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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!
Very yummy. Made these for dinner tonight and they came out great. I added extra granulated garlic since my family lobes garlic but otherwise stuck to the recipie.
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.