If you are a pizza lover, these are a must-try! These are the most amazing best pull-apart garlic knots you will ever make! They are super soft and fluffy, coated with marinara sauce and cheese, and you most definitely cannot stop with one.
Yes, you heard me right, these are the BEST garlic knots!
I made these twice for lunch last week, and they just disappeared within a few minutes! All I could hear was, mmmm.. oh so good! and my son had two thumbs up. We are pizza and garlic bread lovers, so we always order the cheesy garlic bread on the side, when we eat out.
These Pull-apart Garlic knots were one of the best things I ever made. Each garlic knot was super soft and just covered evenly with the right amount of marinara sauce and cheese. I encourage every one of you to try these, your family will certainly love it, and thank you for it! It is excellent for lunches, snacks, and a fantastic crowd-pleaser.
Let’s make the best pull-apart garlic knots!
How to make pull-apart garlic knots
We will need
9 inch Pie dish
Pizza dough
Marinara Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Garlic Butter
I used my pizza dough recipe here, in case you want to make pizzas with this dough, double this recipe minus the sugar for two large pizzas.
To make these pull-apart garlic knots, I needed half the pizza dough recipe. It made 18 mini garlic knots. This recipe can be easily doubled if you have a large family or for a crowd.
This recipe uses instant yeast, which can be added directly to the flour. But, if you are using active dry yeast, first activate the yeast with a little warm water and sugar and cover and rest it for 5 minutes until it foams( small bubbles appear), and then add it to the rest of the ingredients to form a dough.
How to make instant marinara sauce for the pull-apart garlic knots
This recipe calls for marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and garlic butter to assemble the pull-apart garlic knots. Use homemade marinara/store-bought marinara or my no-cook instant marinara sauce that can be put together in a jiffy.
For the instant marinara sauce, you will need
3/4 cup canned tomato puree/ tomato sauce( not ketchup)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning/ dried oregano
1 teaspoon granulated garlic/ garlic powder / finely chopped fresh garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder ( optional)
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and leave aside. Layer the dish with sauce first by spreading it evenly, and sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese. This Marinara sauce can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Pull-Apart Garlic Knots – Pizza Flavored
Course: Lunch, Dinner, SnacksCuisine: American6
servings1
hour30
minutes30
minutesIf you are a pizza lover, these are a must-try! These are the most amazing best pull-apart garlic knots you will ever make! They are super soft and fluffy, coated with marinara sauce and cheese, and you most definitely cannot stop with one.
Ingredients
- Pizza Dough
2 cups / 250g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/8 teaspoons instant yeast
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup/ 158ml + 1/2 Tablespoon warm water
- Instant marinara sauce
3/4 cup canned tomato puree/ tomato sauce( not ketchup)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning/ dried oregano
1 teaspoon granulated garlic/ garlic powder / finely chopped fresh garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder ( optional)
- Garlic Butter
5 Tablespoons / 75g unsalted butter melted
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley / 1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt( if using salted butter, leave the salt out)
2-3 large cloves of garlic chopped finely
2 Tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese( optional)
- For assembling
2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Directions
- Pizza Dough
- Combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
- Make a well in the center.
- Add warm water and olive oil to the flour mixture, and knead it to form a very soft dough.
- Flour absorbs water differently – the water measurements might vary according to the flour that you are using and the climate you are in. So add 2/3 cup of water first, and knead to see if you require to add the 1/2 Tablespoon. Sometimes you might need more water. The result should be very soft (not very sticky) dough. If you get a slightly sticky dough, keep kneading for few more minutes. Avoid adding more flour.
- Next, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough for 5 minutes.
- Place the dough in a bowl and coat the dough with the 1 tsp of oil to prevent from drying.
- Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let it rest for at least 1 hour.
- Instant marinara sauce
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and leave aside. Layer the dish with sauce first by spreading it equally, and sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese. This Marinara sauce can be frozen for up to 6 months.
- Garlic Butter
- Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Gently brush the garlic butter on the knots just before they go into the oven. Leave some to brush after baking the garlic knots.
- Assembling the Garlic Knots
- After 1 hour, remove the air from the dough. Place the dough on a working surface. Roll the dough into a log and divide the dough into 18 equal size pieces.
- Next, shape each piece into a ball and place it back in the bowl. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, take a 9-inch pie dish/ cake pan and butter or spray with non- stick cooking spray. Layer the dish with sauce first by spreading it evenly, and sprinkle the top with Mozzarella cheese as shown in pictures 1 & 2.
- Now, roll each piece into an 8 – inch rope and tie into a knot.( Picture 3, 4,5)
- Tuck the right end and then bring the left end over tuck it in the center as shown in pictures 6 & 7.
- Then, place each garlic knot around the dish and in the center as shown in Picture 8 & 9.
- After arranging the garlic knots, cover the pie dish with a cling wrap and let it proof for 30- 40 minutes, or until doubled in size. Rising time depends on how warm your kitchen is. Summer has already started here, so mine rose within 20 minutes. Avoid over proofing, this may lead to deflated garlic knots.
- During the last 15 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 190° C / 374°F. Update: Place a cookie sheet lined with foil on the bottom shelf of the oven to collect any dripping. ( this will keep your oven clean and you will not have melted butter burning in your oven.)
- Before baking, gently brush the garlic knots with garlic butter( Picture10) and bake it for 25 – 30 minutes until slightly golden.
- Brush with the remaining garlic butter and Serve warm.