Buttery garlic knots are made with a homemade dough that make your house smell absolutely amazing! Soft dough tied into little knots topped with garlic, butter and parmesan. You’ll love this as rolls with your dinner or as an appetizer with a little tomato sauce.

Garlic knots piled on a plate from the side on a counter covered in garlic, parsley and cheese.

Table of Contents

Why We Love Garlic Knots

Great Side Dish– These delicious garlic knots are perfect with so many dinners, but are a big hit at our house with homemade beef meatballs, meatloaf, pizza night or spaghetti.
Gooey Fresh From The Oven– Homemade bread of any kind tastes delicious, and this garlic knot recipe is just like garlic bread but feels extra fun to dip. (Your house will smell amazing too!)
Easy to Double Or Tripple– Making one or three dozen garlic knots is just as easy, and then you’ll have even more fresh knots to go around. This is a great recipe to double, they disappear fast!

Ingredients For Garlic Knots

Garlic knot ingredients in bowls on a counter with title text labels.

Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.

Ingredients For The Dough

sugar – white granulated
warm water – should be warm to the touch but not hot
active dry yeast one packet
flour – all purpose flour
salt
olive oil

Ingredients For The Garlic Topping

butter unsalted, melted
minced garlic– or use three cloves of fresh garlic minced well for more garlic flavor
fresh Italian parsley chopped
garlic salt
parmesan cheese – grated

Sometimes I’ll also add 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning in the butter mixture, but it’s totally optional.

I’ve used a variation on my homemade pizza dough recipe with a little extra olive oil in the dough to help give the dough a little more softness. You could make these with store-bought pizza dough to make them a little faster for pizza night.

How To Make Garlic Knots

Proofing The Yeast

In a bowl add the sugar, warm water and the active dry yeast (measured or one packet) and stir. This can be done right in the base of a stand mixer or in a separate bowl. The water you use should be warm to the touch, but not super hot or you may kill the yeast.

Yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl from overhead with water and olive oil nearby in bowls on the counter.

Allow the yeast to set for 5-10 minutes. This is called proofing, and allows the yeast to begin to grow and expand. Your mixture should turn frothy looking on top, and should smell a bit earthy. If the yeast doesn’t have frothy bubbles on the top after 10 minutes, you may need to try again with new yeast.

Yeast liquid with bubbles on top after proofing in a large mixer bowl from overhead on a counter.

Mixing The Garlic Knots Dough

Mix together the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture and olive oil to the yeast mixture.
Using a dough attachment mix until the flour combines, about a minute. Turn the speed up on the mixer to medium and mix for 3-5 minutes. The dough should pull away from the bowl, be stretchy when you pull the dough hook out of the bowl and be smooth.

Garlic knot dough after mixing in a large mixing bowl with a dough hook and more flour in a bowl nearby on the counter from overhead.

Letting The Dough Rise

Oil a large bowl generously. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Place the dough in a warm place to allow it to rise for 50 minutes or until doubled.

Garlic knot dough in a large mixing bowl from overhead after rising.

Shaping The Dough

Prepare a baking sheet using parchment paper or a light spray of oil.
Add a light sprinkle of flour to a clean surface and to the dough and knead 3-4 times. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces on the lightly floured surface with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Garlic knot dough being divided into four pieces with two of those pieces divided into three additional pieces on a counter from overhead.

Roll each ball into an 8-inch rope. Tie each long rope into a knot and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Tying dough ropes into garlic knots from overhead on a counter.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes.

12 garlic knot doughs spread out on a baking sheet before additional rise time.

12 puffy garlic knot doughs spread out on a baking sheet after additional rise time.

Baking The Garlic Knots

Bake the garlic knots at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Golden brown garlic knots after baking on the pan with bowls of garlic parsley and cheese topping nearby on the counter.

While the garlic knots bake, mix together melted butter, garlic, and parsley. Brush butter mixture on freshly baked knots when they are warm from the oven. Sprinkle with grated parmesan. Enjoy!

Brushing garlic butter on garlic knots close up with a silicone brush.

Can I Skip The Sugar?

You can not remove the sugar from this recipe. The sugar in this recipe isn’t for taste, it’s to feed the yeast to make sure the dough rises properly.

Sometimes people who are new to baking think they can leave the sugar out of a recipe like this. If you remove the sugar, the yeast will have nothing to feed on and the rolls likely won’t rise.

How Do I Knead The Dough?

Knead the dough just a few times by gently stretching the ball of dough. Folding it in half and then dig the heels of your hand into the dough, then repeat. This kneading process is important to make the garlic knots fluffy.

How Do I Know If The Dough Has Been Kneaded Enough?

These are a couple things that can help you determine if your pizza dough has been kneaded enough.

The dough will be smooth– When the dough is stretchy enough the top of the dough will look smooth but also will still be slightly tacky to the touch.
Poke it! – Another way to check your dough is to poke it gently! If the dough bounces back it is usually ready if it is also a smooth dough.

How Long Does this Dough Last In The Fridge?

This dough will typically last for about three days in the fridge but can sometimes last as long as a five day shelf life when refrigerated. The dough is the best quality if you use it within 48 hours.

Store dough tightly wrapped in saran wrap or in an airtight container to keep it fresh and from drying out.

Signs Your Dough Went Bad

These are obvious signs of bacterial growth and the dough should be thrown away.

You can tell if homemade dough has gone bad if it feels dry or if the texture seems really off and is not stretchy.
If the dough itself has started to turn a grey color instead of a beige-brown it may bad.
Or if the dough has whiteish spots that are not flour.

Your Homemade Dough May Go Bad If… What To Avoid!

It’s a sad day to let any homemade dough go bad, but here are a few reasons to avoid of why your homemade dough may have gone bad.

Your yeast is bad or expired so it won’t rise
You killed the yeast by making the water too hot or used cold water and it couldn’t rise. The water should be warm to the touch but not hot.
You left the dough in the fridge for more than three days or it developed whitish spots that are not flour.
You didn’t cover the dough tightly and it dried out

Commercial premade dough have other additives and preservatives that can make it last longer. This is why the manufacturing date is sometimes longer than fresh dough.

Can I Freeze The Dough?

Yes you can place this pizza dough recipe in a freezer bag to avoid freezer burn (or visible freezer crystals) for up to three months. Beyond three months you risk killing the yeast and the dough may not rise. Allow the pizza dough to fully defrost and come to room temperature before attempting to stretch it.

Once the dough has been frozen and defrosted you can not refreeze it a second time, the dough will not cook properly as this can destroy the fermentation process (which is what causes the dough to rise and be stretchy.)

Garlic knots in a bread bowl with a small bowl of tomato sauce and a plate with more garlic knots in the background on a counter.

Can I Substitute Rapid Yeast Or Instant Yeast For Active Dry Yeast?

Yes, you can substitute with instant yeast in this recipe interchangeably. Not all baking recipes can you substitute one for one, but you can sub substitute for this pizza dough. Find out more about the differences between different kinds of yeast here.

How Long Will Garlic Knots Last?

Expect the garlic knots to last 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Warm before eating for the best flavor. Garlic knots will taste their freshest if eaten in the first 24-48 hours.