These Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls are soft, fluffy, buttery, and topped with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese just before baking. Each delicious roll is also stuffed with mozzarella cheese, making these easy dinner rolls absolutely irresistible.
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Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls
These easy Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls, topped with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese, have everything you want in a dinner roll and more. They are soft and fluffy, easy to make, and each roll is even stuffed with a little morsel of gooey mozzarella cheese.
If you have a little extra time, these Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls make a fabulous alternative to garlic bread, and are perfect for serving at holiday dinners, special occasions, or even weeknights at home. We’ve given you directions on how to create a fun Christmas tree shape with your rolls, as well as instructions on baking in more traditional pans.
Ingredients in Garlic Rolls Recipe
- Water - warm your water to between 95-110 degrees before mixing with the yeast and sugar. This helps activate the yeast.
- Yeast - this recipe calls for active dry yeast, which needs to be proofed. If you want to use instant yeast, you’ll only need 2 ½ teaspoons and you can skip the first step of proofing the yeast.
- Sugar - this recipe calls for granulated sugar. You could substitute a portion with honey if you want.
- Oil - vegetable, canola, avocado, or olive oil all work great.
- Salt - sea salt works great.
- Flour - I like to use all-purpose flour for this recipe because it makes super soft and fluffy bread doughs. If you want your rolls to be slightly chewier, you can substitute bread flour for this or any other bread recipe.
- String Cheese - you can either cut each stick of string cheese into 4 pieces, or buy a large block of mozzarella cheese and cut into 1” pieces.
- Milk - whole milk is best, but you can substitute 2%.
- Garlic Salt - if you don’t have garlic salt, you can mix together equal parts of garlic powder and sea salt.
- Parmesan Cheese - freshly grated Parmesan cheese tastes best.
- Butter - this should be melted and brushed on just after baking.
How to Make Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls
- 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 begins to form bubbles.
- Mix the dough. Add the oil, egg, and salt to the yeast mixture and mix to combine. Next, add 2 cups of flour and mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment. At this point, the dough will be very sticky. Continue to add up to ⅔ cup of additional flour to the dough, until the dough 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 loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, or about 30-45 minutes.
- Shape the rolls. Transfer the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 21 equal pieces. Roll into balls and place a chunk of cheese in the center of the ball. Pinch the dough around the cheese to seal.
- Arrange. To make a Christmas Tree shape: line a baking sheet with parchment paper Place dough balls onto the prepared baking pan, start with 6 dough balls on the bottom row, 5 dough balls on the next, continuing up until the tree is formed. Place 1 dough ball under the bottom row to form the trunk. To bake in a baking dish: lightly butter a 9" x 13" baking dish and place the dough balls inside so that they are gently touching.
- Allow to rise again. Brush the dough balls with milk and sprinkle with garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese. Cover loosely and let the dough rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes, or until the rolls are doubled in size.
- Bake. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
- Brush with butter and enjoy. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes, then brush the tops with melted butter. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t have a stand mixer you can still make bread dough. Mix the ingredients in a large bowl until combined. Once you add the flour, work the dough using your hands. Once it comes together you can transfer to a lightly floured work surface to knead your dough. It will take slightly longer to work, so be prepared to knead by hand for about 6-8 minutes.
These Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls should be super light and fluffy, so if they are coming out dense the most likely reason is that the dough was either under or overworked. You want to mix enough to develop the glutens in the flour, but you don’t want to overwork the glutens, either. Another reason for dense rolls is not allowing them to rise long enough. You want to be patient and let them rise in order to be light and fluffy once baked.
If you don’t plan to arrange these into a Christmas Tree shape, you have quite a few options. You could arrange in a buttered 9” x 13” baking dish, as directed in the recipe. Another great option is to arrange in 2-3 buttered pie pans or round cake pans. For individual portions, you could even bake these in a muffin tin. Divide each dough ball into three smaller balls, then arrange into buttered tins.
Yes! Just like any of our other rolls, you can prepare this recipe all the way until you would normally let the shaped rolls double in size. Instead of letting them rise again, cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight. The next day, pull the dish from the fridge and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, or about 30 minutes. From there, bake as directed.
Storing and Reheating
- Refrigerator: store rolls in an airtight container or freezer bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: store baked rolls 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 the baking dish, wrapping well in plastic wrap, for up to 1 month. 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, add the entire pan of rolls back into the oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until warmed through.
Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup Water warm (about 95-110 degrees F)
- 1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Oil vegetable, canola or avocado oil
- 1 large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2-⅓ to 2-⅔ cups All-Purpose Flour
Finishing
- 6 sticks String Cheese cut into 4 pieces
- 2 Tablespoons Milk to brush on the rolls before baking
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese grated
- 2 Tablespoons Butter melted, to brush on rolls after baking
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 begins to form bubbles.
- Add the oil, egg, and salt to the yeast mixture and mix to combine. Next, add 2 cups of flour and mix on low speed using the dough hook attachment. At this point, the dough will be very sticky.
- Continue to add up to ⅔ cup of additional flour to the dough, until the dough 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 in a warm place until doubled in size, or about 30-45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Transfer the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 21 equal pieces. Roll into balls and place a chunk of cheese in the center of the ball. Pinch the dough around the cheese to seal.
- To make a Christmas Tree shape: line a baking sheet with parchment paper Place dough balls onto the prepared baking pan, start with 6 dough balls on the bottom row, 5 dough balls on the next, continuing up until the tree is formed. Place 1 dough ball under the bottom row to form the trunk.To bake in a baking dish: lightly butter a 9" x 13" baking dish and place the dough balls inside so that they are gently touching.
- Brush the dough balls with milk and sprinkle with garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese. Cover loosely and let the dough rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes, or until the rolls are doubled in size.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes, then brush the tops with melted butter. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More Homemade Dinner Roll Recipes to Try
- Potato Rolls
- Pull Apart Garlic Bread
- Crescent Rolls
- Wheat Rolls
- Parker House Rolls
- Quick Dinner Rolls
- Einkorn Dinner Rolls
- Garlic Knot Dinner Rolls
- More Bread Recipes
- More Holiday Recipes
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These Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls are easy to make, soft and fluffy, and each stuffed with a little piece of mozzarella cheese. They're topped with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese, then baked until golden brown and perfect for serving for holidays or other special occasions.
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