Cheese and Onion Rolls

These cheese and onion rolls with puff pastry are an easy recipe for leftover mashed potato that kids absolutely love (and adults too!). Quick and simple to make, they are a favourite in lunch boxes and great for picnics.

Jump to:

• What is a cheese and onion roll?
• Why we love this recipe
• Ingredients notes and substitutions
• How to make these cheese rolls
• FAQ
• My recipe tips
• Golden Pastry –
• Serving Ideas
• Storage
• Variations
• More puff pastry recipes for you
• Cheese and Onion Rolls

What is a cheese and onion roll?

Crispy puff pastry is folded around a soft cheese, onion and potato filling. It’s a little on the carb heavy side, but a mouthwatering combination, and a delicious vegetarian sausage roll. If you grew up in England, a bite of these rolls will be sure to bring back memories!

Why we love this recipe

• This cheese and onion roll recipe with puff pastry taste like the cheese and onion rolls from Greggs, the British bakery chain. If you are not aware of them, they taste like cheese and onion pasties!
• This vegetarian sausage roll recipe is loved by kids and toddlers as well as adults. If your family is anything like my family, they love puff pastry rolls, whether it’s traditional pork sausage rolls, or vegetarian ricotta rolls.
• An easy leftover mashed potato recipe that can easily be doubled up to feed a crowd.
• They can be made ahead – bake a batch and put some rolls in the freezer for later.

Ingredients notes and substitutions

• Puff pastry – You can use any brand of puff pastry you like: Pampas, supermarket own brand, Jus roll. In Australia I use two 24cm x 24cm frozen puff pastry sheets, weighing about 160g each, but if you are in the UK you can use a block of puff pastry and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to ¼ cm thick or a box of ready rolled puff pastry.
• Onion – a brown onion. You can use red onion or a couple of spring onions/ green onions instead if you prefer.
• Cheese – I prefer to use block tasty cheese and grate it myself, not only is it cheaper but it doesn’t have the cellulose coating on it. You can use cheddar cheese or another hard cheese.
• Mashed potato – this recipe is made with a mashed potato that isn’t runny. If you have a super creamy mash then the filling may ooze out of the ends slightly. They will still taste great, but may look a little messy!
• Egg – this is important to holding the filling in the rolls, otherwise it has a tendency to leak out. If you want to make these rolls egg free then you can leave it out – I have tested making them without egg and the filling does tend to leak out quite a bit so be prepared for the possibility of a lot of filling on the baking tray. It goes lovely and crispy and tastes delicious, so if you aren’t worried about the look of your cheese onion roll then go for it!

How to make these cheese rolls

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Line a baking tray with baking parchment / baking paper.
3. Cook the onion in the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat until soft. Leave to cool slightly.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add the mashed potato, grated cheese, dijon mustard, cooled onion, beaten egg and season with salt and black pepper. Mix to combine.
5. Take a sheet of puff pastry and cut in half. Place a quarter of the cheese potato mixture down the centre of one half and taking one long edge, roll up into a sausage roll shape. Cut and place on to the prepared baking sheet.
6. Repeat with the other half of the pastry, then repeat with the other sheet of puff pastry.
7. Brush the tops of the onion cheese rolls with the beaten egg in the bottom of the cup / bowl you used to beat it. (This step is optional, and you can of course use another egg to brush the rolls with if you want to.)
8. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

FAQ

My recipe tips

• Make sure your oven is preheated before you place the cheese rolls in to cook.
• rolling the pastry around the potato filling. If they are still slightly frozen the pastry can crack, causing the filling to leak out of the cracks when cooking.
• Cut through the pastry with a sharp knife, don’t drag the knife along as this will cause the pastry to tear.

Serving Ideas

• Serve these savoury cheese rolls alongside a bowl of soup like this pumpkin carrot soup or spiced carrot soup for a filling lunch on a cold day.
• Pack into a lunchbox or take along to a picnic or pot luck.
• Serve alongside baked beans for an easy kid and toddler friendly dinner.

Storage

• Fridge – store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• Freezer – cool completely then freeze on a baking tray and transfer to a zip bag of container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in fridge overnight.

Variations

• Chutney – a spoonful of your favourite onion chutney would be a tasty addition. Mix with the grated cheese or spread along the middle of the pastry before you add the cheese and potato filling.
• Herbs – add a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh chives, or a little fresh thyme.
• Spices – add a pinch of paprika or chilli powder instead of the mustard.

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