Search
I’m kind of famous for this easy homemade garlic knots recipe! Soft and fluffy, these golden brown garlic knots get their flavor from fresh garlic and garlic powder! Top with grated parmesan and serve with marinara sauce for dipping. These are delicious warm or at room temperature!
Super Easy Garlic Knots (aka the Italian dinner roll)
As an Italian woman, and carb lover, I am a HUGE fan of garlic knots. So creating the best homemade garlic knots recipe was one of my top priorities this year! They needed to be soft and fluffy, golden brown, and have the perfect garlic flavor!
And guess what? I learned and perfected this recipe way faster than I thought I would. Turns out making bread knots is NOT hard. And they’re made with super basic ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now!
They’re a delicious snack on their own, especially when you serve with marinara sauce for dipping. But I love serving them with penne arrabbiata and my easy baked meatballs! They’re like an Italian dinner roll… perfect for almost any occasion!
Garlic Knots: The Ingredients
- Bread Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Active Dry Yeast (Make sure it’s not expired)
- Salt
- Warm Water
- Olive Oil
- Butter
- Garlic (Fresh garlic and garlic powder give the perfect garlic flavor)
- Fresh Parsley
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
How to make Garlic Knots from Scratch
- Make the Dough: Make sure you have all your ingredients for garlic knots before baking! You’ll need a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and a large bowl to make this garlic knot recipe! Once the dough comes together in the bowl, you’ll knead it together on a clean work surface.
- Let the Dough Rise: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the dough in a warm area and let it rise. It should double in size in about 90 minutes.
- Shape into Knots: Then place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and let them rise another 30 minutes.
- Bake: Until golden brown. Then brush with delicious garlic butter and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
For extra flavorful garlic knots, brush them with melted butter and herbs before and after baking. Just note they’ll be a little darker in color if you do this. But will taste even more like garlic bread!
How to Shape Garlic Knots
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Then let it rest for 10 minutes before shaping.
- Sprinkle the top of each round of dough with a little flour. Slice each round into quarters.
- Press each quarter into a rectangle, then slice in half again. You should have 16 pieces of dough. Dust each piece with a little flour and quickly shape into individual balls.
- Roll out each ball into a long rope then tie it into a knot. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, covered loosely with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 minutes. The knots will rise more during this time.
Garlic Knots Need Bread Flour
- Bread flour is a high-gluten flour that has a tiny amount of barley flour and vitamin C added. The barley flour helps the yeast activate. And the vitamin C increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes.
- Bread flour is typically used in pizza dough and garlic knot recipes because of the chewiness that the extra gluten provides. I did test this recipe with all-purpose flour and unfortunately the results were tough, dry, and disappointing.
For soft, chewy, and incredibly delicious garlic knots, don’t skip the bread flour!
Can I Freeze Garlic Knot Dough?
Yes! If you’re in a time crunch, I suggest making the dough ahead of time and freezing it. Then thaw and continue with the following steps as directed in the recipe. I always keep a batch of this dough hidden in the back of my freezer for when a garlic knot craving strikes!
These garlic knots go great with a side of marinara sauce. You can check out my homemade marinara sauce here.
Next, try my Soft Pretzel Garlic Knots!!! They’re like a garlic knot and a soft pretzel had a baby. Yum!
Homemade Garlic Knots
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 and 3/4 cups bread flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1and 1/2 cups warm water, 110 – 115 degrees (F)
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil divided
For the garlic coating:
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt or garlic powder
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
Instructions
For the dough:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add the bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt; gently whisk to combine.
- Turn mixer on low speed and add the warm water and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Beat until the dough forms a ball around the hook. If the dough is super sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
- Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil. Add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the bowl in a warm area to rise for 90 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Place each round of dough onto a piece plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Dust the top of each round of dough with a little flour and, using a sharp knife, slice each into quarters. Press each quarter into a rectangle, then slice in half again. You should have 16 pieces of dough.
- Dust each piece with a little flour and quickly shape into individual balls. Roll out each ball into a long rope then tie it into a knot. Place the knots on the prepared baking sheet, covered loosely with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 minutes. The knots will rise a little more during this time.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F). Remove the plastic wrap from the garlic knots. Brush with a little garlic butter if desired (this optional). Then place the garlic knots in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until knots are golden brown and firm.
- Cool for 5 minutes, then brush the freshly baked knots with the garlic coating. Sprinkle with cheese and serve warm!
For the garlic coating:
- Melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add in the garlic and simmer for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant (be sure not to over cook it here). Add in the parsley and garlic salt and stir to combine. Taste to season (add more salt, if needed), then remove from heat. Set aside until needed.
Notes
- For darker and more flavorful garlic knots, brush garlic coating on knots before and after baking.
- To freeze: Make garlic knots as instructed, but preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Bake garlic knots for 16 minutes. Don’t worry that the rolls look pale in color and slightly undercooked. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Then flash freeze on a sheet pan until they are frozen solid, about 3 hours. Transfer frozen garlic knots to a freezer safe bag and place in the freezer for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to warm and serve, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Then bake the frozen garlic knots until they are lightly golden brown and warm in the middle, about 10 to 15 minutes. Brush with garlic butter and serve.
These were wonderful! I’m baking these with a few tweaks for the higher altitude I’m at and they turned out great! My in-laws request these every time they know I’m coming over now.
Could you make the dough and then freeze them? Thaw them and bake them at a later time?
I made these, followed the recipe exactly, but they came out perfectly baked on top and burnt on the bottom (they were NOT towards the bottom of the oven). I was very disappointed after spending most of my morning on them 🙁 anyone else have this problem?
I used to be a professional baker. Here is my advice for you about this:
It is your oven. My oven at home also has this problem. Just put them higher in the oven (I bake a lot of things in the top third of the oven.) Or you can double up the sheet pans when you bake. I hope this helps someone!
At what point can you freeze the dough?
I’m also interested to know – at what step it’s suggested to freeze the dough?
I made these garlic knots the other day and they were wonderful, but i don’t know if it’s just me but they’re fantastic fresh out of the oven but mine turned “tough” and hard after they cooled down/left covered in the oven over night. And yes i have reheated them but they’re still on the tougher side. Am i doing something wrong?
I am planning to make these knots for dinner tonight. One question: the photo looks like you brushed the garlic coating on prior to baking; the instructions call for baking for 20′ then brushing the garlic coating on after’. I can clearly follow directions, but the photo looks like the garlic coating is on top of completely uncooked knots. Can you clarify, please?
I am looking forward to making these…
Hi Jeff. There’s a little note at the very bottom of the post about this. You can brush the garlic coating on before and after if you’d like darker, more flavorful garlic knots 🙂 I can’t wait to hear how they turn out!
Well then, I shall be brushing twice. Thanks for the clarification, and sorry I didn’t read the NOTE at the bottom.
No problem at all 🙂 I personally love them dark and really chewy, so I brush twice too!
These garlic knots were fantastic! Thank you!
I made these last night. They were delicious. Thanks for posting!
I made these tonight for my family, and they are delicious! I definitely ate more than I should. I’ve seen similar recipes on Pinterest using store-bought dough, so I really liked this recipe that I can make from scratch. Definitely a keeper! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
My only comment about the recipe is that for me, and my oven, 450 degrees for 20 minutes is a long time for these rolls. Mine definitely baked for less time, maybe 13-15 minutes.
YUMM!!! I can’t wait to make these this week! I was wondering if you could freeze an extra batch for another date. Would you freeze before or after baking?
Looking at the pics, it looks like you brush them before they go into the oven, but I don’t see that in the recipe.
It’s optional. They mention it somewhere else.