Homemade Garlic Knots

These homemade garlic knots are extra soft and fluffy, made from my favorite 6 ingredient pizza dough, and are topped with flavorful garlic herb butter before AND after baking. Shaping is a breeze with my video tutorial and step-by-step pictures for visual help. This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.

These are the BEST garlic knots. I’m knot even kidding. 😉

Tell Me About These Garlic Knots:

• made from 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 with 8 knots on the side. Perfect for pizza night– no delivery required.

Garlic Knots from Pizza Dough

You can make these garlic knots with 1 or 2 pounds of store-bought or homemade pizza dough. My homemade pizza dough yields about 2 lbs of dough, which is enough for 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, I use my homemade pizza dough for cheesy breadsticks, pepperoni pizza rolls, and ham & cheese pockets too! So versatile.

Even though store-bought dough is convenient, I encourage you to try homemade pizza dough. The dough only requires 6 basic ingredients and about 60-90 minutes of rise time.

You need flour, yeast, sugar, water, salt, and olive oil. I always use Platinum Yeast by Red Star. If you’ve been baking my yeast breads for awhile, you know I swear by it! (I’ve used this yeast exclusively for years.) Its careful formula strengthens dough and makes working with yeast simple.

Garlic Knots Video Tutorial

How to Shape Garlic Knots

After the pizza 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.

1. 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.
2. Cut into 16 strips: Cut the log into 16 1-inch strips.
3. Roll each strip into an 8-inch rope.
4. Tie the rope into a knot.

Along with the video tutorial above, here are step-by-step pictures of the shaping process. It’s a lot easier than it seems and you don’t need any special tools or equipment.

Shape each strip into knots:

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 butter and baking.

Garlic Herb Butter

Right before baking, generously brush the knots with garlic herb butter. Simply combine melted butter, fresh garlic or garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt.

• If you can’t find a spice labeled “Italian Seasoning” in the spice aisle, use dried oregano, dried basil, and/or dried parsley instead. Any herb you love works.

Bake the knots until golden brown and experience the lofty smell of garlic throughout the kitchen. Everyone (um, 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 an awesome garnish. This is your happy place:

More Surprisingly Simple Homemade Bread:

• Sandwich Bread
• Homemade Cheese Bread
• Dinner Rolls
• Garlic Rosemary Herb Focaccia
• Soft Pretzels & Soft Pretzel Knots

Homemade Garlic Knots

★★★★★ 4.8 from 105 reviews

• Author: Sally
• 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

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Description

Follow these in-depth instructions for super soft and flavorful homemade garlic knots. Review video tutorial above and recipe notes below before beginning.

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Ingredients

Homemade Dough

• 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast by Red Star (1 standard packet)*
• 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (see note)
• 3 and 1/2 cups (438g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface

Topping

• 5 Tablespoons (70g)  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 grated Parmesan cheese
• optional after baking: 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

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Instructions

1. Whisk the warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula in the next step.
2. Add the olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and half of the flour. Beat for 15 seconds, then add the remaining flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough for 3-4 minutes (for a visual, watch me do it in the video above). The dough can be a little too heavy for a mixer to knead it, but you can certainly use the mixer on low speed instead. 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. If not, keep kneading.
3. 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 at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (Tip: For the warm environment on a particularly cold day, heat your oven to 150°F (66°C). Turn the oven off, place the dough inside, and keep the door slightly ajar. This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, close the oven door to trap the air inside with the rising dough. When it’s doubled in size, remove from the oven.)
4. Shape the dough: Use the video tutorial and step-by-step photos above 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 16×5 inch log. (5 inch width really isn’t as important as the 16 inch length here, no need to be exact.) Using a very sharp knife, pizza cutter, or bench scraper, slice into 16 1-inch strips. Roll each strip into 8 inch ropes. Tie each into knots. You can tuck the two ends of the knots underneath the knot or leave them out, that’s up to you. Arrange the knots on 2 lined baking sheets. (Either parchment paper or silicone baking mats work.)
5. Lightly cover the shaped knots and let them rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 45 minutes. They will slightly puff up during this time, producing softer rolls.
6. Towards the end of the rise time, preheat oven to 400°F (204°).
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Serve plain or with marinara sauce for dipping.
10. Cover and store leftover knots at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Freeze baked and cooled knots for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter, then reheat as desired. (I usually just microwave them for a few seconds.)

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Notes

1. Freezing Dough or Overnight Dough Instructions: See Pizza Dough recipe for details.
2. Freezing Shaped Knots Dough: Instead of freezing the dough as a whole, you can freeze the shaped knots before baking them. Shape the knots as directed in step 4. Arrange on a lined baking sheet. Freeze, uncovered, for 1-2 hours. Remove from the freezer. Knots should be frozen and no longer sticky. Place into a freezer-friendly container or 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 6.
3. Dough: You can make these garlic knots with 2 pounds of store-bought or homemade pizza dough. My homemade pizza dough, written in this recipe, yields about 2 pounds of dough, which is enough for 16 knots or 1 pizza + 8 knots. For 8 knots, punch the dough down as directed in step 4. Cut in half. Use the other half of 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.
4. Garlic Powder: We recently began adding garlic powder to the dough. You won’t see that addition to the dough in the recipe video, but it adds a little extra flavor. Highly recommended.
5. Yeast: Platinum Yeast by 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.
6. Italian Seasoning: If you can’t find a spice labeled “Italian Seasoning” in the spice aisle, use dried oregano, dried basil, and/or dried parsley instead. Any herb you love works.

Keywords: garlic knots, rolls, yeast bread