Recipes » Potato Rolls – Easy Homemade Recipe

Potato Rolls – Easy Homemade Recipe

ByJulie Menghini Published onMarch 2, 2022April 12, 2024 Modified onApril 12, 2024

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Homemade Potato Rolls Recipe makes a soft and tender bread roll that’s slightly sweet. They make perfect dinner buns and great potato bread sliders too.

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Potato bread rolls are so easy to make that even the beginner baker is going to love making them.

This recipe was originally written in 2017 and has been updated to improve your experience.

A potato roll sitting on an antique butter paddle that\'s been cut in half and slathered with melted butter. A cooling rack with rolls sits behind the roll, some garnished with caraway seed.

Potato Rolls recipes are a must for St. Patricks Day and so easy you can make them all year long.

What you’ll love about Potato rolls

You can make mashed potato rolls with leftover potatoes.

This potato bread roll recipe is that it’s so versatile, I’ll be sharing ways that you can change them up so they’re perfect with whatever you’re serving.

I know that baking bread can be intimidating for people that have never baked bread before or done it unsuccessfully. These potatoe rolls are so easy to make that they’re a great way to gain confidence in baking bread.

To some people, yeast is a scary ingredient. If you are one of those people, this Super Easy potato yeast bread roll recipe is for you!

What is a Potato Roll?

Potato rolls have cooked potatoes in the ingredients which make them moist and tender.

Potato roll ingredients

This recipe uses very simple ingredients and in uncomplicated steps. Let’s break it down.

Ingredients used to make potato rolls including flour, shortening, salt, potato, sugar, and yeast

Mashed potatoes – peeled and boiled potato before any cream or butter is added. We used one medium-sized potato, 1 cup. You want to use them when they are at room temperature.
Potato water – Retain one cup. You can also use plain warm water if you don’t have potato water.
Instant yeast – Yeast may also be labeled as rapid-rise. If the different names for yeast confuses you, you’re not alone! I explain them here.
Flour – All-purpose flour
Sugar – White granular sugar
Shortening – makes these rolls soft and tender. We always use the Crisco brand.
Salt – We use Kosher salt in this recipe.

What you may need

How to make potato rolls

This recipe can be hand mixed and kneaded. However, I’ve found that it works better with an electric stand mixer.

The dough is soft and buttery but not overly sticky. When I put the dough hook on the mixer it comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.

When you mix by hand, you may have to flour your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.

You use what you have. I’ve done it both ways and it works regardless.

Boil a medium-sized peeled and diced potato. Pour the potato water into a glass measuring cup. Mash the potato until fairly smooth.

Bread ingredients combined in a bowl. — Combined ingredients

Combine all of the ingredients into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment. Mix until the ingredients are well combined.
Change the attachment on the mixer to the dough hook and allow the mixer to knead the bread for 7 minutes. The dough should come away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.
Put the dough in a large bowl that’s been oiled or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover the bowl and let it rise for 90 minutes.

Risen bread dough in a glass bowl — Risen Potato Roll Dough

Divide and shape the dough. Place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or in a baking dish. Cover them with oiled plastic wrap and let them rest for 1 hour.
Remove the plastic wrap. If you want to top with seeds or grains such as caraway, sesame, poppyseeds, or oats, brush with melted butter and apply your garnish.
Bake until golden brown. Brush with melted butter if desired.

Tips for the perfect Potato Dinner Roll

If you’re making mashed potatoes for dinner, just make them earlier in the day. Scoop out a cup before adding the cream and butter for Potato Rolls!
- You can either finish making your mashed potatoes and warm them up or finish making them right before dinner.
- When you bake potatoes just add an extra one or two so you have leftover potatoes purposely to make this potato roll recipe.
You can use instant mashed potatoes (not just the flakes). You’ll need 1 cup.
Mashed potatoes blend better when they’re at room temperature or slightly warm but not too hot. You can kill the yeast mixture.
- I mash the potatoes ahead of time and let them cool. Don’t forget to reserve the water.
I like our rolls approximately the same size so they bake at the same rate.
- Using a kitchen scale, weigh the entire piece of dough and then divide that number by the number of rolls that you want.
- With this recipe, I’ve made 24 rolls perfect for dinner and 34 rolls ideal for sliders.
If you want your rolls to be individual round rolls place the dough balls a little further apart on the baking sheet so they don’t touch once they’ve risen. For a tear-apart dinner roll, you can place them closer together in a baking dish so they’re touching once they rise.

Shaped bread dough rolls on a baking sheet.

If you want to garnish the rolls with seeds or grains, brush the dough with melted butter and apply the garnish right away so it will stick. For ungarnished rolls, you don’t need to brush the dough with the butter.

This Super Easy Potato Roll Recipe make a soft and slightly sweet roll that's perfect for dinner or even slider buns! Even the non-baker is going to love making them. | HostessAtHeart.com — Garnished potato rolls with caraway seeds

I brush our ungarnished baked potatoe rolls with butter because it keeps the crust soft.

If baking scares or confuses you, check out our Baking Basics Techniques, Tools, and Ingredients article.

A bread roll being brushed with melted butter

These are dinner roll-sized but I could easily have made them into 12 hamburger-sized potato buns. I’ve made this recipe into 24 dinner rolls and even 34 smaller rolls for sliders.

That’s exactly what we do when we make Brioche buns too.

Potato Roll Variations

As illustrated in the pictures, potatorolls can be baked individually on a baking sheet or in a baking dish.
By topping the rolls with seeds and grains, they take on a whole new appearance, offering versatile serving options. Some of our favorites include oats, fennel, caraway, poppyseeds, or sesame seeds.
Make a cheesy roll. Add up to 1/2 cup of cheese. My favorite is cheddar.
Add seasonings to the dough. One teaspoon of Italian seasoning or a Mediterranean blend are amazing.

Storage Tips

Storing

Baked rolls can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to three days at room temperature or up to five days in the refrigerator.

They can also be placed in an airtight container and frozen for up to 3 months.

Can you freeze the unbaked dough?

You sure can. I let the dough rise and then shape the rolls. Put the rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and slip them into the freezer before they rise a second time.

Once they’re frozen, you can put them in an air-tight freezer bag or container and take out the amount you want to bake.

To bake, place the frozen bread on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and cover them with plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Let them rise until doubled in size, 3 to 5 hours.

F.A.Q’s

What kind of potato works best for potatoe rolls?

You can use any potato. I like Russets or Yukon. Potatoes work best before you add butter and cream when making mashed potatoes.

Can potato rolls be made ahead of time?

Yes, potato bread rolls can be made ahead of time. After you mix up the dough cover it with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Slip the bowl into the refrigerator.

To bake them the next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape it into rolls. Allow the rolls to rise until doubled in size. Since the dough is cold, this may take up to 2 hours.

How long do bread rolls need to rise?

I let these rolls rise for 90 minutes or until doubled in size. The rolls are then shaped and allowed to rise again for 1 hour.

How do I speed up the rise time?

A cool or drafty environment will slow down the rise time. When it’s cool I’ll often put a measuring cup of water in the microwave and warm it for 2 minutes. Leaving the cup in the microwave I’ll put the covered dough in the microwave and close the door.

You can also preheat your oven to 200°F and put the bowl in the oven after turning it off. Sometimes just turning the oven light on adds enough heat that helps your dough rise.

Are potato bread rolls gluten-free?

No, these potato bread rolls are not gluten-free. If you use gluten-free flour this recipe can be made gluten-free.

We LOVE baking bread! You can find all of our bread recipes here!

Be sure to stop back and let me know how your potato rolls recipe turned out!

Potato Rolls Recipe

Author: Hostess At Heart

Homemade Potato Rolls Recipe makes a soft and tender bread roll that's is slightly sweet. They make perfect dinner buns and great potato bread sliders too.

5 from 8 votes

Print Recipe Collect Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Rising time 2 30

Total Time 3 15

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword: Bread rolls, Potato Roll

Servings:

Equipment

Ingredients

1 cup potatoes mashed (medium to large)
1½ cup potato water
1 package instant yeast (2-1/4 tsp)
4-1/4 cups all-purpose flour may need an additional 1/2 cup
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup Shortening Crisco
1 tsp kosher salt

Optional

*2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing roll tops prior to baking optional
Caraway or other seeds optional

Instructions

Boil a peeled and diced potato in 2 cups of water. Once the potato is cooked, pour the cooking water into a glass measuring cup. Mash the cooked potato and measure out 1 cup.
Combine all of the ingredients into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until the ingredients are well combined. If you don't have enough potato water add lukewarm water.
Change the paddle attachment to the dough hook attachment and allow the mixer to knead the bread for 7 minutes on medium to medium-high. The dough should come away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball. The dough can also be hand-kneaded.
Put the dough in a bowl that’s been oiled or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover the bowl and let it rise for 90 minutes.
Punch the dough down and shape the rolls. I used a scale to get uniformed size rolls. Put the rolls on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, 12 to a pan. Cover and allow the rolls to rise for an additional hour. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
Brush tops with melted butter and seeds. Bake approximately 20-25 minutes or until brown.
Store at room temperature in an airtight bag or container for up to 3 days.

Notes

Rolls can be shaped into:

24 dinner-sized rolls
34 slidder buns
12 hamburger buns

Nutrition

Calories: 78kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gSodium: 97mgPotassium: 6mgFiber: 1gSugar: 6gCalcium: 1mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

My neighbor stopped by and she ate the buttered prop for my photos and said they were like crack, which, in this case, is a good thing.

I sent her home with a bag for her family and told her to make sure her family got a few!

Did you enjoy this recipe? Don’t forget to pin it for later and follow me on Pinterest for more delicious recipes like this one!

A split and buttered potato roll sitting on an antique butter spatula.

We teamed up with some of our favorite bread bakers to bring some more Irish bread recipes to you. I found several that are on my must-make list!

Apple, Beer, and Cheddar Soda Bread by A Baker’s House
Cheddar and Herbs Soda Bread by Ambrosia
Cranberry and Poppy Seed Irish Bread by kidsandchic
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Four Leaf Clover Rolls by Cook’s Hideout
Guinness Bread Rolls by The Bread She Bakes
Guinness Buckwheat Bread by Baking Sense
Irish Amber Ale Pretzels by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
Irish Barmbrack by The Schizo Chef
Oat and Potato Bread by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Irish Freckle Bread by Mayuri’s Jikoni
Irish Freckle Bread by Passion Kneaded
Potato Roll Recipe by Hostess At Heart
Irish Multigrain Bread by What Smells So Good?
Irish Soda Bread by Herbivore Cucina
Soft Wheat Irish Soda Scones with Raisins (Spotted Dog) by The Wimpy Vegetarian
Irish Soda Buttermilk Bread by Sizzling Tastebuds
Irish Soda Farls by Food Lust People Love
Potato Clover Leaf Rolls by Spiceroots