Sweet potato dinner rolls are a delicious fall side that will make every day feel like Thanksgiving. These soft, fluffy rolls pair perfectly with cinnamon honey butter. You’ll feel like you’re at your favorite restaurant when you make these for dinner!
Will you honor my holiday request? Will you make sweet potato rolls from scratch?
I know, I know, you can buy dinner rolls in the store. But holidays are special and one of the reasons is that you get to cook food with love from scratch.
I’m one of those people who never seems to be able to bake bread. It’s a little fussy and scary and it’s always like, maybe we just shouldn’t?
Well these sweet potato rolls are pretty much foolproof. If I can make them, so can you! You’ll be surprised how a handful of ingredients and a few hour’s time (mostly just letting them rise!) will result in delicious, sweet rolls.
How to prepare sweet potato puree for sweet potato rolls
I like to cook my sweet potatoes in the instant pot by placing them on a rack, adding 1 cup of water, and cooking on high pressure for 15 minutes, then doing a natural release of the pressure.
You could also poke your sweet potato with a fork, wrap in aluminum foil, and bake at 400ºF in the oven for 60 minutes.
Once your sweet potato is cooked, let it cool enough to handle and scoop the flesh out of the skin into a food processor. Process until smooth, adding a splash of water and scraping down the sides as needed.
You can probably get enough out of one large sweet potato for this recipe, but I like to cook two at a time just to be safe. If you have leftover sweet potato I recommend making sweet potato tacos or feeding it to your dog!
How to shape dinner rolls
I don’t mind a rustic looking sweet potato bun, so I pinched the bottom of each roll together before rolling them between my hands to round them out. You can check out this tutorial if you want perfectly round dinner rolls.
Can I freeze sweet potato rolls?
Yes, you have two options for freezing your sweet potato rolls. The first option is to roll and rise the rolls, then cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. You will want to thaw the rolls in the refrigerator overnight or covered in a warm space for a few hours before bringing to room temperature and baking.
You could also bake the rolls completely, transfer to a freezer safe bag, and reheat in the oven or microwave just until warm. You will get better results from freezing prior to baking, but both are options.
This sweet potato roll recipe can be customized! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Add some finely chopped fresh herbs to the dough such as rosemary or sage
- Sprinkle fresh herbs on the top after baking
- Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice with the dry ingredients
- Use dairy-free butter and unflavored almond milk to make these dairy-free
- Swap the milk for buttermilk
- Serve with cinnamon honey butter
More bread recipes
Sweet Potato Rolls
Ingredients
- ½ cup warm milk, 100ºF-110ºF
- 1 packet rapid-rise yeast
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 eggs, divided and beaten
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 cup sweet potato puree
- 1 ½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt, plus more for topping the rolls
- 3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine milk, yeast, butter, 1 egg, honey, and sweet potato.
- Add salt and flour and pulse, then combine on medium low speed until a soft dough forms.
- Form the dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes until doubled in size.
- Coat a 9×13 baking pan with olive oil or cooking spray.
- Punch the dough down and divide into 15 even pieces. Form each piece of dough into a round ball (see the post above or notes below for tips on this). Arrange the dough balls in the prepared baking pan. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 beaten egg with a splash of cold water to create an egg wash. Brush the egg wash onto the top of the rolls, then sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Uncover the rolls and bake 15-20 minutes until just beginning to brown. Serve warm with cinnamon honey butter.
Notes
Tips for making sweet potato rolls
- To prepare sweet potato puree, you can cook them in the instant pot by placing them on a rack, adding 1 cup of water, and cooking on high pressure for 15 minutes, then doing a natural release of the pressure. You could also poke your sweet potato with a fork, wrap in aluminum foil, and bake at 400ºF in the oven for 60 minutes. Remove the skin and run through a food processor until smooth.
- Make sure your milk isn’t too hot. I like to use a food thermometer to test the temperature, but you could also stick your finger in it and make sure it feels warm, not hot. The stovetop is the safest place to heat milk, but you could also microwave it in short increments.
- To shape your dinner rolls, pinch the bottom of each dough section together before rolling between your hands. Follow this tutorial for perfectly round dinner rolls.
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