Easy Potato Buns for Amazing Burgers
Potato Buns are the easiest homemade burger buns you’ll ever make; the potato makes for soft fluffy buns that are perfect for smash burger type recipes like the Oklahoma Onion Burger and other football easy entrees likepulled pork. Like my classic Homemade Hamburger Buns, and my Homemade Hot Dog Buns, these rolls put packaged burger buns to shame, but they’re even easier to make. These take literally 2 minutes to shape, and they freeze so your tailgating parties never need be without homemade buns.
| Taste | Texture | ||
| The best homemade bread | Fluffy, light |
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 10 minutes | 2 hours, 20 minutes | 12 buns | Easy |
Why You Should Become the Person Who Makes Burger Buns
- They’re Unbelievably Good: The potato adds an earthiness you won’t be able to pinpoint, but beyond that, these buns bake up into the lightest, softest rolls with an airy crumb that’s actually worth eating. The rolls will not disintegrate under the weight of heavy burger toppings or cut your mouth as crusty bread or rolls can do.
- No Creepy Ingredients: Packaged rolls require a chemistry degree to understand. These rolls just taste like fresh homemade bread with all of the accompanying awesomeness that goes with that. No, they won’t stay fresh for months on end like their packaged counterparts, but that’s good since it means that you won’t be consuming preservatives or weird science ingredients.
- They Take Almost No Time: You can pull together these rolls with about 10 minutes of active time. If you have a potato in the fridge you boiled earlier, then it’ll take you even less time. I have made these rolls on even the most hectic of days. I will show you how I streamline this so you can always have burger buns on hand.
- There’s No Difficult Shaping: I love my classic Homemade Hamburger Buns, but I realize now that the shaping I show you in that recipe is not for beginners. My students are about 50/50 on how well they do with it. These potato buns on the other hand only need to be shaped into balls, making them easy for everyone to make.
Ingredients for Potato Rolls
Potato Roll Dough
- All-purpose flour
- Potatoes: anything that you can mash works well here. I’m using Yukon Gold.
- Yeast
- Salt
- Eggs
- Butter
- Sugar
- Water from boiling the potatoes
Finishing the Buns
- Egg
- Caraway seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds , or everything bagel seasoning (optional)
- Butter for brushing
Equipment
- Potato ricer or fork
- parchment
- Sheet trays
- Stand mixer or hand mixer with a dough hook
- Pastry brush
Can I use mashed potatoes for the dough?
Yes you can, but that’ll be adding more liquid and butter into the dough. If it’s Thanksgiving time and you have leftover mashed potatoes you want to make up into potato buns, reserve 1/4 cup of the water in the recipe. As the dough is mixing, evaluate the dough–you want enough liquid to make a tacky dough that just holds its shape. Add any or all of the water you reserved to get to this point.
How to Make Potato Rolls
- Boil the Potato: Peel the potato, and then cut it into quarters. Cover the potato with water in a small pot and boil until the potato is tender enough for a knife to slip easily in and out of the potato. Scoop the potato out of the water, saving the water. If you’re making this ahead of time, store the potato in the water in the fridge, covered. Otherwise, measure out the potato water, adding extra water from your sink to make 3/4 cup.
- Mash the Potato: Mash the potato with a fork or a potato ricer in a pie plate , allowing the potatoes to cool off to room temperature. If you’re using the water while hot, pour over the water to cool down along with the potatoes. When the water and potatoes are no longer hot to the touch, you’re ready to make the dough.
- Mix the Dough: Add all the dough ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with a dough hook and then mix everything on low speed for about 5 minutes, until you have a tacky dough. Don’t worry if it seems sticky–most of that stickiness will rise out of the dough. Cover the dough to rest for 1 hour.
- Shape the Rolls: Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 12 pieces, as equally as you can. Working with one piece of dough at a time, form your hand into a dome around a piece of dough. Quickly rotate the dough in your hand a few times to make a round shape. It’s okay if the bun is a little flat looking.
- Second Rise: Cover the buns and let them rise for about 30 minutes. Towards the end of the 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
- Baking the Buns: Beat the egg with about 1 teaspoon of water into an egg wash. Brush the egg wash all over the buns. If you’d like, top each bun with caraway , poppy seeds , sesame seeds, or everything bagel seasoning. Bake the buns until they are lightly golden and the tops spring back in the center when you touch them. Brush the buns with melted butter immediately after they come out of the oven.
How to Save Time Making Potato Rolls
- Pre-boil Potatoes: The day before you want to make your buns, peel your potato(es) and boil until tender in water that covers the potato. Toss the potato and water in the fridge, and you won’t have to wait for the potato to cool down before making the dough. It’s up to you whether you want to mash them ahead of time.
- Make a Double Batch: It’s just as easy to make a single batch as it is to make a single one. Eat one now and freeze the other for another day.
- Mix Now, Bake Later: Feel free to make up the dough up to 3 days before you want to bake. When you’re ready to bake, quickly shape up the rolls, giving them about 45 minutes to rise before baking.
What Kind of Burgers Do Best with Potato Buns?
- Smash burgers
- Juicy Lucy style burgers
- Oklahoma Onion Burger
- Pork tenderloin sandwiches
- Pulled pork, as long as it’s not too saucy.
Potato Buns for Burgers
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 buns 1x
Description
With ultra soft fluffy insides, these potato buns are perfect for smash burger type burgers and make an amazing bun for breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. Since these freeze so well, it’s not a bad idea to double the recipe, eat one now, and freeze the other batch for another day. Your football food will be so much better with this recipe in your back pocket!
Ingredients
Scale
Potato Burger Bun Dough
- One Russet potato, about 6 oz (170 g)
- 3/4 cup water from boiling the potato
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (390 grams)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons melted butter (42 g)
Finishing the Buns
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, poppy seeds , caraway seeds, or everything bagel seasoning
- 1 tablespoon melted butter (14 g)
Instructions
Boil the Potato
- Peel the potato, and then cut it into quarters.
- Cover the potato with water in a small pot and boil until the potato is tender enough for a knife to slip easily in and out of the potato.
- Scoop the potato out of the water, saving the water.
- If you’re making this ahead of time, store the potato in the water in the fridge, covered.
- Otherwise, measure out the potato water, adding extra water from your sink to make 3/4 cup.
Mash the Potato
- Mash the potato with a fork or a potato ricer in a pie plate , allowing the potatoes to cool off to room temperature.
- If you’re using the water while hot, pour over the water to cool down along with the potatoes. When the water and potatoes are no longer hot to the touch, you’re ready to make the dough.
Mix the Dough
- Add all the dough ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Fit the mixer with a dough hook and then mix everything on low speed for about 5 minutes, until you have a tacky dough.
- Don’t worry if it seems sticky–most of that stickiness will rise out of the dough.
- Cover the dough to rest for 1 hour.
Shape the Rolls
- Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces, as equally as you can.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, form your hand into a dome around a piece of dough. Quickly rotate the dough in your hand a few times to make a round shape. It’s okay if the bun is a little flat looking.
Second Rise
- Cover the buns and let them rise for about 30 minutes.
- Towards the end of the 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
Baking the Buns
- Beat the egg with about 1 teaspoon of water into an egg wash.
- Brush the egg wash all over the tops of the buns.
- If you’d like, top each bun with caraway, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or everything bagel seasoning. Bake the buns until they are lightly golden and the tops spring back in the center when you touch them.
- Brush the buns with melted butter immediately after they come out of the oven.
Notes
Freezing Instructions: Split the buns with a serrated knife horizontally, and then place them in gallon ziploc bags. Remove as much air as possible. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Breads
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
