Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Rolls with Maple Bacon Glaze are an incredible crowd-pleaser! Ultra fluffy with salty-sweet appeal, these rolls are sure to be a family favorite.
Ohhhh momma, have I got a roll for you.
Imagine your classic dinner roll fell out of the yum tree and hit every branch on the way down.
That’s basically what has happened with these rolls.
They have a sweet potato infusion with a hint o’ cinnamon, are super fluffy and pull-apart-y, and wear bacon like its the new black. In style, my friend!
With Easter coming up on Sunday + brunch season being in full swing, these carb mongers are perfection for preparing in advance, and make for a great family project.
If your family’s like mine and you get a real hoot n holler out of baking together, these fermented dough lumps are your JAM.
Yeast lifts us up where we belong. <-No truer words have ever been blogged.
I used gluten-free flour, don’t panic.
You can totally use regular all-purpose flour.
Here’s why I love these rolls so much:
1.) They’re both sweet and savory.
2.) The pull-apart characteristic makes them super fun to consume.
3.) They can wear any roll outfit from butter to runny egg to honey to jam to more bacon.
4.) The rolls can be eaten for breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner, you name it, there’s a purpose for them.
Preparing these rolls is a multi-step process. But not insurmountable. Totally surmountable. Mount it.
How to Make Sweet Potato Rolls:
I used Red Star Yeast’s Active Dry Yeast, which is always my yeast of choice. It’s forgiving and easy to use – necessary for someone like me who isn’t naturally savvy with leavening agents.
You bake a sweet potato, mash up a cup of it, activate your yeast, mix the mashed tater, melted butter, and egg into the yeast mixture, add in the flour, knead the dough, then allow it to rise.
While the dough is rising, you can multi-task and prepare the maple bacon topping situation.
This will blow.your.mind.
Section the dough out into small balls then three dough balls to each hole of a muffin tray. The dough balls with expand while baking to create a sort of single-serve pull-apart roll situation.
Serve the rolls fresh of of the oven with more liquid gold drizzled on top, and you’re all set for a fluffed-out salty-sweet experience.
Serve these sweet potato rolls at all your brunches!
..And don’t forget the maple bacon glaze, now!
If you love rolls, also check out my Gluten-Free Hawaiian Rolls and my Gluten-Free Pumpkin Dinner Rolls.
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Sweet Potato Rolls with Maple Bacon Glaze
Ingredients
- 3 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour + more for kneading
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar or cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup warm water*
- 1 .75-ounce packet Red Star active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup sweet potato roasted and pureed (1 medium sweet potato)
For the maple bacon glaze:
- 3 strips thick-cut bacon cooked and chopped
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Combine the flour, coconut sugar, sea salt, and cinnamon in a bowl and stir until well-combined (dry mixture).
- Stir together the warm water, yeast, and honey in a large mixing bowl and allow it to sit and activate for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the beaten egg, melted butter, and mashed sweet potato to the mixing bowl with the yeast mixture, and stir until well-combined (wet mixture).
- Add the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet mixture one cup at a time, and stir until combined. By the time you add the third cup, the dough should be somewhat stiff.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 to 2 minutes. Form the dough into a round ball.
- Lightly oil a large mixing bowl and place the ball of dough in it. Let sit for 45 to 50 minutes, until dough has risen.
- Lightly oil a 12-hole muffin tray. Section the dough out into 36 small dough balls and place 3 dough balls into each hole of the muffin tray. Cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to sit an additional 45 to 50 minutes.
- While dough is resting, prepare the maple bacon glaze by stirring together the cooked chopped bacon and maple syrup in a bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spoon the maple bacon mixture over each roll and place muffin tray on the center rack of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until rolls are cooked through.
I am going to try to make these today. If I used a can of sweet potato puree, would I just use it like I roasted and pureed it myself or would I need to add or omit anything to it? Thank you for your help!
Hi Carrie! I haven’t tested the recipe using canned sweet potato puree but I think it should work. My only concern is the dough may be slightly wetter than needed. If the dough seems overly wet, you can just add a little additional flour until it isn’t sticky. If the dough seems like normal bread/roll dough then no changes are needed and you should be good to go! Hope you enjoy! xo
@Julia, Thank you for your help. I am getting ready to start making it now.
I’m guessing you meant 7 g of yeast, not ounces? I’m in the middle of making these right now and I’m adding 7 g and hoping for the best!
My apologies, Julie! It should be 1 (.75-ounce) packet of yeast – so a standard-sized packet of yeast 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
They turned out delightful! We used cassava flour instead of a gluten free mix, and bacon fat instead of butter (making it AIP). They are fairly gummy but oh-so-delicious!
Oh great! I’m so happy to hear it! xo
What do you think about using 3T of the bacon grease in place of the butter?
I think that sounds fabulous! I wish I had thought of that sooner! Let me know how the rolls turn out! 😀
Homemade bread is my absolute favorite … especially for holidays! These sound incredible – salty + sweet = best ever!
I have never seen a more beautiful fermented lump of dough in all my life. They look so soft and fluffy! Plus the sweet potato, maple and bacon combo sounds pretty epic. I need to come to your house for Easter so I can monger all the carbs!! 😉
I can’t have dairy — what could I used instead of butter? Coconut Oil? Avocado Oil?
I use canola (rapeseed) oil for dairy free baking. It has good technological properties and is one of the healthiest one – has good omega-6 : omega-3 ratio (2:1). Coconut oil is full of saturated fats. Avocado oil is OK but has worst omega-6 : omega 3 ratio (13:1). Proportion between omega-3 fatty acids should be as close to 1:1 / 2:1 as possible.
Either one would work!
These sweet potato rolls look seriously epic! Drooling 🙂
Your rolls look divine! What kind of all purpose gluten free flour did you use?
Thanks so much, Ina! So glad you like them. I used Bob’s Red Mill’s GF 1-to-1 baking flour. 🙂