Dinner rolls are delicious, and potato dinner rolls are even better! Get the recipe for these garlic chive potato rolls that stay soft for several days. They freeze well and are full of flavor from the addition of freeze-dried chives and garlic.

Potatoes love yeast, so these guys rise relatively quickly with total rise time of under 2 hours. You may also enjoy my potato sandwich bread recipe.

For ease of browsing, here are all of my bread and roll recipes. Thanks for visiting. Now let’s get to it!

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A stack of three soft dinner rolls on a gray plate with one split dinner roll and a bowl of butter in the background.

Potato Dinner Rolls, At a Glance

✅Skill Level: Intermediate
✅Skills: Boiling potatoes, making yeast dough, shaping and proofing, baking
✅Type: Yeast-Raised Dinner Rolls
✅Number of Ingredients: 14
✅Prep Time: 40 minutes
✅Cook Time: 25 minutes
✅Total Rise Time: 2 hours
✅Yield: 12 dinner rolls

Jump Straight to the Recipe

What Do Potatoes Do In a Dinner Roll Recipe?

Potatoes, especially starchy potatoes like Idaho® Russet Potatoes, soak up liquid once they reach a certain temperature, and they don’t let go. This keeps your breads and rolls softer longer and is very similar to the way Tangzhong method works.

Rather than cooking a portion of the flour and liquid together, you just replace a portion of the flour with cooked potato. As a bonus, you do get a bit more nutritional bang for you buck as well. Sweet!

See my other potato dinner roll recipe, this time flavored with garlic and Parmesan.

What Makes These Potato Rolls So Great

A plate of four dinner rolls, one split open, with a dish of butter.
Tip: Use a vegetable peeler to shave “slices” of butter off a stick. It softens quickly and is easy to spread on your soft dinner rolls!
  • Has tons of flavor from freeze-dried garlic and chives
  • Stays soft for several days thanks to the addition of potato.
  • Rises relatively quickly, again thanks to the potato.
  • Potato adds bulk but no additional gluten which makes these rolls tender.
  • Can be scaled out for slider buns (1 1/2 oz each), dinner rolls (3 oz each) or burger buns (4 oz each).

How to Make Potato Dinner Rolls

Here’s a rundown of the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe. I’ll provide substitutions when possible.

If you are comfortable working with softer yeast dough, feel free to skip on down to the recipe.

Labeled images of the ingredients needed to make potato dinner rolls arranged on a white background: potatoes, salt, water, olive oil, sugar, freeze-dried chives & garlic, salt & pepper, buttermilk, egg, bread flour, yeast, and melted butter.
  • potatoes: Use a starchy rather than waxy potato. Russet is my preference, although you could also get away with Yukon Golds
  • salt: You’ll put some salt in the water for cooking the potatoes and use an additional 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt in the dough. If using tables salt or other fine salt, use only 3/4 teaspoon. Kosher salt with its larger grains that don’t pack together as tightly, weighs less than table salt
  • water: for cooking the potatoes
  • olive oil: provides the fat in the recipe allowing for a soft and tender crumb. Oil/fat also carries flavor
  • sugar: You don’t need much, just enough to help with some tenderizing. Sugar also assists in browning
  • freeze-dried chives and garlic: These are definitely convenience products, but they’re nice to have around. Feel free to substitute fresh, or use other herbs/spices as desired. You can also opt to leave them plain. The potato will ensure they still have plenty of flavor
  • pepper: For a little bite. Feel free to leave it out
  • buttermilk: Buttermilk provides the liquid for the dough. The acidic buttermilk tenderizes the gluten, making soft and lovely rolls. You may substitute whole milk if you prefer. Your rolls will still be very good but just not quite as squishy
  • egg: Provides a little protein, a little extra liquid, fat, and emulsifiers to make a smooth and supple dough
  • bread flour: This is the bulk of the rolls. Using bread flour assures there’s enough gluten to still have good structure even with the tenderizing ingredients (oil, sugar, buttermilk)
  • yeast: I use instant. You can also use active dry. If using active dry, proof the yeast in about 2 Tablespoons of warm potato cooking water and reduce the buttermilk by the same amount
  • melted butter: For brushing on the tops of the rolls once they come out of the oven.

Procedure

There are more detailed instructions in the recipe card, but here’s the overview of how you’ll put these rolls together.

  1. Cook potatoes until tender
  2. Add to mixer with the oil, salt, pepper, and garlic/chives
  3. Mix until smooth
  4. Dump in buttermilk, egg, flour, and yeast
  5. Knead until smooth, shiny, and stretchy
  6. Let rise, portion, shape, and put rolls in pan
  7. Let rise again, and bake
  8. Brush tops with melted butter

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Making the Rolls: Q & A

3 potato rolls on a plate with glass jars of freeze dried garlic and chives in the background.
These wonderful dinner rolls get a nutrition boost from potatoes and a flavor boost from freeze-dried garlic and chives.
How long does it take to make these rolls?

Here’s the breakdown: cooking potatoes, about 20 minutes including time to boil the water. Scaling out, mixing, and kneading the dough, about 30 minutes. First rise, about 75 minutes. Scaling and shaping the rolls, about 20 minutes. Second rise, about 40 minutes. Baking, about 25 minutes. Altogether, figure about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish.

Can I make these with just one rise instead of two?

You can. The crumb won’t be quite as even and the texture not quite as light, but you can make these with a single rise of about an hour. Then scale, shape, and pan your rolls. Let them rest while your oven preheats to 375F and then pop them in. If you have the time for the 2 rises, I’d go ahead and do it, but it’s not strictly necessary.

What does the potato do?

The potato adds bulk, moisture, and some nutrients. It also reduces the overall gluten content, giving you softer rolls that stay soft because the potato starches hold onto liquid.

Can I freeze dinner rolls?

Absolutely. Bread does very well frozen. I cool my rolls completely then freeze them in freezer bags, pressing out as much air as I can before sealing. Take them from the fridge as you need them and let them thaw naturally or pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds or so. Soft dinner rolls will be just fine in the freezer for a month or even two.

Do I have to use the freeze-dried garlic and chives?

No you don’t. You can absolutely use a couple of cloves of garlic and mince them yourself or buy minced garlic in a jar and use a teaspoon or two of that. You can also use about a tablespoon or even 2 of freshly minced chives. The freeze-dried garlic and chives both have wonderful flavor and a very long shelf-life, so they are definitely a convenience but not necessary. You can even leave them out to just enjoy a lovely dinner roll minus the herbs.

What To Serve with These Rolls

Rolls used to be an essential part of Sunday dinner if not for every meal, but as people get farther away from making elaborate meals and bread making is seen as a chore, they have fallen a bit out of favor.

I propose we bring soft dinner rolls back, especially since they freeze so well. You can make a batch or two, freeze them and then bring out what you need. Scaled at a generous 3 oz, you’ll get 12 rolls per recipe and you can use them to sop up gravy, make small sandwiches, or just to enjoy between other bites of your dinner.

Here are some recipes for you to consider:

Questions?

If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.

Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.

If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.

A Note About Measurements

My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.

For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.

I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.

This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.

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02/11/2025 01:21 pm GMT

Love These Potato Dinner Rolls? Please Rate and Review.

5 golden stars for rating recipes

Soft Potato Dinner Roll Recipe

Jennifer Field
These soft dinner rolls use starchy potatoes to make them tender and soft while bread flour gives them a bit of chew. Freeze dried garlic and chives (thanks, Litehouse Foods) lend tons of flavor. Perfect with butter or use them to sop up tasty gravy!
4.50 from 4 votes
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Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Rise Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes
Course Bread and Rolls Recipes
Cuisine American
Servings 12 rolls
Calories 239 kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 medium Idaho® Russet Potato
  • 1 teaspoons kosher salt
  • Cold water to cover
  • 2 oz barely scant ¼ cup fruity olive oil
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Litehouse Freeze Dried Garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon Litehouse Freeze Dried Chives
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 10-20 grinds fresh black pepper depending on how much pepper you like
  • 9.5 oz by weight buttermilk (about 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 pound about 3 ¾ cups bread flour
  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • melted butter for finishing about 4 Tablespoons

Instructions
 

  • Wash, peel, and cut the potato into 1″ pieces.
  • Place in a saucepan with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until potato pieces are easily pierced with a knife. Drain, cover, and return to low heat for 5 minutes to dry a bit.
  • Crush the freeze dried garlic just a bit with the back of a spoon and place in the bowl of your stand mixer along with the chives.
  • Use a kitchen scale to measure out 6 oz of cooked potato and place in the bowl of your stand mixer along with the oil, sugar, salt, and pepper.
  • Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium low speed until the potato mixture is smooth.
  • Add the buttermilk, egg, flour and yeast, in that order.
  • Fit your mixer with the dough hook, and mix on low speed until the flour is evenly moistened and the dough is starting to come together, about 2 minutes..
  • Knead on medium speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, shiny, stretchy and clears the sides of the mixer bowl. The dough is soft, so some will stick in the bottom of the bowl. That’s just fine.
  • Scrape the dough into a rough ball in the mixer bowl, spray with a bit of oil or pan spray, and set aside in a warm place to rise until double. Since yeast loves potatoes so much, this will only take about an hour or an hour and 15 minutes.
  • Scrape the risen dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and press out the gases.
  • Divide the dough into 12 or 24 even pieces. If you have a scale, weigh the entire amount of dough and then divide that weight by the number of rolls you want. Now you have a weight for portioning. I scaled 12 large rolls at just over 3 oz each. If you make small rolls, you’ll be scaling at 1.5 oz for 24 rolls. You can also make burger buns, scaling them at 4 oz for 9 buns.
  • Stretch each portion of dough to find a smooth side and then tuck the rest of the dough under to form a smooth ball. Tighten up the ball by rolling it between your palms on your work surface.
  • In a 9” x 13” nonstick pan, evenly space the rolls in 3 rows of 4 for large rolls or 4 rows of 6 for small ones. If making burger buns, place on a parchment-lined half sheet pan, leaving enough space so the buns won’t touch after rising.
  • Preheat oven to 375F.
  • Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until almost double, about 30-40 minutes.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes for large rolls and about 20 minutes for small rolls. Rotate the pan if browning unevenly. The rolls are done when the internal temperature reaches 195-200F. They will be deeply golden brown on top and golden brown on the sides. If the rolls seem to be browning too quickly, tent loosely with foil.
  • As soon as you take the rolls out of the oven, brush them with melted butter.
  • Allow the rolls to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then carefully ease them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • Wrap loosely in foil and reheat to serve. They’re great cold, too, but you will really love them warm. Enjoy!

Did You Make Any Changes?

Notes

NOTES: This dough is soft and somewhat sticky. Spray your work surface and hands with oil to make it easier to work with. Resist the urge to add more flour, because that will just weight the rolls down, and that’s no fun.

Storing

Rolls will keep, well-wrapped or covered, for about 4 days at room temperature. For longer storage, freeze and defrost as needed. They will be fine in the freezer for up to 3 months or so. Do not keep the rolls (or any bread) in the fridge.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 239kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 8gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 521mgFiber: 3gSugar: 3g
Keyword bread flour, potatoes, yeast
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And there you have it, friends! Enjoy the potato dinner rolls.

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6 Comments

  1. Oh my GAWD!! These rolls look so fluffy and incredible! Potato and garlic rolls?! I could eat every single one of these babies.

4.50 from 4 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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