These yeast-risen potato rolls are easy to make and don’t require any kneading at all! The addition of orange zest really brings them to the next level. (Jump directly to the recipe.)
“Please tell me this recipe is on your blog!” said my sister as she took a bite of my potato roll. I laughed in that sort of exhausted way that you do when you don’t know how to properly answer a question because the idea of doing ONE more thing seems utterly beyond you. Then I said, “No, I just made up the recipe for the potato rolls yesterday night. I was really hoping they would turn out because I didn’t have a back up!” She nodded in understanding and said she looked forward to making them when I posted about them.
I was a little frazzled because I was hosting my family’s late Christmas holiday celebration and my partner AJ had just come down with a horrible case of food poisoning the night before (I blame the salad bar we had the previous day). In fact I was up until 5am trying to help him and that meant I was a rather exhausted when my family arrived. By some random miracle I didn’t get sick. I actually asked AJ if he wanted me to cancel the holiday lunch, he said definitely not! So, with AJ sequestered away in the bedroom, I ran around frantically trying to clean up the apartment, finish making lunch for the rest of the family and check in on him to make sure he was comfortable. Thankfully the worse had past for him. And in all the craziness, I still ended up making a pretty decent meal for everyone, including the potato rolls that had everyone going back for seconds.
I had actually asked AJ a couple of days ago whether I should make biscuits or rolls to go along with the glazed ham I planned on making. He loves both but emphatically told me rolls so I decided I wanted to make potato rolls after reading a recipe from The Kitchn. The only problem was I didn’t have instant mashed potatoes and refused to run out and buy a huge box of them for just for this recipe. So I decided to opt for a real russet potato and it worked out fine. Better than fine in fact. Make these rolls immediately. They truly are worth the minimal effort.
Potato Rolls
By Irvin Lin
These fluffy potato rolls use a single Russet potato (don’t substitute Yukon or another potato, you need the fluffy starch of a Russet) and are super easy to make. No kneading is required! The addition of the orange zest really takes the recipe to another level but feel free to omit that if you feel like that’s too oddball (it’s a great addition though)! Keep in mind that you need to let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight so make sure to allow time for that.
Inspired by a recipe from TheKitchn.
Ingredients
1 large (10 ounces) Russet potato
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup (115 g or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
3 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
2 1/4 teaspoon (7 g or 1 package) active dry yeast
2 teaspoon warm water
2 large eggs
4 cups (560 g) all-purpose flour
6 tablespoon melted salted butter
Directions
1. Peel and dice the potato into 1/2-inch chunks. Place in a small saucepan along with the cold water. The water should just barely cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the potato is completely tender and falling apart about 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and mash the cooked potatoes in the pan with the remaining watery potato liquid until it is a smooth puree. Add the stick of butter and stir until the butter is melted and incorporated. The potato puree should cool off a bit from the butter but still be warm. Stir in the sugar, salt and orange zest (if using). Let cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes until lukewarm to the touch.
3. Stir the yeast into the warm water until it is dissolved and set aside. Once the potato puree is lukewarm, add the eggs and stir to incorporate. Scrape the yeasty water into the eggy potato puree and stir in.
4. Place the flour in large bowl and make a well indention in the middle of the flour. Scrape the potato puree into the middle of the flour. Using a wooden spoon stir until all the wet and dry ingredients are incorporated. You might need to use your hands in the end to massage and work all the dry ingredients into the dough but you shouldn’t have to knead the dough too much. The dough will be soft, sticky and slightly moist.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and spray the bowl with cooking oil. Then place the dough back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to rest for a minimum of 2 hours or preferably overnight. The dough will rise slightly.
6. Once the dough has rested and risen, brush a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with about 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and roll out 24 golf size balls of the dough, placing them in the pan. The ball won’t be touching each other. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and put in a warm place. Let the dough rise until about double in size, anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours depending on how warm the place is. The dough balls should be touching at this point.
7. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Brush the top of the rolls with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top of the rolls are golden brown and a thermometer reads 190ºF to 200ºF when inserted in the middle of the rolls. Brush the finished rolls with remaining melted butter and serve immediately.
Makes 24 rolls.
If you like these potato rolls check out some of these other rolls from around the web:
Foodness Gracious’ Homemade Ciabatta Rolls
The Slow Roasted Italian’s Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
All Roads Lead to the Kitchen’s Teleras (Flat Bread Rolls Recipe)
Jun Blog’s Pan de Sal (Filipino’s Bread Rolls)
Simply Recipe’s St. Lucia’s Saffron Buns
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
The lowly potato makes all the difference in the crumb of the rolls. Yummy!! We love our yeast rolls and we have several that asks for potato in the ingredients. This recipe sounds great — would be fantastic with our traditional Leg of Lamb at Easter!! Hope you are AJ are at 100% now.
Irvin says
We are! It took AJ 24 hours to recover but he was on his feet the next day and the day after that he was pretty back to normal!
Arthur in the Garden! says
You had a me at Russet potato!
Irvin says
I love a good Russet!
Christine | Vermilion Roots says
Oddball is good. Oddball attempts have led to many great kitchen discoveries. I am so curious about how these potato rolls taste with the orange zest! It’s hard trying to imagine it in my head, so I should really try making them. Happy new year, Irvin! Your blog has been a great inspiration. Always a joy to read. 🙂
Irvin says
Thanks Christine! I served these with a glazed ham and the hint of orange zest really went well with the slightly sweet salty ham slices. It isn’t too overpowering but it’s definitely a nice touch. Let me know if you make them and how they turn out for you! And thank you for your kind words! Happy new year to you!
Dan says
These Potato Rolls look divine! Your photos are truly wonderful. I cannot wait to try this recipe! So sorry about AJ, and yet so kind of you to help him through. Tomorrow night I will be doing a roast, and this will be perfect with it. Thanks again!
Irvin says
Yay! Let me know how they turn out. They sound great with a roast!
Kelli says
Going to attempt these for thanksgiving. My mom used to ALWAYS make potato rolls for thanksgiving. She passed away in 2014 and if she had a recipe written down for them it got missed. Maybe I’ll start a new tradition with this recipe.
Pat says
My son made these for our Thanksgiving feast. They were unbelievable! So tender and delicious! The hint or orange was so good. May even add just a touch more peel when I make them. And yes, I will make them. They sound so easy and letting them rest overnight in the fridge would be great for an event.