Easy homemade Garlic Knots recipe with butter garlic topping. They’re soft, chewy, and a great side to pizza, pasta, and salad.
Looking for more bread and roll recipes? Check out my Cheesy Breadsticks, Beer Bread, and Buttermilk Cornbread!
Why I love this recipe:
- Unique – They just feel a little more special than classic garlic bread or breadsticks, and my kids always request them.
- Easy – They may look intimidating, but they are actually so simple to make.
- Garlic Sauce brushed on top is delicious, and if you serve them with a bowl of marinara sauce, they’re out of this world good!
How to make Garlic Knots:
Proof Yeast: Combine warm water, yeast, and ¼ tsp sugar and stir–allow to rest for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
Make Dough: Pour yeast mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add remaining ¼ cup sugar, warm milk, butter, egg and salt. Blend mixture until combined. Add the flour slowly, mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 – 6 minutes. You may not use all of the flour called for. The dough should be soft, very slightly sticky when touched with a clean finger, and pulling away from the sides of the mixer.
Allow Dough to Rise: Grease a large bowl with cooking spray or a tiny bit of oil. Place the dough in the bottom of the bowl and turn it over once to coat all sides in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.
Shape Dough: Gently punch the dough down. Add a little flour to your countertop or work surface. Grab a ball of dough, about the size of a golf ball, and roll it out into a long rope (about ½ inch thick and around 9 inches long). Tie the rope into a knot and place it on prepared baking sheet.
Second Rise: Cover garlic knots loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise again in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.
Bake: Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 min. or until lightly golden on top.
Brush with Garlic Sauce: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl while the knots are baking. After removing knots from oven, brush them lightly with garlic sauce while they are still warm.
Serve with:
- Salad
- Pizza
- Pasta Salad
- Ranch Dressing or Marinara sauce for dipping
Storage and Freezing Instructions:
Store in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for 2-3 days.
To Freeze After Baked: Allow homemade garlic knots to cool completely and place in a freezer safe bag. Store for up to 2 months. To thaw, remove garlic knots from the freezer and allow to thaw at room temperature, or stick them in the microwave for a few seconds.
To Freeze the Dough: Make the dough and shape the knots. Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and flash freeze (place them in the freezer for 1-2 hours). Move the frozen dough knots from the baking sheet into a freezer safe ziplock bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, remove frozen rolls and line them on a greased baking sheet. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow them to thaw and rise on the countertop for about 2 hours. Uncover and bake at 400º F for 9-12 minutes.
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Recipe
Garlic Knots
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup very warm water
- 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup +¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 1/3 cup milk , warmed
- 5 tablespoons butter , softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Garlic Topping
- 1 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoons butter , melted
- 1 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- Marinara sauce , for dipping (optional)
Instructions
- Combine warm water, yeast, and ¼ tsp sugar and stir–allow to rest for 5-10 minutes until foamy.Â
- Pour yeast mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer (or into a large bowl if you plan on kneading by hand). Add remaining ¼ cup sugar, warm milk, butter, egg and salt. Blend mixture until combined.Â
- While mixing on low speed, slowly add the flour, mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 – 6 minutes. You may not use all of the flour called for!
- The dough should be soft, very slightly sticky when touched with a clean finger. It should be pulling away from the sides of the mixer.Â
- Grease a large bowl with cooking spray or a tiny bit of oil. Place the dough in the bottom of the bowl and turn it over once to coat all sides in oil (this helps keep it from drying out.)Â
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Gently punch the dough down. Add a little flour to your countertop or work surface (or spray it lightly with cooking spray).
- Grab a ball of dough, about the size of a golf ball, and roll it out into a long rope (about ½ inch thick and around 9 inches long). Tie the rope into a knot and place it on prepared baking sheet.
- Cover garlic knots loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise again in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.
- Bake for 10-12 min. or until lightly golden on top.
- While they're baking, make the garlic sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.
- After removing knots from oven, while still warm, brush them lightly with garlic sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe April 2013. Updated April 2019 and March 2022.
Made these today to go with our pasta dinner. Absolutely loved them. I substituted olive oil for the butter and used up some garlic cloves poached in oil olive for the topping in addition to some shredded parmesan cheese. Will be making these again. My boys gave it two thumbs up.
I am in love with all your recipes, so I turned to this to whip up soem quick garlic knots for inner. Sadly, something is seriously wrong with the liquid measurements in this recipe! Please compare the water and milk numbers in metric and US customary. It created a huge sticky mess. I added extra flour, but not too hopeful. Saw a few other people had this problem too.
These garlic knots are great. I found out the hard way that the metric conversion for the milk is incorrect. It should be about 325.68g.
The recipe came together easily. I did need to double the garlic topping, that could be because of the silicone brush I was using. My whole family enjoyed it and they looked lovely!
A perfect dinner rolls recipe – thank you! I wasn’t very good at making the knot shape, but the recipe was spot-on and I was delighted at how easy it was to turn these out. The rolls were a hit with my dinner guests who enjoyed them with spaghetti and a salad. I only needed about 8 rolls, so I have a plastic freezer box full of these lovely rolls on hand to thaw and bake whenever I want them!
I made this recipe for dinner tonight and wow! so easy and taste amazing! if you are someone that remembers the loafs of bread that you could buy with KFC back in the day this bread taste like that amazing!
great recipe thanks
Do I need to use a standing bowl mixer, or will a handheld one suffice? (albeit make my arm tired)
You can mix by hand, but make sure to knead it really well!
I made these yesterday. Substituted dry buttermilk/water for milk since I didn’t have milk. These are so pillowy-soft and yummy!
Nice, soft rolls. I live in an area where garlic knots are HUGE, and you can find them everywhere. However not all knots are made equally. These are excellent. The only additions I made were to add oregano to the butter/oil mixture and top them with fresh grated garlic and Parmesan cheese based on an Utica, NYer’s recipe.