Crowd-Pleasing Gluten-Free Oatmeal Rolls

These hearty, fluffy oatmeal rolls are the perfect dairy-free, gluten-free dinner rolls for when I’m having company over, and I know some of my guests can’t have gluten or dairy.

This recipe yields 12 delicious oatmeal rolls that can be added to any meal or enjoyed on their own with a bit of butter. (I’ll admit that I might slip in a bit of vegan butter if I want to keep it dairy-free. Just don’t tell my nieces and nephews who love these rolls.)

This is the kind of recipe that’s great to have on hand for when you’re making soup or another favorite winter meal. Oats and oat flour make this recipe gluten-free. Just make sure you get certified gluten-free oats, and you’ll be golden! These hearty oatmeal rolls are sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Why Is This Recipe The Best?

This is a recipe you’ll want to keep on hand and use for every occasion that calls for good allergy-friendly rolls. From dinner parties to holiday meals to a typical Tuesday night dinner, these oatmeal rolls will surely complement the meal. Here are a few more things you’ll love about these hearty oatmeal rolls:

• They are gluten- and dairy-free, so these rolls are perfect to take to gatherings, as most people will be able to enjoy them.
• You can pair them with a variety of foods or eat them with your favorite toppings as a warm, buttery snack.
• They take only a little over an hour to make, and you can be cooking other parts of a meal while you wait for the dough to rise.
• This recipe yields 12 hearty oatmeal rolls, perfect for a large family or for a smaller family to enjoy seconds.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Rolls

• Active Dry Yeast
• Water
• Olive Oil
• Maple Syrup
• Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
• Oat Flour
• Gluten-Free Flour Mix
• Salt
• Xanthan Gum

About These Ingredients for Oatmeal Rolls

You might not have thought about adding a couple of these ingredients, like maple syrup, to homemade rolls before. I actually think it’s what makes these rolls interesting! Here’s what each of these ingredients brings to this recipe.

Active Dry Yeast

3 teaspoons active dry yeast

When I need some serious leavening power, I like to use yeast. It’s a biological leavening agent that ferments sugar to produce carbon dioxide bubbles and give your rolls a nice fluffy texture.

Water

1 1/2 cups warm water

Yeast normally needs to be suspended in a warm liquid to activate. In this case, water warmed to about 80 degrees Fahrenheit does the job.

The number one thing to remember about yeast is that it is finicky about the water temperature. If the water is too cold, the yeast won’t activate. If it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast. For this reason, I will check the water temperature with a food thermometer before adding the yeast every time.

Olive Oil

1/4 cup olive oil

Baked goods like these rolls need fat to enhance flavor, add moisture, and tenderize them as they bake. Fat also helps trap air in the rolls, keeping them light and fluffy. The good news is that most of the fat in olive oil is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

Maple Syrup

1 tablespoon maple syrup

I will admit that I am super picky about maple syrup! I want genuine maple syrup instead of imitations like “pancake syrup” and “breakfast syrup.” One good rule of thumb is that, if it sort of “tastes like” the Aunt Jemima brand, it’s probably fake.

Genuine maple syrup has a more complex sweet flavor with notes of caramel, toffee, and vanilla. The complex tasting notes are more noticeable in darker maple syrup. I like to use the darkest I can get in baking because it has the most distinct flavor.

As you might have guessed, the complex flavor is the main reason I use maple syrup instead of sugar in these rolls. Yes, it did require adjusting the amounts of other liquid ingredients in these rolls to avoid getting them too gummy. However, it’s totally worth it!

Old-Fashioned Oats

1/4 cups old-fashioned oats

You’ll likely also see old-fashioned oats labeled “rolled oats” when you’re hunting for them in the baking aisle at the local grocery store. It’s pretty much the same thing. These oats are ideal for baking because they absorb more moisture and cook faster than steel-cut oats.

When going through the baking aisle, look for ingredients like oats and flour that are certified gluten-free. This means they weren’t processed in a space where they could have gotten cross-contaminated with other products that include gluten.

Oat Flour

112 grams (about 1 1/4 cups oat flour)

Oat flour adds to the “oat” theme of these rolls with a slight nutty flavor. The thing to remember about using oat flour is that it can make these rolls dense if you add too much, since it’s denser than some flours per cup. That’s why it’s important to measure flour precisely in gluten-free baking.

You can make your own oat flour if you don’t have any on hand. Throw some old-fashioned oats into a food processor and grind them until they are a fine powder. Store any extra oat flour in an airtight container.

Gluten-Free Flour Mix

195 grams (about 1 1/2 cups) gluten-free flour mix

I like to use this gluten-free flour mix for two reasons. First, it gives me the right balance of flours and starches for this recipe. It’s a blend of white rice flour, brown rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca, and potato flour.

Second, it omits xanthan gum, which lets me add it separately or use a substitute for xanthan gum if I want. (More on substitutes later.)

Salt

1 teaspoon salt

Salt supports many of the chemical reactions that give these rolls their flavor. It can also control the yeast’s leavening action, which helps keep the rolls from fluffing up too much and then collapsing in the oven.

Xanthan Gum

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Xanthan gum improves moisture retention, texture, and stability in gluten-free baked goods like these rolls. Make sure you level out the xanthan gum when measuring it, because it can be hard on sensitive digestive systems if you use too much.

Method for Making Gluten-Free Oatmeal Rolls

Let’s get started with making these gluten-free oatmeal rolls.

Step One: Activate Yeast

Mix the yeast with the warm water. Set aside to activate for five minutes.

Step Two: Mix Dry Ingredients

While waiting for the yeast to activate, whisk the oats, oat flour, gluten-free flour mix, salt, and xanthan gum together in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Step Three: Mix Maple Syrup and Olive Oil Into Yeast Mixture

Stir the maple syrup and olive oil into the yeast mixture.

Step Four: Add Liquid Mixture to Dry Ingredients

Pour the water-yeast mixture into the stand mixer’s bowl. Stir with the stand mixer attachment on low speed for 15 seconds. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula.

Step Five: Finish Mixing Ingredients

Stir the batter with the stand mixer attachment on medium speed for about 2 minutes.

Step Six: Prepare Pan

Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.

Step Seven: Form Rolls and Add to Pan

Scoop 2/3-3/4 cups of batter into a 9×13 pan. Make sure it’s roughly round, though it does not have to be perfectly spherical. (Basically, don’t overhandle it with your hands, or it can get dried out or stick to your hands.) Repeat the process until you have 12 rolls in neat rows in the pan. It should look like four rows of three rolls each.

Step Eight: Let Rolls Rise

Cover the rolls with the clean towel. Allow them to rise for 30-35 minutes until they have increased in volume by about 50%.

Step Nine: Preheat Oven

While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius).

Step Ten: Bake Rolls

Place the pan with the rolls in the oven. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes until an internal thermometer reads 205-210 degrees Fahrenheit when inserted into the center of a roll.

Even for baked goods, I like to use the internal thermometer to make sure they’re done. Seems to me like I’ve gotten fewer gummy gluten-free baked items since I started using one to check. (Yes, it is even more handy for big bread loaves!)

Step Ten: Transfer Rolls to Cooling Rack

These rolls don’t need a long cooling time, but I still like to transfer them to the cooling rack with a flat metal spatula and let them cool until they won’t burn my fingers when I pick them up. This is also handy when I’ve doubled the recipe and intend to use the baking pan again.

Step Twelve: Serve Warm with Favorite Toppings or Your Favorite Meal

These oatmeal rolls go well with butter and jelly. I also like to serve them with my favorite soups and stews on a cold day.

Substitutes for Gluten-Free Oatmeal Rolls

The salt can be cut in half if you’re on a low-salt diet.

Honey can replace maple syrup at a 1:1 ratio. You may have to adjust the amounts of other liquids and keep a close eye on baking time to prevent over-browning if you use honey. The “sweet” parts of the flavor profile may also be a little different, since honey tends to have more floral notes.

Coconut oil makes a good substitute for olive oil. You can also use butter if you don’t mind that the rolls won’t be dairy-free.

Storing Gluten-Free Oatmeal Rolls

Although I often expect these rolls to disappear on the same day they are baked, they can be stored in a sealed plastic bag or an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days. To serve warm later, cover the rolls with foil and warm them in the oven at 250 F for 10 minutes.

FAQ for Gluten-Free Oatmeal Rolls

While making these oatmeal rolls should be fairly straightforward, we do get questions sometimes! I tried to answer some of the most commonly asked ones here. If you think of one I haven’t answered yet, feel free to ask in the comments section and we’ll do our best to answer soon!

How can I tell if my oats are really gluten-free?

Look for “certified gluten-free” on the label. Oats with this label have been processed in a facility with a limited risk of cross-contamination with grains, such as wheat and rye, that contain gluten.

Why is the rise time important?

I understand how easy it is to get impatient while waiting for these rolls to rise! The rise time is important because the yeast needs time to produce the carbon dioxide bubbles that give these rolls their fluffy texture. This helps keep them from getting too dense.

Why does the type of flour matter so much in gluten-free baking?

That’s a great question! When choosing flour for gluten-free baking, I like to look at the protein and dietary fiber content. This can give me a ballpark idea of how well it absorbs moisture, which is important for making sure my baked goods don’t come out too dry or too gummy.

Why is it important to measure flour in grams instead of cups?

Gluten-free baked goods can be finicky about the amount of flour. Different gluten-free flours can also vary in density, which mostly means they have more or fewer grams per cup. This matters for many of the same reasons that choosing the correct flour or flour blend does: Too much or too little flour can affect how dry or moist the baked goods turn out.

How can I tell if I underbaked or overbaked my rolls?

Underbaked rolls will often be gummy in the middle. They may appear pale – almost the same color that the batter was – or not fully risen. They also won’t seem hollow if tapped on the top, which can indicate that the batter might not have fully baked or formed its bubbly texture in the middle. This problem can often be solved by baking it for a few more minutes.

Overbaked rolls will usually look “too dark” somewhere, often on the bottom. They will also be too dry. This can usually be solved by reducing the baking time or moving them farther from your oven’s heat source.

More Roll Recipes

Looking for more rolls? Here are a few of my favorites!

• Buckwheat Biscuits
• How To Make Gluten-Free Bisquick
• Millet Biscuits
• Gluten-Free Angel Biscuits
• Gluten-Free Potato Buns

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