Vegan Sour Cream and Chive Dinner Rolls

We adapted this vegan dinner rolls recipe from the “Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls” recipe in Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz. It uses a technique called tangzhong (cooking some flour, milk, and water to a paste-like consistency), which creates a soft, pillowy dinner roll that is moist, tender, and absolutely delicious. These are sure to be a hit at your next dinner party!

If you try this recipe, leave us a comment below to let us know how it goes. We would love to hear from you!


A pan of dinner rolls with one taken out.

Vegan Sour Cream and Chive Dinner Rolls

Little Lighthouse Baking Co.
Soft, pillowy dinner rolls with sour cream and chive flavor.
5 from 1 vote
Prep 30 minutes
Cook 35 minutes
Rest 2 hours
Total 3 hours 5 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Vegan
Servings 9 rolls

Equipment

  • small saucepan
  • rubber spatula
  • stand mixer
  • large bowl
  • plastic wrap
  • 9" round baking pan
  • rolling pin
  • bench scraper (or large kitchen knife or pizza cutter)
  • pastry brush

Ingredients  

Tangzhong

  • 3 tbsp bread flour
  • ¼ cup unsweetened soy milk (57g)
  • ¼ cup water (57g)

Dough

  • ¾ tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened soy milk for the yeast
  • 2 ½ cups bread flour (325g)
  • 3 tbsp Just Egg
  • ½ cup vegan sour cream (116g)
  • 2 tbsp vegan butter
  • ¾ tsp kosher salt
  • ¼ cup chives finely chopped

Finishing

  • 1 tbsp Just Egg
  • 2 tbsp vegan butter
  • kosher salt
  • black pepper
  • 1 tbsp chives finely chopped

Instructions 

Make the tangzhong

  • In a small saucepan, whisk together the bread flour, soy milk, and water until well combined. Turn on heat to medium, and whisk constantly while cooking until the mixture is a thick paste. This is the tangzhong.
    Tanzhong (a thick paste) in a saucepan with a whisk

Make the dough

  • Heat the soy milk in a small bowl until it is slightly warm (about 105ºF). Add in the yeast, and whisk together.
  • Add the tangzhong, Just Egg, bread flour, sour cream, butter, kosher salt, and yeast mixture to a stand mixer bowl with a dough hook attachment. Mix on low for 2 minutes or until ingredients are incorporated, scraping the sides and bottom as necessary. Increase speed to medium and mix until the dough is soft and supple (about 8-10 minutes), again scraping the sides and bottom as necessary.
  • Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. Form the dough into a ball. Lightly flour the dough, and transfer to a large bowl. Tightly cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
    A ball of dough that is lightly floured

Form the rolls

  • Remove the plastic wrap (and set it aside so you can use it in a later step). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured, clean work surface. Stretch it into a square, then roll out the dough into a 9" x 9" square. Sprinkle the chives evenly across the surface of the dough.
    A square piece of dough with finely chopped chives sprinkled across the surface.
  • Starting at the side closest to you, fold up about 1-2 inches of the dough onto itself.
    A square of dough with chives on the surface. The bottom side of the dough is folded up about 2 inches.
  • Continue folding up the dough until you reach the other end.
    A folded piece of dough.
  • Flatten the dough with your hand. Roll the dough out into a 9" x 9" square. Cut the dough into a 9 equal size pieces (3 x 3 grid) using a bench scraper, knife, or pizza cutter.
    A square piece of dough divided into a 3 by 3 grid of 9 pieces.
  • Grab one square of dough. Gather the corners of the dough and pinch together into a teardrop shape.
    A hand holding a piece of dough. Another hand is pinching the corners of the dough into a teardrop shape.
  • On an unfloured section of your work surface, place the piece of dough seam-side down. Place the palm of your hand on the dough, cupping it. Quickly move your hand in a circular motion to form the dough into a tight ball. Place the dough ball into your buttered pan.
    A hand cupping a ball of dough on a hard surface.
  • Repeat the 2 steps above for all pieces of dough.
  • Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until almost doubled in size (45 – 60 minutes).

Bake

  • Melt half of the butter for the finishing. Add the Just Egg to the melted butter. Mix until combined. Brush the tops of the rolls with the mixture, getting into all crevices. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
  • Bake at 375ºF for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the tops are deeply golden brown.
  • Remove the pan from the oven. Melt the remaining half of the butter for the finishing. Brush the hot rolls with butter (no Just Egg this time), and sprinkle the chives on top. Let cool for 15 minutes.
    Nine baked dinner rolls in a metal pan.

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3 Comments
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Kiwi
April 11, 2021 8:48 am

5 stars
Love this recipe! Really easy, which is good because I’ve never made bread before. I used Crackd instead of Just Egg and it worked out great! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂

Stacey E.
October 23, 2023 3:58 pm

My first reaction to seeing your picture up above was, “aww..you guys!”. Love to see men going the vegan route. It’s starting to become a myth that only women care enough to do so. Think I’ll make these without the chives just because I’m not all that wild about them, and I need to get rid of a container of vegan sour cream.
Thanks for caring, and, aww…you guys!