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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!
have you ever made these with bread flour?
Yes, making garlic knots with bread flour can definitely work! Bread flour has a higher protein content, which leads to more gluten development and can make your garlic knots chewier and more bread-like in texture. It’s a great option if you’re after that extra chewiness.
The knots were good, with a few caveats.
First, our family considers 2 Tablespoons of garlic butter entirely inadequate for 24 knots, but we’re probably spoiled. My husband would prefer 8 STICKS of butter, but I used 8 Tablespoons (6 of butter and 1 of olive oil). I brushed it on before and after baking, and I would use even more next time.
Second, it was way more than “slightly sticky” when I had added the full 4 1/2 cups of flour. Like others, I had to add an extra 1/2 cup of flour (total of 5 cups). Also, the metric conversion for the milk does NOT equal 1 1/3 cups; it’s for 1/3 cup. As another review mentioned, the video does NOT seem to show adding 1 1/3 cups of milk, which seriously made me question how much SHOULD be used.
Finally, step 8 says to put the (single) knot on prepared baking sheet, which isn’t prepared until step 10. That part should be moved up before step 8, and step 8 should say to repeat with the other 23 knots. Personally, I think it’s more helpful to say to divide the dough into 24 equal parts than to say “grab a ball of dough about the size of a golf ball.” I don’t play golf, and I might have ended up with, say, 10 balls of varying sizes. I prefer to divide my dough in half, then in half, etc., ending with dividing in thirds until I have 24 pretty even pieces.
I just think this recipe could be written better, and I would prefer much more than the 2 T. garlic butter so I could brush it generously (not lightly) on 24 rolls.
If you prefer to have adjustments in the garlic amount, then you can do that on your end. I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to criticize this recipe. However, I do agree with the way this is written – some areas need improvement. But I don’t think that the above comment elaborated enough on how great the overall experience was. I loved it, so thanks!
The garlic knots were absolutely fantastic! I made them for a holiday meal and froze the knots after shaping and before baking. I let them rise in the car for 2+ hours on the way to our destination. Because of this, they may have risen a bit too much and were pretty big, but oh so light and tasty with your marinara sauce. As my daughter said, can a garlic knot be too big?
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Depending on your elevation (for example, if you live in the mountains versus at sea-level) can determine if you need to add more or less flour, I added the amount called for (unpacked, level scoops) and it was perfect. One trick I learned is to make your hands wet before you handle stickier dough, to avoid adding too much flour to be able to work with the dough. This dough is sticky, but by the first rise it should be pliable enough to work with! Flour your surface well, wet hands until you’re at the step of working & rolling the dough into shape. I used the ratio for the butter/oil spread and applied to to the rest of the stick of butter (approx 4 tsp left), equal amounts of oil, once this got hot and incorporated together on the stove I poured it into a jar with pre-cut fresh garlic. This recipe produced soft, fluffy, and perfectly browned garlic knots (the biggest ones I’ve ever seen). Two of my garlic knots ended up flattened, out of the 16 huge ones I made from this recipe, and I’m not sure why, but the rest fluffed up and are bigger than my palm! They’re absolutely beautiful. After I dressed them with the butter/oil/garlic spread is when I sprinkled on grated parm (the brand matters!) This will go perfectly with my lasagna tonight, thank you so so muccccch!
Obsessed
Can I make this into a loaf bread? And if so do you know the rising and bake time?
Doesn’t taste like classic garlic knots at all. More like a supple brioche which is far off the mark for me. The amount of garlic oil topping was soooo small for the large recipe as well. It’s not the worst tasting thing but this might as well not be a garlic knot recipe at all.
The knots rise but never get tall like a knot. Any suggestions? They taste fantastic, just flat in shape.
I made these tonight and the measurements were pretty far off for me… I ended up adding 5 cups of flour and might have been able to add more because the dough was still so sticky. Shaping them was difficult because they were so sticky. BUT… The flavor was out of this world and it ended up making 15 very large garlic knots. My family hasn’t stopped talking about how good they were since dinner ended and are already talking about finishing the leftovers for breakfast 🤣😊
I also added like 5 cups of flour, and it was still sticky. Not like the video. However i think itll be okay. Theyre doing their second rise right now.
Wow is all I gotta say about these knots. I make them all the time. I even use it for hamburger buns, hotdog rolls. It is a very versatile recipe and so soft and fluffy. You really knew what you were doing when you made this recipe.