How to Bake Hamburger Rolls on a Gas Grill

• Gas grill
• Baking sheet
• Pizza stone, baking steel, cast iron griddle, or another heavy heat-safe surface
• Proofed hamburger rolls

Use a Pizza Stone?

The pizza stone acts as a heat buffer between the burners and the baking sheet. Without some type of heat buffer, the bottoms of the rolls can brown too quickly before the tops are fully baked. A pizza stone helps create more even heat and mimics the way a traditional oven bakes bread.

Preheat your grill to approximately 375°F (190°C).

Allow the grill to fully preheat before adding the rolls.

If your grill has multiple burners, create an indirect heat zone.

For many gas grills, this means:

• Turn the outside burners on.
• Leave the center burner off.

The goal is to heat the grill chamber without exposing the bread to direct flames.

Every grill is a little different, so use whatever burner arrangement creates an even temperature around 375°F.

Place the pizza stone directly on the grill grates.

Close the lid and allow the stone to heat for several minutes.

This helps stabilize temperatures before baking.

Place the baking sheet containing your proofed rolls directly on top of the pizza stone. Close the lid. At this point, your grill is functioning much like an outdoor oven.

Bake at approximately 375°F (190°C) for 15–18 minutes.

The rolls are finished when:

• The tops are golden brown
• The rolls feel light and airy
• The internal temperature reaches approximately 190°F (88°C)

My grill has a hot spots. So, about halfway through baking, rotate the baking sheet if one side appears to be browning faster than the other.

Remove the rolls from the grill and transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool before slicing. This is the worst part. It takes at least 1 hour.

For the rolls shown in these photos, I used:

• A gas grill
• A pizza stone
• A standard baking sheet
• Indirect heat
• A target temperature of approximately 375°F

The pizza stone prevented the bottoms from over-browning while allowing the rolls to bake evenly throughout.

Every time the lid opens, heat escapes. Treat your grill just like an oven and keep the lid closed as much as possible.

Built-in grill thermometers are often only approximate. If you bake on your grill frequently, an inexpensive grill thermometer can help maintain more consistent temperatures.

Outdoor temperature, wind, grill design, and baking sheet thickness can all affect baking time. Start checking the rolls a few minutes before the expected finish time.

You can still bake bread on the grill.

Alternative heat buffers include:

• Cast iron griddle
• Baking steel
• Double-stacked baking sheets
• Heavy-duty sheet pan

The goal is simply to create a barrier between the direct burner heat and the bread.

Because these rolls bake using indirect heat, they taste very similar to oven-baked bread. Most people would never know they were baked on a grill unless you told them.

See our Soft Milk Kefir Hamburger Rolls recipe