These homemade garlic knots are extra soft and flavorful, and use a dough similar to this reader-favorite pizza dough. Top with garlic herb butter before AND after baking for the tastiest knots!
I originally published this recipe in 2020 and have since made a few changes to improve the texture and flavor of the dough, which are reflected in the recipe below. This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Tell Me About These Garlic Knots:
- Made from an easy homemade dough
- Leftovers freeze beautifully
- Super soft and fluffy
- Golden brown
- Extra garlic butter
And I know you’ll appreciate this too: You can use the entire batch of dough for 16 knots OR you can use half of the dough to make a pizza or stromboli, and then have 8 knots on the side. Perfect for pizza night—no delivery required.
One reader, Michelle, commented: “These were perfect! Brushing on the garlic butter before baking makes such a difference. These are near foolproof! So fluffy and delicious! ★★★★★“
One reader, Catie, commented: “My husband agrees—best garlic knots ever! This recipe works! ★★★★★“
Garlic Knots From Pizza Dough
You can make these garlic knots with 1 or 2 pounds of store-bought or homemade pizza dough. Today’s dough is very similar to my homemade pizza dough, which yields about 2 pounds of dough. You can make 16 knots or 1 pizza + 8 knots. If you only need about 8 knots, freeze the other half of dough for another time. You will want to make these garlic knots again.
- Besides garlic knots and pizza, you can use this dough for cheesy breadsticks, pepperoni pizza rolls, and ham & cheese pockets too! So versatile.
Compared to my pizza dough, I reduced the water so the dough is easier to handle when shaping into knots. I add 1 extra Tablespoon of olive oil for a little extra flavor and richness, and include garlic powder too. Sometimes for extra flavor I use butter instead, similar to what I do when making homemade breadsticks. Either one works. (Melted butter in the dough is convenient because you also need melted butter for the topping.)
Even though store-bought dough is convenient, I encourage you to try homemade dough. The dough requires so few ingredients!
Ingredients You Need:
- Water: Use warm water here, to activate the yeast.
- Instant Yeast: I always use Platinum Yeast from Red Star. If you’ve been baking my yeast breads for a while, you know I swear by it! Its careful formula strengthens dough and makes working with yeast simple. You can use active-dry yeast instead; the rise time may be a bit longer.
- Sugar: To feed the yeast.
- Olive Oil: Or melted butter.
- Salt: Can’t make flavorful bread without salt!
- Garlic Powder: We’ll top the knots with fresh minced garlic, but you can use garlic powder in the dough.
- Bread Flour: The original recipe called for all-purpose flour, but we find that bread flour makes for a better texture. If you don’t have any, you can use all-purpose instead.
Let Me Show You How to Shape Garlic Knots
After the dough rises, punch it down to release the air. Then begin shaping the dough. If you know how to tie a knot, you can shape garlic knots.
- Shape into a 16-inch log: Using your hands, shape the dough into a 16-inch log. No need to use a rolling pin because this doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Cut into 16 pieces: Cut the log into 16 1-inch sections of dough.
- Roll each piece into an 8-inch rope.
- Tie the rope into a knot.
Here are step-by-step pictures of the shaping process. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, and you don’t need any special tools.
Shape each rope into a knot:
You can tuck the ends underneath the knot or leave them out—that’s totally up to you. The ropes are longer when making soft pretzel knots, but tying the knot is the same.
Let the shaped knots rest for about 30 minutes before brushing with garlic butter and baking.
Garlic Herb Butter
Right before baking, generously brush the knots with garlic herb butter. Simply combine melted butter, fresh minced garlic or garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt.
If you can’t find an herb mixture labeled “Italian Seasoning” in the spice aisle of the grocery store, use dried oregano, dried basil, and/or dried parsley instead.
Bake the knots until golden brown and experience the lofty smell of garlic throughout the kitchen. Everyone (maybe even your neighbors) will know what’s on the menu tonight!
Flavor Tip: Save some of the garlic butter to brush onto the knots as they come out of the oven, then top each with fresh parmesan and chopped parsley. The parmesan and parsley are completely optional, but make a fabulous garnish.
Serve the garlic knots warm, with a side of warm marinara sauce or homemade tomato soup for dipping. This is your happy place!*
*Unless you’re a vampire.
Homemade Garlic Knots
- Prep Time: 3 hours (includes rising)
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 knots
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
These homemade garlic knots are extra soft, fluffy, and packed with flavor thanks to a buttery garlic-herb topping brushed on before and after baking. Made from an easy homemade dough similar to my reader-favorite pizza dough, they freeze beautifully and are perfect for pizza night—no delivery required.
Ingredients
Homemade Dough
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (270g/ml) warm water (between 100–110°F/38–43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)*
- 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (43g/ml) olive oil or melted butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 and 1/3 cups (433g) bread flour* (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
Topping
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 garlic cloves, minced; or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning*
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- optional after baking: 1/4 cup (25g) grated Parmesan cheese
- optional after baking: 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Proof the yeast: Whisk the warm water, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes, or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and, in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough can repeatedly get stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand is the better choice.
- Make the dough: Add the olive oil (or butter), salt, garlic powder, and about half of the bread flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes, or until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be very soft, but should not be overly sticky. If it seems too sticky and clings to the sides of the bowl instead of forming a rough mass around the dough hook, add more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and continue to mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl but is still moist and tacky. If it feels dry and crumbly, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry/tough dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray—just use the same bowl you used for the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the dough: Use the step-by-step photos in the blog post as your guide for this step. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Using floured hands on a lightly floured work surface, shape the dough into a 16-inch (41cm) log. Using a very sharp knife, pizza cutter, or bench scraper, slice the log into 16 1-inch sections. Roll each piece of dough into an 8-inch rope. Tie each rope into a knot. You can tuck the 2 ends of the knots underneath or leave them out. Arrange the knots on the prepared baking sheets.
- 2nd rise: Lightly cover the shaped knots and let them rest for 30–45 minutes. They will slightly puff up during this time, producing softer rolls.
- Towards the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°).
- Make the topping: Stir the melted butter, garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt together. Brush on the knots. Reserve some of the topping for when the knots come out of the oven.
- Bake for about 20–23 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and brush the warm knots with remaining garlic butter. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and/or parsley, if using.
- Serve warm, plain or with marinara sauce for dipping.
- Cover and store leftover knots at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Reheat as desired.
Notes
- Freezing Dough: After the dough has its 1st rise and you punch it down to release the air, lightly coat all sides of the dough ball with olive oil. Place the dough into a freezer zipped-top bag and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Once thawed, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 1 hour on the counter, then continue with step 6.
- Freezing Unbaked Shaped Knots: Instead of freezing the dough as a whole, you can freeze the shaped knots before baking them. Shape the knots as directed in step 6. Arrange on a lined baking sheet. Freeze, uncovered, for 1–2 hours. Remove from the freezer. At this point, knots should be frozen and no longer sticky. Place them into a freezer-friendly container or zipped-top bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter. Bring to room temperature, arrange on 2 lined baking sheets, cover lightly, and allow to rest/rise for 1 hour before continuing with step 8.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Dough Scraper | Pizza Cutter | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush
- Halving the Recipe: This recipe yields about 2 pounds of dough, which is enough for 16 knots or 1 pizza + 8 knots. If you want to make just 8 knots, punch the dough down as directed in step 6. Cut in half. Use the other half of the dough however you’d like or freeze for later. Shape into an 8-inch log and cut into 8 1-inch strips. Continue with the recipe as directed.
- Yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead. The 1st rise time may take a little longer. Reference my Baking With Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Italian Seasoning: If you can’t find Italian seasoning in the spices section of the grocery store, use a mix of dried oregano, dried basil, and/or dried parsley instead.
- Recipe Updates in 2026: Based on reader feedback, we retested and updated the dough recipe as written above. If you prefer the original version, increase the water to 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml), use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, and reduce the garlic powder to 1/2 teaspoon.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I had to take the time down to 14 mins for my oven and they were perfect!!!!!! Amazing!!!!! Tastes just like little Caesars crazy bread but better, because you control the amount of seasonings! Will definitely be making these again soon.
Hi Sally, thanks for the recipe!
I wanted to ask about the red sauce. What is it made of? Could you give me the recipe for it? looks delicious
Hi Silia, I just use store bought marinara sauce. I don’t have my own recipe for homemade marinara but there are many great recipes online if you search for one.
Hi Sally! These look amazing. Trying them today. Can i use active dry yeast instead of platinum yeast? I only have active dry yeast available. Thank you!
Thank you so much Sally!
I never thought that I could be a good baker. After I followed your recipe, I made my first time Garlic Knots and they turned out delicious(looked nice too)! Both my husband and my son said they were better than the ones in stores. I will definitely make more. Thank you again!
Hi Sally! They were delicious however they were a bit hard from the outside! any tips on how to make them softer next time I make them?
Hi Tala! If you try the recipe again, this could easily be fixed with less time in the oven. Sounds like they could have been over-baked.
Absolute perfection!
this recipe is SO good! we baked 1/2 as the garlic knots; can I leave the other half in the refrigerator instead of freezer overnight and make the rest tomorrow?
Thanks Karen! If the dough didn’t use the overnight method in the refrigerator before making the garlic knots, then it would be fine to refrigerate the rest overnight– otherwise the dough could overproof.
This is a 5 star recipe if there ever was one! These knots are so beyond delicious and they are gobbled up right away. Luckily they’re quick to whip up as long as you plan for the rising time.
These were AMAZING!!! I couldn’t stop eating them. Definitely making again!
Thank you so much for the video and the recipe! I didn’t think I could proof and rise the dough, it worked. Thank you for the simple recipe. The garlic knots were delicious!
These were really easy to make and so delicious! I halved the recipe and used active dry yeast and had no problems.
It’s nice to know I can ALWAYS trust recipes from Sally. I’ve been baking recipes from this website for years, and every single thing has been perfect.
This recipe looks really good! I’m going to try it tonight. I am wondering: why the paddle attachment instead of the dough hook on the mixer?
Either the paddle or dough hook work. I find no difference in the outcome of this dough.
Ended up making this recipe and it turned out fabulous!! I was so pleased with how light and fluffy they were! I made a couple of modifications and it still turned out great. I used the dough hook attachment, and just formed the dough into balls instead of knots. I’ll definitely make this recipe again, and try it as pizza dough too 🙂 Thank you, Sally!
Amazing!!! So soft, cute shape, and excellent idea to brush on more garlic butter after they’ve come out of the oven. Marinara is the perfect accompaniment. Will definitely be making again!
Ok, these are just awesome!! I confess, I ate 5 for dinner and looked longingly at the rest. My stove runs got. 1st batch of 8 a bit too crunchy for me without marinara sauce, which we had none of, but 2nd batch was perfect when I cut back to 15 min. of bake. Better than restaurant breadsticks. New fav!!!
Hi Sally,
Thank you for the wonderful recipe, video, and blog. You do a masterful job and photographing your work and I’m sure that’s what gets people to want to make your recipes.
Question: I would like to prepare the knots and place them in the oven right before dinner. Can I make the knots and leave them on a baking sheet with a towel over them longer than the 30-45 minutes? How about all afternoon?
Thank you. Take care. Be Safe.
Thank you so much for your positive feedback, Michelle! To make the dough in advance, prepare the dough through step 3, but allow the dough to rise for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator. The slow rise gives the dough wonderful flavor! If the dough didn’t quite double in size, let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes before punching down.
Hi Sally! I already know these will be awesome and I haven’t yet tried them! I use so many of your recipes and they are always spot on! I will be making these tonight to pair with our spaghetti and meatballs! Yum! I actually came to your site to see if you had a french bread recipe since I trust your recipes. I couldn’t find one so just curious if you would consider doing one? If not no worries and thanks again for sharing your awesome recipes!
Hi Colleen! Closest thing would be my artisan bread. It’s highly reviewed and loved by many, especially me! Hope you try it.
I made these today to go with my Chicken Alfredo dinner.
I love garlic and I love olive oil. I have a good supply of garlic olive oil. With this recipe, I used 1 T of garlic olive oil and 1 T of standard olive oil. Omgoodness, the flavor is over the top fantastic. Ty very much for sharing this recipe.
My eleven year old son helped me make these tonight! I didn’t have the quick yeast just bobs active dry yeast. I also forgot to add the olive oil. I was really worried! I let it rise for about two hours. They still turned out perfect! Like soooooo good!!! Thank you!!!
Loved the flavor of these! The only issue that I came across was that as soon as I brushed on the butter, the knots deflated. I tried using a lighter and lighter pressure with the brush, but no matter how lightly I drizzled the butter/seasoning mixture, they sank. I let the dough rise until double in size (1 hour) and then let the shaped knots rest about 40 minutes. They were nice and fluffy before the butter hit them!
Any thoughts on what I did wrong here?
Hi Chelsea! I wonder if the shaped garlic knots were over-proofed? I know you said they only rested for 40 minutes. But deflating usually occurs when they over-proof. If desired, you can always save all the topping/brushing for after the knots are baked.
Hi Sally can I make this into balls instead?
Absolutely! You can follow the same shaping and baking instructions as my dinner rolls.
Hi Sally,
My garlic knots didn’t brown well and I’m not sure where I went wrong. Other than that they smelled and tasted great. Thanks for the recipe!
Sally, you must have read my mind! I had garlic knots on the brain, then you published this recipe! I baked them today, to go with chicken parmesan. I had a bit of trouble rolling the dough into ropes – it kept wanting to shrink back. I used regular Red Star yeast, not platinum, so maybe that was why? Otherwise they were delicious! Next time I will add some garlic powder to the dough, for extra garlic flavor. Thanks for another great recipe!
Made these tonight with dinner! We all loved them (even my picky one) and I ate too many. Delicious!
These were delicious and surprisingly straight forward to make. I needed to add a bit more flour as the dough seemed quite sticky – but that could have been me having a little extra liquid or just being novice with handling dough! But that ended up soft and tasty. Thanks for the recipe.
SO GOOD! I made these the day the recipe posted. My son came in the house demanding to eat whatever smelled so good in the oven! These are super simple to make, and their flavor is incredible. I will definitely make these again. Thank you for a great recipe!
I just made a double batch with the high school culinary club and we loved them! I’m new to yeast breads, but made two batches of dough in the morning and let them rise in the fridge all day. I talked to the kids about rising times and purpose and then had them shape the knots and make 4-ingredient marinara to go with. Yum! Will definitely make again at home for myself.
Can I use whole wheat flour?
Hi Anna! For best results, I recommend sticking with all-purpose flour.
Hi Sally! Great recipe, wonderful flavour…thank you for your amazing ideas!
Veronica from Italy
Hi Sally, these look amazing! Do you think I can use my bread machine on the dough cycle to make the dough? I often do that because I don’t have to worry about the rise temperature since it’s programmed. Just wondering if that would change the consistency of this dough. Thanks!
I can’t see why not! I don’t have a bread machine to test it, but many readers have made the pizza dough with theirs and reported no problem.
I used my bread machine and it worked perfectly! The dough cycle is the one I used.
Hey Sally! I’m thinking about bringing these out to the mountains for a girls’ trip this weekend. Only problem is they’ll have to sit in the car for the day while we hike. I’m thinking the car will be like a fridge, but I’m wondering if you think I should leave the dough in ball form or if it would be ok to pre-make the knots, saran-wrap and leave in the cold car? What do you think?
Hi Hannah! Easiest way– I would just bake and cool the knots, cover and leave them in the car. Warm them up before eating– if you’re back in a kitchen?! I usually just microwave them for a few seconds.