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These Vegan Hawaiian Rolls are sweet, fluffy, and taste just like the original store-bought rolls. They’re naturally free of animal products and easy to make at home with just 9 staple ingredients!
Table of Contents
Vegan dinner rolls are one of our favorite dinner sides. They’re the perfect vehicle for mopping up soups and pasta sauces, balancing light salads, and accompanying our favorite vegan proteins like Crispy Tofu, Vegan Chicken Parmesan, and Vegan Ham. They’re even great for making mini sandwiches and sliders filled with Vegan Deli Meat and your favorite gooey vegan cheese.
And while our Garlic Herb Dinner Rolls, Fluffy Potato Rolls, and Vegan Pandesal will certainly do the trick, we’ve been missing the classic King’s Hawaiian Rolls from our childhood. After much recipe testing, we’re stoked to be bringing you a homemade version that’s not only vegan-friendly but tastes almost identical to the iconic sweet rolls.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Vegan butter: Any vegan butter of choice will work well in this recipe. We have not yet tested this recipe using oil, but it may work well. If you’d like to experiment, we’d recommend using a neutral-tasting oil such as avocado oil, vegetable oil, or refined coconut oil.
- Non-dairy milk: For the best flavor you will want to use plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk. If it is overly sweetened or contains a vanilla flavor, it will affect the final flavor of the bread rolls.
- Sugar: Brown sugar gives these sweet rolls their classic flavor, while the molasses also keeps the dough incredibly soft and fluffy by adding additional moisture.
- Yeast: We make our homemade bread rolls using active dry yeast. If you’d like to use instant yeast or rapid-rise yeast, use slightly less, about 2 teaspoons.
- Pineapple juice: Adds additional sweetness and moisture, and contributes to the sweet, unique flavor profile of Hawaiian rolls.
- Flour: We have only tested this recipe using all-purpose flour. If you are looking for vegan and gluten-free recipes, check out our gluten-free recipes that are well-tested with gluten-free ingredients!
- Baking powder: In addition to the active dry yeast, baking powder helps give these homemade bread rolls an additional rise to make them as soft and fluffy as possible.
Equipment Needed
How to Make Vegan Hawaiian Rolls
- Mix the warm milk mixture. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the melted vegan butter and lukewarm non-dairy milk. Make sure the mixture is slightly warm to the touch. Whisk in the brown sugar until dissolved.
- Activate the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast into the warm milk mixture and set aside to activate, about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy.
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
- Pour in the wet ingredients. Into the bowl with the flour mixture, add the yeast mixture, pineapple juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until a smooth dough ball forms, using your hands as necessary.
- Knead for 5-10 minutes. Transfer the Hawaiian roll dough to a clean, floured surface. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking. After 5-10 minutes, the dough should be smooth and bounce back once poked.
- Rise the dough for 1 hour. Once the dough is smooth, place the dough into an oiled bowl, tossing once to coat the dough in oil, then cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Place the dough in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Form into 12 individual dough balls. Once the dough has risen, divide it into 12 equal pieces and form into individual dough balls. Evenly arrange in a lightly greased 9×13″ baking dish.
- Cover for a second rise. Cover the baking dish with a damp towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise once again for another hour.
- Brush the rolls with milk. After an hour, uncover the rolls and brush with the non-dairy milk (reserve the butter for after baking) and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown and shiny.
- Serve. Brush the baked rolls with the remaining melted vegan butter and serve immediately while warm. Enjoy!
Make Ahead Instructions
Planning to bake this Hawaiian roll recipe for guests or your next vegan Thanksgiving dinner? No problem.
Follow the recipe by arranging the individual dough balls in a greased 9×13 baking dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, then place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Set the rolls at room temperature for 2 hours before baking, then bake as usual!
Storage and Freezing Instructions
Leftover rolls will keep for up to 3 days tightly covered at room temperature. Alternatively, baked rolls can be frozen in an airtight freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. To help prevent freezer burn, remove as much air from the bag as possible before storing.
Recipe FAQs
The original store-bought brand, King’s Hawaiian, is not vegan because it contains animal-derived ingredients like whey, nonfat milk, butter, eggs, etc. This copycat recipe, however, is entirely dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan!
Pineapple juice is essential for giving these homemade Hawaiian Rolls their unique sweet flavor. For the best results, it is important to use pineapple juice.
If desired, you could likely get away with replacing up to 50% of the flour with whole wheat flour. Any more and the rolls will be far too dense.
Absolutely! If you own a stand mixer, knead the dough with a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment on a low speed for 3-5 minutes. Stand mixers are more efficient than kneading dough by hand, so less kneading time is required.
More Homemade Vegan Rolls You May Enjoy:
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you make this recipe. We love to see your photos!
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Vegan Hawaiian Rolls Recipe
- Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Vegan Hawaiian Rolls are sweet, fluffy, and taste just like the original store-bought rolls. They’re naturally free of animal products and easy to make at home with just 9 staple ingredients!
Ingredients
Dough:
- 6 tablespoons melted vegan butter
- ¾ cup non-dairy milk, lukewarm
- ⅓ cup (70g) brown sugar
- 1 packet (2¼ tsp) active dry yeast
- ¾ cup pineapple juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups (450g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For brushing:
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
- 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter
Instructions
- Mix the warm milk mixture. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the melted vegan butter and lukewarm non-dairy milk. Make sure the mixture is slightly warm to the touch. Whisk in the brown sugar until dissolved.
- Activate the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast into the warm milk mixture and set aside to activate, about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy.
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
- Pour in the wet ingredients. Into the bowl with the flour mixture, add the yeast mixture, pineapple juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until a smooth dough ball forms, using your hands as necessary.
- Knead for 5-10 minutes. Transfer the Hawaiian roll dough to a clean, floured surface. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking. After 5-10 minutes, the dough should be smooth and bounce back once poked.
- Rise the dough for 1 hour. Once the dough is smooth, place the dough into an oiled bowl, tossing once to coat the dough in oil, then cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Place the dough in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Form into 12 individual dough balls. Lightly grease a 9×13” baking dish. Once the dough has risen, divide it into 12 equal pieces and form into individual dough balls. Evenly arrange in the baking dish.
- Cover for a second rise. Cover the baking dish with a damp towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise once again for another hour.
- Brush the rolls with milk. Preheat the oven to 325°F. After an hour, uncover the rolls and brush with the non-dairy milk (reserve the butter for after baking) and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown and shiny.
- Serve. Brush the baked rolls with the remaining melted vegan butter and serve immediately while warm. Enjoy!
Notes
- The dough for these rolls will be sticky, so you may need to add additional flour as you knead it.
- Whole Wheat: If desired, you could likely get away with replacing up to 50% of the flour with whole wheat flour. Any more and the rolls will be far too dense.
- Make Ahead: Follow the recipe by arranging the individual dough balls in a greased 9×13 baking dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, then place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Set the rolls at room temperature for 2 hours before baking, then bake as usual!
- Storage: Leftover rolls will keep for up to 3 days tightly covered at room temperature. Alternatively, baked rolls can be frozen in an airtight freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. To help prevent freezer burn, remove as much air from the bag as possible before storing.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
I made these in my bread maker. I put all the liquid in followed by dry. Once it finished the dough cycle, I took it out divided and rolled them into 12 balls and let rise again in a 13×9 pan. Brushed with soy milk and baked at 350 for 20 min and they came out perfectly! Less sweet than the Kings Hawaiian rolls but those are too sweet anyway in my opinion. These had a lot of flavor and lovely soft, fluffy texture. I’ll definitely be making these again!
I made these this morning and they are delicious. I found the dough to be very wet and it took a bit more flour to make kneading manageable. I was afraid I added too much additional flour but the buns came out light and airy and yummy. The recipe is a keeper 🙂