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 (79g)
- 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup +¼ teaspoon granulated sugar (51g)
- 1 1/3 cup milk (332g), warmed
- 5 tablespoons butter (76g), softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (500g)
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.)
- 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.
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As with other recipes from Lauren, these are FANTASTIC!!! Recipe is easy to follow and taste great on their on or dipped in the sauce!
Amazing love it
I made the dough in my bread machine and followed the rest of the recipe as written. The rolls turned out beautifully! We dipped them in marinara sauce, poured a little wine, and had an incredibly tasty time. I’m glad I discovered your site!
Would it work ok to use an electric mixer and not a stand mixer for these?
If your electric mixer has any sort of dough hook attachment that would work best. The wire whisk attachments might not be strong enough to knead the dough–you may be better to do it by hand.
As my husband and Iare both garlic lovers, I too doubled the garlic in the knots, but in retrospect likely won’t do that again as the flavour of garlic is a bit overpowering when eaten plainly. They do seem to bake to a very light colour even when extending the time, but are light, fluffy and delicious. Plan to serve them with a big pot of homemade soup for supper. Will definitely be making these again and likely pairing with a pasta dish next time. This was my first visit to your site and will be using it again soon I hope.
this was the first recipe I tried for garlic knots…I followed it EXACTLY and it came out absolutely perfect!! thank u for sharing!!
Thanks for this wonderful recipe, I’ve made it a few times now and always use unsweetened vanilla almond milk (no noticeable difference) ! I definitely freeze the leftovers.
Hi there,
Just came across this amazing recipe, however, I am enquiring what these rolls would be like if they were made with fresh garlic rather
than the garlic powder ? Please tell me if this is at all possible and if so, what changes would need to be made to the recipe?
Thank you
Gisele
Hi Gisele, you could add 2 cloves of minced garlic to the dough, in place of the garlic powder. 🙂 Make it the same.
Just tried these today and they are very tasty. Being a serious garlic lover, I doubled the garlic powder in the dough. They came out great!!
Oh … my … goodness!
I just made these and they were absolute HEAVEN! Absolute perfection!
Thanks for the amazing recipe! Worked perfectly and everyone loved these knots, they’re so good!
I used vegan buttery spread and omitted the parmesan cheese from the topping to make them vegan and they came out great!