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These homemade Garlic Knots use the most basic ingredients for the ultimate crowd-pleasing side dish! They are pillowy soft, golden, and brushed with a rich buttery garlic sauce that will have everyone reaching for seconds.
My favorite way to elevate rolls is these Garlic Knots
My family goes absolutely crazy for Garlic Knots every single time, and honestly, so do I. Whether I'm serving them alongside a big bowl of pasta, homemade pizza, or just snacking on them straight off the pan and dunking them in marinara sauce, these garlic knots never last more than a few minutes at out house!
Do you love making homemade bread? Try my Homemade Baguettes, Multigrain Bread, Focaccia, Cheesy Breadsticks, or the easiest No Knead Artisan Bread!
How to make Garlic Knots:
Proof Yeast: In a small mixing bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and ¼ tsp sugar. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes. It should be foamy on top, this shows that the yeast is good and activated. If it doesn't become foamy, then you will need more fresh yeast or your garlic knots won't rise.
Make Dough: Pour activated yeast mixture into a bowl of an electric stand mixer then dump in remaining ¼ cup sugar, warm milk, egg, butter, and salt. Blend mixture until combined then slowly add the flour, mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic. This usually takes 5-6 minutes. Add the flour slowly because you may not use it all. You are looking for a soft, very slightly sticky dough that is pulling away from the sides of the bowl. When you touch it with a clean finger, it shouldn't leave any dough on your finger.
Rise and Shape: Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl, then flip over once so all sides are coated in the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until the size doubles (usually takes about 1 hour). Gently punch down the dough then on a flowered countertop, grab a ball of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll it on the floured surface into a long rope (about ½ inch thick and about 9 inches long). Tie the dough rope into a knot and place on a prepared baking sheet.
Second Rise and Bake: After all the garlic knots are on the baking sheet, cover them loosely with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again in a warm place until double in size (usually takes about an hour). Bake at 400°F for 10-12 minutes, or until the garlic knots are lightly golden on top.
Brush with Garlic Sauce: Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl while the garlic knots are in the oven. Right when you take them out, use a pastry brush to gently brush with garlic sauce while they are still warm. Don't skip this step, this makes them so yummy! Serve with your favorite pizza, salad, pasta salad, or dip them in ranch or marinara sauce!
Homemade Garlic Knots
Equipment
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 kosher 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
- Proof Yeast: Combine warm water, yeast, and ¼ tsp sugar and stir–allow to rest for 5 minutes until foamy.⅓ cup very warm water, 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- Make Dough: 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.1 ⅓ cup milk, 5 tablespoons butter, 1 large egg, 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 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.4-4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- First 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 (this helps keep it from drying out.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a light kitchen towel. 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 (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.
- Second Rise: Cover shaped dough knots loosely with a light kitchen towel 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.
- Garlic Butter: 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.1 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 Tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoons garlic powder, ½ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe April 2013. Updated April 2019, March 2022 and March 2026.
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!
This are the most delicious garlic rolls/knots ever! Recipe is perfect, they taste just like Olive Garden bread. My husband is continuously asking me to make these now!
I haven’t made this recipe yet but I’m making it next Friday but just reading the instructions I can tell they are so clear and the fact it has the nutrients is so good lol thanks
This is a _fantastic_ recipe, thank you for sharing! I’ve now baked easily over 400-500 garlic knots this pandemic and shared many of them with friends. They unfailingly ask for the recipe 😋
I don’t usually have much milk in the fridge so I swapped out the 1 1/3rd cup of warm milk for Meyenberg powdered goat’s milk (full fat, not evaporated) mixed with warm water. Not only is it an easier to manage dry ingredient, with its high fat content I think it makes the bread in the knots a little softer. It had better because the fat content at 6g out of 28g is 30% of one’s recommended daily allowance in a single serving!
My electric mixer does a fine job of combining ingredients but I don’t like how it kneads the dough. After mixing I usually apply ~3-4 folds, separated by a few minutes of resting. This helped make the dough less sticky and more pliable.
Like a few other commenters suggested I also used fresh garlic, hand-grated.
Came out really really good, cut recipe in half to make 12…delicious. will save this recipe and make it for family.
We loved these, although my first rose took like 3 hours. House temp is like 74, so maybe I needed to make/fine an even warmer place? I’ll make these again, but I’ll make them smaller. I made half of the recipe and still got 14 knots. Would have preferred them even smaller. Also I added the garlic butter mixture before baking and then after baking. Delicious! I plan to add this to my recipe book. Thanks so much!!
I made this today and I used butter with garlic rather than the regular butter and oh boy I wish I didn’t have to share 😂 Thank you for sharing your recipe 🥰
I am currently in the process of making this- my dough is so sticky, I added extra flour but it didn’t help. Did not pull away from side of bowl, looks more like slim😬 It’s in a bowl trying to rise but I have little faith. Any idea what I did wrong? Followed all the steps as written
It sounds like it needs much more flour if it’s still like “slime”.
Okay, tried again today, waiting for them to rise, I added more flour but still a sticky mess- I noticed in the video it doesn’t look like 5 tablespoons of butter- is that the correct amount?
In the video it sure doesn’t seem to be 1 1/3 cup of milk. My dough was so wet. Needed a lot more flour. I’m thinking it was too much milk. Idk.
Lisa
I mixed with the dough hook in Kitchen Aid on a low to medium setting. I had to add more flour -literally only 1 Tbsp. at a time until it pulls away from the sides. Then it will be easy to handle. Just be patient waiting for it to finally come together. It’s a soft pliable dough that’s not sticky and easy to roll into ropes for the knots. I let this rise in my oven on proof mode which works very well.
I tried making bread a couple of times about 20 years ago an it was a total failure. My husband makes great bread/rolls so I decided that I can do this and wanted to make garlic knots. I checked out a few recipes then found yours that was different than most of the others so thought this is the one. Holy Mackerel they turned out great.
I just made a bunch more garlic topping than your recipe and added minced garlic too. Thanks
Hi Lauren!
Big fan of your blog. I made these for for my family for our dinner after a 16 hour fast. They loved them so much, and devoured all 16 that I made. Thank you!
Thanks for your Perfect recipe..Delicious..wants to make again..