Soft and tender Amish Dinner Rolls are fluffy potato dinner rolls with a perfect, buttery, tender crust. Perfect for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas dinner!
Rolls are pretty much a way of life in our house. My kids just don’t think a meal is complete unless we have fresh rolls on the table.
These Amish Dinner Rolls are similar to the potato rolls that my mom would make at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
They are soft and fluffy and have perfect tender, buttery crust on top.
Since they’re made with instant yeast, there’s no proofing or worrying about getting the perfect water temperature for the yeast.
Just mix, let rise, shape, let rise, and bake!
How to make
Add eggs, salt, sugar, butter, mashed potatoes, yeast, water, and 3 cups of flour to a large bowl. Mix until combined.
Continue adding flour until soft dough forms. You may not need to add all of the flour.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Let the dough rise until it’s doubled, about 1½ hours. Gently deflate the dough.
Add to heavily floured surface, and knead in additional flour to form a soft, workable dough.
Divide dough into 24 balls. Place the rolls in a lightly greased 9×13-inch pan.
Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let them rise for about 1 ½-2 hours, or until they’re puffy.
Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F.
Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and feel set.
Brush with melted butter, if desired.
Tips
Sugar: The rolls are slightly sweet. If you would prefer a roll that’s less sweet, decrease the sugar to 1/4 cup.
Butter: I use salted butter in the rolls. Feel free to use unsalted if you prefer.
Mashed potato: 1 medium baking potato will yield about 8 ounces of mashed potato.
You can also reconstitute mashed potato flakes and use 1 cup of the prepared mashed potatoes.
If you end up with too much mashed potatoes, you can use the extra mashed potatoes to make chocolate mashed potato cake.
Water: I like to use the leftover water from boiling the potato because it has extra starch in it. If you don’t have potato water, use tap water that’s about 80F.
Storage
I either cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap or place the leftover rolls in a resealable plastic bag. The rolls can be kept at room temperature for 3-4 days.
More easy roll recipes!
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Amish Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- 9×13 pan
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 6 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 cup unseasoned mashed potatoes lightly packed
- 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- 3/4 cup lukewarm water leftover water from boiling the potatoes, if possible
- 4 ¼-5 ¼ cups all-purpose flour Properly measured
Instructions
- Add eggs, salt, sugar, butter, mashed potatoes, yeast, water, and 3 cups of flour to a large bowl.
- Mix until combined.
- Continue adding flour until soft dough forms. You may not need to add all of the flour.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Let the dough rise until it's doubled, about 1½ hours.
- Gently deflate the dough.
- Add to heavily floured surface, and knead in additional flour to form a soft, workable dough.
- Divide dough into 24 balls.
- Place the rolls in a lightly greased 9×13-inch pan.
- Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let them rise for about 1 ½-2 hours, or until they're puffy.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and feel set.
- Brush with melted butter, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Sugar: The rolls are slightly sweet. If you would prefer a roll that’s less sweet, decrease the sugar to 1/4 cup.
- Butter: I use salted butter in the rolls. Feel free to use unsalted if you prefer.
- Mashed potato: 1 medium baking potato will yield about 8 ounces of mashed potato. You can also reconstitute mashed potato flakes and use 1 cup of the prepared mashed potatoes.
- Water: I like to use the leftover water from boiling the potato because it has extra starch in it. If you don’t have potato water, use tap water that’s about 80F.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Adapted from King Arthur Flour.
Originally published 9/14/16. Updated with additional photos and tips 3/25/21.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Kim says
Can you use potato flakes? If so, how much?
Kate says
You can use dehydrated mashed potato flakes, but you’ll need to rehydrate them to make mashed potatoes before using them.
Kim Billhimerest says
Yummy. I love rolls
Kate says
Thanks! =)
Eaglestar says
Would dehydrated (instant) potatoes work?
Kate says
If they were reconstituted, I think they would work just fine.
Leah says
Can i save this dough for the next day? Or make cinnimon rolls with it?
Kate says
I haven’t tried either of those things with this dough. However, this dough is similar to one that my mom made while I was growing up, and she placed it (covered) in the fridge overnight, and then she would bake with it the next day. I’m guessing that it would work with this dough, too. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t use it to make cinnamon rolls. Good luck!
Caroline says
You just can’t beat fresh hot rolls with butter. So good!
Kate says
So true! Thanks!
rosa says
please, could you help me, explaining how much of mashed potatoes are required in this recipe?
it’s a cup, but how many ounces/grams? or better even, how many potatoes shall I boil?
Living in Europe, we’re usually given the weight of the ingredients…
thank you in advance
Kate says
One medium baking potato will yield about 8 ounces of mashed potato, which is the amount that you need for this recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
rosa says
I can’t make out how much of mashed potatoes the recipe requires.
1 cup, which would be how many ounces?
I live in Europe, and we’re usually given weight for the ingredients…
Dawn says
That is 6 tablespoons of butter, correct?
Kate says
Yes! Not sure where that measurement disappeared to, but thank you for letting me know it was missing!
Jacqueline Hudson says
I just noticed recipe reads “1/3 c. tsp. salt”. Is it possible it needs to be edited to read 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tsp salt?
Aloha
Kate says
Thank you! I apologize about that. When my site updated, my recipes reformatted themselves, and, in some cases, ingredients were deleted. I’ve been trying to work through all 500+ recipes to get it all fixed.
Yes, it should be 1/3 cup sugar. I used a little less salt than the original recipe called for (1 1/2 teaspoons) because I didn’t think it needed the extra, but that’s just a matter of taste.
Thanks again for letting me know about the missing ingredients! =)
Suzanne Corkery says
I often refrigerate dough for several hours, or even a day with no I’ll effects. In fact flavor is enhanced. I haven’t done this with this particular dough, but I’m sure that it would work out fine!
Kate says
Thank you for the tip! =)
Kim Merrell says
I’m new at this. At what part would you refrigerate the dough? Thanks!
Kate says
Usually, you would cover and chill the dough in place of the first rise. Good luck, and happy Thanksgiving! =)
Caitlin says
Any tips on preparing these the day before? What step should I stop at before refrigerating? Can they be refrigerated for 24 hours before baking?
Kate says
I’ve never tried to prepare these rolls a day before serving, so I can’t tell you for sure whether or not they work well being made ahead of time. Wish I could help more!
Mary says
These look wonderful! Any tips on freezing these rolls? Pinned. Thanks!
Kate says
I haven’t frozen these rolls, but you can usually make them to the point when they are shaped and freeze them. It’s usually suggested to increase the amount of yeast by about 1/4 tsp. to make up for any deactivation/die off that occurs while the rolls are frozen. Try to freeze the rolls quickly so that they will stay fresher. When you’re ready to bake them, place them in whatever pan you’re going to bake them in, and let them thaw/rise, and then bake them. Hope that helps!
Mary says
Thanks so much!
Kate says
You’re very welcome! =)
RS says
I have been making these rolls for years. Got the recipe from King Arthur Flour. Instead of white potatoes I use orange sweet potatoes for a more colorful presentation with no significant difference in taste. They are always a big hit and people often request I bring them as my contribution to a party.
Kate says
Great tip! Thank you for sharing it! I’m sure the sweet potato rolls would be especially festive at Thanksgiving.