Potato Rolls

Potato Rolls are a new twist on an old favorite — the dinner roll. Soft, chewy, buttery, and with that extra magic you can only get from adding in mashed potatoes, these potato rolls will soon become your new go-to side dish for entertaining all holiday long. 

If you love everything potato, then you’ll also love my Instant Pot Baked Potatoes, Oven Roasted Dill Potatoes, or my Company Potatoes. 

This post is sponsored by Bob Evans. All opinions are my own.

It’s no secret that I’ve got the holidays on my mind. No sooner was Halloween done than I went to the store and started buying Christmas decorations. At least I waited that long, right? I mean, cut a girl some slack. I won’t start Christmas decorating though till at least after Thanksgiving. I think. 

This time of year is so fun though, not just for the red-and-green knick-knackery but also for the food. Oodles and oodles of food. From your main dishes (such as Easy Instant Pot Pot Roast) to your sides, and from breakfasts to desserts, there’s just a crazy amount of food to think about and create and plan on. (Want some holiday breakfast ideas? Check out my 28 Holiday Breakfast Recipes!)

Personally, at our house, I like to mix up traditional foods with newer dishes or try some new takes on traditional dishes as well. Take the roll. A roll, is a roll, is a roll, right? Wrong! There are sooo many different takes on a dinner roll it would make your head spin. 

Take, for example, my new favorite roll: the Potato Roll. Instead of using only flour in the roll, you substitute mashed potatoes for some of it. Crazy right? Yep — Crazy delicious, due mostly to Bob Evans Original Mashed Potatoes. If you take something creamy and buttery and add it to a dough mixture that is already buttery and fluffy what do you get? You guessed it! A holiday entertaining roll that’s the softest, fluffiest, butteriest bread side you could ever dream up. 

HOW DO YOU MAKE POTATO ROLLS? 

Making Potato Rolls is as easy as it is to make any dinner roll, and made even easier with Bob Evans Original Mashed Potatoes. 

The first thing you’re going to want to do is dissolve yeast in warm water to activate it. Once it’s all dissolved, add in the milk, butter, oil, sugar, egg, and Bob Evans Original Mashed Potatoes. Mix all of the ingredients together until they are good and combined. To the mixture, add salt, baking soda, baking powder and a little bit of flour to make the dough soft and malleable. 

Next, transfer the dough to a floured surface and start the kneading process. You’ll want to knead the dough only long enough for it to start to get smooth and elastic. This will take from about 6 to 8 minutes. Once it’s kneaded, put the dough in a lightly greased bowl and flip to make sure all sides are greased. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise somewhere warm for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until it’s doubled in size. 

Take the towel off the dough and use your fists to gently punch the dough down again. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Cover one half of the dough and put it aside. Take the other half and make 16 equal-sized balls. Add the balls to a greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Do the same to the dough you had covered. Cover the greased baking sheet (or sheets) and let the rolls rise again until doubled. This will take about another 30 minutes.

While the dough is rising, you can preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Take the towels/covers off of the rolls and bake them for 15-18 minutes or until they are golden brown. Pull them out of the oven, brush them with melted butter, and serve!

HOW CAN YOU CUSTOMIZE POTATO ROLLS?

• To make a Garlic Herb version of these Potato Rolls, stir minced garlic and Italian seasoning into the melted butter when you’re ready to brush after baking. 
• Make cheesy Potato Rolls by adding in a cup of shredded cheddar (or another of your favorite cheeses) to the dough at the end of step 1. 
• Make the rolls sweet by topping with melted butter then sprinkling a mixture of cinnamon and sugar over the top. 
• If you want the rolls to be more of the pull-apart variety, let them touch while they cook. They will rise up together and will only have crustier tops, while the bottom and sides will remain soft and tender. 
• Add any of your favorite herb combinations to the mix. Chives, basil, sage, rosemary, and oregano all come to mind. Mix herbs with cheese and/or garlic or brush on top with the melted butter.
  

With these Potato Rolls and some help from Bob Evans Original Mashed Potatoes, you don’t have to be scared of bread making any longer!