Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls are incredibly soft, fluffy and moist, thanks to the starch in the sweet potato. The rolls are brushed with a honey butter warm out of the oven, adding a delicious finishing touch to the rolls. These rolls make a great addition to any holiday meal, but are also great to pair with your weeknight dinners. The rolls can be made in roughly 90 minutes, and are truly easy to make.

These Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls, may just be my favorite rolls during the Holiday season. They are perfect for your Thanksgiving or Christmas table, but also make a great addition to any weeknight dinner. And, if your kids are like mine during the Holiday season, the bread is their number one choice at the dinner table and I guarantee they will love these sweet potato dinner rolls!

The details

Working with yeast bread

Bread can be intimidating to make, because it is perceived as complex. I mean it seems like to get a fluffy, pillowy piece of bread you would need to have loads of experience and expertise, right? In fact, bread is honestly easy, and these sweet potato rolls, I promise are truly easy! A lot of making bread is hands OFF time, meaning the bread is the one actually doing most of the work.

So, let’s get into making these sweet potato dinner rolls. These rolls use instant yeast. What is the difference between the two?

Instant versus Active dry yeast

The difference between instant yeast and active dry yeast is that instant yeast, first of all, rises faster. Secondly, it does not need to be activated. It can simply be mixed in with the other ingredients. I do like to add the instant yeast and warm liquid to my mixing bowl first, but you don’t need to allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.

If you choose to use active yeast for these sweet potato dinner rolls, you need to mix the yeast with the warm liquid in the recipe. In this case, milk is the warm liquid. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to activate. The mixture will become frothy in appearance. This means the yeast is active and ready to be used. Sometimes, you can get yeast that is old and expired and just simply doesn’t work. In this case, the mixture will not become frothy, and you will have to discard the mixture. If the mixture does not get frothy, it means the yeast is not active and will not rise the dough.

what if my rolls don’t rise?

There are a few reasons this could happen. As mentioned above, the yeast could simply be old and expired and not work. Another reason the sweet potato dinner rolls may not rise is due to the temperature of the liquid added into the dough. If the liquid (in this recipe case, the milk), is too hot (typically above 115F), it will kill the yeast and therefore the yeast will not be able to rise the dough. I aim for a temperature of 110-112F.

Ingredients in these Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

• Sweet Potato – the most important ingredient in these sweet potato dinner rolls that give the roll it’s characteristic flavor, texture and pillowy softness, is the sweet potato. The starch in the sweet potato works to absorb water, which delays staling. The starch gives the rolls a bouncy, soft, fluffy texture.
• Milk – milk is used as the liquid in this recipe. The milk tenderizes the crumb of the rolls, contributing to their soft texture.
• yeast – of course you need the yeast so that the rolls rise!
• egg – eggs help to strengthen the gluten network in bread, contributing to the rolls shape and volume. Further, eggs also help tenderize the dough, contributing to the soft texture.
• bread flour – bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. The bread flour helps to contribute to the volume of these rolls, allowing them to be a bit taller, than if you were to use all-purpose flour.
• salt – salt helps to enhance the flavors in these rolls
• butter – butter tenderizes the crumb in these rolls, helping to make the sweet potato dinner rolls pillowy soft.

Here’s how to make these Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

I recommend using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment to make these, but if you do not own a stand mixer, you can certainly make the dough by hand. It will just take a bit longer.

In a large bowl, you’ll add the yeast, warm milk and honey. Since you are using instant yeast for these sweet potato dinner rolls, you do not need to allow the yeast to sit/activate. Of course, if active yeast is all you have on hand, feel free to use it. Just allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.

Next, you’ll add the flour, egg, salt and butter. Knead the dough for 5 minutes on medium speed. If making these sweet potato dinner rolls by hand, I recommend kneading the mixture for 10 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

first rise

Allow the sweet potato rolls to rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. I like to turn my oven on, then once it reaches 100F, I turn the oven off. I place the covered dough in the warm oven and allow the dough to rise in the warm oven. This creates the perfect warm atmosphere for the dough to rise.

divide the rolls

After the dough is done rising, punch down and place on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 20 roughly equal pieces. They don’t have to be exact. Roll each piece into a smooth ball, then place in a greased 9×13 inch pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap.

second rise

The sweet potato dinner rolls need just one more rise before you bake them in the oven. The second rise is a quick 20 minutes. You can preheat your oven during this time.

bake the rolls

Now, the sweet potato dinner rolls are ready to bake! Brush the dough balls with a beaten egg. This will give the top of the dough a beautiful golden brown color and shine once baked. My rolls took 17 minutes to bake, but ovens can vary. I recommend checking the rolls around 15 minutes. The rolls are done when the tops are a nice golden brown color.

ready to eat and enjoy!

The rolls are just about ready to eat. Brush the warm rolls with a homemade honey butter. If you aren’t a fan of honey, you can just brush the rolls with melted butter. This adds a delicious flavor to the rolls. Serve the sweet potato dinner rolls with butter, honey butter, your favorite jam, or just eat as is. The rolls are pillowy soft and truly melt in your mouth delicious!

Here are some other recipe I think you may enjoy

• Honey Butter Rolls
• Soft Sandwich Bread
• Soft Dinner Rolls
• Easy French Bread

If you make these Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. I always appreciate hearing your feedback! Make sure you find me on instagram, youtube, or facebook for my baking videos, as well as some fun behind the scenes.

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