Rosemary Sweet Potato Rolls (So Fluffy!)

These fluffy Rosemary Sweet Potato Rolls are certainly no boring dinner roll recipe. Super soft rolls infused with fragrant rosemary and beaming with rich, sweet potato flavor! So buttery, extra flavorful, and easy to make. Serve up these dinner rolls for weekend supper or for more special occasions like holiday gatherings!

Jumping for joy over these rosemary sweet potato rolls, y’all! I’ve been testing a few different dinner roll recipes and I’m loving how this one came out. It’s funny because dinner rolls are not usually the side item that folks get hype over, but maybe this recipe will change that. You know I’m a big fan of throwing sweet potato flavor into any and everything, too. Let’s get rolling with this one, ha!

Rosemary Sweet Potato Rolls 🤤

Friends, you’ll adore these pillowy-soft dinner rolls that beam with sweet potato richness and an infusion of fragrant rosemary. They’re an absolute upgrade from those typical types of dinner rolls. Beyond that, they’re super straightforward + easy to whip up for any occasion. These rosemary sweet potato rolls are truly so good and a stunner to have on the table at home.

⇢ More recipes: braised short ribs, homemade jamaican beef patties, brown butter pumpkin alfredo pasta, cozy skillet chicken pot pie with biscuits, saucy chicken piccata meatballs, and def this one-pan spinach artichoke chicken 🙌🏾

Ingredients Needed For This Recipe

(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card directly below.)

• Milk: Whole milk for tender richness is best here.
• Granulated sugar: For yeast activation and for the overall dough.
• Active dry yeast: This type of yeast needs to be dissolved in warm liquid to activate it. The mixture gets foamy, ensuring that the yeast is good to go. Instant yeast can also be used, more notes on this in recipe card.
• 1 egg: Just one for structure and tenderness.
• Butter: Richness from butter adds fat and flavor, #butterbeready! 🧈
• Sweet potato purée: For any of my sweet potato-forward recipes, I exclusively make homemade sweet potato purée. ⇢ How to make: Peel and chop/cube a sweet potato. Boil until fork-tender and then transfer to a blender/food processor to pulse until smooth. Homemade sweet potato purée is really the best for these rosemary sweet potato rolls, peeps! Personally, I find canned sweet potato purée to contain a high amount of moisture/hydration– but of course, this can depend on the brand used.
• Bread flour: You will find bread flour sold in most grocery stores. Bread flour contains a higher protein content than traditional all-purpose flour and a higher protein content helps to create more gluten in the dough. Therefore, it yields the fluffiest rolls that are ultra-soft. Trust me on this.
• Salt: To provide balance among the other flavors.
• Rosemary herb: A few rosemary stems for an herbaceous pop, swoon.

⇢ Homemade, yeast dinner rolls are a lot easier than you think, I’ll walk you through the process with step-by-step photos and plenty of tips! 😊

How To Make These Rolls

(Note: please see the recipe card directly below for the complete written instructions.)

1. Make the dough. In a bowl, combine the warm milk and 2 tablespoons of sugar together. Then sprinkle the yeast on top and mix well. Let the mixture sit until foamy. Once the mixture is foamy, add in the remaining sugar, egg, butter, sweet potato purée, flour, salt, and chopped rosemary.
2. Mix until the dough begins to come together, about 1-2 minutes. Continue kneading the dough until smooth, about 5-6 minutes.
3. Proof. Shape the dough into a ball and place it into a lightly greased large bowl. Then cover the bowl. Let the dough rise/proof in a warm environment until it doubles in size, about 1 1/2 hours or longer.
4. Divide & assemble rolls. After the first proof, punch down the dough knocking out the air and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 15 pieces. Roll each portion of dough into a tight ball.

How To Make Sweet Potato Rolls: II

1. Prep & proof #2. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Then place the rolls into the pan, in 3 rows of 5. Cover the pan and let the rolls proof in a warm environment until puffy, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours or longer. Towards the end of proofing time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Bake the rolls. Bake rolls until golden brown, about 27-30 minutes.
3. Serve. Brush the melted butter all over the top of hot rolls and sprinkle with flaky salt, if desired. They’re best served right away. Enjoy! 

Tips + Tricks, & More For Recipe Success

⇢ Here are some additional notes for your rosemary sweet potato rolls 🤩

• Use fresh yeast! Double check that yeast in the pantry, fresh is best!
• Working with yeast: When making the dough, make sure that your milk is warmed to the appropriate temperature. If your milk is not warm enough, the dough will not activate. Alternatively, if the milk is too hot, it can kill the yeast and your dough will be no good, causing you to start over.
• Follow rise times: For proper yeast effectiveness, allow the dough to proof until it doubles in size (first rise) and the assembled rolls are puffy (second rise) before baking. This will make sure that the rolls’ texture is perfect.
• Can I use instant/rapid rise yeast? Sure thing! For this type of yeast, add it directly with the dry ingredients. No need for activation and only 1 proof.
• Can I use all-purpose flour? Not only is bread flour recommended, but it’s top tier for that signature plushness we love about a good dinner roll, keeping it real. Though, all-purpose flour can be used as a substitute, if needed.
• Dividing rolls: I find a kitchen scale to be super helpful to get equally weighed dough balls. That way all your rolls are uniform in size, yay.
• Make-ahead/overnight rolls: If you want to make these rosemary sweet potato rolls into an overnight situation, cool. After making the dough, transfer it into a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Keep the dough in the fridge overnight, 8-10 hours max. Then proceed with steps 5-8.
• Butter & flaky salt: Y’all, don’t skip the melted butter brushing with a topping of flaky salt once the rolls are fresh outta the oven. The butter gives them that sultry golden sheen and the flaky salt is just chef’s kiss.

Serving Rosemary Sweet Potato Rolls

These rolls are delish when paired alongside your favorite main entrees and hearty meat-inspired dishes (maybe w/ braised short ribs, yum!). I love serving these rolls for special gatherings or holiday-centered get togethers: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and so much more! ⇢ Everyone will enjoy these rosemary sweet potato rolls; and they’re perfect, fluffy vessels to have on the plate for sopping up the sauciest of dishes, yasss. 👅

Leftover Dinner Rolls & Storing

Once cooled, wrap leftover sweet potato rolls in foil/plastic wrap. They’ll keep stored at room temperature, on the counter, for about 4-5 days. I don’t recommend refrigerating rolls as they might dry out. However, you can also keep leftover rolls in the freezer, wrapped tightly in foil/plastic bag. Frozen rolls will keep for up to 2 months. When ready, transfer rolls to the fridge to thaw overnight. ⇢ To reheat in the microwave: wrap rolls in moistened paper towels and nuke for 5-10 seconds or until warmed through. For the oven: preheat the oven to 300°F and heat for 10-15 minutes or until warmed through.

You’ll love these fluffy Rosemary Sweet Potato Rolls, y’all! They’re such a (delish) twist on ordinary dinner rolls. Be sure to tag @butterbeready in your BBR recipe creations, I sure love to see it when you do. Until next time! 🤟🏾

Love sweet potato-forward recipes? You & me both, don’t miss:

• Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
• Turkey Soup with Sweet Potato Dumplings
• Southern Sweet Potato Pie
• The Best Sweet Potato Pound Cake
• Sweet Potato Cornbread

Print