's one thing that brings all of the customers back — the fresh-baked and highly irresistible rolls.
Served with a delicious honey cinnamon butter, the rolls are soft, sweet, and always ready to eat as each customer makes their way to their seat. With an unlimited amount available, it's hard to resist scarfing down a whole basket or three before your meal arrives. Actually, they're so well-loved, one Texas Roadhouse fan even got a tattoo of a basket of rolls and the sweet butter served alongside them (via Instagram).
So, what is the secret behind the decadent rolls? What is it that makes them so deliciously irresistible? Well ...
The rolls are baked fresh every five minutes
The restaurant serves up fresh rolls to every customer coming through and makes sure to have enough by baking them every five minutes. According to one Reddit user, the rolls are made using a flour mix, yeast, water, and sugar. The flour mix is a sweet propriety mix. Once baked, butter is melted over the buns and the resulting treat is sweet, doughy, and buttery, something fans of the franchise have loved. They're then served alongside the famous honey cinnamon butter as each table is seated and as previously stated, your server is more than happy to bring you extra once your roll basket runs empty ... which probably won't' be long.
As one Twitter user stated, "And don't let me be at Texas Roadhouse where they got the cinnamon butter to go with the rolls. I'm asking for a second basket before my meal even gets there."
Every restaurant has a baker in charge of the rolls
To make sure there is a focus on getting the rolls out fresh and delicious, each Texas Roadhouse restaurant has a baker in charge of making each yeast roll from scratch every day (per Texas Roadhouse). Once they're finished baking, each roll is kept warm under heat lamps, so they're served just right (per Business Insider).
Obviously, not every Texas Roadhouse employee is going to love the job, but some certainly do. One Indeed user praised their job as a baker, stating, "I loved this job. I was able to bake bread and put [it] in baskets for servers to take to the customers. It was fast paced during peak times but was still really fun. I loved my co-workers. The hardest part was trying not to burn yourself and getting by on your own when someone didn't show up to work."
It's good to know the bakers have focus and excitement about making each and every roll in order to help to make them as tasty as possible, and we thank them kindly for that.
The honey cinnamon butter is homemade
One deliciously sweet thing fans of the franchise are very grateful for is the honey cinnamon butter that helps to complete the rolls. As one Business Insider reviewer said it, "They [the rolls] were clearly created to be married to the lightly sweet and slightly spiced cinnamon butter. Mmm." We couldn't agree more.
Just like everything else on the menu at Texas Roadhouse, the honey cinnamon butter is homemade to perfection (per Texas Roadhouse). The same Reddit user that gave us the ingredients for the fresh baked rolls states the cinnamon butter is a "butter blend, honey and cinnamon." In fact, they make large amounts of the butter, measurements the user remembers to be "40lbs of butter, 64oz of honey and 2 cups of cinnamon." That's a lot of honey cinnamon butter and we are here for it.
The honey cinnamon butter is a staple for the rolls. Without it, what would they be aside from simple doughy pillows?
The rolls at Texas Roadhouse are free with every meal
Did we mention the rolls are free for every table? Not only are they free, but as previously mentioned, they're unlimited, which makes them so much more addicting. Served alongside a bucket of peanuts (also free) when you're first seated, you can enjoy as many rolls as you want with no cost. Who doesn't love that?
We all appreciate that they come with no cost to our bank accounts, of course. One Twitter user sees the free rolls as a great opportunity, stating "Date idea: Texas Roadhouse just for the free bread and cinnamon butter." Another user stated, "I'd go to texas roadhouse and just eat the warm rolls with the honey butter and order a water and walk out with a fantastic free meal." We don't recommend doing that, but definitely agree the rolls are fantastic.
Be careful not to spoil your appetite before your meal arrives. We definitely know how hard they are to ignore. Even better, if you're ordering to-go and craving some extra rolls, you can buy a half dozen of them for $2.49 or dozen for a low price of $4.99 (via Texas Roadhouse). You can thank us later.
They're served alongside 300,000 meals a day
With 5,000 guests served a day per restaurant, the rolls are served alongside 300,000 meals a day in total between all of the restaurants, so we know the bakers have got it down to a T when it comes to making these amazing rolls (per Texas Roadhouse). The average Texas Roadhouse is 6,700 – 7,500 square feet and seats 291 guests, so we can only imagine how many rolls are served each hour as tables are seated. According to a post on the Willoughby, Ohio location's Facebook, they estimate 5,000,000 rolls each week!
Not only that, but the franchise has been nationally recognized for its excellence in service and food preparation, winning multiple awards, including by Forbes in 2011 as one of America's Top Chain Restaurant, Newsweek in 2019 as one of America's Best Customer Service restaurants in the Casual Dining category, and in 2020 as one of the top ten brands resonating with consumers amid coronavirus by influencer marketing and social data firm Influential (per Texas Roadhouse).
All in all, the rolls, alongside the honey cinnamon butter at Texas Roadhouse, are a staple for fans of the franchise, and the restaurant brand has succeeded in creating an item that so many look forward to with each visit.