Sweet Potato Rolls are the perfect dinner rolls for Thanksgiving! They’re fluffy, soft, and made from scratch with sweet potatoes. While making homemade bread requires a little bit of patience, these rolls are really easy to whip up and well worth the effort!
What’s in this Sweet Potato Rolls Recipe
Sweet potato adds just a hint of sweetness to this bread that creates an amazing flavor.
- Sweet Potatoes: You’ll need 1-2 medium-sized sweet potatoes to get the 3 cups needed for the recipe. Peel, and dice or cube so that they’re easy to boil and mash.
- Butter: Unsalted butter is best. Let it sit on the counter to adjust to room temperature prior to using.
- Milk: This will also need to adjust to room temperature with the butter.
- Egg: Plan on leaving this on the counter with the milk and butter as it also needs to be room temperature!
- Salt: Just a little bit is used to help with the structure of the bread.
- Water: It needs to be warmed to 105-110°F.
- Sugar: Granulated white sugar is used to enhance the natural flavor of the sweet potatoes.
- Active Dry Yeast: This recipe uses active yeast, which means it needs to be activated before use. But don’t worry, it’s simple and the steps for that are included in the recipe card.
- Bread Flour: I recommend using bread flour for these sweet potato rolls. It creates the perfect texture!
PRO TIP: Don’t add too much flour while kneading. Only add flour if the dough is too sticky.
Can I add fresh herbs to these rolls?
If you like, try mixing rosemary, sage, or thyme into the dough before baking. It will add an herby taste to the sweet potato!
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I recommend sticking to the active dry yeast for best results. But if you are using instant yeast, skip the activation step (step 4 in the recipe card). Just mix in the instant yeast as is in step 5, along with the water and sugar from step 4.
I highly recommend using bread flour. However, you can simply substitute the same amount of all-purpose flour if you need to. It will affect the texture slightly, but it shouldn’t cause any baking issues.
You can let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight if needed. But you’ll need to let it warm up and come to room temperature before continuing on with the recipe. So let it sit on the counter at least an hour before baking. You can also bake the rolls the day before and just warm them up in the oven to serve.
How to Store
You can store sweet potato dinner rolls in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
How to Freeze
Once cooled to room temperature, transfer the sweet potato rolls to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the fridge prior to reheating and serving.
Serving Suggestions
You can add different ingredients to finish off these sweet potato dinner rolls. Add a dusting of cinnamon, some brown sugar for added sweetness, or mix in garlic to the melted butter before brushing it on top. No matter how you serve them, they’ll be perfect for Thanksgiving!
Sweet Potato Rolls Recipe
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Ingredients
- 3 cups peeled and diced sweet potatoes about 1 pound
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 57 grams, room temperature (½ stick)
- ¾ cup milk 170 grams, room temperature
- 1 large egg 50 grams, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt 6 grams
- ⅓ cup water 76 grams, warm (105-110°F)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 25 grams
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast 9 grams
- 4-4½ cups bread flour 480-540 grams
- Melted butter optional, for brushing on warm rolls
Recommended Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
Instructions
- Heat 6 cups of water over high heat until it begins to boil. Add the sweet potatoes and cook for 10 minutes or until they are soft. Drain the potatoes.3 cups peeled and diced sweet potatoes
- Begin mashing the potatoes, add the butter, and continue mashing them.4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Stir in the milk and mash until almost completely smooth, then stir in the egg and salt. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.¾ cup milk, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- In a large bowl, stir the water, sugar, and yeast together. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the yeast activate for 10 minutes.⅓ cup water, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- Stir the sweet potato mixture into the activated yeast until smooth then gradually stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time.4-4½ cups bread flour
- When you can no longer stir, turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes, or until the dough comes together, adding flour only when it’s too sticky (too much extra flour will result in tough rolls).
- Scrape out the remaining bits of dough in the bowl. Grease the sides of the bowl well.
- Tuck the edges of the dough together and place it into the greased bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Form 16 equal balls from the dough (about 3 ounces each).
- Place the dough balls into the prepared baking pan, cover, and let them rise again for 30 more minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F 10 minutes before the rolls are ready to go in.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops turn a light golden color and they spring back when you lightly touch the tops.
- Let the rolls cool for 15 minutes, brush the tops with melted butter, and serve.Melted butter
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
- Boil potatoes just until they are soft enough to mash. This should only take about 10 minutes.
- Since you are making bread from scratch, you will need to let the dough rest and rise multiple times. So plan ahead for your time in the kitchen.
- Dough will need to rise in a warm spot.
- Don’t add too much flour while kneading. Only add flour if the dough is too sticky.
- The tops of the rolls should be golden brown when done.
- Nutritional information does not include optional ingredients.
Nutrition Information
Can I make this recipe in my bread machine?. Thank you in advance for answering my questions.
We don’t have experience using a bread machine, so I am not sure!
Looking forward to trying this … but just seems odd — recipe (and a few times in “introduction”) say make 16 rolls. Yet all your photos show 15 rolls in the pan!? I love eating raw dough — is that the hint for left over?
It’s just a matter of what worked best for the photo!