Get ready for a soft, fluffy, and downright delicious experience with this Slow Cooker Easy Focaccia Recipe! It’s packing all the flavor you adore in regular focaccia but with a magical secret ingredient that slashes the time and effort in half. Serve it up warm and watch it become the star of the show alongside all your favorite meals!

focaccia bread with kalamata olives on a marble slab garnished with fresh basil

What Is Focaccia? 

An Italian recipe, focaccia is a type of flatbread that is made with flour, oil, water, yeast, and salt. Typically, the dough is kneaded, left to rise for hours, and then baked in an oven. A popular street food, focaccia can be found being served both sweet and savory and is sometimes even stuffed with ingredients like sausage and cheese. 

Is Focaccia Just Pizza Dough? 

Although similar in taste, texture, and ingredients, they are not quite the same. You see, focaccia contains more yeast than pizza dough and is also often punctured before baking. This results in a much more moist and fluffy texture, similar to a bread loaf. 

Surprisingly Easy Focaccia Ingredients

This easy focaccia is breaking all the rules with its super short and sweet ingredient list. The secret? We’re skipping the whole homemade dough saga and going straight for dinner rolls! Yep, you heard it right. Here’s the lowdown on everything you’ll need:

  • Dinner Rolls – Our secret ingredient and the key to making easy focaccia, using pre-made dinner rolls means the dough is already done for you. We recommend using simple rolls that have not been flavored with additional seasonings, and don’t forget to make sure they’re frozen! Otherwise, your focaccia will be hard and overcooked. 
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Not only does it add incredible savory flavor, but using olive oil also helps create the golden brown exterior we love. 
  • Herbs & Spices – For an out-of-this-world taste we include a handful of herbs and spices including rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper. 
  • Olives – Totally optional, we love to sprinkle in olives for a boost of healthy fats and flavor. We like black olives best, but feel free to experiment with whatever you have on hand! 

How to Make This Easy Focaccia Recipe in the Slow Cooker

We grew up eating warm homemade focaccia and still love it to this day. However, between work, chasing after the kids, and just doing life, spending all day in the kitchen is a luxury we don’t always have time for. But fear not, we’ve got your back with a little creativity! Enter our slow cooker easy focaccia – it’s a trip down memory lane to warm homemade goodness but with a genius shortcut that slashes time and effort in half. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Line the slow cooker with parchment paper
  2. Place the rolls in a single layer at the bottom, making sure they are not touching. 
  3. Cover, and set on warm for 1.5-2 hours or until they are double in size
  4. Drizzle the olive oil, and use your fingers to puncture the rolls. 
  5. Sprinkle herbs, seasonings, and olives on top. 
  6. Cook on high for 1 ½ hours. Then, turn the heat OFF for 30 minutes
focaccia bread with kalamata olives on a marble slab garnished with fresh basil

Storage

Trust us, you won’t have any leftovers. However, if you do, this easy focaccia recipe can be kept at room temperature or in the freezer! 

Room Temperature: Store your bread in an airtight for up to 2-3 days!

Freezer: Slice your easy focaccia into individual pieces. Then, lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place them in the freezer for up to 2 hours. Next, wrap each portion in parchment paper, and transfer them all to a sealable bag. Press out as much air as possible, and store your bread for up to 2 months.

To Reheat: We love to reheat this easy focaccia in the air fryer or toaster. However, you could also warm it in the oven at 375° until it is heated through. 

Easy Focaccia Serving Suggestions 

In all honesty, we eat this bread on its own – typically right out of the slow cooker! It’s THAT good. But hey, if you’re in the mood to share or make a meal out of it, this bread is like a social chameleon. It gets along famously with pretty much anything. Here are some faves:

closeup focaccia bread with kalamata olives on a marble slab garnished with fresh basil

More Easy Bread Recipes

  • An easy focaccia hack, this No Knead Focaccia Bread Art looks great and tastes even better. 
  • No Knead Cheesy Focaccia Bread is irresistibly delicious and customizable to fit all your needs. 
  • Buttery, cheesy, salty, crispy, and so much more, this Olive Cheese Bread is unbelievably good! 
  • This Spinach and Artichoke Bread Ring is the perfect appetizer for game days, holidays, and more. 
sliced easy focaccia with olives

Slow Cooker Easy Focaccia Recipe

4.49 from 33 votes
Author: Food Dolls
Servings: 14 servings
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 4 hours
Total: 4 hours 5 minutes
Made in the slow cooker, this Easy Focaccia Recipe is a comfort food recipe the whole family will love!

Ingredients  

  • 12-14 frozen dinner rolls
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary
  • 2 Tablespoons fresh thyme
  • 2 Tablespoons fresh oregano
  • 1/2 cup Kalamata olives
  • Kosher salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

Instructions 

  • Line a slow cooker with parchment paper.
  • Arrange the frozen dinner rolls in the bottom of the slow cooker, leaving space between them. NOTE: The smaller the slow cooker, the less rolls will be used.
    12-14 frozen dinner rolls
  • Cover and set on warm for 1 1/2-2 hours or until double in size.
  • Drizzle with olive oil, and use fingers to press down the dough. Sprinkle herbs, seasonings, and olives on top.
    1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, 2 Tablespoons fresh thyme, 2 Tablespoons fresh oregano, 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, Kosher salt to taste, Black pepper to taste
  • Cover and cook on high for 1 1/2 hours. Then, turn the slow cooker OFF, and let stand covered for 30 minutes.
  • Remove the focaccia from the slow cooker, slice, and serve!

Video

Equipment

Notes

Depending on the slow cooker, cook times may vary. You’ll know the focaccia is done when it is crisp and golden on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. 
We highly recommend checking on it after 1 hour when it is on high. If it starts to brown too much, switch to low.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 269mg | Potassium: 61mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 87IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this recipe?Please leave a comment!

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Meet Alia & Radwa

Welcome to Food Dolls! We’re so glad you found us. We are Alia and Radwa, sisters who want to share simple and easy recipes with you. We hope you find recipes here that you enjoy making as much as we do! Learn more about us!

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Recipe Rating




21 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    The first time I tried this my rolls wouldn’t rise (although it still turned out so tasty), this second time I just arranged the rolls in the crockpot and left it OFF in a warm place for the rising instructions on the rolls. Then I followed the directions after that. I think my crockpot gets a little too warm on the warm setting which inhibits the rising – otherwise this is such a great recipe!

    1. Thank you for the feedback, Liz! We’re so glad you were able to make it work for you. 😊

      Xo,
      Alia & Radwa

  2. 5 stars
    Fantastic! This was an excellent idea and recipe. Sundried tomatoes were added. Next time, adding seasoning to parchment for bottom of bread.

  3. 5 stars
    I have always oiled the rolls while defrosting them so I did that with this recipe and it was perfect!

  4. 2 stars
    Unfortunately this didn’t work in my crockpot either. Loved the idea but I am afraid not all crockpots are created equal. I might try it again sometime and use a little rack.

    1. did not work for me. The bottom was mushy. the sides were brown and the top just didn’t seem to be done enough

  5. I was going to purchase Pillsbury cou try biscuits. If I take them out of the package and roll them into balls then freeze them will that work. I live in Ontario Canada and have never seen frozen bread balls. Thanks so much.

  6. wondering if the dinner rolls are supposed to be raw dough? I can only find precooked dinner rolls and I feel like this won’t work.

    1. Yay! We are so glad to hear that it was a hit! Let us know what else you end up trying!

      xo, Alia and Radwa

  7. 2 stars
    Cook time is way off on this, it was nothing like the pictures or video. My slow cooker works great, I followed directions exactly and it came out like a cracker crust on the bottom and dry, chewy and way overcooked on top. It was a waste of ingredients and got tossed in the trash.

    Bummer too, because I’ve had the same issue with a lot of your recipes, they look great in the videos but recipes don’t work, so I don’t trust your recipes and won’t use them again. You gave a cute idea here – but if the recipes don’t work – what’s the point. 🙁

    1. We are so sorry you had issues with this recipe. Can you tell us what brand dough you used? Did they rise on the warm setting? Would love to hear what happened so we can help! Alia & Radwa

      1. Rhodes rolls. They did rise and I poked down w/olive oil, added herbs. The edges were already dry and hard crispy at that point

    2. Same here… followed this recipe to the T. My rolls took 7 HOURS to rise! Read your recipe directions for this method on this page and on your IG page…IG says,after you cook on high to turn to low and cook another 30 minutes. On this site it says to turn off after high, and let sit for 30 minutes. I used Rhodes rolls (frozen) as specified. Did not turn out at all as expected, not even close. Total waste of my time and money. I also bought and used the crock pot you recommended.

  8. My frozen dinner rolls did not rise. Do you recommend any special brand? Mine are cooking now and I have added my fresh herbs and Greek olives.

    1. Oh no! So sorry to hear that they didn’t rise, we used Rhodes dinner rolls. What brand did you use? How did it turn out?