5 from 1 vote

By Christie Vanover | Published October 25, 2015 | Last Updated December 28, 2022

There are a few restaurants that have the lightest, fluffiest rolls. My favorites are at Texas Roadhouse and Memphis BBQ. They’re so dangerously good that my family can easily eat two baskets before our meal even arrives.

I have to warn you. These rolls fit into the category of best rolls ever.

I actually thought this recipe was going to be a throw away. I planned on using about 6 cups of flour, but the dough was too sticky, so I just kept adding more, until I was up to 7 ½ cups.

I thought I must have used too much milk or eggs or sweet potatoes. Even though it was still sticky, I let it proof. After an hour, it was beautiful. It was soft to the touch and easy to shape with just a very light dusting of flour.

That’s a really important tip in baking bread. Never over dust your counter, or your dough will become tough. Just use enough to gently handle the dough.

I initially made this dough, so I could create a holiday twist on potato buns by using sweet potatoes. With leftover turkey, sweet potato buns will make tasty sandwiches, especially with a dollop of cranberry sauce and mayo.

This is a large batch of dough, but that works out perfect for the holidays. You can make eight buns to take care of turkey leftovers, along with 12 fan rolls for the big feast itself. Or you can make 16 buns or 24 rolls.

You can season the fan rolls with salt or go on the sweet side and use cinnamon and sugar. I made eight buns, six buttered fan rolls and six cinnamon fan rolls, so you can see them all – and so I could sample them all. 🙂

To make the sweet mashed potatoes called for in this recipe, peel two sweet potatoes and dice. Boil in water until tender. Drain and mash or press through a potato ricer. You can also use canned pure sweet potatoes or sweet potatoes baby food.

As always, the recipe for sweet potato rolls is in US and European measurements. Enjoy!

Best Ever Sweet Potato Rolls

Prep Time: 1 30

Cook Time: 12

Total Time: 1 42

Servings:

Calories: 243kcal

Recipe for sweet potato rolls with 3 step-by-step instructions to shape them for sandwich buns, party rolls or sweet cinnamon treats.

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Ingredients

1 cup milk 255 grams
½ cup water 100 grams
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes 235 grams
⅔ cup shortening 120 grams
⅓ cup granulated sugar 65 grams
2 tablespoon molasses 60 grams
1 teaspoon salt 5 grams
2 eggs
7 ½ cups type 550 flour (or bread flour) 940 grams
4 tablespoon butter melted
kosher salt
cinnamon sugar optional

Instructions

Microwave the milk and water in bowl for 45 seconds. Add the sugar and yeast and let proof for 5 minutes.
Place the sweet potatoes, shortening, ⅓ cup sugar, molasses, salt and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, blend for 1 minute.
Add the flour and yeast mixture to the bowl. Change to a dough hook and slowly mix until the flour is incorporated. Increase the speed and knead, until a soft dough forms. It will still be sticky.
Set the bowl on the counter and cover with a towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Dump the dough onto a floured bread board.

Buns

Using a dough scraper cut the dough into 3 ½-ounce pieces.
Shape into buns. Place onto silpat-lined baking sheets. Flatten with your hand. Brush with butter. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Let rise for 30 minutes.
Bake in a 400F-degree (205C) oven for 10 minutes.

Buttered Fan Rolls

Work with half of the dough at a time.
Roll the dough into a large rectangle onto the floured surface.
Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough rectangles about 2 inches long and 1 ½ inches wide.
Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with kosher salt. (note in this picture, I brushed the butter before finishing cutting into rectangles)
Stack five rectangles on top of each other.
Place lengthwise in a buttered muffin tin. Brush with butter and sprinkle with kosher salt. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake in a 400F-degree (205C) oven for 12 minutes.

Cinnamon Sugar Fan Rolls

Follow the steps for the buttered fan rolls above. After brushing with butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar, instead of salt.
Stack and place in the muffin tin. Then brush with more butter and sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake in a 400F-degree (205C) oven for 12 minutes.

Notes

Recipe makes 16 buns or 24 fan rolls

Nutrition

The nutrition information is an estimate created using an online nutrition calculator