Buttermilk Potato Rolls {Fluffiest Most Delicious Rolls I’ve Ever Met}
Please meet the fluffiest, most delicious dinner rolls on the planet! These buttermilk potato rolls are amazing; super easy to make and so soft and tasty!
I’m not sure how this happened, really.
I need another favorite roll recipe like I need another set of measuring cups or another puppy (have all I can handle in both regards, thankyouverymuch).
But there I was, sitting in the comfort of my home minding my own business and this amazing new roll recipe just comes along, like it owns the place, and totally and completely wows me.
I’m not kidding, you guys. You know me. I love bread. I have a bazillion roll recipes on here that I adore. But this buttermilk potato version is the fluffiest, softest roll I’ve ever met.
I made them on a whim with no intentions of posting the recipe…and, well, you can see how that turned out. They stole my heart and so I must share them with you.
The dough is a dream to work with and while you do need to come to the table with some cooked potatoes (I used leftover baked potatoes sitting around in my refrigerator but mashed would work great, too), these rolls are simple and so tasty.
The little hint of buttermilk with the mile-high fluffiness is money.
If you are still looking for THE roll to serve on Thanksgiving, you might (must!) consider these. But only if you want to become instantly famous in all parts of the land for your mad bread baking skillz.
Consider yourself warned.
Oh and PS: since I’ve been dreaming of these rolls since making them on Sunday, all I can think about is how fabulous they would be with fresh, chopped rosemary in the dough. Someone try it, pretty please, and report back, ok?
One Year Ago: My Thanksgiving Menu Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Preparing in Advance
Two Years Ago: Thanksgiving Dinner At-A-Glance!
Three Years Ago: Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry
Fluffy Buttermilk Potato Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mashed or riced cooked potatoes (see note)
- ½ cup (113 g) salted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature or slightly warmed (see note)
- 1 ½ tablespoons instant or active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 cups (568 g) whole wheat flour
- 3 – 4 cups (about 426 to 568 g) bread flour (see note)
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl if mixing by hand), combine the warm potatoes and butter and mix until the butter is completely melted.
- Add the buttermilk, yeast, eggs, sugar, salt and 2 cups of flour. Mix well.
- Continue adding the flour (both wheat and bread flour) until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is soft and smooth, it may leave a slight residue on your fingers which is ok but shouldn’t be so sticky that you have crazy dough covered fingers. Add more flour if needed, taking care not to over flour the dough. It should give easily when pressed with your fingers.
- Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes.
- Place the dough in a large, lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
- Lightly punch down the dough and roll it into 24 equal balls (about 3.25 ounces per ball; exact size will depend on how much flour was added). Place the dough balls evenly on a parchment- or silpat-lined large, rimmed baking sheet – 4 across, 6 down. Or use two 9X13-inch dishes with 12 rolls in each pan.
- Cover the rolls with greased plastic wrap and let them rise until doubled, about an hour.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 18 minutes until golden on top and baked through. Brush the tops with butter after removing from the oven, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: slightly adapted from a recipe in Joy of Cooking (original recipe is for bread, I adapted for rolls; used instant yeast instead of a chive dry, subbed in half whole wheat flour, eliminated the egg wash and poppy seeds, used double the potatoes)
I made these rolls exactly as directed with leftover mashed potatoes, and they turned out very fluffy and flavorful, especially for 1/2 (or more) whole wheat flour. They are very soft and light.
Made these today as hamburger and hot dog buns. Made 12 burger and 10 brats buns. They turned out excellent. Had to use instant potatoes but no problems. Thanks for the recipe.
– im the above poster, Edit:
I added 2 tablespoons honey, not sugar
Me and my husband said this is the best rolls I’ve made! Thanks!
I’ve omitted the potatoe and added 2 tables sugar.
Delicious, fluffy, soft!
Dough was more sticky then I’m familiar with but fought the urge to add more. Glad I did
These rolls were light and fluffy as you promised. Forming the rolls, my dough was very sticky.
This is the first time I’ve made anything with yeast. I couldn’t find my dough hook for my stand mixer, so I made dough by hand. The dough looked really nice, rose nice. Made the balls, let them rise again, and baked.
They didn’t look anything like the picture. They were more bready. Not soft. Son loved them with the gravy.
Don’t know what I did wrong, and the color of the rolls were wheat looking. Any suggestions?
For the first time, I didn’t do to bad, but would love to improve. Don’t want to rate, cause not your fault.
I’ll give the 5 stars for the recipe itself. Very easy to follow.
Hi Emma, is there a chance the dough was over floured at all? That can cause the texture to be bready and not soft and pillowy.
Hi Mel, just wondering if this dough lends well to forking into other shapes besides round balls, or if that would mess up the magic?
Forming, not forking
It’s a pretty soft dough – I’ve only ever made it into round rolls – not sure how it would fare as crescent or other shapes. Worth a try though!
MEL!!! These rolls!!! I think I died and went to carb heaven!!! Yes, chopped rosemary added in is DELISH!!! I added about 2 T chopped fresh to the dough. Also I made them completely whole wheat!! I used white whole wheat flour and added 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten. They were absolutely the BEST whole wheat rolls I have ever had!!
These are great rolls. I made for Thanksgiving an they went fast. I just cannot remember if I had used 2 pkts of yeast or one
Can u pls let me knw. I am making thes for dinner tonight n tmrw.
OMG Mel! Although I’m five years late to the party , I made these rolls today and my god are they the fluffiest rolls ever?! So yummy! I made it with sweet potato, regular milk and all purpose flour, matter of using everything already present in my pantry. Needless to say, everyone loves it! It reminds me of brioche buns, which are my fav buns, btw. Already looking forward to trying your other roll recipes!
Yay! These were amazing!! I feel like I finally have the perfect roll recipe! After reading all the reviews I changed a couple of things. I did 1/2 cup of sugar and 3 teaspoons salt. I also used only white bread flour since I didn’t want to grind some wheat flour. I only cooked mine for 16 minutes, but my oven cooks fast. Thanks Mel!!
I have made so many of your recipes, but I was so sad how these turned out! I had them rise in the oven (preheated to 200 and then turned off for an hour), and they fell! They also look a lot more whole wheat looking than the picture.
A big fan of so many of yours recipes! I made the entire batch of this today in anticipation of Thanksgiving next week and planned to freeze them. Sadly the look and flavor was hugely disappointing. I followed every step to a T but in the end they looked nothing like the picture above and were nothing like how they were described (e.g. fluffy or soft). While they were OK wheat rolls they fell absolutely short of hopes and expectations.
Oh darn, Hannah – so bummed to hear that!
Truly the best rolls ever! Making them for the sixth time right now!
My family always requests these for the holidays. Thanks for such an AMAZING recipe!
This is the third year that I’m making these rolls for Thanksgiving. My family loves them and they always turn out great. The dough is rising right now!
I am wondering how you bake your potatoes- to then mash them? Do you put gen in a crockpot, boil or bake them ? I have yellow Idaho potatoes. Are those ok? Thanks!
I use the Instant Pot or just boil them on the stove (but I think a lot of methods would work). Yes, yellow gold potatoes will work!
Have you ever tried this using a bread machine?
Ok, so maybe this is a dumb question but cold I make this with my instant mash potatoes in my food storage?
That’s a great question – and one I haven’t experimented with so the real answer is, I don’t know! Good luck if you experiment (I think it stands a good chance of working).
I used instant mashed potatoes, and they turned out fine. I also used vegan butter and made my own vegan buttermilk with soy milk and vinegar, and they still turned out fine (my kids have dairy allergies). I think this is a pretty forgiving recipe.
Holy Cow these buns are amazing! I’m not such a great cook, but I’m a pretty good baker. I grew up on a farm and can remember my Grandmas, Aunts, and my Mom baking bread and buns from scratch. I have made your recipe of Pretzel buns many times, but thought I’d like to mix it up a bit. I read this recipe and thought that potatoes was a bit odd. But then I thought “this is the woman who makes those Pretzel buns” so I should trust it. The first batch I made couldn’t have turned out better! I had 2 dozen perfect light and fluffy buns, and I loved that there was some whole wheat flour in there. Today I am making my second batch. They freeze great and make an awesome bun for hamburgers, chicken burgers, or a lovely deli bun. When they are fresh, just butter is a treat. I would encourage anyone to try this recipe.
I made these rolls to take to a dinner with friends. They were soft, fluffy, and delicious and they got rave reviews from everyone. The only change I made was that I used only white bread flour. I used your trick of using a digital scale to ensure even sized rolls. (I weighed the dough and then divided by 24 to find the size for each roll.)
I made these rolls and they are just about one of the best ever. Hard to describe the flavor..but ah so easy to gobble them up. I left it in the fridge to rise overnight as didn’t have time to finish baking. That somehow made it tastier. Wish I could post the picture of the rolls, it’s like artwork;) Thanks for the recipe Mel!
So happy you loved these, Lisa!
Hi Mel, I was hoping you could offer me some advice since you have so much baking expertise!! I am traveling about an hour in the car to my Thanksgiving and have agreed to make the rolls… maybe not my brightest idea but I am determined to make it work so that I can bake them just before we eat! I want fresh baked rolls 🙂
So, do you think if I made the dough the night before and let it rise overnight in the fridge, than make the balls just before leaving my house that they would be OK? I figure any extra cold would help them out while they travel in the car and sit on the counter at my aunt’s house for an hour or two. I am assuming they will rise slowly overnight (or I could even do the rolls two nights before and give them a 36-ish hour rise in the fridge), like when I have made pizza dough and let it rise slowly in the fridge.
Otherwise I will wake up early and make the dough doing all rises on Thursday morning – my concern is having the dough in the car and what will happen if they are over-proofed. If you have any thoughts I would appreciate it because I made these last year when I hosted and received rave reviews! 😀
Hi Erin, to be honest, I’d be a little leery of driving with rising dough in the car – it would be bad news if they rose too much + any bumps could possibly make them fall while rising. I’d probably make them start to finish at home so they are baked Thursday morning. I don’t think there would be much difference in baking them a few hours early. If they can be warmed up lightly when you get there, they’ll taste fresh as can be!
Thank you for your prompt response!! That will probably be much easier so I will go ahead do that. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
If you had to choose between these and the recent cornmeal ones you posted which woud you choose???? Trying to decide for Thanksgiving!
Oh gosh, why do you ask me such questions?? 🙂 It’s honestly a toss up. Both are fantastic…I guess I’d go with the cornmeal once since I’ve made them recently, but those buttermilk potato rolls are insanely good, too.
Haha! Okay thank you!!! I have made the cornmeal crescent ones for Thanksgiving before so I was maybe going to try a new one, but maybe I’ll just do the cornmeal ones! So hard to decide!!!! I just noticed that these buttermilk ones were in your
“best recipe” section and the cornmeal ones weren’t…so I wondered if these were a little more your favorite. Haha. But thanks again!
Thank you for such a fantastic recipe! My family all raved over them with supper tonight. 🙂
Can you double this recipe?
Yep.
hi there ! am planning to make these for the weekend dinner… Can i sub the eggs with something else coz we really dont eat eggs …look forwrd to ur response..
thanks
Kalyani
http://www.sizzlingtastebuds.com
I’ve never subbed something for the eggs; feel free to experiment!
Okay so after reading through the recipe and the comments I’m still confused. You call for whole wheat flour in the recipe (4c) and 3 to 4c of bread flour. So nearly 8c of flour in total (but possibly less). But in the notes it says you’ve never used with 100% whole wheat flour. Do you mean using whole wheat for all 8 cups? I’m now concerned about the amount of flour I’m using. Thanks for your input!
Yes, I mean that I’ve never used whole wheat flour for the total amount.
I want to make rolls witout using eggs will this recipe work
let me know asap
You’d be better off googling an egg-free roll recipe; I’m not sure how these would work without the eggs.
Have you tried making these with all-white flour? Was looking for an all-white flour roll to bring to Thanksgiving…thanks Mel!
You could certainly make them with all-purpose flour.
Hi Mel,
I made these rolls using potato flakes and they turned out amazing as far as texture goes, but I felt they were a little plain in taste. I was really surprised in just looking at the recipe that the only sweetener is 2 TBL sugar. Most rolls with this much flour would have an additional 1/2 cup or so of sugar. I just wanted to make sure this wasn’t a typo.
Love your site and all your yummy recipes!!
Hi Chrystalyn – I think it really boils down to the recipe. Some of my favorite roll recipes (like the French bread roll recipe on here and it’s whole wheat counterpart) only call for 2 tablespoons sugar per batch which is great when you want a less sweet dinner roll. Having said that, you could definitely add more sugar – even a touch more salt might help if you feel the flavor is lacking.
I wonder if the recipe needs more sugar. I’ve made several potato roll recipes and all have significantly more sugar.
Sorry, I’m new at roll making! For directions #6, do you just cut them into balls, roll them again with rolling pin, and then add them to the pan to cook? Or do you punch them with a cutter, and roll them round in your palms?
I cut them with my bench scraper and roll them into balls with my hands. Does that help?
Sorry for posting this here, but I can’t get this to submit via your contact page.
I was trying to find the recipe for the buttermilk Cloverleaf rolls, but I can’t find it. I looked through the roll recipes and it wasn’t there and when I tried to click on the link from the classic potato salad recipe (where the rolls were listed as the recipe from the year before) it said the page that I was looking for cannot be found.
Could you please send me the recipe? I would like to make them for an event this Friday, the 20th. I hope that it is just a technical error or that it is getting updated, because we really love that recipe!
Hi Erin – sorry about that. I actually took that recipe offline to edit it (new pictures, a few recipe updates) and it will be posted tomorrow morning. 🙂
Yay! I just saw it. Thank you!
Once frozen and thawed, how would you recommend warming these for the Thanksgiving dinner table? Thank you!
I’d thaw them to room temperature and then put in a tray or basket and cover with foil and warm in a 170 or 200 degree oven for 10 or so minutes.
I made these today and am freezing them to reheat for Thanksgiving. This is the softest roll ever, I think everyone will be impressed! 🙂 I can see this being great for sandwiches! I was just wondering, have you tried it with 100% whole wheat yet? If so, do you prefer this recipe or your fluffy whole wheat dinner rolls?
I’ve only ever made this one with 50% whole wheat/50% white. The fluffy whole wheat dinner rolls are my favorite 100% whole wheat roll.
Thank you! Another question- do you think these will be okay by Thanksgiving if frozen? Have you ever froze a roll for that long?
Are you going to bake them and then freeze? If well-covered/wrapped, I think they should be just fine until Thanksgiving.