These dinner potato rolls are incredibly soft, light and moist dinner rolls and the perfect choice for your holiday table or next to your Fall and Winter soups.
Why I love these potato rolls!
- These potato rolls are incredibly soft, light and moist and not only that, they stay that way for days! That makes them perfect for all the leftovers.
- I love that these dinner rolls are smaller. While I love a great roll, I also want to save room for the other things on the plate, so these are just the perfect size for me!
- And finally, these rolls are also easily made vegan. Simply use oil instead of butter and sugar instead of honey. This is always a nice option if you are feeding a crowd with varied diets.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Potatoes: You can use any type of potato here. Russets are fine, as are yellow-fleshed potatoes. You’ll only need a couple of small potatoes. Leftover mashed potatoes are just fine here. If the leftover mashed potatoes are buttered and salted already, you may want to reduce the amount of additional butter and salt you add to the dough a bit. And yes, in a pinch, instant potato flakes would also work.
Yeast: You can use regular Instant Yeast (such as SAF) or Active Dry Yeast here. Rapid-rise or quick rise yeast is not recommended for this classic two-rise recipe.
Flour: I prefer to use unbleached all-purpose flour for all my breads, as it tends to produce a better bread. If you only have bleached flour, that’s fine to use.
Step-by-Step Photos
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- When the dough is mixed, it should be quite most and almost sticky, but it should clean the bowl a bit and wrap the kneading hook.
- After kneading briefly on a floured work surface, place in a greased bowl or measuring cup.
- Cover and let dough rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Gently deflate dough, weigh and divide into 9 equal sized pieces.
- Form into a ball by pinching together underneath.
- Flip over and using a cupped hand over the top, roll around a bit to seal.
- Place into pan and let rise until doubled.
- Dust with flour before baking.
Baker’s Tips!
- Don’t forget you’re going to need some of the potato cooking water, so be sure to scoop up and set aside what you need before draining the potatoes!
- As you prepare the dough (and shape), add only enough flour to make a dough that isn’t sticky, but that is still very moist – right on the edge of sticky. The more moisture/the less flour added, the more tender your finished rolls will be.
- This recipe makes 9 rolls. If you’d like more, double the recipe and bake in two 8-inch square pans or all together in a 9×13-inch pan.
Making ahead, storing and freezing
These rolls freeze really well, so you can make ahead and freeze. Thaw in the wrapping at room temperature, then warm wrapped in foil in a 350F. oven for 10 minutes or so.
Store left-over rolls well wrapped at room temperature and enjoy for several days.
Top Tip!
You’ll want to take your rolls out when they are “just done” – lightly golden on top and not yet browning on the sides. Again, the less time in the oven, the more moist the rolls and the longer they will stay moist.
Get the Recipe: Simply Perfect Potato Rolls
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, from 1 large or two small peeled mashing potatoes such as Russet or Yukon Gold
- 1/2 cup potato cooking water, *Be sure to scoop out and reserve it from the cooking pot before draining the potatoes
- 2 Tablespoons butter, or vegetable/canola oil *see Note 2
- 1 Tablespoons honey, or 1 1/2 Tbsp white sugar *see Note 2
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant or dry active yeast
- 1 teaspoon fine table salt
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more as needed and additional for topping
Instructions
Prepare the mashed potatoes:
- Cut the potatoes in half or quarters and place in a medium-large saucepan. Cover potatoes with at least an inch of cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat slightly and continue cooking until potatoes are tender. DO NOT DRAIN YET! Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour potatoes and water over, reserving the potato water in the bowl and the potatoes in the strainer.
Prepare the bread:
- Place 1/2 cup potato cooking water in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Scoop out the potato flesh, discarding the skin. Place in a bowl and mash with a fork. Measure out 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and add to the bowl with the potato cooking water. Add the butter (or oil) and honey (or sugar).
- Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until mixture has cooled to lukewarm (about 120F for instant yeast or 110F for dry active yeast). Sprinkle in yeast and mix to combine. If using instant yeast, proceed to next step. For active dry yeast, let stand 5 minutes before proceeding.
- Add salt and 1 cup of the flour to the mixture and still using the paddle attachment, mix until combined. Remove the paddle attachment and replace with the kneading hook. Begin adding the more of the flour gradually, until you have a moist dough ball, not sticky to touch, but almost. You may need to add a bit more flour than specified, but be careful you don't add too much. You want to stop when the dough is just not sticky, but is still very moist. It should clean the bowl a bit and wrap the dough hook.
- Remove dough to a floured work surface and knead briefly, adding a bit of additional flour only if the dough is sticking to your hands or the work surface. Form dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F (regular bake/not fan assisted). *Reduce oven temperature to 325F if using a glass baking pan. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Set aside.
- Remove dough to a floured work surface and gently deflate. Divide dough into 9 equal pieces (*see Note 1). Form each piece into a ball (*see Note 3) and place into your prepared pan in 3 rows of 3 rolls, leaving a little space between rolls. Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside to rise until doubled and puffy. Using a fine mesh strainer, dust the top of the rolls with a dusting of flour.
- Bake rolls for 20-23 minutes, or until just lightly golden on top and not yet browning on the sides. Cool rolls in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool to warm (to enjoy right away) or to cool completely. If not enjoying immediately, store in an airtight container or freeze.
Notes
More Roll Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Hi Jennifer,
I am looking for a dinner roll recipe to which I could add some lightly fried onion and some stuffing spices…to make some buns that taste like stuffing! Do you think this recipe might hold up to these additions? Thanks!
Hi Anne and yes, I don’t see why not. Sounds delicious :) If you try it, let me know how it worked out!
The best potato rolls I ever ate were bought at a grocery store in eastern Washington. BUT, they tended to get squished easily. That meant they were extremely light and melted in the mouth. That was why I loved them. I just had to be careful when they were packed into the grocery bag and put into my car seat, propped up by soft items.
Can anyone tell me that this recipe creates the same very soft and squishable rolls?
My family devoured these potato rolls. I made the vegan version and it is amazing. These are the type of rolls you would bring to a Thanksgiving dinner and there won’t be any left. I made one batch, and then 2 batches, and now making again tomorrow. It’s a keeper. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed the, Victoria :) These are one of my favourite buns. Thanks so much!
YUM! These potato rolls are fantastic. I wish I could attach a picture of my rolls to this post.
So glad to hear, Kim :) Thanks so much!
Can I use bread flour ?
Bread flour isn’t ideal for these. The harder flour will affect the texture of the roll. That said, it will technically work, though you will probably need less flour overall if using all bread flour.
In step 3 you have written… Add 1 cup of flour. Then further down the paragraph you have written… begin adding the second cup of flour. But your recipe only calls for 1 and 1/2 cups of flour. Typo?
Made these this evening (using 1 and 1/2 cups of flour) and they were amazingly delicious! Perfection! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed them Linda. And yes, that was confusing. I’ve fixed the recipe card to be more clear :) Thanks!
Made these yesterday. Once I formed the rolls, I popped them in the fridge for an hour while I attended to an errand, then put them in a just-warm oven to do the second rise. This is a lovely recipe. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed them Faye! Thanks :)
Dinner rolls are the best, these look so fluffy and delicious!
Thanks so much, Laura :)
Hi
Do you think I can using instant Mashed Potato powder with this recipe ?
Thank you
I haven’t tested these with potato flakes, Yuri, since the recipe requires both cooked potato and potato cooking water, which would be impossible if you started with potato flakes. I would suggest looking for a recipe that uses potato flakes instead, if you want to use instant potatoes.
Have you tried this recipe using bread flour?
Hi Samantha, I only ever make these with all purpose flour. If you want to try with bread flour, just note that it will absorb more liquid, so you may need to either add more or use less flour to keep a really nice, moist dough. The end result might also have a slightly tighter crumb. Not sure how much exactly, or if it would even be noticeable, but keep it in mind. If your end results aren’t moist and light, that might be the reason.
Every bowl of soup needs one (or two) of these fluffy buns! I bet they’re amazing warm straight out of the oven with butter!
Thanks Dawn and yes they are :)
Wow! These look so incredibly fluffy Jennifer! I’ll need to test my bread making skills and bake a batch!
Thanks Mary Ann :)
Too many carbs to make these for Thanksgiving dinner, but I’ll be making them the day after for what I imagine will be perfect turkey sandwiches! Love your recipes!
Sounds like a great plan :) Thanks!
Oh, I love how fluffy they look. Wish I had some in front of me right now, won’t even ask for soup:)
Thanks Milena :)
I kid you not, at holiday dinners my plate is legit a third rolls, stuffing and potatoes.. with a small topping of turkey. LOL. I LOVE me some fluffy rolls!! These are absolutely perfect, Jennifer! So soft I want to rest my head on them! ;) Cheers!
Same here, Cheyanne :) Thanks!
Wow your Thanksgiving is sneaking up fast! I would be dreaming about these rolls too – my favorite part of the holiday meal, other than the gravy – haha. These are lovely and so light. Enjoy!
Thanks Tricia and yes! And rolls and gravy go together perfectly :)