Ube bread rolls or ube buns have ube jam enveloped in soft, fluffy bread, served with toasted coconut. It’s one of the most delicious Filipino ube treats!
(Love ube? This ube cake recipe is very popular and for good reason — soft ube cake layers frosted with the most delightful ube Swiss meringue buttercream. Try it!)
Ube is one of my favourite things in the world because it is delicious.
Try my recipe for homemade ube ice cream and you’ll be hooked. You don’t even need an ice cream machine. Just heavy cream, condensed milk, ube extract. That’s it!
Or this recipe for ube bars (ube bread bars) to recreate your favourite ube treat from childhood.
I’ve also recently perfected my recipe for ube ube pandesal. So good!
This ube bread recipe is one of the first ube recipes I posted here on TUB all those years ago so I figured it was time to give it some TLC.
And as requested by many of you: I included step-by-step photos.
Similar to how I make ensaymada and ube ensaymada , I’ve simplified the process into small, manageable parts. You won’t believe how easy it is to make!
Let’s bake.
Why you’ll love this recipe
You know how delicious cinnamon bread rolls are? Especially when served warm and fresh from the oven? These rolls are the same. But with ube!
If you love to bake bread, you’ll find this one of the easier bread recipes to follow. And if you’re new to bread making, this is a great recipe to try on.
- It has simple, straightforward steps. I’ve also provided step-by-step photos to make it that much easier to follow.
- The bread is wonderfully soft and fluffy.
- They are packed with ube jam and complemented by toasted coconut. That’s a match made in flavor heaven.
(Love baking bread rolls? Try sourdough discard cinnamon rolls!)
How to make
The key to making the best ube bread is mis en place. Get everything ready, prep your ingredients, your tools and get baking!
Ingredients
You’ll need the usual ingredients like sugar, salt and butter. A few things to note:
- Warm water – you’ll want the water to be around 110F.
- Active dry yeast
– I always use active dry yeast (vs. instant yeast) when baking bread because I’m always required to proof it. This way, I can ensure the yeast is still active before adding it to my dough. - Milk – I usually use 2% skim milk
- Canola oil – I always use canola oil because that’s what’s always available at home. Vegetable oil or any flavourless oil will also work.
- Ube jam or ube halaya – you can buy or make your own. Here’s my recipe for homemade ube halaya.
– I always use active dry yeast (vs. instant yeast) when baking bread because I’m always required to proof it. This way, I can ensure the yeast is still active before adding it to my dough.
– I always use canola oil because that’s what’s always available at home. Vegetable oil or any flavourless oil will also work.Baking tools
You can, but I don’t use the hook attachment of my stand mixer when making ube bread. I prefer to mix everything by hand using a wooden spoon.
What makes this recipe easier for me to make are the following:
- Pastry mat — no slip and makes for easier clean up!
- French rolling pin — so much easier to use than a regular rolling pin, IMO
- Bench scraper — great for cutting the dough
- Kitchen scale — important for precise baking
- Instant read thermometer — so you don’t have to guess if your mixture is hot enough
- Oven thermometer — I have two hanging in my oven at all times to ensure I’m always baking at the correct temperature
Step-by-step photos
Phase 1: Activate Yeast
(1) In a measuring cup, stir warm water (about 110F), active dry yeast and granulated sugar until dissolved.
(2) Set aside and let stand until bubbly (about 10 minutes).
Phase 2: Warm Milk
While you’re waiting for your yeast to activate, you can work on your milk.
(1) In a medium saucepan on medium heat, warm milk until you see bubbles forming at the edges (about 180F).
(2) Remove from heat and stir sugar, salt, and butter until the butter has completely melted. Set aside and let cool until lukewarm.
Phase 3: Prep Dough
(1) In a large bowl, combine your yeast mixture, your milk mixture, eggs and 1 ½ cups flour.
(2) Stir until combined.
(3) Proceed to add the rest of your flour ½ cup at a time combining well after each addition.
(4) Once the dough starts pulling and sticking together in a ball, transfer it into a lightly floured surface.
(5) Knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes).
(6) When in doubt, knead some more but be careful not to over-flour your dough.
(7) Oil a large bowl with canola oil. Place your dough in the bowl and turn to ensure the whole dough is coated.
(8) Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a dry warm place (about 90F) until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
While waiting is when I usually start cleaning up (and maybe hop on Instagram or watch videos on YouTube lol).
Phase 4: Assembly and Baking
(1) In a medium bowl combine melted butter, brown sugar and unsweetened shredded coconut.
(2) Mix until evenly blended.
(3) Transfer into a greased 9×13 inch glass baking dish and spread evenly on the bottom.
(4) When your dough is ready, transfer it into a lightly floured surface and roll into (roughly) a 12×14 inch rectangle. Brush the dough with melted butter.
(5) Then spread ube jam.
(6) Make sure to leave a half inch border around.
(7) Tightly roll the dough (long side up).
(8) Pinch the seams to seal.
(9) Brush with more melted butter.
(10) Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces and place cut side down on your baking dish. Space them out evenly to allow the dough space to rise. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
When your rolls are just about ready, preheat your oven to 375F and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let the bread rolls cool slightly in the baking dish.
Enjoy with your favourite coffee, tea or tsokolate.
Recipe FAQs
Easy, right? Check out these FAQs for more baking tips.
For the fluffiest ube bread, allow your dough to rise in a warm, dry place. I use my oven for this.
I preheat it to 100F then turn it off just when I’m about to knead my dough. This way, the temperature would have gone down to 90F when I put my dough in.
You can also use the keep warm feature of your oven if you have it.
For the second rise, I usually just leave the dough out on the counter covered by a damp tea towel.
Yes, you can use whatever baking or bread pan or dish you have available.
The baking dish you see in the photos is 9×13 inches. I’ve also baked these in a dish that’s 8×11 inches. Some readers have told me they’ve used round cake pans and that worked as well.
Just remember that:
– The size of pan you use will determine how many bread rolls you can make. For a 9×13 inch pan, the yield is 12 fairly large rolls. For 8×11, it’s 6 giant rolls. Of course, the size also depends on how thick or thin you cut your dough.
– The size of your rolls affects baking time. If altering the recipe, check at the halfway mark so you can assess how many more minutes your bread needs to bake.
– I always use a glass baking dish; if using a metal pan, lower the temperature to 350F and again, watch your baking time.
To make ube jam more spreadable, I leave it out on the counter for about an hour before I plan to use it. If it’s still too tough, I microwave it in increments of 10 seconds to soften it further.
Unlike ensaymada and pandesal where I can weigh each piece to ensure they all come out the same size, for ube bread rolls I measure the rolled dough with a ruler.
First I trim the edges, measure, divide that number by 12 (or by how many number of rolls you want to end up with) and try my very best to cut each piece that size.
Alas, I’m never 100% precise — I always end up with one or two pieces that are smaller or bigger than the others — but close enough.
You have 2 options.
(1) If you’re serving this to company, you can invert the whole baking dish into a serving platter and serve the bread like cake.
(2) We just like scooping the bread from the dish to serve. Just make sure to scoop out some of that delicious toasted coconut too.
Because of the jam, we like to store ube bread in an airtight container in the fridge to be safe. It should keep for up to 5 days.
Ube bread is best eaten warm so we just microwave it for 15-20 seconds before serving.
More ube recipes
Looking for more ube treats and baked goods? I got you.
Hope you enjoy this delicious ube treat. Make it for Christmas, Noche Buena, Thanksgiving or merienda tomorrow!
It’s soft and fluffy, packed with ube flavour, and it has pretty purple swirls. How can you say no to that?
If you love doing all kinds of bread rolls like I do, try this pizza rolls recipe. Perfect for a get-together. And try this cinnamon roll hack with milk for homemade cinnamon rolls without all the fuss!
Happy baking!
Did you make ube bread rolls? I’d love to hear all about it! Leave a comment or a star rating below. You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to see your creations.
Ube Bread Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
Phase 1:
- ½ cup warm water about 110F
- 1 package active dry yeast 0.25 oz
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
Phase 2:
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter room temperature
Phase 3:
- 2 pcs large eggs room temperature and lightly beaten
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp canola oil you can substitute any flavourless oil
Phase 4:
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted and allowed to cool slightly (+ 3 tbsp melted butter for brushing)
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 15 oz ube jam
Instructions
Phase 1:
- In a measuring cup, stir ½ cup warm water (about 110F), 1 package active dry yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar until dissolved. Set aside and let stand until bubbly (about 10 minutes).
Phase 2:
- In a medium saucepan on medium heat, warm ½ cup milk until you see bubbles forming at the edges (about 180F). Remove from heat and stir ¼ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ cup butter until the butter has completely melted.
- Set aside and let cool until lukewarm.
Phase 3:
- In a large bowl, combine your yeast mixture, your milk mixture, eggs and 1 ½ cups flour. Stir until combined. Proceed to add the rest of your flour ½ cup at a time combining well after each addition.
- Once the dough starts pulling and sticking together in a ball, transfer it into a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). When in doubt, knead some more. Careful not to over-flour your dough. You want it elastic but still a little sticky.
- Oil a large bowl with 1 tablespoon canola oil. Place your dough in the bowl and turn to ensure the whole dough is coated. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a dry warm place (about 90F) until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
Phase 4:
- In a medium bowl combine ½ cup melted butter, ½ cup brown sugar and 1 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut. Pour into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish (see notes) and spread evenly on the bottom.
- When your dough is ready, transfer it into a lightly floured surface and roll into (roughly) a 12×14 inch rectangle. Brush the dough with melted butter then spread ube jam (see notes), leaving a half inch border around.
- Tightly roll the dough (long side up) and pinch the seams to seal. Brush with more melted butter. Cut the roll into 12 pieces (see notes) and place cut side down on your baking dish. Space them out evenly to allow the dough space to rise. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
- When your rolls are just about ready, preheat your oven to 375F and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the rolls cool slightly in the baking dish before you invert them onto a serving platter. You can also opt to scoop them out one by one. Top with more toasted coconut from the bottom of the dish.
Video
Notes
- The baking dish you see in the photos is 9×13 inches. I’ve also baked these in an 8×11 inch dish. The size of pan you use will determine how many rolls you can make. For 8×11, I made 6 giant rolls.
- To make ube jam more spreadable, I leave it out on the counter for about an hour before I plan to use it. If it’s still too tough, I microwave it for 10 seconds or so to soften it further.
- See post for the complete step-by-step photos and more baking tips.
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only.
Lois Alter Mark
Wow, I love everything about this! That bread looks delicious and the purple just adds to its appeal! Plus, I love coconut so this is a definite win win for me!
David Elliott
Those bread rolls do look delicious. I am just not a huge fan of yams although I imagine this would taste quite good. I love the beautiful colors here. I wonder if I could get my daughter to eat this.
Via Bella
I have to be honest that before this I had never heard of Ube at all. I do like that it is purple. So now I am intrigued to try this. Sorry you don’t like Okra- I haven’t eaten it too much either.
Jolina
Haha yeah I’ve never liked Okra. Ever 🙂
Heather Johnson
My oldest would love the Filipino purple yam because of the color! You had me at the toasted coconut!
Jolina
Hi Heather! Lemme tell you, that toasted coconut topping is a treat by itself 🙂
Elena
I haven`t made them yet but I would love to, especially since they have coconut which is my favourite.
Heather
Wow these are simply gorgeous! That toasted coconut takes it over the top.
Dee
Haha when I first saw this recipe I knew it was you because I remember you Ube ice-cream recipe and another recipe when you used Ube for the first time. Why wouldnt anyone like Ube? Is there any pronounce taste to it? Does the tongue get purple? This looks easy enought to bake!❤️
Jolina
Hahaha I guess I love ube 🙂 It’s super hard to describe how it tastes like. I’d say close to sweet potato but sweeter and less earthy. Does that make sense? The tongue doesn’t turn purple all the time, it depends on the recipe I think….eating ube ice cream – for sure! But these rolls, not so much.
Star harford
Ive never even herd of ube let alone baked with it! I had to use google and now im intrigued. Your recipe is very well explained so I think I will have a go at making the yam ones, especially as they are pretty and also look a bit like ready made sandwiches!
Jolina
Ahhh I love Google 🙂 Hope you like these!
Jen S
These look amazing! I actually just discovered ube a couple weeks ago and loved it. I’ll have to try these out.
Jolina
That is so awesome Jen! Now there’s a whole world of ube for you to discover 🙂
May
Wow! This looks so dee-licious. I am going to try out this recipe for my little one who loves bread rolls. Coconut,,,,ummmm…yummmm!
Emma McKay
Yum this looks great! My first thought was, oh I love taro I’m sure I’d love this… but then did a google search and discovered they are not the same thing. Learn something new everyday. I’ll be visiting the Philippines in a few months so this is definitely on my list of things to look out for!
Jolina
That’s so awesome Emma! Are you going to be there for Christmas? It’s the best time to visit IMO, traffic in Manila notwithstanding 🙂 If you’re ever in the vicinity of Tagaytay or Baguio, the nuns at the Good Shepherd convent make and sell the best ube jam ever. Hope you get to try it!
Elizabeth
I’d love to try your ube bread. Looks so delicious!
Marc
This looks like a fun project, even though I have never tried ube jam (I have definitely bought purple sweet potatoes for savory uses). Would I have a good chance of finding ube yam jam at an Asian Megamart like Ranch 99? Or would I need to find a specialized Philippines market?
Jolina
Hi Marc! I’m not familiar with Ranch 99 but if it’s a pretty big supermarket I’d say yes, you have a good chance of finding ube jam there 🙂
Nicoletta
Can you believe I’ve never used, nor eaten ube?? I have to get my hands on some, soon. And maybe make these delicious looking ube bread rolls 🙂 !
Jolina
Hi Nicoletta! How are you? We see ube jam in the big Asian supermarket near us though I must say I’ve never tried them. I always get the good stuff from home. I hear though that what we get here is good too. Hope you like ’em!
Dawn
You are definitely on an Ube roll, my friend! They look so fun with the purple colour and love the pairing with toasted coconut. I’m definitely going to have to try and get my hands on some of this.
So, because there is no ‘frosting’ per se does that mean that I can eat more 😉 ?? Happy Monday, my friend!
Jolina
Hi Dawn! I am, aren’t I? LOL! Ahhh but that’s the last of my ube jam hoard. Gotta work on getting more! And yes absolutely, no frosting = double the allowable serving teehee. Have a lovely weekend! (Eeek, last weekend of summer.)