Garlic Knots – simple ingredients come together to create BIG flavor. Basil and garlic are married together to transform this basic roll into a show stopping side. As these rolls bake, your house will smell heavenly.
Baking is one of my all time favorite things to do! Especially when I bake something as adorable and delicious as these Garlic Knots! Don’t let the knots scare you, they are SO easy to make and they taste better than they look. 😉
Requiring just a handful of simple, kitchen staple ingredients, you will be blown away by how spectacular and easy this dough is to put together!
Knot your basic roll
I remember a time when I only used boxed mixes for baking! Those days are LONG gone; since then I’ve made my fair share of muffins, bread rolls and other goodies, but these garlic knots have to be one of my favorites!
Ingredients
Keep scrolling down to the printable recipe card for FULL ingredient amounts and instructions or click “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page!
Knots
- Water – It’s super important to make sure your water is lukewarm. The best temperature of the water should be anywhere from 95 degrees to 105 degrees for this. You don’t really want anything warmer, as it will kill the yeast.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter, especially in breads, because we already add salt, so this way I can control how much salt is added to my bread. Did you know that small quantities of butter is added to breads because it results in a higher rise and a crisper crust!
- Egg – I used a large egg.
- Flour – All purpose.
- Sugar – Sugar is important when making bread, it’s what makes it soft and tender by absorbing some of the water and slowing down the formation of gluten strands. Sugar is what feeds the yeast.
- Salt – To taste.
- Yeast – Regular active dry yeast, though you can use instant yeast as well, you just don’t need to activate it.
Garlic Basil Butter
- Butter – I used unsalted, melted butter.
- Garlic – Fresh is best! Minced.
- Basil – Freshly chopped basil.
How to make garlic knots
- Activate the yeast: In a bowl whisk the yeast, sugar and warm water together. Stir and let it sit for 10 minutes until the yeast foams up.
- Make the dough: In the bowl of your mixer, mix the flour and salt together. To it, add egg, butter and yeast mixture. Mix using paddle attachment until it’s all well incorporated. The dough will be a bit soft.
- Rise: Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, cover up with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut & Roll: Punch down dough to let out some of the air and knead it a couple times. Roll it out a bit so that it’s about 1/2-inch in thickness, then cut the dough into 15 long pieces, as seen in the pictures. Roll each piece into long ropes about 8 inches long and tie each rope into a knot. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Finish & Bake: Mix the butter ingredients together and brush generously over the knots. Let the knots rest for another 10 minutes then bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until golden.
- Serve: If there’s any garlic basil butter left, brush again on knots before serving.
What to serve with your knots
These garlic knots pair well with any meal! I mean garlic, basil and butter – you can’t go wrong. I would highly recommend pairing this with any Italian cuisine! Try these options:
- Pair them with a comforting bowl of Tomato Bisque
- Sop up all that extra goodness of these Italian Stuffed Peppers
- Serve them alongside some Creamy Tuscan Chicken
- Or of course, with the Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs!
Whatever you choose to pair these knots with, you’ll be glad you did.
Can I make these in advance?
These knots can definitely be made ahead! Prepare everything as stated in the recipe up until step 5 where you place the knots on the baking sheet. Make sure to wrap them up tightly with plastic wrap and store them in the fridge overnight.
Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake them as instructed.
Make ahead freezing instructions
Same thing applies, complete the recipe up to step 5 and place the knots on the baking sheet. Wrap the pan in two layers of plastic wrap and make sure they are sealed to prevent freezer burn. Your garlic knots will keep for 2-3 months.
The night before you want to bake them, thaw them out in the refrigerator overnight, still wrapped. Finish the rest of the steps and voila!
How to store
Store knots sealed in an airtight container or bag for up to 5 days.
Freezing
If you’ve already baked your garlic knots, but still want to freeze them: let them cool completely before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap or a freezer bag and store in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Did you like this recipe? Try these!
- Quick Yeast Dinner Rolls
- Fluffy Dinner Rolls
- Butter Biscuits
- Parker House Rolls
- Homemade Garlic Butter
- Texas Roadhouse Rolls
- Honey Rolls
- Buttermilk Parmesan Biscuits
- Nutella Stuffed Rolls
- Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
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Garlic Knots
Ingredients
Knots
- 1 cup water warm
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted, softened
- 1 egg
- 3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tsp active dry yeast
Garlic Basil Butter
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp basil chopped
Instructions
- Activate the yeast: In a bowl whisk the yeast, sugar and warm water together. Stir and let it sit for 10 minutes until the yeast foams up.
- Make the dough: In the bowl of your mixer, mix the flour and salt together. To it, add egg, butter and yeast mixture. Mix using paddle attachment until it's all well incorporated. The dough will be a bit soft.
- Rise: Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, cover up with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut & Roll: Punch down dough to let out some of the air and knead it a couple times. Roll it out a bit so that it's about 1/2-inch in thickness, then cut the dough into 15 long pieces, as seen in the pictures. Roll each piece into long ropes about 8 inches long and tie each rope into a knot. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Finish & Bake: Mix the butter ingredients together and brush generously over the knots. Let the knots rest for another 10 minutes then bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until golden.
- Serve: If there's any garlic basil butter left, brush again on knots before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Store knots sealed in an airtight container or bag for up to 5 days.
- To freeze let them cool completely before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap or a freezer bag and store in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Nutrition Information:
Recipe adapted from For the Love of Cooking
These look so good! definitely making these to go with dinner tonight! thanks
The instructions say to use a mixer with paddle attachment, but the pictures here look like you’re using a food processor??
Actually it’s a food processor/mixer. So unless your food processor can do dough, I wouldn’t use it.
Planning to make garlic knots since ages!! Your spectacular garlic knots inspired me a lot! Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, let me know how they turn out!
Mmmmm… Delish, little, real bread knots! We loved these Jo! Had to bake mine for about 21 minutes, doubled the melted butter ( sounds just like me 🙂 ) and they were delicious. Everyone Loved them! Thanks again Jo 🙂 <3
So happy to hear this!
Any changes needed if I use my bread machine to make the dough?
You would have to follow your bread machine’s instructions for that.
My daughter made this recipe and really loves it!
Unsure how to make the knots look like yours in the picture.
Can whole wheat flour be used for these?
Absolutely!
Do you think these could be made in advance and frozen before baking?
You can, just let them thaw out before placing them in the oven.
I don’t consider a pizzeria legit unless they make their own garlic knots. These look amazing! I’m going to try them immediately! Thanks so much for sharing!
Tried to do 3 batches of dough. Yeast bubbles beautifully but when I put it all together it was extremely dry and wouldn’t rise. Asked a baker about it and the answer was that there wasn’t enough liquid in the batter. There is only 1 cup of water listed. What should the other amount be that is added to the flour?
Water is the only liquid needed it for this recipe. However keep in mind that a lot of other things could come into play when you’re baking such as altitude, how you measure flour, etc. My advice to people is always that if your dough is too dry when you’ve used the ingredients in the recipe, add a bit more water until the dough feels right, if it’s too wet add more flour. Hope this helps.
Hi Jo, what is the proper way to measure flour?
Easiest way is to just use measuring cups and use a knife to level off the flour.
Made it along with the Cajun Honey Pork Tenderloin – where I substituted Pork with Beef. Those were delicious, though I overbaked the rolls a bit ! Since we are great fans of garlic in the family, I was wondering if we could garlic paste/finely chopped garlic inside the dough itself? Any idea how to go about?
Sure you can, great idea. 🙂