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Hawaiian Rolls - soft and sweet rolls recipe made with pineapple juice. Homemade Hawaiian buns are easy to make with simple ingredients and fail-proof.
Hawaiian Rolls Recipe
Hawaiian rolls are pillowy soft, fluffy and lightly sweet rolls from Hawaii, thanks to the use of pineapple juice and brown sugar. These King’s Hawaiian rolls are made famous by a bakery on the Big Island.
The pineapple flavor is subtle, but it gives these Hawaiian sweet rolls that familiar flavor we all love.
These Hawaiian rolls will become your new go to roll recipe for dinner as well as holidays such as Thanksgiving!
How To Make Hawaiian Rolls
The recipe begins with a sponge. The extra time allows for the dough to properly ferment and naturally mature the flour.
This step produces more depth of flavor and a lighter and fluffier texture.
I used a stand mixer to mix my dough. This is a very sticky dough and I added a few more tablespoons of flour to help the dough come together towards the end of the kneading process.
I divided the dough into 15 pieces, 3 across and 5 down.
Before baking in a 350 degree oven, brush the buns with an egg white mixture. This will give these sweet rolls a satiny and soft crust.
What To Eat Hawaiian Buns With
The most popular way to enjoy Hawaiian rolls is to make Hawaiian roll sliders.
You can fill these buns with Hawaiian Kalua pork, pulled pork, ham and cheese, chicken salad or egg salad.
These rolls can also be used in bread pudding; you can also cube them and bake them into croutons.
Baking Tips
- Use room temp canned pineapple juice. Fresh pineapple juice contains enzymes which will destroy the gluten.
- This dough can be shaped into 6 hamburger or hot dog buns.
- Equal amount of corn starch can be substituted for potato starch.
- You can reduce the amount of brown sugar for a less sweet version.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can freeze fully baked rolls for up to 3 months. Thaw to room temp and reheat at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Instant yeast is preferred for this recipe. The instant yeast will produce a higher-rising bun. If you do use active dry yeast the rising should be 30 minutes longer with both rises.
Each Hawaiian bun is only 68 calories.
What To Serve With This Recipe
Serve the buns with butter or your favorite preserves, or make them into sliders.
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Hawaiian Rolls
Ingredients
Sponge
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons water
Dough
- 1/2 cup canned pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs , plus 1 egg yolk. egg white reserved
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons potato flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- For the sponge: In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sponge ingredients and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- Add the pineapple juice, butter, brown sugar, eggs and yolk, and vanilla, mixing until well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, potato flour, and salt, then add this mixture to the liquid ingredients.
- Mix and knead until the dough is cohesive and smooth; it will be very sticky at first. Beat with the flat beater of your stand mixer at medium-high speed for about 3 minutes. Scrape the dough into the center of the bowl, switch to the dough hook, and knead at medium speed for about 5 minutes. The dough may form a very soft ball but will likely still stick to the bottom of the bowl.
- Lightly grease the mixing bowl, round the dough into a ball, and place it in the bowl. Cover and let it rise until very puffy, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
- Lightly grease a 9" x 13" (23 cm x 33 cm) baking pan. Gently deflate the dough and divide it into 15 equal pieces. Round each piece into a smooth ball and space the buns in the pan. Cover the dough gently with lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise in the pan for 1 hour, until nicely puffy. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).
- Mix the reserved egg white with 1 tablespoon of cold water and brush some onto the surface of the rolls; this will give them a satiny crust. Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are cooked through. Remove the rolls from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter or your favorite preserves.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Where is the recipe?
Hi Alison, thanks for letting me know. The recipe card was accidentally deleted. I have added it back!
Thank you! Love the recipe and was sad I hadn’t saved it.
Hi,can I use potato flakes from the instant mashed potatoes,instead of buying potato flour?
Hi Liza, that’s probably not a good idea. Instant mashed potatoes contain a lot of additives, which would definitely give you a different result for the rolls.
Can the Hawaiian Rolls be made with gluten-free flour?
It can, just adjust as needed. Many references for gluten free Hawaiian rolls online to help.
Can you use bread flour with this recipe?
I think so!
Hello, if I use active dry yeast, should I bloom it in warm water? Or can I just use it exactly how the instant yeast is and just let rise for extra time as directed?
Please check the instructions of your yeast.
Very light and fluffy!
Awesome.
These rolls turned out beautifully! Perfectly tender crumb and lovely flavor. One change we made was we used 1/4 cup sourdough discard and 3/4T active yeast, proofed in 2T water in place of the sponge and followed directions exactly from there. So true, these will be our go to dinner, breakfast, lunch, snack rolls!
Hi Annemarie, thanks for trying these Hawaiian rolls. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Is potato flour a must? I have never used it in anything before.
Please follow the recipe, it gives the slightly chewy texture.
Can this recipe be used for a loaf of bread?
Yes you can try!
1/4 cup flour is 32 grams, not 28. I used your 28 to calculate 2 3/4, which came out to be 308 instead of the correct 352. I guess this is why my dough was closer to a pancake mix than that in the picture…
Hi Peter, the recipe is from https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/hawaiian-buns-recipe. It worked for me, as you can see from my photos.
I do not have a stand mixer with a hook. Can it be made with with hand mixer with the swirly hooks?
I think it’s fine. You can also knead with hand after that.