Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

These Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls are light and fluffy with a hint of warm cinnamon. They will make a wonderful addition to your holiday menu this season.

I guess I don’t have to tell you how much I love bread. It’s more than obvious since this is after all a baking blog. But I have not told you how much I love sweet potato. In fact, I have not made anything with sweet potato at all for the blog. How could this be? We’re going to change that today with these Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls. Especially with Thanksgiving coming up, it is the perfect opportunity to spice up your typical dinner rolls with the flavors of the season.

These perfect little Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls are so soft and fluffy. When you break them open, the crumbs are a fun orange color. They’re slightly sweet with a hint of warm cinnamon. It’s hard not to gobble up a few of these little rolls in one seating. But don’t worry, this recipe makes about 18 rolls, so you’ll have plenty to share.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

• To make dough by hand (if you don’t have a stand-mixer), mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon, then knead the dough on the counter with your hands for the same amount of time or slightly longer. 
• Rub your hands with a little bit of cooking oil when kneading dough. This will discourage the dough from sticking to your hands. This way you don’t have to add too much extra flour to the dough.
• Active dry yeast is very sensitive to temperature. It is optimal to bloom the yeast at around 100°F, but no hotter than 110°F. Too hot, and the yeast will die. On the other hand, colder than 100°F is okay. You can bloom the yeast with room temperature water, but it will take a bit longer.
• If the yeast mixture doesn’t puff up when bloom, it is best to redo this step until you get an activated yeast mixture. If you accidentally killed the yeast, your dough will not rise.
• Rising time can vary, depending on the environment: temperature, humidity, barometric pressure. The dough will rise faster in warmer weather compared to colder weather, in higher altitude compared to lower altitude, etc. But it will rise, it will just take time and patience.
• If you want to bake in the morning, you could let the dough rise overnight. If you want to bake before dinner, you should start the dough early in the morning.
• For the second rise, you don’t want to allow the dough to overproof. When over-proofing happens the dough will rise to the max and then fall back on itself. This is not a big deal for the first rise, but not okay when you are preparing to bake since this will not yield light and fluffy rolls.

Dinner rolls may just be a side dish at your Thanksgiving feast, but the good ones will add a wonderful layer to your meal. And they can be used to make left-over turkey sliders the next day. Homemade rolls can take some times to make, so I recommend preparing the dough the night before. You can let the dough rise overnight in the fridge. Then the next day, let the dough come to room temperature before you start forming the rolls and bake away.  

More Wonderful Dinner Rolls Recipes!

• Purple Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
• Hawaiian Dinner Rolls
• Honey Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
• Orange Cranberry Hot Cross Buns

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📖 Recipe card

Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls Recipe

These Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls are light and fluffy with a hint of warm cinnamon. They will make a wonderful addition to your holiday menu this season.

5 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Rising Time: 4 hours hours

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Yield: 18 rolls

Author: Trang

Equipment

• Stand Mixer

Ingredients

For the dough

• ▢ ¼ cup of warm water (~100°F, 59 g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast
• ▢ 1 cup of mashed sweet potato (1 medium sweet potato ~ 8 oz, 226 g )
• ▢ 1 cup of whole milk – scalded (240 g)
• ▢ 4 ounces of unsalted butter (113 g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 3 ½ cup of all-purpose flour (455 g)
• ▢ ¼ cup of light brown sugar – packed (45 g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• ▢ Extra flour

For egg wash

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon of water

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Instructions

• Mix warm water with the granulated sugar in a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast in the bowl and let it bloom for 10 – 15 minutes.
• Simmer the milk and butter in a small sauce pan until the butter is completely melted. Let cool to room temperature or at least just around 100°F.
• Wash the sweet potato and pierce with a pairing knife a few times. Wrap it in plastic and microwave for 6-8 minutes until tender. Check by poking it with a knife or fork, if it goes through easily, your potato is done.
• Let the potato cool on the counter until you can handle it without burning your hand.
• Cut open the potato and scoop out the flesh, smash it in a small bowl with a potato smasher.
• Add flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl and mix well with a whisk.
• In the bowl of your stand-mixer, add 1 cup of mashed sweet potato and the warm milk/butter mixture, mix with a whisk to combine.
• Check the temperature of the liquid mixture to make sure it is not more than 110°F to ensure a safe temperature for the yeast.
• Now add the flour mixture along with the activated yeast to the liquid mixture in the stand-mixer bowl.
• Knead with the dough hook on medium speed for 1-2 minutes just until the dough starts to come away from the side of the bowl.
• Turn dough out on a lightly floured counter, shape into a ball, put it back into the bowl and allow to rise at room temperature overnight or until double in size, this may take a few hours or longer.
• The next day, or when the dough has risen enough, turn it out on a lightly floured counter again. If the dough stick the the side of the bowl, just use a scraper to get it all out.
• Divide dough into 2 ounce portions and shape them into round balls. This batch will make about 18.
• Place the dough balls on parchment line baking sheets about 2 inches apart and let them rise for about 2 hours or until at least double in size. You may need 2 or more baking sheets.
• Prepare egg wash by beating one egg with 1 tablespoon of water.
• Brush the top of the risen dough with egg wash very lightly.
• Preheat oven to 400°F, and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
• Serve rolls warm with butter.

Notes

Prep time includes dough rising time, approximately 2 hours for the first rise and 2 hours for the second rise.

Nutrition

Serving: 64g | Calories: 168kcal

Course: Bread, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

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