In today’s post: These garlic knots are soft, chewy, buttery and garlicky – and you can make them from scratch in exactly one hour! This is an easy bread recipe that goes perfect with soups, pastas, salads and more.
We LOVE having homemade breadsticks or rolls with dinner, but my favorite dinner rolls recipe takes three hours to make. It’s worth it, but most weekdays I’m running kids around after school and don’t have that much time at home. That’s why these homemade garlic knots are absolutely perfect: from start to finish they only take one hour to make, and they’re delicious. Just like garlic knots from your favorite pizza joint!
Now I’ve seen plenty of blog posts that claim you can make a recipe in a certain amount of time, but once you read the instructions you realize that’s an exaggeration at best. But the total time for this homemade garlic knot recipe is really just an hour – and they still turn out soft and chewy! Here’s how the time breaks out:
- 10 minutes to add ingredients to your mixer and knead the dough
- 10 minute rest
- 5 minutes to shape the garlic knots
- 15 minute rest/rise
- 18 minute bake
- 2 minutes to slather the knots with the herbed garlic butter mixture
Ingredients
Another reason I love this easy 1-hour garlic knots recipe is that it only uses a few ingredients you probably always have on hand. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Warm water: You want the water to feel warm to the touch, but not too so hot it would be uncomfortable on your skin.
- Yeast: You can use either instant yeast or active dry yeast here. Instant yeast might make the knots slightly puffier; I really like how soft and chewy they turn out using active dry yeast.
- Sugar: A few tablespoons of granulated sugar helps the yeast go to work (but don’t worry, it’s not enough to make the knots taste sweet).
- Flour: All purpose flour works great; you could use bread flour if you have it on hand.
- Salt: For flavor.
That’s all you need for the bread dough! Here’s what you need for the garlicky topping:
- Butter: I use brush these easy knots with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. I use salted butter because that’s what I keep on hand, but you can use unsalted butter and add a little more salt.
- Parmesan Cheese: We are talking the grated parmesan from the green can here people! It actually works better to coat the garlic knots than real grated parm.
- Garlic Salt: I like using garlic salt here because it really enhances all the flavors, but if you are trying to reduce sodium feel free to use garlic powder instead.
- Italian Seasoning: For even more flavor. I use a premade italian seasoning blend, but you can use whatever herbs you like best: dried oregano, basil, parsley, etc.
How to Make Garlic Knots
Working with a yeast dough can be a little tricky if you’ve never done it before, so I’m including some extra tips and pictures here. It’s easiest to mix up this dough in a stand mixer like a Kitchenaid or Bosch.
Make the Dough
You’ll start by adding the dough ingredients, beginning with three cups of flour. Start the mixer and you’ll quickly have a very wet dough that sticks to the bowl, like this:
Letting the mixer continue to run, gradually add more flour a quarter cup at a time. Wait until the flour is incorporated to add more. You want the dough to come into a ball that mostly pulls away from the sides of the bowl but is still nice and soft. Depending on how you’ve measured your flour you might need a whole additional cup of flour. I usually use 3 and 3/4 cups of flour total. Here’s what it looks like once enough flour has been added:
Now you can let your mixer run for 5-7 minutes to knead the dough. You’re looking for a soft, stretchy dough. To test whether it’s kneaded long enough, pinch off a small piece of dough. It should easily roll into a ball between your hands. Then gently pull the dough apart. It should stretch thin enough that you can see light through it without breaking. This is called the “windowpane test”.
Shape the Dough
Once the dough is done kneading, cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Lightly flour your counter and turn out the dough. Use your hands to pat and stretch it into a long rectangle, about 6 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Then use a pizza cutter to cut it into 16 strips.
Pick up each strip and tie it in a knot. Place the knots on a lightly greased baking sheet (I used a half sheet pan aka the nice cookie sheets from Costco).
Cover again with a towel and let the knots rest and rise for about 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes you’ll see they’ve started to puff:
Bake + Brush w/Butter
Now you can pop the tray of knots into the oven for about 17 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Just before they are done baking, melt your butter and stir in parmesan cheese, garlic salt, and italian seasoning. As soon as the knots come out of the oven, generously brush them with the buttery topping. Serve right away!
Serving and Storing
These garlic knots taste best when served right away still warm. They are great with a side of marinara sauce for dipping! Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, but because they don’t have preservatives in them they won’t be as soft as on the first day. If you know you won’t eat the entire batch of knots on one day, I would only top half of them with the butter mixture. Allow the other half to cool completely, then place inside a ziptop bag and store in the freezer. When you want to serve them, warm them in a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes until hot, then top with garlic butter.
1 Hour Garlic Knots
Ingredients
Dough
- 1.5 cups Warm Water
- 1 tablespoon Yeast instant or active dry
- 2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 3-4 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Topping
- 5 tablespoons Butter melted
- 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese from the green can
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt
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Instructions
- Place warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast and sugar. Add 3 cups of flour and the salt and start mixing.
- Mix until the dough starts coming together in a ball, gradually adding up to one more cup of flour as needed. You want the dough to mostly pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl. Then let the dough continue to knead for 5-7 minutes until it's soft and smooth.
- Cover the mixing bowl with a towel and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, start preheating the oven to 400 degrees.
- Lightly spray a cookie sheet or baking tray with nonstick spray or line it with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and use your hands to shape it into a long rectangle, about 6 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Use a pizza cutter to cut the rectangle into 16 slices.
- Pick up each slice and tie it into a knot, then place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a towel (or loosely cover with plastic wrap) and allow to rest and rise for about 15 minutes.
- Remove the towel and place the tray in the oven. Bake until lightly golden brown, 15-18 minutes. While knots are baking, melt the butter and stir in the cheese and seasonings.
- As soon as the knots come out of the oven, brush them liberally with the garlic butter.
Cherylannie Morgan says
I cannot wait to make these
Mark Arnold says
These were delicious. They were very simple to make, and everyone enjoyed them. They took somewhat longer to bake though. Instead of the 15–18 minutes called for in the recipe, I had to bake them for 24 minutes until they were the right shade of golden brown. This recipe is a keeper!
Autumn says
Thanks!