I’m having way too much fun experimenting with new (to me) grain-free flours.
These rolls get their crisp and chewy texture from tapioca starch, a grain-free “flour” derived from the cassava root. Tapioca starch (also known as tapioca flour) is a little tricky to work with, as it can be sticky, gluey, and can’t stand alone in baked goods, but it works well when mixed with another flour. In this case, I mixed it with coconut flour to keep the overall recipe nut-free.
Using tapioca starch also provides enough of a sticky, doughy texture that eggs aren’t necessary. That’s a rare feat when working with coconut flour!
Though these grain-free dinner rolls don’t have the exact same taste and texture as traditional dinner rolls, but they are the closest thing I’ve come to making a truly bread-like recipe without the use of eggs or grains. Think of them as a slightly more dense dinner roll, with a crusty outside and a chewy, doughy inside. I added some garlic and herbs to give them a flavorful Italian flare, but feel free to season them however you like!
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Paleo Dinner Rolls (Vegan)
Makes 12 small rolls
Adapted from A Girl Worth Saving
Ingredients:
1 chia egg (1 T. ground chia seeds + 3 T. water)
3/4 cup tapioca starch (I used this brand)
1/2 cup coconut flour (I used this brand)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the ground chia seeds and water to make the chia “egg” and stir well until the mixture thickens and becomes gel-like. Pour the chia egg into a large mixing bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients, stirring well until a moist and thick dough is formed. Be sure to stir very well, practically kneading the dough with a spoon or spatula until no clumps remain.
Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons, then use your hands to roll them into balls. These dinner rolls will be smaller than traditional rolls, but if you make them much larger they will not cook thoroughly. Bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes, until the rolls feel dry on the outside and the bottoms are lightly golden. Allow the rolls to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving, as the centers will continue to cook a bit after the pan is removed from the oven.
These rolls will dry out if left out on the counter for too long, so be sure to store any leftovers in a sealed container to retain their soft and chewy texture.
Paleo Dinner Rolls (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 chia egg (1 T. ground chia seeds + 3 T. water)
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1-2 cloves garlic , minced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the ground chia seeds and water to make the chia "egg" and stir well until the mixture thickens and becomes gel-like. Pour the chia egg into a large mixing bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients, stirring well until a moist and thick dough is formed. Be sure to stir very well, practically kneading the dough with a spoon or spatula until no clumps remain.
- Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons, then use your hands to roll them into balls. These dinner rolls will be smaller than traditional rolls, but if you make them much larger they will not cook thoroughly. Bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes, until the rolls feel dry on the outside and the bottoms are lightly golden. Allow the rolls to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving, as the centers will continue to cook a bit after the pan is removed from the oven.
- These rolls will dry out if left out for too long, so be sure to store any leftovers in a sealed container to retain their texture.
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 90, Fat: 5g, Carbohydrates: 9g, Fiber: 2g
Notes:
Since working with tapioca flour is new to me, I’m not familiar with how most substitutions will work. My best guess is that you can replace the chia egg with a chicken egg, and you can probably replace the coconut oil with butter or olive oil, but you won’t know for sure until you try it for yourself. (It took me seven attempts to get these rolls just right.) Be sure to leave a comment below to let us know what else has worked for you!
I hope you enjoy them!
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Reader Feedback: Have you ever worked with tapioca flour/starch before? What other bread-like items would you like to see me recreate?
This is so helpful. I’ve been trying to find the right ratio of tapioca flour to other flour in baked goods. Thanks so much for sharing!
Hello, could I omit the tapioca flour?
You could try using arrowroot starch in its place, but otherwise, you can’t omit it.
In the FWIW category – I switched away from tapioca to arrowroot starch years ago (been cooking GF for 16 years) – you retain a lot of the sticky value, but it gives a much better finished texture to baked goods – drier, more cake-y, if that makes sense. I got tired of tapioca starch’s tendency to turn to glue in the center of baked goods if there was .0001% too much water 😀 And I prefer the taste of arrowroot – very neutral.
My crystal ball suggests that subbing arrowroot for tapioca in this recipe would work well – the chia egg is still doing all that binding and such! Now I’m curious and hope someone will try it (currently fasting, alas, or I’d put my arrowroot starch where my mouth is) 🙂
Sooo, yeah! Hopefully that’s helpful to someone 😀 I’ve been adoring your paleo-vegan options! There are very few recipes for vegan + GF + corn & soy free, so finding an archive of delicious and *simple* ones has been very exciting! ….and my household is now addicted to roasted broccoli 😀
I made these using a combination of arrowroot and tapioca. I was going to use just arrowroot but I only had a little bit left. Mine came out doughy on the inside, perfect on the outside. They’re edible. Just not quite the right texture inside. I wonder what they would be like without the garlic and oregano. I’m not sure if I like the combination of coconut and garlic favors.
Thanks for the suggestion of arrowroot flour instead of the tapioca. I’ve already purchased the tapioca and try the recipe as originally written and then with the arrowroot. Hopefully, I’ll remember to report my findings here.
These rolls still look very tasty! I’m eager to try. I’d love to see a good substitute for a pizza crust. I have tried so many recipes from Pinterest and they all bombed. Everybody was raving about the cauliflower crust and I worked so hard to make it and it was just vile. No one could eat the pizza and we threw it out (and wasting food is a huge pet peeve of mine!!) We ended up order a pizza out anyhow.
Laura – have you tried the cauliflower pizza crust on here? I have had lots of success and love it, the key is squeezing out as much water as possible and then a bit more, I don’t add cheese into it either and it still works great. It is sooo good, don’t completely give up on it!! Good luck 🙂
This is an awesome pizza crust recipe
http://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/grain-free-nut-free-low-carb-pizza/
They look absolutely amazing! Do you think chestnut flour could work as well? My boyfriend brought 4 packages of chestnut flour from Italy so I’m trying to use it as much as possible 🙂
No.
Chestnut flour is very different. First of all it has a very strong taste, here you want a neutral flavor. Usually chestnut flour is combined with wheat flour to cut the bitterness. Then they will not hold together. It’s quite similar to coconut flour, very dry and again it’s always paired with wheat flour, eggs and sugar for binding and moisture.
These are awesome! Perfect recipe for my post on egg replacements today! Haha!
Can we use a gelatin egg vrs chia egg? I can’t eat chia seeds.
I’ve never used a gelatin egg before, so I have no idea. Please let us know if you try it!
I’ve used flax egg and they came out perfect!
Both coconut flour and tapioca starch are tricky to work with but you pulled it off, these look incredible!
I love tapioca starch! Any suggestions on replacing the coconut flour?
I have no idea. Please let us know if you have any success with an alternative!
almond or chickpea flour
Hi
What can I use in stead of coconutflour?
I used Arrowroot Starch because I only had a pinch of Tapioca Starch left. They turned out fine, maybe more dense than they should have been. The flavor is amazing, I love the garlic, oregano and coconut oil together! I will make these again for sure, but I’ll be picking up a new bag of Tapioca Starch first.
Do you like chia eggs better than flax eggs? Or are they pretty much the same? I’ve never tried chia eggs! xo
Yes, I think chia eggs are more neutral in flavor and chia doesn’t get stuck in my mouth the way flax sometimes can. 😉
Wow! As a paleo vegan, I can’t wait to try these! Megan, do you think this would work as a pizza crust? I might try and let you know 🙂
Yes, it does!
Wow, I didn’t know Paleo veganism was a thing! What do you do for protein?
I made these as the recipe states and they were good. My daughter who hasn’t had a roll like this in a long time really enjoyed them, but so did my husband who doesn’t eat Paleo/Vegan/GF. Thank you for the recipe!
You amaze me every time. I cant thank you enough for your recipes. I have many health issues, & youve helped love food again, especially your GF recipes. God bless you!
Brilliant – I too have just bought a kg of tapioca flour and been experimenting – its supposed to make a good pizza base to and i need to get onto making that – but will give this recipe a go for sure! Will you new book be available in UK or in digital form?
Tried this last night, but used combination of almond meal and touch of brown rice meal instead of coconut flour. Also a little bit of nutritional yeast. I’m completely not a baker/cook, so my substitutions are probably way off as options. Still, they baked up just as they should, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. My daughter, who just recently is going gfcf (consequently so am I) loved them. She called them biscuits, and mine did have more of a biscuit quality. Still, going to try them as a pizza crust next, because I think it would work great! I really appreciate this website in helping me transition to gfcf.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I am vegan and intolerant to yeast, and as a result I miss bread terribly!! I’m constantly looking for bread recipes without yeast so I will definitely try these rolls! Thanks again 🙂
Hey ladies, I have a very simple question, it may sound silly but here I go:
When baking, specially breads, cakes, etc, is over rack position important? If yes, which is the best position, specially for this rolls?
Thank you so much!!
<3
I always use the middle rack position in my oven.
thank you, I did! <3
Wowww!!! mama mia! I just had 3 of them with geeh on top and I could eat the rest! The closest to bread Ive ever had without the stomach ache after eating gluten…
Megan…you are the best! is there any place I can vote for you as the best alternative cook!!?? I have tried many of your recipes and not one has disappointed me.
THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH! For a persona like me that avoids gluten and grain, food can be very boring. I was craving bread to eat with soup and believe me, I have bought and tried many other gluten free breads, very disappointing card board eggy taste and very expensive…
Going to try this for pizza crust!
THANK YOU again Megan for your hard work and many hours of practicing recipes until they come out as delicious as this!
<3
These are so good!!! Just ate 3 in a row. I used a regular egg, and cornstarch in place of tapioca powder. I also added a bit of goat cheese and rolled them in olive oil before baking.
So you altered this recipe to be neither vegan nor grain-free but still felt able to give five stars?
😂😂
These are so delicious!!! I made them once exactly as the recipe instructed – fabulous. Then again, only a little larger and I flattened them out a little – that worked really well, also. And last night, I made a pizza crust with a double recipe – it was wonderful! Thanks for the excellent recipe! On the second a third attempts, I added a tsp of baking soda.
They don’t sell ingredients like chia egg or tapioca starch where I live, so another recipe I´ll have to pass… 🙁
You don’t need to buy the chia egg… It says in recipe how to make it… And I don’t have tapioca starch but in reading the comments there are other things to substitute.
I hope u give them a go… I’m gonna
???
I made these and subbed an egg because I was too lazy to make a chia or flax egg! 🙂 The flavor was good but the texture was off – really gummy in the middle. I may try again with arrowroot flour as noted above.
Great recipe! I made them last night. Is tapioca starch and tapioca flour the same thing? I used tapioca starch as per the recipe, but tapioca flour seems cheaper.
This is a silly question – but are you saying 1 Tbsp. chia and not 1 tsp? Thank you. I can’t wait to try these!
Yes, it’s 1 tablespoon.
You are absolutely amazing. It’s been years since I had bread in my mouth. Your recipes are life saving!
WOW! Grain free, nut free, AND egg free – that’s amazing!! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
-Cassidy
These are amazing and addictive! I bought tapioca flour for the first time to make these. I would love to see a recipe for bagels!
I made these using potato starch and brown rice flour. Made them with garlic and oregano-yummy! Then made them once omitting the oregano and garlic and added honey-yummy! Also made them omitting oregano and garlic and adding maple syrup! Ate them with eggs as a sandwich and it almost tasted like a McGriddle-very yummy! Thanks, love this recipe!
Is tapioca starch the same as tapioca flour?
Yes!
I’ve made these twice. They’re quick,easy,and delicious! Your recipes are great! I can’t wait until your cookbook is ready. Thank you for sharing!
I’ll be trying this recipe out day after Xmas day since instead of chocolate etc in my Xmas stocking Danta is bringing me Coconut flour, Tapioca flour and Ground Chia seeds.
Do these freeze well?
Hi!
Ive made this several times and they are so far the closes to bread I’ve ever tired. My questions is if I could make this recipe as a loaf of bread instead of muffins? and would I need to change anything in the recipe? id use a loaf bread pyrex.
Thank you!
I think the center would be too soggy/doughy in a loaf. I found the smaller I made the rolls, the better the texture.
thank you!
Is your book available for pre-sale still?
Yes, it’s currently available for pre-order on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1xTEqOT
Hi!
May you tell me if in your opinion they will remain fresh for 2 days? I have a brunch party at mine on Sunday but I have no time to bake tomorrow, so I was wondering if making them today.
Thank you so much!
Hi there,
i have been getting confused with tapioca flour versus starch. Same with potato flour vs starch.. Is there a difference or are flour and starch the same in these types of flour?
As I understand it tapioca flour and starch are the same thing.
Basically they just say that because tapioca and potatoes are starches (as opposed to grains) so its the same thing, just more specific to define it against grains
Added a bit of rosemary and thyme to the mix and it was delicious!! Reminded me of rosemary focaccia bread. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this last night after work and I have to say I really like them. I didn’t have oregano so I omitted it. I think next time I’ll use garlic powder instead of minced garlic. My daughter loved these also:
I got all the ingredients at winco. I have tapioca flour and coconut flour on hand, but I get it from winco. I also got chia seeds from their bulk section.
Hi! These rolls look great!
One question, have you tried to freeze them?
Thank you very much!
Taste was there, although hints of coconut flavor was detectable, but gummy/raw texture in the middle- what did i do wrong?:)
Thanks for all your quick and simple recipes! I know this is an old post, but in case anyone is looking at substitutions…I subbed flax for the chia and arrowroot for the tapioca and left out all spices and they turned out great!
Meagan, how many rolls do you make out of this recipe? 9 or 12??
Ok, I noticed after that it makes 12 rolls. I followed the recipe exactly and my rolls came out the same size as they went in. They didn’t rise at all they are like awwwwfulllll….. What did I do wrong????
Ok so I made these with an egg and arrowroot starch because it’s all I had. I saw people asked about it so I thought I would report! I had to reduce the baking time by about 7 minutes but they turned out DELICOUS!!! Flaky outside and chewy centre with a great flavour. I made some without the seasoning, other than salt, to use as all purpose rolls and I’m very happy with how they turned out.
I have a problem. Every time i try to do rolls like this, I end up with hard crust on the outer side, and moist dough inside. Is there any trick how to bake them perfectly on the inside and ouside? I used an oven with a fan and heating from the top and bottom.
Thanks!
I have been searching for a vegan paleo bread roll recipe forever!!! This. Is. Superb!! So much so, my our kinder has asked for the recipe because their wheat bread rolls they make are “so dry and blergh”. I was even able to send the dough along for my son to make at kinder instead of me baking at home because the other breads I’ve tried are not as mouldable for children!! Thank you ❤
I tried these and agree with other posters… the middle is way gooey and they don’t rise at all (I don’t think they are supposed to?) Also 1 tsp of oregano was way too much for me. They just tasted completely like oregano. So disappointed. I followed the recipe to a T.
I’m sorry to hear that! When I make them the centers are still moist and doughy, but not gooey. Since they’re vegan, I don’t mind the doughy-ness, but I hope you find another option that you like better! Since these are vegan they won’t rise, but if you can eat eggs they might end up more dry that way. (I’ve found when I replace a chia egg with a real egg in other recipes that the centers end up more dry… which is a good thing in certain recipes.)
Mmmm these rolls are so delicious! I’ve made rolls with similar ingredients and they came out too oily so I was kinda nervous to give this recipe a try. But I’m so glad I did because they are AWESOME. I subbed arrowroot flour for tapioca and flax egg instead of chia. Also added in some psyllium husk powder and garlic powder for flavour. I was wondering if I should try making this in a loaf pan or forming it into a loaf and baking on a tray because this would make a delicious bread! Thanks so much!
do you think this would work with out the oil ,I don’t have oil , love your website btw it’s awesome keep up the good work
You could try it with pumpkin puree instead of oil, but the texture might be different! Let us know if you try it.
Thank you for your dedication to health and your determination to create tasty, healthy food.
I made the Paleo Dinner Rolls tonight. To my disappointment they did not turn out. The buns did not rise. The end result was small, hard pucks. They are tasty enough but very different than what your picture indicates.
Any thoughts what may have happened?
Thank you, Leanne
I am trying these with arrowroot instead of tapioca since I am allergic to tapioca. I hope they turn out. 🙂 I used about 1/4 a cup less of arrowroot than tapioca.