This soft and fluffy Garlic Knots recipe is a delicious alternative to garlic bread and so easy to make from scratch. They’re perfect for holiday meals, weeknight dinners, or even as a snack served with marinara for dipping.
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Homemade Garlic Knots
This homemade Garlic Knots recipe is a favorite of mine because it’s super easy but feels a little more special than regular old garlic bread or dinner rolls. It starts with a basic yeasted dough that is then divided, shaped, covered in yummy garlic butter, and baked to perfection.
You don’t need to be a bread baking expert to make this recipe - we’ve provided simple instructions on how to make Garlic Knots for you to follow along with. But, if you really want to go quick and easy, you could even use premade pizza dough instead. From there, just shape, add the garlic butter, and bake as directed.
Serve these soft and fluffy Garlic Knots as a side dish for holiday dinners, weeknight meals, or even as a snack or appetizer along with warm marinara sauce or alfredo sauce.
Ingredients in This Garlic Knots Recipes
- Water - you’ll need to use warm water to wake up your yeast. It should be between 95-110 degrees F.
- Yeast - we use active dry yeast in this recipe, which needs to be proofed. (check out our Homemade White Bread recipe for more info on activating yeast). If you use instant yeast, you can skip the proofing step and just mix the dough together, knead, and then let rise.
- Sugar - this recipe calls for white granulated sugar, but you could also substitute honey.
- Oil - use a cooking oil with little flavor, such as vegetable oil, canola oil,or avocado oil.
- Egg - any kind of large egg will work.
- Salt - salt is important for the flavor and for the structure of any bread, so don’t forget to add it!
- Flour - this recipe uses all-purpose flour but you can also use bread flour.
- Butter - you can use either salted or unsalted butter. You’ll want to melt this and mix it with the garlic salt to add to the tops of each just before baking. If you want, you could add extra melted butter to the tops once they come out of the oven.
- Garlic Salt adds great garlic flavor without the hassle or chunks of garlic. If you don’t have garlic salt, you can combine half garlic powder and half salt.
- Parmesan Cheese - use finely grated Parmesan cheese for these rolls.
How to Make Garlic Knots From Scratch
- Proof the yeast. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, yeast, and sugar and mix to combine. Let sit for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast mixture starts to get bubbly.
- Mix the dough. Add the oil, egg, and salt to the yeast mixture and mix to combine, then add 2 cups of flour and begin to mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment. The dough will be very sticky. Continue to add up to ⅔ cup flour more to the dough until it starts to pull away from the edges of the bowl as you mix. Once you have added all of the flour, mix on low speed for about 2 minutes to knead.
- Let the dough rise. Turn the mixer off, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel, and let the dough rise until light and puffy, or about 30 minutes.
- Shape the garlic knots. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease two muffin tins with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 18 equal pieces. Roll each dough piece into an 8" log. Tie into a knot and place into the prepared muffin tin cup, tucking the ends under the knot. Repeat with all of the rolls.
- Top with garlic butter. Melt the butter and mix in the garlic salt. Brush the garlic butter over each dough knot, then add about ½ teaspoon of grated parmesan cheese to each.
- Let the knots rise again. Cover the garlic knots loosely and rise again in a warm place for 15-30 minutes minutes, or until the rolls double in size.
- Bake. Bake in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees F.
- Serve. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes, then brush the tops with additional melted butter if desired. Enjoy!
Garlic Knots with Pre-made dough
- Pre-Made Pizza Dough- You can usually find some pre-made pizza dough in your deli section. Just be sure to let it come up to room tempreture before trying to shape the dough.
- Crescent Roll Dough- It's also super easy to make crescent roll garlic knots with cans of dough. You could also do a pinwheel appetizer type of roll. Just lighly roll the dough into a rectangle, brush with butter and garlic salt and roll like a sweet roll, cut into slices and place in a cupcake tin.
- Frozen Dough- You can also use Rhodes rolls or frozen Rhodes roll dough for this. Just let the dough thaw and come up to room tempreture before shaping.
Frequently Asked Questions
You sure can! You can even freeze them either baked or unbaked. To freeze baked Garlic Knots, just let them cool completely, transfer to freezer bags, and store for up to 2 months.
If you want to freeze unbaked Garlic Knots, follow instructions 1-4 above, placing cupcake liners into the muffin tins. Instead of letting them rise, put the muffin tins into the freezer for about 1 hour, or until they are frozen and no longer sticky. Then, transfer the unbaked rolls to an airtight container and store frozen for up to 2 months.
When you are ready to bake, pull them out, place them back into muffin tins, and let them thaw at room temperature. From there, you can follow the instructions as directed.
I like to bake Garlic Knots inside muffin tins because it helps them to keep their shape, but you can absolutely bake these on baking sheets instead. Simply line them up on your prepared baking sheet about 2” apart and bake as directed, keeping an eye on the baking time as it may be slightly different.
The key with making a knot out of dough is to make sure you roll each piece of dough out to an 8” log. If they aren’t long enough, it will be very difficult to make a knot. Once you have the log, very gently make the knot shape, trying not to press or pull too much.
Storing and Freezing
- Room Temperature: transfer Garlic Knots to an airtight container or freezer bag and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Refrigerator: if you want them to last a bit longer, you can also store them in an airtight container or freezer bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: store baked Garlic Knots in freezer bags in the freezer for up to 2 months. To thaw, transfer to the fridge or countertop overnight. Or, you can freeze the unbaked rolls in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Once you are ready to serve, remove from the freezer for a couple of hours before you want to bake. Once they have doubled in size, you can bake as directed.
- To Reheat: for a single serving, you can reheat in the microwave until warm. Otherwise, transfer the Garlic Knots to a baking sheet or baking dish and warm in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until warmed through.
Garlic Knots Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water warm, about 110 degrees F
- 1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil or canola or avocado oil
- 1 large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2-⅓ to 2-⅔ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 4 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 teaspoons Garlic Salt
- 4 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese grated
To Finish
- 2 Tablespoons Butter melted
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, yeast, and sugar and mix to combine. Let sit for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast mixture starts to get bubbly.
- Add the oil, egg, and salt to the yeast mixture and mix to combine, then add 2 cups of flour and begin to mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment. The dough will be very sticky.
- Continue to add up to ⅔ cup flour more to the dough until it starts to pull away from the edges of the bowl as you mix. Once you have added all of the flour, mix on low speed for about 2 minutes to knead. Turn the mixer off, cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rise until light and puffy, or about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease two muffin tins with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
- Transfer the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 18 equal pieces. Roll each dough piece into an 8" log. Tie the dough into a knot and place into the prepared muffin tin cup, tucking the ends under the knot. Repeat with all of the rolls.
- Melt the butter and mix in the garlic salt. Brush the garlic butter over each dough knot, then add about ½ teaspoon of grated parmesan cheese to each.
- Cover the garlic knots loosely and rise again in a warm place for 15-30 minutes minutes, or until the rolls double in size.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes, then brush the tops with additional melted butter if desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More Easy Bread Recipes To Try
- Whole Wheat Bread
- Pull Apart Garlic Bread
- Crescent Rolls
- Wheat Rolls
- Parker House Rolls
- Quick Dinner Rolls
- Potato Rolls
- More Bread Recipes
- More Holiday Recipes
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These super easy Garlic Knots are soft, fluffy, buttery, and delicious. Serve for holidays, weeknights, or even as an appetizer with your favorite marinara sauce for dipping.
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