These tender, hot, and amazing Sweet Potato Rolls are so delicious -- you’d never believe they're actually good for you! Made without refined sugar or refined flour, and awarded a 5-star clean-eating rating, these irresistibly soft rolls can be paired with any meal!
So...I have a confession to make.
I like rolls. A lot.
If a restaurant serves them as a complimentary offering, I'm probably not passing them up.
Because, as we've covered, I like rolls.
I like Hawaiian rolls. I like sourdough rolls. I like dinner rolls. I like kaiser rolls. I like buttery rolls. Duh.
I will eat them on a train. I will eat them in the rain.
Wait, whuh?
How To Make Easy Homemade Sweet Potato Rolls
Let's get real now. If you're like me and you don't usually bake bread, nor do you feel like you're particularly good at it, I hope you still try this recipe. One. Because they're delicious. Two. Because they're actually pretty forgiving. Three. Because rolls.
I'm really not usually one to bake bread other than quick rise, no-knead bread (which I love) so taking the time to proof the yeast, and let the dough rise TWICE is a big commitment for me.
That being said, your prize at the end of just about 2 hours of mostly waiting is a batch of hot, fresh, buttery rolls from the oven.
Sounds pretty good to me.
What's In a Sweet Potato Roll?
Curious what's in a sweet potato roll? Here's the list of ingredients for how to make homemade wheat rolls with sweet potato:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ⅓ cup plus 1 tsp. raw honey, divided
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
- 1 cup sweet potato puree (from 2 large sweet potatoes), cooled
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour, plus more as needed
- 2 cups spelt flour
Pretty simple, right? Shockingly easy to make these homemade sweet potato rolls!
These sweet potato rolls are flavorful, soft, tender, and dense - just like a tasty roll should be.
BTW I've also turned them into hamburger buns by just flattening them down instead of squishing together.
Mmm...homemade burger buns.
The problem with rolls, however, is they aren't usually clean, meaning they're typically packed full of butter, salt, and refined flour. So, I figured it was time to make my own homemade rolls.
Because I like rolls.
How Do You Make Rolls Healthy?
To make these sweet potato rolls healthier, I did the following:
- replaced a lot of the flour with sweet potato puree
- used unrefined spelt flour and whole wheat pastry flour instead of refined all-purpose flour
- used raw honey instead of white refined sugar
- used coconut oil as a healthier fat
- used clean grass-fed organic butter for the glaze
How Can I Make These Sweet Potato Rolls Gluten-Free?
Although some think that spelt is good for the gluten-free diet, it’s not. Yes, it is easier to digest than whole wheat flour, but this ancient grain still contains gluten.
To make these sweet potato rolls gluten-free, look for healthy, unrefined flours like the following as replacements for the whole wheat and spelt flours in the recipe:
- Cassava flour: can use a 1:1 ratio to replace, has a neutral flavor, also nut-free and paleo
- Chickpea flour: can replace wheat flour and is packed with protein, ratio is 1 cup wheat flour to ¾ cup chickpea flour
- Almond flour: very healthy and can be used 1:1 (may need to add 1 extra egg to bind)
Tips for Making Sweet Potato Rolls
- Remove the skin from your sweet potatoes before mashing them in order to keep the texture nice and smooth.
- Use active dry yeast for this recipe.
- When allowing the dough to rise, allow the rolls rise in a warm spot and don't mess with them.
- The rolls are really tasty served with a little butter and chia jam!
- To freeze the rolls, allow them to cool completely, and then place in a freezer bag for up to one month.
How To Make Sweet Potato Rolls Vegan (Without Egg or Butter)
These rolls can easily be made vegan using the following substitutes:
- Butter: First off, in case you're concerned about the honey butter glaze I brush on the top and you’re thinking I’m crazy for using butter on these rolls... Believe it or not, grass-fed organic butter is actually a clean ingredient and has been shown to have great nutrients, if used in moderation. If you’d rather, you could prepare this glaze with coconut oil instead. Both work beautifully.
- Eggs: To replace the eggs, simply use additional sweet potato puree or a flax egg.
- Raw honey: Replace with equal parts pure maple syrup
Looking for More Healthy Sweet Potato Recipes?
Are you looking for more yummy, can’t-resist bread or roll recipes to round our your favorite meal? Here are a few of my top picks:
- Sweet Potato Tortillas
- Sweet Potato Pretzel Bites
- Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Tots with Maple Greek Yogurt Dip
Sweet Potato Rolls
Sweet Potato Rolls
Equipment
- Stock Pot or Large Deep Skillet
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ⅓ cup plus 1 tsp. raw honey divided
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast 1 packet
- 1 cup sweet potato puree from 2 large sweet potatoes, cooled
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour plus more as needed
- 2 cups spelt flour
For the Honey Butter Glaze:
- 3 tablespoon unsalted organic grass-fed butter
- 1 ½ tablespoon raw honey
- Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- First, we need to proof the yeast to make sure it’s active. To do this heat a cup of unsweetened almond milk in a sauce pan until heated through, but not too hot to touch. Remove from the heat, and stir in 1 teaspoon of raw honey until dissolved, then gently stir in a packet of active dry yeast. Set the yeast mixture aside to proof for 5-10 minutes. It should become bubbly and foamy. If it doesn’t, go grab yourself some new yeast.
- Now, in the bowl of a food processor, add sweet potato puree, ¼ cup raw honey, eggs, melted and cooled coconut oil, and sea salt. Process until combined.
- Add in flour combination of whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour in 3-4 batches, pulsing to distribute the flour.
- Slowly pour in the proofed yeast mixture and continue to process until everything is well-incorporated.
- The dough should be sticky, but hold together.
- Lightly flour a clean, flat surface and lay the dough out onto it.
- Sprinkle a little more flour on top of the dough, and knead until the dough forms a smooth, uniform ball, about 2 minutes.
- If the dough is too sticky to work with, you can add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, until you can handle it without it overly sticking to everything.
- Transfer the dough ball to the a large bowl which las been lightly greased with melted coconut oil, cover with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Once the dough has risen, lightly flour a flat surface again and roll the dough out into an even level.
- Divide the dough into halves until you have 16 equally-sized pieces.
- One piece of dough at a time, pinch all of the edges together to form a seam and roll the dough into a ball.
- Place each ball, seam-side down, into a baking dish with a little space between the rolls for them to rise.
- If you're wanting to make these rolls into hamburger buns, push down and flatten into a bun shape and set apart to rise instead.
- Cover again with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise, another hour, or until doubled in size.
- When the rolls are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the rolls into the oven and bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
- As the rolls are baking, you can prepare a honey butter glaze to brush over the top of the rolls.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine melted unsalted organic grass-fed butter and 1 ½ tablespoons raw honey. If you’d rather, you could prepare this glaze with coconut oil instead.
- Remove the rolls from the oven and brush the glaze onto the rolls and then sprinkle with course sea salt.
Video
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links with products I use regularly and highly recommend.
jessica
I'm a little late to the party but as for GF, I would say you should not sub 1 for 1 with any of those flours. They all have extremely different properties than wheat flour, and will look/taste nothing like the picture!
However, you can use a GF 1:1 blend that would probably work nicely - that is what I am going to try to do with these. Here is a good example of what that is: http://nogluten-noproblem.com/recipes/artisan-gf-flour-blend
Cynthia
Can I sub spelt with almond?
liz
This was AMAZING! made it yesterday. I subbed butter instead of coconut oil. Perfect soft fluffy rolls! thank you 🙂
Em
What’s a good alternative if I don’t have have spelt flour handy?
Lisa
For gluten free rolls do I use 2 different flours or can I use just the chickpea or almond flour? Do you have to mix two together?
Angela Schafer
Can I use a bread machine?
Buzz Bray
Hi. I'm dying to try this recipe, but my wife and my granddaughter have to avoid gluten. Do you think casava or tapioca flour will work?
Lacey Baier
YES! It will 🙂 I've added a special section into the post for you on how to make them gluten free 🙂
Teckla
Hey! These look amazing. What are your thoughts on freezing for this recipe?
Lacey Baier
They will freeze for up a month but allow them to cool completely before freezing.
jaime
These look super yummy! Would love to try, am afraid I'll eat them all!!!
You say there are two types of yeast... but, what about wild yeast?
Would love to adapt this to use my sourdough starter.
Any thoughts?
Lacey Baier
My goodness, that's a fabulous question, but I'm afraid I don't have a good answer for you - if you test it out, I'd love to know how it works 🙂
Barry P
That looks tasty! But I have a question for you! Is honey much better than sugar? One of my kid have an allergy so I need to configure out what do use insted of sugar but not honey. Thanks
b
agave nectar or coconut sugar
Lacey Baier
Using raw honey is actually quite a lot better than regular sugar, but you could also use pure maple syrup or a coconut sugar and water mixture (thanks b for the suggestions, too!). I steer clear of agave nectar, though, since it's very high in fructose.
Joyce
Thank you for experimenting and sharing! I am looking forward to trying them.
Lacey Baier
Yay, you're so welcome!!
Melissa
What can you use instead of wheat flour? I need to make them paleo.
Lacey Baier
I haven't tried making them with paleo baking flour or almond flour, but those would be my first two top picks.
Dustin
These turned out really good.
Lacey Baier
Yea, they're SO good!