These vegan slider buns contain no dairy or eggs but still give us a fluffy, chewy bread perfect for your next BBQ. Use these vegan slider rolls for appetizers or a main course, but make enough for everyone because they're going to go fast.
Use your mini slider buns for burgers or sandwiches when you want something small but easily handheld. These sliders can be great for parties and tailgates because one batch makes plenty to share, and every sandwich is a perfect size.
These are the BEST slider buns and are perfect for finger foods, tailgates, and more. Serve them up as regular-sized buns by making Vegan Hamburger Buns if you want.
Why This Recipe Works
- This easy slider recipe is perfect for any occasion. Sliders are great for lunches, appetizers, tailgates, party finger foods, and more. These buns have plenty of options and opportunities to show off.
- They're easy. Made with just a few simple ingredients and a little prep work (about 10-15 minutes of active time), you get a wonderful batch of soft slider buns.
- They taste great with anything. Serve them up with your favorite burger patties and toppings, or use them to make other "slider favorites" like meatball subs, ham sandwiches, and more.
🥘 Ingredients
Flour- You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour, but I recommend bread flour for a nicer texture and flavor. The protein in it will help for a nicer crumb.
Yeast- You will need one packet of active dry yeast.
Salt- Adding in a little salt will help to make the flavors of the bread stand out a bit more and taste even better.
Water- Make sure that the water you use isn't too hot or too cold. A good rule of thumb is to make the water lukewarm, or 110 degrees F. Use an instant-read thermometer for more accurate results.
Oil- Use vegetable oil or olive oil, depending on what you have on hand.
Sugar- This won't sweeten the bread, but it will help to feed the yeast so that it proofs the bread dough nicely. If you're not a vegan and looking for another sweetener option, honey will work instead of granulated sugar.
For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make vegan slider buns with these simple step-by-step instructions:
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt.
Make a well in the center and add to it the sugar, oil, and water.
Stir to combine.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Feed it more flour as needed to get it no longer sticky. You may need to add up to another cup of flour.
Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour in a warm place.
Punch down and divide into 12 equal sized pieces. I like to roll them into balls, flatten them and then tuck the edges up and underneath, so I create a rounded top (like a bell shaped mushroom) so that they bake with a smoother appearance on top.
Place into a greased 9x13 baking dish. There will be space between each roll.
Cover again and rise until doubled (about another hour). The rolls should be touching their neighbors now.
Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Brush top with a vegan butter spread or olive oil immediately after removing from the oven.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Yeast tips
Making this vegan slider bun recipe is super easy and simple (two of the reasons why I love it so much!) Making the dough is fairly quick as you don't have to proof the yeast beforehand, either.
I do recommend making sure that the yeast is not too old or expired before use, so double-check the packet's expiration date and make sure you're still within a good range.
How to make sesame buns
To make these into vegan sesame buns, simply brush the top with a vegan egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds before baking. Olive oil is an okay alternative but will not glue the sesame seeds down, so be warned they will fall off when touched. I do not keep vegan egg alternatives on hand, so I used olive oil and learned this the hard way.
Baked bread is hard but will soften
When the rolls come out of the oven, the tops will be hard, and the bread will sound hollow when tapped. As you allow the bread to sit and cool, it will soften, and within a few hours, you may get wrinkles on the top of your buns. This is actually a great sign that the bread has retained some moisture and that the bread inside is going to be great, so don't be alarmed.
🍞 How to Knead Bread Dough
Kneading your dough with an electric mixer using dough hooks is simple and easy, but my favorite method is to do it by hand because you're far less likely to overwork the dough when doing it this way.
Knead the dough by hand by placing it onto a floured surface and using two hands to roll it out into an oval, pull back half, so it's sandwiched together, and repeat.
Smoosh the dough as you roll it back out into an oval, and bring it back. Every few times, rotate the dough about 90 degrees so that you can get all of the dough worked into the process.
When the dough is smooth and elastic, it's finished. This takes about 10 minutes by hand, faster if you're quick, but there are a few good ways to tell when you are finished.
- The dough should not tear easily. This means that if you stretch a chunk of the dough between your fingers, it doesn't tear apart like paper and creates jagged edges.
- The dough should be elastic. You should be able to poke the ball of kneaded dough with your finger and watch the dough quickly try to bounce back and fill in the hole you made.
🥖 How Long to Proof Dough
The time needed to proof dough truly varies from person to person. It depends upon the weather, climate, wind drafts, temperature of ingredients, age of the yeast, and more.
On average, it can take anywhere between 1 hour to 3 hours for the dough to proof properly, but some people can see it happen in as little as 30 minutes.
The goal is not waiting to a specific time but instead looking for a specific response from the dough. We want the dough to be doubled in size, and whether that takes one hour or more, we shouldn't jump straight into the next step before completing this one.
You should expect that it will take about 1 hour for your dough to double in size and proof, but here are some tips for getting it there.
- Cover the bowl of dough with greased plastic wrap. This helps to prevent the dough from drying out and helps to trap the heat. The cooking spray on the plastic wrap helps to prevent it from sticking to the dough.
- Store it in a warm location. I like to preheat my oven to 200 degrees F for 2 minutes and then turn it off. Then I place the bowl in the oven and let it rise until doubled.
Other locations to place your dough include:
- Inside your closed microwave
- Inside a closed oven with just the oven light turned on
- On a hot and sunny day, your kitchen's countertop can work well too
💭 FAQs
Slider buns are like dinner rolls that have been split in half and filled like a sandwich. You can make them into just about any type of sandwich from loose meat to ham and cheese to a cheeseburger or parmesan chicken sandwich. The options are truly limitless and what makes sliders great is that they're small and compact so you can eat multiple or save room for other appetizer-type foods.
You can make these homemade slider buns in a bread machine by adding in all of the ingredients in the order of your bread machine manual. Then close the lid and set it to dough cycle. Once proofed, punch it down and divide it out into rolls, place it into a greased baking dish to proof again, and then bake as directed on the recipe card.
When dividing the dough into 12 little balls, if you have a kitchen scale handy, measure the lumps out into about 2 ounce-sized balls. I think mine all came up to about 2.10 ounces, and that's what gave me 12 rolls of the exact same size. Your actual measurement may vary though as you could use more or less flour than I did, so just measure the dough as a whole and divide by 12.
More great vegan recipes to try
- Simple Dairy Free White Bread
- Vegan Apple Upside Down Cake
- Spiced Vegan Apple Bundt Cake
- Rich and Chocolatey Vegan Mug Brownie
📖 Recipe
Vegan Slider Buns
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups All-purpose flour or bread flour ($0.24)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons Yeast (one packet) ($0.54)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Salt ($0.15)
- 1 cup Warm water (about 110 degrees F) ($0.00)
- 3 Tablespoons Vegetable or olive oil ($0.39)
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated sugar ($0.04)
Instructions
- In a bowl whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt.
- Make a well in the center and add to it the sugar, oil, and water.
- Stir to combine.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Feed it more flour as needed to get it no longer sticky. You may need to add up to another cup of flour.
- Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour in a warm place.
- Punch down and divide into 12 equal sized pieces. I like to roll them into balls, flatten them and then tuck the edges up and underneath so I create a rounded top (like a bell shaped mushroom) so that they bake with a smoother appearance on top.
- Place into a greased 9x13 baking dish. There will be space between each roll.
- Cover again and rise until doubled (about another hour). The rolls should be touching their neighbors now.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.
- Brush top with a vegan butter spread or olive oil immediately after removing from oven.
Bread machine option
- Place ingredients in order of owner manual for your specific bread machine.
- Turn the machine to "dough cycle" and close the lid. Waiting for the beep.
- Once the dough has been proofed, punch it down and continue with the above recipe starting off where the dough is divided and shaped into rolls for a greased baking dish.
Notes
Recipe Tips
- You will know that your bread dough is kneaded enough when you can poke the lump of dough with your finger and immediately see the dough try to fill in that indent with dough. The springiness of the dough trying to fill in that gap is a great indicator that the dough has been well kneaded and the glutens are working in your favor.
- When dividing the dough into 12 little balls, if you have a kitchen scale handy measure the lumps out into about 2 ounce-sized balls. I think mine all came up to about 2.10 ounces and that's what gave me 12 rolls of the exact same size. Your actual measurement may vary though as you could use more or less flour than I did so just measure the dough as a whole and divide by 12.
- To make these into vegan sesame buns simply brush the top with a vegan egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds before baking.
- When the rolls come out of the oven the tops will be hard and the bread will sound hollow when tapped. As you allow the bread to sit and cool it will soften and within a few hours you may get wrinkles on the top of your buns. This is actually a great sign that the bread has retained some moisture and that the bread inside is going to be great so don't be alarmed.
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