Paleo dinner rolls may very well save my relationship with my oldest son. Wait…let me explain. My son Ben is generally a very sweet, smart, funny and easy-going young man. But give him gluten and he turns into a different person. Ben normally takes his paleo lunch to school but yesterday was “Take Your Child To Work Day” and he ended up eating the pizza lunch given to the kids at the event. Last night he had another one of his meltdowns and it proved once again the direct and very dramatic correlation between his mood and his diet.
We follow our paleo way of eating fairly strictly. In spite of the paleo dessert recipes on this site we really do not indulge in them frequently. Our desire for sugary snacks is not that powerful at this point. But when you have a middle school boy who is gluten intolerant (and quite possibly celiac) there has to be a balance between following what may be considered strictly paleo and helping him feel like a normal kid. During his meltdown Ben expressed he is often embarrassed that he eats differently from his peers. He NEEDS to have treats now and then and yes, he wants to eat bread. I want to train him to eat whole foods and take care of his body. But I refuse to allow food to become something that divides us and makes life more difficult. Middle school is hard enough!
In order to keep Ben on board with the program – to keep him from rebelling completely – I tried to come up with a recipe for a type of paleo bread he might enjoy. I have another recipe for banana cardamom bread but it uses almond flour and Ben is allergic to nuts. So this paleo bread recipe had to be nut free as well as grain and gluten free. The solution is a recipe that uses tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch) as well as coconut flour and a few other, simple ingredients.
Paleo Dinner Rolls
Recipe adapted from A Girl Worth Saving.
Ingredients
- 1 cup tapioca flour (starch)
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 large egg, whisked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the tapioca flour (you can substitute arrowroot flour/starch) with the salt and 1/4 cup of the coconut flour in a medium bowl. Mix well.
- Pour in oil and warm water and stir. Add the whisked egg and continue mixing until well combined.
- If the mixture is too thin you should add one or two more tablespoons of coconut flour – one tablespoon at a time – until the mixture is a soft but somewhat sticky dough.
- Use a spatula or large spoon to scoop out about two tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. You will be making about 10 rolls. Use extra tapioca flour in the palms of your hands so the dough does not stick.
- Place each roll of dough onto a greased baking pan, parchment paper or one covered with a Silpat (what I used)
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- Serve warm.
Makes about 10 paleo dinner rolls.
The dinner rolls ended up being crusty on the outside and soft and doughy on the inside. I thought they might not be good once they cooled off, but when we tried the leftovers, a couple of hours later, they were basically the same. All in all, we were pretty pleased with these!
The process is fairly quick and easy. But keep in mind these recipes are often more of an art than a science. Coconut flour can be tricky to work with which is why I point out the need to add more of it slowly toward the end in order to get the right consistency. Allow enough time for the coconut flour to absorb the liquid before adding more. Don’t add too much because your rolls will end up like rocks.
The second time I made these paleo dinner rolls I realized too late I only had 1/4 cup of coconut flour. So I ended up adding about 1/4 cup more tapioca flour. In this case, the dough was very wet and sticky so I used a large spoon to scoop it out onto the silpat. The rolls were much flatter, similar to ciabatta. I made some italian meat sauce and served it with this version of the paleo dinner rolls and it was a big hit just like the others.
Personally, I preferred the round version of the rolls because they were nicely crispy on the outside and moist and chewy on the inside. But either version was a nice change of pace for us. Ben was back to his usual, charming self today after being back to his gluten-free, paleo way of eating. But I was happy to be able to offer him a paleo dinner roll to sample after school and thrilled when he said he LOVED it!
Yay! Mission accomplished.
PrintPaleo Dinner Rolls
gluten-free dinner roll side dish
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 10 rolls 1x
- Category: side
Ingredients
- 1 cup tapioca flour (starch)
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 large egg, whisked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the tapioca flour (you can substitute arrowroot flour/starch) with the salt and 1/4 cup of the coconut flour in a medium bowl. Mix well.
- Pour in oil and warm water and stir. Add the whisked egg and continue mixing until well combined.
- If the mixture is too thin you should add one or two more tablespoons of coconut flour – one tablespoon at a time – until the mixture is a soft but somewhat sticky dough.
- Use a spatula or large spoon to scoop out about two tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. You will be making about 10 rolls. Use extra tapioca flour in the palms of your hands so the dough does not stick.
- Place each roll of dough onto a greased baking pan, parchment paper or one covered with a Silpat (what I used)
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- Serve warm.
If you like these dinner rolls you will love my recipe for Paleo Pizza Crust! It’s also dairy-free, grain-free and nut-free and easy to make.
These look delicious! And Ben is so cute! We have pretty much eliminated the need for rolls and bread in our house, but we have 4 and 5 year old girls and I could see this recipe coming in handy in the future. Thank you for the wonderful recipes you create!
My 10 year-old son has similar issues with grains and behavior/self-control. We’ve just pretty much stopped having any kind of bread but there are still some meals that would be so much more satisfying with something bready on the side. I’ll definitely be trying this out (and doubling it to serve 7 :))
These look awesome! So fluffy. Any baking is an art. You just have to “know”… Ya know? 😉
Wow, they look amazing! I’ll have to look into tapioca flour.
I have a very hard time convincing people that that gluten (dairy, or whatever!) could be effecting the moods and behaviors their house. I saw first hand too with my 8 year old daughter what a huge difference it made in her ADD, but selling it to others can be real difficult. My instinct is that it plays a real roll in multiple mental issues. Undigested proteins (from leaky gut) passing through into the blood stream can effect lots of areas, and the brain is one of them! Good for you Lea for making something special for your son to try and make it work! It is the source of creation for most of my recipes too! Doing grain free and nut free too is a double challenge…look fwd to trying these, the remind me of Brazilian pa bread!
Lea, these look fantastic! I love the original Brazilian cheese rolls, but this dairy-free, paleo version looks like just what we need right now when we want a roll. Will try soon for sure! Thank you! 🙂
Shirley
You’re a great mom!
Aw, thanks Anitra.
I am sooo amazed. Just made them. I needed double the measure for coconut flour BUT i haven’t enjoyed for a loong time in such a rich bun.. THANK YOU!
Any chance there would be an egg sub that worked with this? I so badly want these!!!!!
Hmm, I haven’t tried it without the egg so I can’t say for sure how it would work. But there is such a thing as a “flax egg” that many vegans and others with egg sensitivities sometimes use. A flax egg is freshly ground flax seeds plus water, made into a gel. Add one tablespoon freshly ground flax meal to small bowl and whisk in 3 tablespoons water. Let it sit for a few seconds and you will have an egg substitute. I hear it’s not a great idea to use this substitute for recipes that are very heavy on eggs. But since this only has one it MIGHT work. If you try it please let us know how it turns out.
I tried it with a flax egg, and it worked! Yum.
Yum, this is one of my all time favorite recipes that I’ve created and I’m going to have to give your adaption a go 🙂 Looks gorgeous too!
These look FANTASTIC! I guess I am going to have to buck up and jump on the coconut flour bandwagon! Does it taste coconuty?
No, they don’t taste very much like coconut, if at all. At least not to me.
I can certainly relate to the middle-school trauma of being gluten and grain free. My son had some pretty tough behavior control issues before going gluten free, and they’ve gotten even better now that we’re (mostly) grain, dairy and refined-sugar free. I can always tell the difference though, when he’s managed to find the jolly ranchers in his grandparents’ office!
The rolls look lovely and I’m excited to try them! I’m also really happy that they are almond flour-free – no nut allergies in our house, but even a small amount of almond flour seems to make me expand exponentially!!
Thank you!
Katie
Awesome! You really have a great way of presenting your blog here. Nice photos too. And the recipe is simply extraordinary. Great recipe tips! It convinced me really to try baking too.
I saw this recipe and thought it might actually work for a pizza crust. Pizza used to be our favorite Friday night dinner before we went primal. So I made the dough, as instructed, but instead of dinner rolls, I rolled it out thin, put it on a preheated pizza stone, baked for around 20 minutes until it just started to brown around the edges, then we added our sauce and other toppings (we still eat cheese occasionally) turned the oven up to 400 degrees and put it back in for another 10 minutes. It turned out great! My husband said it was the best gluten free pizza crust so far. Nice and crunchy the way we like it. The olive oil added just the right flavor. Thank you for your beautiful blog – I really enjoy it.
Carolyn,
Thank you for letting me know how it went with pizza crust. That’s great news! I’m going to try it as a crust asap. And I’m glad you enjoy the blog. Cheers, Lea
Thanks for posting that info… now I want to try that out too:)
Leah, this was my first Paleo recipe, as I am brand new to this. I just made it and chose to go with a flat piece, as opposed to biscuits. OMG! Just got it out of the oven and am in love!
It makes an absolutely perfect pizza crust. I may just…never make anything else again and just eat this, for the rest of my life! 🙂 thank you SO MUCH,
Oh dear, my apology for the rogue “h” in your name. It was probably a subconscious sigh, as result of my delight with this delicious production! Le(ahhhh)
I already planned on bread sticks, with this basic recipe. Adding some cheese, garlic powder and using a pastry bag. I am positively delirious!
I do not have any food allergies but am attempting to see if I can reduce inflammatory foods, in order to address an injury. I am quite certain, now, that I can adopt this way of eating, regardless of what happens with my injury!
Thank you so much for the cool recipe Leah! I do have a question though, do you think I could sub the tapioca flour with arrowroot flour? I’m making these tomorrow, no because of the Lyme I’m not really supposed to have the tapioca flour anymore..❤❤
Karl, Looks like I didn’t get to this response in time for you to make the recipe when you planned. But, yes, I do believe arrowroot flour would work. I have only used tapioca but have heard from others they have used arrowroot successfully. Good luck!
Lea
Thank you Lea! And it’s all good, I didn’t have the time for rolls anyhow..But I’m most definitely going to try them, I really miss bread! I have learned from researching everything, in paleo baking, if you add about 1/8th tsp of vitamin C powder, your baked goods rise better. Plus everyone can always use more of the vc. So thank you, your very kind. ✌
Thank you so much for going out on a limb for us! My family will be so delighted to try a new (and hopefully better) pizza crust!
Great idea, will be trying this!
Hi Lea, Looking forward to giving this a go. I admire your commitment and effort to make your son feel better and fulfilling his desire to eat “just like everyone else”. What a super mum!
Looks fantastic, do you think quinoa flour could work instead of coconut flour? And maybe half the fat? But instead of olive oil maybe butter? I would becareful in using the darker colored olive oils as they have a lower smoke point and are not suitable for cooking/baking and therefore oxidize faster than a light colored olive oil which is better suited for baking.
Hey Dan, Sorry I missed your comment. I think coconut flour is fairly essential in this particular recipe. I don’t recommend substituting quinoa flour. Good point about the olive oil.
Made these tonight. Didn’t have Tapioca flour, so subbed arrowroot. They were awesome! Definitely a great bread treat as I begin the Paleo lifestyle.
Cool. Thanks for letting us know about the arrowroot powder. Someone else had asked me if that would be a good substitute. Now we know!
I made these with macadamia nut oil instead of olive oil. I used the 1/4 cup plus 3 tbs of coconut flour and made these into 5 rolls. I added a little garlic powder too.They were soooo good! I used them for hamburgers.
Thanks for sharing!
I used gluten-free all purpose flour because I didn’t have tapioca. Everything else was exactly by the recipe (plus I added a dash dried Italian herbs). But I have to say, I’m no longer used to salty things! I will try half the salt next time, or less perhaps. And I’ll also try a sweet version at some point: coconut oil instead of olive oil, and I might add in some honey. Overall a good recipe though. I look forward to tweaking it for different meals. Thank you!
I made these tonight! I followed the recipe exactly and they were mighty tasty! I’ve been missing bread since I went Paleo and these rolls fixed that right up! YUM!
Followed the directions exactly and they came out kind of hard on top and doughy in the middle. Didn’t deviate or substitute at all. They tasted good but they were crumbly on the outside and kind of doughy in the middle.
the same thing happened to me, i followed instructions exactly but they came out like weird hard cookies, with a dough-y center. my batch did not resemble rolls at all
These turned out well, I baked mine at 30 minutes. They pull apart like bread, so happy to have a roll for chili, stew, etc. Mine were a little salty, I think that’s because I don’t usually cook with salt so I’m going to scale that back to half the recommended you have here but overall a very good recipe. Just followed a bunch of your paleo boards on Pinterest and your FB page. Thank you.
What an AWESOME mommy you are! 🙂
Thank you so much for what you do. I’ve never been moved to comment on anyone’s recipes before but this one was such a big hit with the entire family (including my extremely picky 4 year old) that I just had to post something. You are great! Keep doing what you do.
Thank you Mindi. It’s very kind and encouraging of you to take the time to comment.
Best, Lea
I tried to make these! I followed the directions in full, except I used extra virgin olive oil, instead of just olive oil, because that’s what I had on hand. I baked these for almost an hour and they still were soggy and doughy inside. ugh! do you think the evoo made a difference?!
Stephanie,
I doubt the type of oil made a difference. But the amount of flour and how packed it is when you measure it out makes the difference. I put a range of measurements for the coconut flour because how absorbent that is varies quite a bit. Also, we used tapioca on our hands to help shape the balls which also kept them from being too moist. It sounds like you just needed to adjust the flour until the rolls are firmer and drier before baking them.
Best, Lea
This recipe looks so good!
In Brazil there is something called “cheese bread”, wich is also made with tapioca starch, but adding cheese. I was looking for something that looked as delicious but without the cheese, and it seems that I’ve found it!
What could I use to substitute the coconut flour?
Thank you
Valeria,
It’s very hard to find a substitute for coconut flour because it unlike any other. I suppose this could still be “grain-free” if you were to use almond flour but you would need more of it and it is very fatty which would be very different in this recipe. I’ve never tried it so, unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact substitute.
Regards, Lea
Tried these tonight, outside was crisp but inside was doughy, but they tasted yummy just the same. Tasted like a cookie biscuit hybrid. I put blackberry spreadable fruit in the middle and had the best dessert since I started Paleo. Thank you for your site, I so appreciate all the work you and others do so that we can succeed.
I ran out of tapioca flour (almost 1/2 cup) and had to use arrowroot flour (a little over 1/2 cup). I also used a tad bit less oil and a little dry rosemary and it still came out pretty good but less of an oil taste. Good recipe.
I’m not sure what I did wrong…but I added tablespoon after tablespoon of coconut flour and they never turned into a “soft sticky dough”… even with flour on my hands, they wouldn’t shape. I finally gave up and just dropped the dough onto the parchment. I know I used the right amounts of everything, unless I just didn’t pack the flour down hard enough?
Hi Stephanie,
Sorry you had trouble with the recipe. I don’t pack my flour down either so that probably wasn’t it. Coconut flour is so dry it seems strange the dough would not come together. If you try it again you could use a cookie scoop to make the rolls. That might work better.
Add less than 1/2 cup water. It thinned mine out too much.Second batch I used less water and dough came out thicker.
Love this recipe!! This is my go to recipe, not only for bread rolls but I use this to make pizza crust and made quiche crust just last night.. Turned out perfect!! I do adjust measurements like more coconut flour, less oil and it depends on how large or small my eggs are but it turns out great.. Next I think I will try a sweeter version for an apple pie or similar.. Thanks heaps!
I have made these two times in one week (I got 13 the first time and 16 the second to make them go a bit further). I have also made the Brazilian Cheese bread- as referred to earlier, and I must say these are so much more easy and I prefer them. Tonight just for fun, and since the 4 leftover ones would not work for the 5 in our family, I melted 2T butter, added some garlic salt, chopped up the remaining four “biscuits” and made croutons. They. Were. AMAZING! Even my picky eater loved the salad – I had to fight myself not to eat all of the croutons before they made it to the table. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I made these with a flax egg & they were great. I am on a low fiber diet & these are just perfect for me! Thanks!
Oh wow. I’m glad to hear the work with a flax egg. Thanks for letting us know!
So, we LOVE these dinner rolls. Tonight I turned a double batch of the roll dough into two pizza crusts. First I spread them as thin as possible with a spatula, thenI baked them on parchment paper for 10 minutes, flipped them onto a different parchment paper to finish the last of their time. The crust was enjoyed by my WHOLE family – this will be our pizza crust from here on out:) Thanks again!!!
Oh my word. We made these for supper tonight. I CAN HAVE ROLLS AGAIN!!!!! I could totally eat the whole batch myself. SO YUMMY!!!!!
I ended up having to add 3 Tbsp. of extra coconut flour to the 1/4 cup. I also sifted the coconut flour before adding it to the mixture (standard practice for coconut flour). Crusty on the outside and chewy in the middle, with a yummy regular roll-like flavor.
PERFECT to go along with our soup! Thank you for this!
My girlfriend made these tonight. They may well save my relationship with her…hah! Just kidding. But they were delicious. She’s been craving bread for a while, and we finally found some tapioca flour yesterday.
They were everything that were promised and more. We had them as appetizers with butter, and as dessert with guava jam and lilikoi butter that my mom sent from Hawaii. Finally, a good use for those things! And yes, the two of us ate all 10 dinner rolls in one sitting.
Thank you again for another great recipe, Lea!
I just pulled these out of the oven and they are delicious! I have been craving some kind of bread after 6 weeks paleo and they really hit the spot. As a Southerner, I would like to point out that they are quite dense and could pass as biscuits nearly if you shaped them differently. I tried the recipe after web shopping thanksgiving recipes. i think I will make them biscuit shaped for thanksgiving. They don’t change shape or size much at all as they cook.
Made these last night and was very pleased. Do you think it would work as a loaf? I’m looking for a paleo bread for Thanksgiving stuffing.
You could make it into a loaf. THe only problem I foresee is that it would probably take a very long time to cook. But you might see that as an impediment. Good luck!
Thanks. I also used the recipe for pizza last night. My new go to recipe. Thanks.
I made these using butter instead of oil, and used chicken broth in replace for the warm water. These were delicious! They are going to be on my Thanksgiving menu for sure. Thank you! Do you know how well they freeze before and/or after baking?
Great Jenn! I haven’t tried freezing them yet. Maybe I’ll do that this coming weekend when I test more Thanksgiving recipes.
I made these for the first time last night. I’ve been wanted to try them for weeks, since I’ve been following paleo and dreaming of bread. They were delish and came out perfect after a few extra tbs of coconut flour. Great news….they freeze!!! I thawed one out for lunch today to have with my Paleo Thai Chicken Soup. Thank you for this recipe. OH and the cauliflower mash up on your site!
I made the dough balls, and then froze them-uncooked. I popped them in the oven for about 40 min @ 350. They turned out great!
Hi Jenn, Thanks for letting us know!
Is there a sub for coconut flour? I’m allergic to coconut.
Kim, I have only tried this recipe with coconut flour and it is a very unique flour that is not easily replaced. You might be able to use almond flour in a larger quantity but it would likely change the texture fairly significantly. Please let us know if you try it.
Thanks, Lea
i made this today and turned out great! the only issue I had was trying to make them perfectly round like the ones in the picture. did you put coconut flour on your hands to form the rolls? please let me know.
thank you for sharing
I did cover my palms in tapioca flour to make the balls. So glad you like them!
thank you! I’ll try that again probably this week and I will make them bigger too.
These were great! I had them warm with some Homemade Kerrygold unsalted homemade garlic butter. Doing a test run for Thanksgiving and these will be on the list.
I made these with coconut oil instead of olive oil – loved them! It was hard to not eat the whole batch 🙂
How did they turn out using coconut oil instead of olive oil?
This recipe is fantastic by the way! I’m out of olive oil but really am hoping to make these for dinner!
They are awesome with coconut oil, and I also use avocado oil on occasion too. Either way, they turn out great! I also add herbs, turmeric, garlic, s+p, and they are super tasty and more like a garlic-and-herb biscuit. Every variation I’ve done has been a success. YUM!
I wanted to let you know that these rolls are awesome. My sister in law had pinned this recipe so I decided to give it a shot. I am usually disappointed in all things bread related when it comes to paleo. However, these are wonderful. Thank you for creating a fabulous roll recipe! My mind is flying with ideas of cool adaptations I could make to jazz these rolls up. I will keep you posted on any major successes I stumble upon.
THanks for the feedback, Cait. And please do let us know how you make out with adaptations!
I tried these tonight, for Thanksgiving Dinner, and the entire family loved them….and they are Paleo ‘critics’. Two thumbs up!
Paula,
I love it when the “paleo critics” approve. Score! Happy Thanksgiving.
Lea
So, I didn’t read the entire thing before trying out a (what was supposed to be only slightly) tweaked version of your recipe. I subbed almond flour for the coconut flour, thinking that since I know a thing or two about baking bread, though only ever before with wheat flour, I’d be able to adjust the amounts just fine for altitude, humidity, and using a coarser grind of flour. Besides, there isn’t that much coconut flour in the recipe, so what did I have to worry about?
What I didn’t realize was that the coconut flour would absorb the liquids more than the almond flour. So, I wound up with basically flour soup. I added about another 3/4 cup of almond flour, plus approximately another 3/4 cup of tapioca flour, and finally got something resembling bread dough. Did the rest per your instructions, and they turned out just fine! Though, a bit more like biscuits than rolls, which I was just fine with.
Hi Erin,
Yeah, the coconut flour is pretty essential in this recipe. Sounds like you ended up creating your own unique recipe! Happy Thanksgiving.
Best, Lea
Wow these are really yummy, I added finely chopped up rosemary to the mixture before I baked it and ate with dairy free basil pesto….super nice!
So delicious! What’s the nutrition info?
I made these using arrowroot flour/starch, as I have many food allergies. Also, substituted organic avocado oil for olive oil, this gives a much more buttery taste with cooking/baking & is high heat stable as well. (Not to mention, adds more healthy fat. I first made these for thanksgiving & then again today, awesome! I used a small baking scoop, so the size was uniform. Rather than 10 large rolls, it made 24 mini ones. Best description I could give these, is that they are similar to British style biscuits you would have with tea! Put in airtight glass jar from IKEA & last about 5 days. Even got my carb addicted hubby to eat one, thanks for recipe!
Did you use a cup of the arrowroot starch?
The first time I made these (and loved them 😉 ) I rolled them out with my hands, and even with the tapioca powder, they were a mess. Tonight I used a dough scooper (I think it’s a medium-sized Pampered Chef one?????), and it was a total breeze. No mess, popped right out! Baking right now, and I cannot wait!
Made these last night, they were a wonderful treat! Since trying to go gluten free than grain free i have been trying -with little to no success- to make biscuits. These are the closest so far and the family loved them! Thank you for sharing.
I love his big brown eyes, and those rosy cheeks! Keep on being such a great mom, attentive to your child’s needs. And thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome. And thank you. 🙂
I made these last night for the first time for our Church leadership meeting- they went over really well and were delicious! They remind of pao de queijo (Brazilian cheesy bread)- one of my very favorite breads! I haven’t attempted to make them due to my dairy intolerance- so glad to have a sub that tastes so close to the real thing! Thanks so much for sharing such a tasty recipe! Love the picture of your little boy! So cute.
Just wondering..
Is it possible to steam these instead? Thanks.
That’s a good question. I’ve never tried it. I’d be interested to hear how it goes if someone else does!
Just made these tonight. Thank you so much for the recipe. They were sdelicious. My husband and I ate them with a soup I made with a leftover ham bone from Christmas. Devine!
Soups flavored with ham bones are wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed the rolls. Thanks for letting me know.
Can tapioca balls be used instead of tapioca flour?
If so, how much?
Thanks
Alice,
I assume tapioca balls are the same thing as tapioca pearls. If so, you might be able to use it but you would need to grind it up first into a powder. I haven’t tried that before so I can’t verify but I believe it is the same stuff.
wondering if at any point i could freeze these before being baked? maybe as just the dough, or flash freeze them individually? what do you think? i really have no knowledge when it comes to baking, but am trying my hardest to get my entire family gluten free for the sake of my 3 year old!!
Katie,
I’m not sure about freezing the raw dough. I’ll have to look back through these comments but I believe others have tried freezing after cooking and then reheating. Could you do that? I don’t see why they couldn’t be frozen before cooking. I just don’t know how long they would need to be thawed before going in the oven. If you try it let us know how it goes. Best wishes in your quest to go gluten-free with your family!
Lea
Hi there,
Can tapioca pearls/balls be used instead of tapioca starch?
Can coconut chips be used instead of coconut flour?
And can coconut oil be used instead of the olive oil?
Will the amounts still be the same?
Thanks
Alice
Alice, You could probably use tapioca pearls but only if you grind them into powder beforehand. I do not recommend using ground coconut flakes in place of coconut flour. I do not believe it “behaves” the same as dry coconut flour. And yes, you an almost certainly use coconut oil (melted) instead of olive oil. I have not personally tried it, however.
Coconut oil works great!
Are these amounts really correct?. I tried these today and following the amounts exactly ended up with a completely liquid batter. Adding 2 tablespoons of coconut flour left me with a sticky mess that wasn’t going to hold together. So I ended up adding about double the tapioca flour and a bit more coconut flour on top of that. That made a dough that was just about workable. But I don’t get how spooning out two tablespoons of batter would make 10 rolls, I would get about 4 – and that’s with all the extra flour!! Did you mean teaspoons – or am I being a complete dunce?
I use a little less oil & water. I add the water last and just 1/4 cup first then about a tablespoon at a time until the dough is right. It took a few tries to get it perfect, so keep working with it …they’re well worth it!
The coconut flour is 1/4 – 1/3 cup or 4 tbsp – 5.3 tbsp, not 2 tbsp. And 1 cup tapioca flour I make these and they come out great..
These are delicious and the closest I’ve found to real rolls since starting paleo. I’ve made a single batch of these several times and even doubled the recipe and made larger rolls for breakfast sandwiches. I can’t wait to make more of them again this week!
This recipe looks very good and easy! I may try it next week!
I noticed how you mentioned your recipe for Banana Cardamom bread but your son is allergic to almond. My husband is also allergic so I use sesame seeds ground up in a food processor to take the place of the almond flour in whatever it is I could be making. It works great! I have also read that you could use sunflower seeds the same way. Hope that could help!
Thank you. Strangely enough, we did find out our son seems to have outgrown his allergy to almonds. It was the nut he reacted to the least on his allergy skin tests. So he has gotten to sample some of my other recipes that use almond flour!
Great to hear!
I’ve seen sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds both used for replacing almonds in almond flour recipes.
I used this recipe for pizza dough. It’s the best pizza I’ve ever had! My kids love it along with the dinner rolls.
Great! That’s awesome. Thanks for letting me know.
I will definitely need to try that out! I made a Paleo pizza last week or so and the recipe was very good but I would love to try this out as a crust! Thanks for posting this! Brilliant!
I use it for a crust all the time. so yummy! Make the dough thinner start with the 1/4 cup coconut and go up from there, you want it to be spreadable. Put down parchment paper on a cookie sheet so you can spread it to the size and shape crust you want. Bake until juts golden on the bottom remove from oven and top and bake until cheese is melted.
Have been desperate for some bread and so after some searching came across your quick and easy recipe. I have just made a batch which will go nicely with my beetroot and fennel soup later. I shared one with my partner and they are super yummy especially with almond butter. If you don’t mind, I would like to use your recipe on my blog…. ‘Susie’s healing kitchen’. :0) x
Hi Susie, I am very pleased you like the dinner rolls recipe. Thank you for taking the time to provide the feedback. It would be great if you would like to review the recipe on your website. I just ask that you link back to the post on my site so your readers can follow the link to get the recipe rather than reposting it on your site. Thanks!
Lea
These look sooooo good but I have no tapioca flour, can I use almond instead?
Unfortunately, the tapioca is a pretty important part of the recipe. You can substitute arrowroot for the tapioca but almond flour would be very different because of the fat content. Of course experimenting can be fun and turn into unique and delicious recipes. I just can’t guarantee the results. Good luck!
I used potato starch instead of tapioca and buckwheat in place of coconut flour, was not so fluffy inside as I expected but not so bad either:) will keep experimenting! thank you for the recipy:)
What an oasis in the desert of grain-free eating! Thanks for your help. I did want to know if there was some way to get the rolls to expand more on the oven? Mine ended up not being much bigger than when I put them in, and a little dense.
Randy,
Because these are grain-free rolls they are just more dense than some other glutinous versions. They don’t really rise either because they don’t contain yeast. It’s more like Brazilian cheese bread that is also made with tapioca flour. I’m not sure if a yeast-based roll would rise more or if the tapioca flour just doesn’t work that way.
Simply amazing! I bet this recipe would work with amaranth or teff flour. They’re seeds not grains, right?
This makes the best pizza crust. Mix all the ingredients using about 1/4 cup of coconut flour plus 2-3 tbls more. You want in on the thinner side.not a ball of dough. Put parchment on a cookie sheet spray with coconut nonstick spray. Pour dough out on to parchment and spread into a circle and too desired thickness. Bake until just golden on bottom. Remove from oven and top with your favorite toppings. Bake again until cheese is melted. This is the closest to the real deal I have found my kids and hubby love it! We are having roasted onion, sweet potato and apple sausage pizza with olive oil and garlic for sauce tonight. Made my own sausage and use a non dairy cheese replacement.
I’m allergic to coconut so I can’t use the coconut flour, what should I use instead?
Coconut flour is like no other flour so there is no 1:1 substitution. You could try adding some almond flour or more tapioca but I’m not sure of the exact measurement since I haven’t tried it. Good luck.
Love these! Turned out exactly how it was described here– crumbly on the outside, chewy on the inside. Got too excited that I didn’t check the carb count for tapioca flour. LOL. Hubby and I are on low-carb diet, BTW. Loved it still! I can only finish 2 rolls because it was so filling.
I just wonder how this would turn out if i tweak the recipe to make it low-carb. Like, switch the tapioca flour to coconut flour ratio, add more eggs and add in cream cheese to keep it from turning into biscuits. Will update you as to how it turns out. Wish me luck!
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe, I loved it! Please keep sharing your wonderful creations♡
Love these. Made them in a muffin top pan for hamburger buns first, and some turned into pita-like pockets, so that worked great at the time. Everyone is amazed at how roll-like the taste/texture is, but I’m wondering if the coconut flour is necessary?
Yes, the coconut flour is a very important ingredient in the rolls. A little goes a long way. You could probably make the rolls without it but only if you increased the tapioca drastically.
Oh, golly these were AWFUL! They wouldn’t brown up so I cooked them to your time suggestion and they literally were pool balls. Perfect, pale pucks – I couldn’t even open one without a knife. I don’t know what happened and I’m a seasoned cook in the kitchen so some gremlin came and ruined my Easter rolls.
Bummer – they look so darn good, too!
Hi. Well, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like the rolls. They aren’t supposed to be soft rolls. These are more crusty on the outside and I recommend using a knife to cut through them to the soft center – similar to what you would do with a ciabatta roll that was crusty on the outside.
Just made these to have with a yummy pumpkin soup, they were delicious! closest thing to a dinner roll I havehad in a long time, Thanks for the great recipe 🙂
I really want to try these, but I need to know the net carb count. Do you now what that is per roll?
Sorry. I haven’t had the time to do the calculations. You could try using one of the online nutrition calculators and plug in the ingredients to get an idea. The tapioca flour will make these higher in carbs than other “paleo” recipes that use only coconut or nut flours. But I usually don’t eat a ton of these rolls – just nice to have a bit with a special dinner now and then. Good luck.
I made these awesome rolls for our two Easter meals and they were a HUGE HIT! I loved them along with all the other guests. Thanks for the cool recipe. Going to try your vegan chocolate cake next.
Cheers,
Joey
I just found this recipe through the Savory Lotus blog. I am going to try them this weekend so my son and I can have rolls at a dinner we are going to. After I make them following the recipe I am thinking I might try adding a teaspoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to see if they will rise a little bit. I’ll let you know if it works. Glad I found your blog.
Hope these are as awesome as they look. Had to print the recipe and your printer-friendly version required printing 8 full pages, most in color. Totally not necessary and what a waste of ink and paper. Geeze, hope you fix that!
The Printer Friendly button gives the option to delete the things you don’t want to print. Sorry that wasn’t obvious. The site is in the process of being redesigned so it will eventually have recipe cards that will print just the recipe.
I am not goings to lie, I had low expectations going into this because I am still new to Paleo and many of the desserts and muffins I’ve made have been terrible. But these were delicious and will probably be my go to recipe when I want bread! This recipe could have so many different uses! Pizza, breakfast sandwiches, burgers! Possibilities are endless! Thanks for sharing!
Did they rise?
Wow. They look delicious! Thank you for the incredible recipe. I want to test it this weekend.
thx!!!
thank you for sharing this recipe. i made dinner rolls today and they go well with my coconut jam spread.
Yum! Thank you so much for this recipe! Made these AIP safe by using gelatin to replace the egg.My 6 yr old is also doing AIP-she was very happy! The whole family loved them!
Hmm. Interesting idea with the gelatin. I’d love to hear more about how you did that. Thanks for the feedback!
1tbs gelatin whisked with 1tbs room temp water-whisked with 2tbs boiling water. Whisk rapidly with whisk between your palms until frothy.
Hello! I just have to say I made these rolls two days ago and I am completely in love! I had tried to make coconut flour bread in the past and it tasted like gross eggy bread, ugh! I am so happy I stumbled across your recipes and decided to try it! Thank you so much these are incredibly scrumptious! I am off to go make another batch as we speak!
Thank You 🙂
You’re very welcome. I’m glad you like them. Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah, no problem! I was also wondering if you have ever tried to take this recipe and make it into a bread loaf rather than rolls?
Can you sub tapioca flour with almond flour? I’m new to this so bare with me. I’m excited to try these!
Tanya,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your question. I do not recommend subbing almond flour for tapioca. They are too different. The tapioca is starchy and it makes a difference in the final result. YOu could probably use almond flour but it would be a different type of crust. Good luck.
Lea
These are very good rolls, so happy to find your site. Is there a reason that no baking soda or baking powder is used? Thanks, Cate
There’s no particular reason that I didn’t use baking soda or baking powder. You could certainly try adding some to see how it would effect the end product. Please let me know how it works out if you do!
I ended up adding a half a packet of active dry yeast and 2 teaspoons of honey to mine to give it a little lift in baking. MAN OH MAN did they turn out good.
I added the yeast and honey right in with the flours and once the dough was formed, rolled into 8 balls and let them sit on the pan to rise a little bit while the oven heated. They rose just enough in the oven to look like “real” rolls and came out crusty and browned on the outside, and soft and just slightly chewy on the inside. They were so good my anti-Paleo husband gobbled up four of them with butter and honey!
Hi there! I found your recipe this morning and decided to try it this afternoon. I didn’t have any coconut flour on hand so I tried using gluten free all-purpose just to see what would happen. After the initial “dough” was made, I realized it was extremely soupy so I kept adding more flour and tapioca starch… Haha! It never became anything other than a thick “soup” so I decided to just go ahead and pour little piles of it on the parchment paper and bake. To my surprise, they came out great! They came out like small pita pocket bread! So my husband and I treated ourselves to “Mini PB & J” sandwiches. 🙂 I cannot wait however to try them with the coconut flour! 🙂
I always like to hear new processes and ingredients and how they turn out. The thing that makes the coconut flour work in this recipe is how dry it is. A little goes a very long way so it’s not easy to substitute other flours for it. That’s probably why substituting the other flour mix kept it from being dry enough like the original recipe.
Sounds delicious! I’m going to try them tonight with Paleo BBQ Pulled Pork 😀 Quick question — does the egg have to be room temperature before you whisk it in?
No, I don’t have a problem using an egg right from the refrigerator in this recipe. Good luck.
Thank you so much for these recipes. I too, am gluten intolerant and really miss sweets and breads! I’m searching for a cream puff recipe, and a Danish recipe.
Every time I cheat and eat something with gluten, my symptoms get worse and take longer to go away so I am determined to find easy recipes like yours to round out my diet!
Hi Paula,
It is tough to stay gluten-free. I have a cookbook coming out early next year that will have a cream puff recipe. Stay tuned!
Best, Lea
I have to tell you that I just happened upon your wonderful website yesterday afternoon when I clicked on a link to your Paleo dinner rolls. By a stroke of luck I had all the ingredients on hand so I was anxious to try to make them with last night’s dinner. WHAT A SUCCESS!!! THE BEST recipe ever!!!!
I love your website and all the awesome recipes you share! Thanks for all the hard work!……..Can’t wait to make more dinner rolls……..and a ton of other stuff I found in your recipe files!
Hi Debbie,
I’m so glad you liked the rolls. Thanks for the nice compliments. I hope you enjoy more recipes from my site!
Best, Lea
These look so tempting, I have my first batch in the oven as I type. Fairly new to Paleo (2 weeks) but I already feel the difference in my body. Do not think I have problems with gluten, until I went gluten free. I have so much more energy and feel terrific. These did not get to a “roll” thickness for me and I did not want to add more than 2 Tb. of coconut flour, so I just dropped them on my baking sheet and gently formed them. I am so anxious to taste these. Thanks!!!
….just tasted one, yum!! The texture is not that of a soft, doughy roll but it is tasty and fills the bill for a bread item. Again, thank you for all you do.
Thanks Eva,
Very nice of you to take the time to comment. Yes, the rolls are not soft and doughy – more of a hard roll texture. And it’s really personal choice how much coconut flour to add. I typically end up adding more than 2 tablespoons or at least have to use a bit more of the starch to get them to “behave” the way I want. Best wishes for you on your paleo journey!
Lea
Do you think this would work using coconut oil instead of olive oil? I want to make these and just don’t have that much olive oil on hand. Thanks!
Kim,
Yes, it would work. I have used coconut oil – especially when using the crust with toppings like almond butter and fruit.
Good luck, Lea
So I followed the recipe to the T, put these in the oven for about 37 minutes and took them out to find that the center was still like complete raw while the outside was very very hard. ):
I have a batch of these in the oven at the moment. I was wondering if I could put your recipe on my blog if I put the link to your blog.
I made these tonight, exactly as written, and they were delicious. I did add two additional tablespoons of Coconut flour (per the instructions), because the dough was very wet, but I dropped them like biscuits onto a cookie sheet, and they baked up perfectly. Not as round and gorgeous as the photo, but I certainly didn’t care. Nor did my husband. I can’t wait to try the pizza dough you mentioned! Thank you for the post.
Thank you so much for this recipe. These are game changing rolls!!!!! I substituted a flax egg for a real egg, and they came out beautifully!!!! I cant wait to use this dough for sandwich rolls! This will be the best Thanksgiving I’ve had after getting allergies, all because of these amazing rolls. A M A Z I N G!!!!!!!!
You are welcome, Sue. I’m glad you like them.
These look great! Is there another kind of flour I can use to replace the tapioca flour? Would Almond flour or more coconut flour work? Thanks!
You can use arrowroot instead of tapioca but don’t try subbing almond flour or coconut flour because it won’t work or won’t really be the same rolls at all.
Very versatile recipe! Used wet hands and smashed down on parchment paper to make pizza crust then put it on pizza stone. Added garlic powder, italien seasoning to the dough and fresh cracked pepper. Worked great! Thank you!!!
You’re welcome, Linda. You are correct that it works well as pizza crust!
I wanted to let you know that I have come up with a baked french toast casserole using these rolls. Thank you again for the wonderful recipe!!
http://www.paleoperfectly.com/2014/11/paleo-baked-french-toast-casserole.html
Sounds delicious!
How is the dough if i made it the night before and put it in the oven the next evening? Any tips?
Teresa,
I haven’t tried that. I guess you would need to refrigerate it due to the egg. You probably should let them get to room temperature before putting them in the oven so they cook evenly. I hope it works out for you. I’m making them this Thanksgiving as well.
Best, Lea
Did anyone else have a hollow middle? They were like the empty tomb meringue cookies…
interesting experience and I wanted to try to make it, thank you very much
Omg your son is so adorable! ♥️
Lea,
I made this recipe last night and it was super sticky (and thought I didn’t need my scoop), so I turned it into a loaf and it was still delicious! My 4yo especially loved it topped with some KerryGold butter 😉 I’m thinking I’ll add some herbs next time to give it an extra punch. Thanks for a yummy and easy recipe!
Hi Jess,
Yes, it can be very sticky without some added tapioca patted to the outside. I tried it as a bread roll once and it was good but took a really long time to cook. I think you are right about adding herbs. That’s a great idea.
Thanks!
Lea
Flavor was excellent, thanks for sharing! I see what you mean about the coconut flour being a bit tricky…I kept adding tablespoon after tablespoon but it never solidified to the point where I could handle it with my hands, so I just lopped goopy drops onto my silpat & they came out just fine! Flakey on the outside with an almost buttery taste! They were kind of tough on the outside, but I’ll tweak the ratios on the next batch.
I didn’t see your pizza crust link until today, so for my second batch I just used this recipe for a pizza crust & it came out pretty good with an egg wash on the outside crust:
http://i.imgur.com/jZnJDLY.jpg
Thanks for the recipe, so nice to have rolls again!
Hello,
I have a question about the paleo dinner rolls, can I use an substitute in this recipe? Thanks!
Christine,
I’m not sure what you are asking. If you meant to ask if you can use an egg substitute the answer is yes. I don’t recommend trying to sub the flours in any way.
Lea
Yes!!! I’m sorry, I just realized I left out the “egg” in the question. Do you think the flax egg would work or do you suggest another?
Thank you!!
I’ve read other comments where people say they’ve used a flax egg with success in this recipe. I haven’t personally tried it but sounds like worth a try. Good luck!
Wow! These are just perfect!!
The first time I made these, I followed the recipe exactly, and found the batter a bit too wet. I actually just dropped them onto the pan. When they came out they were very crispy on the outside and kinda hollow inside, but still tasted fine, just more like a biscuit. The second time I made them, I replaced the oil with 5 tbsp of organic butter, and swapped half the tapioca flour for sweet potato flour from Anti-Grain Foods, which gave the rolls an awesome flavour. I was also out of eggs so I used a flax egg- 1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 3tbsp of water. They tasted amazing and had perfect texture. Will definitely be making these often.
I made these as instructed using melted coconut oil (out of olive) and 1/3 C coconut flour. 350 for 35 minutes. Dough was too soft to roll into balls so I plopped them into 10 mounds onto an ungreased baking mat. They slid right off when baked. Delicious! I ate one with strawberry jam, no butter necessary. They have a firm exterior with a bit of crunch. Not your grandmother’s mile high biscuits but similar flavor, more filling, and no wheat! For the total recipe I calculated Calories: 1401, Carb: 53, Fat: 33, Protein: 15. Thank you for sharing! I walk away pleasantly surprised.
These were amazing thanks! Best bread rolls I have ever had. Thank ypu for sharing 😉
You’re welcome, Amy.
Just made these! Delicious! Ate 3 rolls! My dough was still too runny after adding 3TB more coconut flour, so I added 1/4c more tapioca starch. I also added the warm water, oil, egg, all whisked together at once. Must be my tapioca starch purchased at Bulk Barn Canada as I had the same issue previously making Brazilian cheese buns (had to add extra tapioca). I just spooned onto parchment paper instead of rolling in my hands. Thanks for the great recipe!
Just made these and ate 3 of them in a row, their that yummy and just what I was looking for! Getting bored of the typical ‘nut flour’ paleo recipes. This ones perfect. I also added some milled flax seed to make them a bit more wholesome. Worked a treat! Thanks for the recipe x
Hello! The recipie looks great, and I’ve made it 4 times now, but to be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, it comes out so runny that I need double the flours, so it becomes a bit like rocks on the outside (kids love it anyway). Today I decided to leave it a bit too sticky and see if it comes out OK, but they are now totaly flat in the oven…
Can’t wait to try these and your pizza dough. Curious question. I don’t see any leavening in these. Yeast, baking soda. Is there a reason why you leave those out?
Jessica,
The egg acts as a leavening agent. No real reason to leave out baking soda except this is a denser type of roll (like Brazilian cheese bread but without the cheese) which doesn’t typically use baking soda as far as I know. As for yeast, this just isn’t a yeast bread recipe. Using yeast would just be a different type of end result. And some people are sensitive to yeast so it’s good to have other options. I hope that helps.
Lea
This is my go-to dinner roll recipe. I love how it’s so gooey and moist inside but crunchy on the outside. I’ve made this so many times without problem. Today I made them with some Italiano seasoning and garlic powder for a garlic-bread taste. Thank you for the recipe!
THANK YOU!!!!!!! I am on here searching for “bread” for my 3 year old that already knows what bready things taste like but can’t have them. Fingers crossed this will still work well with my flax seed egg replacer!!
Hi Jade, You’re welcome. I’ve had several people tell me the flax egg replacement works. Good luck. I’m happy for you and your 3 year old. 🙂
Lea
Yum!!! These were so good! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome!
Can I substitute the tapioca flour?
You could use arrowroot flour/powder instead of tapioca but I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying you could substitute anything else without experimenting with it first.
Just letting you know that my husband and I DEVOURED the entire pan of these last night. 😀 I only made one minor substitution because I was completely out of olive oil…so I used grapeseed oil and it worked like a charm!
Ha ha. Good for you. Glad you both like the rolls!
These were a bit of a struggle to get the dough correct; I think I used closer to 5 or 6 extra tablespoons of coconut flour! In the end, they were yummy and have been serving as great breakfast rolls in our grain free home. Thanks for sharing,
You’re right it does take some practice. Glad you like the rolls.
I am SO THANKFUL for you. I’ve got a serious allergy to yeast and since diagnosed, I’ve been searching all over for a recipe that I can actually enjoy that meets my needs. This roll recipe – it’s outstanding. Not only does it taste as good as yeast rolls, it adapts so easily!!! I’ve made this recipe twice in a day, exactly as is. Now, I”m altering it to cut out some of the oil because I can’t resist eating these like candy!!! I’ve had my friends try these rolls and even they think they are amazing. My celiac best friend demanded the recipe while she was still chewing the first bite!!! My boss, who is now a retired chef, wanted to know how the texture was possible!! I’ve got three mini loafs cooling down right now, which I’ve added xantham gum to and some baking powder because I’ve replaced the oil with applesauce, We will see how this turns out. I cannot thank you enough for coming up with this recipe.
I’ve just pulled the loafs out of the pans and they are cooling on the counter. The outside is just as crusty as the rolls are usually so we will see!!!
And in my opinion, these actually taste better the next day!!! I like them cold 🙂
Made these last night to serve with chili and we loved them! I used arrowroot powder because that is what we had. My husband even thought I could add them to the Thanksgiving table. I froze most of the dough in balls. Should I just let them come to room temp before baking on Thanksgiving?
I would let them defrost first because, otherwise the middle would probably not cook properly relative to the crust. Good luck.
Hey! I love this recipe and can’t wait to try it out. Do you happen to know if it would work if I made the rolls bigger? Say the size of a ham burger or sandwich bread? Maybe even the size of a hoagie or submarine? What do you think? Thanks!
In my experience it takes a long time for the bread to cook if it is larger and that can impact the texture of the inside versus the outside. As long as you could keep it flatter it could probably be a bun – just need to make sure the width is not so great as to make the insides gummy.
I’ve tried so many paleo rolls/biscuit recipes and this is definitely the best. I dislike using almond flour, which most paleo people use, since it’s so expensive. I have made this recipe twice and they turned out great both times! I had the same difficulty as another poster; couldn’t get it to be a consistency where I could handle it so I just dropped it into round-ish globs on the cookie sheet and they were great! I will be making another batch tonight with butter instead of olive oil to try for a more buttery taste and will maybe add some spices, too. Thanks for the recipe! (my non-paleo husband likes these, too!)
This recipe was helped make Thanksgiving more enjoyable for my grain-free relatives and me! I plan making these more often to go with my everyday dinners. Thanks
You are welcome. Thank you for the feedback. 🙂
These didn’t turn out anything like dinner rolls for me. Much more like flour biscuits. They were tasty and I enjoyed making bacon and egg sandwiches with them for breakfast, but not what I was expecting. Not sure what I did wrong.
Just made these rolls and they are AMAZING!!! Crusty on the outside and bread like on the inside without any chewy texture,just like in your pictures.
I used 1/4 cup coconut flour plus 1 tb.I added onion and garlic powder.The coconut makes them a bit too sweet for me,so next time I will add extra salt (I use the celtic sea salt).Also,instead of olive oil I used organic cold pressed sunflower due to its mild flavor.
Thank you for the recipe.
Made these tonight to go with sweet potato chilli, myself, 5 year old daughter & husband who has more recently started eating healthier all loved them! They were a bit crunchier on the outside than I expected, my daughter said like a ‘cracker’ lol but inside was so perfect!! Great with butter. Was so easy to make. I had to add quite a bit more flour to get them to form. Thanks!
We made these tonight for dinner. They turned out beautifully! Thank you so much! Everyone enjoyed them, even the picky 16 year old!!
Awesome! Having a teenager myself I know how important that is. 🙂
These are sooooo good and so simple to make. I’m trying to eliminate eggs so I’m curious if anyone has tried using an egg substitute and the results.
I have not but others have and reported back that it worked fine. I recently have had to eliminate eggs from my diet so I’ll be trying this soon using a flax egg.
Made these and they were really good! DRIPPING with oil though. I’ll have to cut that in half next time I make these with the same brands of flours. Any idea if melted coconut oil would do in place of olive oil?
You can use coconut oil too.
I made these tonight using 1/4 coconut flour – and baked for 45 minutes.
Next time I’m going to add a bit more coconut flour and decrease the oil. I also substituted the warm water for warm coconut water.
Overall, their super delicious! I will be making this again and with sage next go around!
I just made these to have with some pumpkin soup and OMG, so good!!! i may have eaten 2 too many and now feel (and look) like an absolute WHALE! Been so long since i had dinner rolls (or any bread for that matter!) they really hit the spot! Thanks so much Lea! xx
You’re certainly welcome!
Love these! I never got my “dough” to the constancy yours looked. I kept slowly adding coconut flour and it never really got much better than thick cake batter. Still came out delicious! Sprinkled garlic powder on top before baking and had them on my stay in date night with my husband along side pesto covered zucchini noodles. This paleo couple was very pleased. Such a treat.
I used avocado oil(costco) instead of olive oil and they turned out excellent. Also added some nutritional yeast on top and had “cheesy” breadsticks. wow yummy! my husband really liked them too and does not have to be paleo.
Awesome. Nutritional yeast works great for a little extra flavor.
wow made these and they were really good! DRIPPING with oil though. I’ll have to cut that in half next time I make these with the same brands of flours
Just want you to know that this recipe and your pizza recipe are a staple in our house. I premix the dry ingredients in baggies to keep in the pantry. They are ready to pull out any time I need rolls or pizza crust. I also make bread sticks out of it too. Also… I roll out the dough thin and sprinkle with either salt or cinnamon sugar and bake them to make either a savory or sweet cracker. You have to keep an eye on it though or they will burn. Such a versatile recipe. Thanks so much! My 12 year old celiac son thanks you also. P.S. We love your cookbook too!!!!
Annie,
You are both welcome. And thank you SO much for your comment. You have really encouraged me. I’m happy that you and your son love the recipes and it’s helping you day to day.
Regards,
Lea
P.S. My youngest is 12 now too.
just made these. Came out great! looks just like your picture. Subbed arrowroot as that is what I had on hand and had no problem. I ended up adding the 2 extra tbs of coconut flour as my dough was too wet, so that worked great. Thanks for sharing!!!
Awesome. Glad you liked the rolls.
Is it really 1/2 CUP oil (not spoons?)? In your picture the rolls end up looking quite like ordinary dough rolls, but when I added 1/2 CUP oil mine were oozing oil all over…
Yes, it’s 1/2 cup. But it’s a recipe you have to tweak by adding more flour as needed. I’ve heard from others they’ve been able to get good results with less oil but plenty of others with feedback the recipe works fine as-is. I hope you find a way to make it work for you.
Best, Lea
i added half cup. i put the water, oil and egg together then added it to the dry ingredients and they turned out awesome.
I just tried this recipe, and though the flavor was pretty good, they were VERY heavy and did not have that fluffy texture your picture shows. Did I add too much coconut flour, not enough? I added the little extra coconut flour to make them thick enough to roll, but not dry. What did I do wrong?
Hard to say. But probably it is adding too much flour that’s causing the density. The recipe is flexible so people add a little extra at a time to get to a texture that will form a ball but trying to balance that with adding TOO much takes a little practice. I try to treat them very delicately to get them to a point of JUST not being sticky while forming the rolls.
I wonder if you could use almond flour?
If too wet I add a little more coconut flour but not enough to form into balls by hand rolling. I spoon onto the baking sheet, they seem to be less dense and more fluffy.
just made them and they are awesome? i added a few more ingredients such as Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and 1 tsp of baking powder to puff them up.
So I use Arrowroot flour as it’s what I had. The mix was wet so I did slowly add two additional tbsp of coconut flour. While the dough never got tough enough to make balls with, I did drop spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. After 35mins the outsides were perfect but the insides weren’t really done. They did look like Ciabatta bread and didn’t taste bad but were weird chewy. What’d I do wrong? Or is this the difference between arrowroot and tapioca?? Thanks
Made these today as I’ve been feeling under the weather and was really craving carbs. The texture is just right and they came together easily, but the coconut flavor is too overwhelming for me. As I delve more into the paleo lifestyle, I’m discovering I can’t get past the coconut flavor of coconut flour (even though I I’ve coconut).
I wonder if you could use almond flour?
I don’t use the hand roll method. I scoop out with spoon and clear off with another spoon, they seem to be “fluffier” when I do this. I am addicted to these rolls…..yummmmm!
I’m gonna try this recipe with a gelatin “egg” because I’m doing the AIP diet. Let’s hope it works!
Great rolls. I have to be careful to not add too much tapioca or arrowroot when I’m prepping them or else they get too dense. You have to handle them lightly in that sense.
Can you use rice flour instead of the tapioca flour?
I’ve never tried that because I’ve never cooked with rice flour. I don’t know if it is as starchy or has the same consistency as tapioca or arrowroot flour. If you try it, please report back and let us know how it goes!
delicious!!
These are now my go-to when I need (or want) dinner rolls. Lately I’ve REALLY been craving bread, which is unusual, but between this and a cassava flour bread recipe, I’ve got my cravings covered! My favorite spin on this recipe was serving it with this sausage gravy: https://www.jaysbakingmecrazy.com/2017/01/08/paleo-whole30-sausage-gravy/
It was my first time EVER having sausage gravy and biscuits and it was probably the best food I’ve had in months.
Biting into these to taste the moisture within made me very nearly want to weep! It’s been so many years without any dinner rolls that have always made the holidays for me. My husband and I absolutely loved these! Will be making for years to come and can’t believe how simple they are. Thank you!
Great news! So glad you like them.
I just made these tonight! Love them! How long do you think they will keep for? I have a few leftover.
There is a good cart in Portland Oregon that serves these…called Jurassic Cart. Lol. There Paleo food is incredible, but at $3 per roll I knew I needed to find the recipe.
I’m a chef here too..and my gluten free and Paleo clients love these. ❤️ Thanks!
Followed this recipe to a T. It was like soup. So I just randomly added tapioca starch and coconut flour after the extra coconut flour was not enough. Sharing my experience so of this happens to you dont worry, you can’t go wrong.The rolls turned out just like the photo and were delicious. Such a blessing for a family who is soy, rice, corn, and gluten intolerant. Thank you for sharing this yummy recioe.
These paleo dinner rolls are a taste delightful heaven, they had me hooked form the very first bite, a flavorful experience that is hard to forget.
I used arrowroot starch in place of tapioca, but had to add waaaay more coconut flour to get a consistency firm enough to even spoon them into the pan. Definitely could not roll them in my hand. They were tasty but more like biscuits. I would love to figure out how to make them look and taste like a roll. Any ideas what the issue was? I’ll definitely try to get the tapioca flour next time.
This recipe can be very tricky. The type of coconut flour and humidity can make a difference. It’s not unusual to have to add more. But I caution people with just adding and adding until it seems like typical bread dough bc that will ensure you end up with a hard, dense ball of gummy “bread”. I find that adding just enough so that you can delicately handle it with starch covered hands is best. I think in the future I will create a video for this since the technique is tricky, and maybe that would help.
I only add enough water to bring it to the right consistency…. about a 1/4 cup.
SO GOOD — I make these every week at a retreat center and everyone always wants the recipe. I use an egg white not the whole egg, and add 1 tsp Herbs de Provence. Sometimes I use arrowroot powder instead of the tapioca flour. This past Friday, I made brownie cookies … I used 1/2 cup tapioca flour and 1/2 cup cacao powder, added 1/2 cup powdered monk fruit, and 2 tsp vanilla. And used avocado oil instead of the olive oil. Success! A couple of weeks ago, I made Macadamia Nut Cookies –used 1 cup crushed mac nuts, 1/2 cup xylitol and 1 Tbls vanilia, and avocado oil instead of the olive oil. Yummmmmm.
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! Love the short ingredient list.