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Garlic knots are great, but you know what’s even better? Cheesy garlic knots stuffed with melty mozzarella cheese and topped with even more cheese. This exclusive recipe for small-batch garlic knots is from my cookbook Small Batch Breads: 50 Recipes for Loaves, Buns, and Flatbreads Made with One Cup of Flour, and it makes just six cheesy garlic knots, perfect for when you want garlic knots but aren't trying to make enough to run your own pizzeria.

Baked garlic knots topped with melted cheese on a sheet of parchment paper. The cheese is slightly browned on top, and some has melted onto the parchment. — Mmmm so cheesy...

These simple garlic knots get their intense garlic flavor from minced fresh garlic and garlic powder in the dough and in the garlic butter topping, but it’s the duo of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses that truly sends them over the edge, imo.

I'll walk you through how to stuff the dough with mozzarella cheese and twist it into knots below, but don’t worry about making perfect scout-approved knots; they’re going to be covered in melty, gloriously browned cheese anyway!

A cookbook titled Small-Batch Breads by Rebecca Eisenberg, featuring various loaves, buns, flatbreads, and rolls on the cover. The book promises 50 recipes made with one cup of flour.

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Featuring fifty easy-to-follow bread recipes made using 1 cup of flour.

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Use The Good Parmesan Cheese and Grate it Yourself

The best Parmesan cheese for these small batch garlic knots is a brick of Parmesan cheese that you grate yourself using a fine, rasp-style grater like a classic Microplane zester. The shelf-stable powdery stuff you get in the big plastic container is denser, heavier, and coated in cellulose to prevent clumping. It doesn't melt nicely.

If I don't grate the Parmesan cheese myself, I use the pre-grated Parmesan cheese that is finely grated into long strands. It's usually found in the refrigerated cheese section of the grocery store.

A bowl of flour sits on a wooden table, along with other labeled ingredients: mozzarella cheese, oil, water, unsalted butter, minced garlic, parmesan cheese, salt, instant yeast, and garlic powder.

Yes, you can use jarred garlic to make these small batch garlic knots. I do. For garlic powder, I use Burlap & Barrel's purple stripe garlic which I think just has the most amazing garlic flavor, but any ground garlic powder you have is fine!

I usually use regular olive oil when I'm making these garlic knots, but I recently made a batch using Brightland's Rosette Garlic Olive Oil (use code PRACTICAL for 15% off) because I had some in the pantry and it amped up the garlic flavor in a really nice way.

Low-Moisture Mozzarella Gives The Best Melt

Low-moisture mozzarella cheese is my favorite cheese for pizzas because of how well it melts. So when it came to choosing the best cheese to fill these small-batch garlic knots, it was the obvious choice. I wanted a mozzarella cheese that could give a nice melty cheese pull moment, and low-moisture mozzarella is that girl.

Six baked cheese-covered bread knots are arranged on a piece of parchment paper. Some melted cheese has spread onto the paper. A metal spatula, flowers, and a striped towel are visible around the edges. — That's right, these garlic knots have cheese inside and on top, too.

Don’t Worry About Making Perfect Knots

Shaping these cheese-stuffed garlic knots is simpler than it looks. Even if you've never worked with bread dough before, this is a very smooth, stretchy, and forgiving dough that is easy to work with.

Roll each piece of dough into a rope on an unfloured work surface. (You need the traction of the dough on the counter to get it to roll; if you dust the counter with flour it will just slide around.)

A hand presses on a piece of dough, rolling it into a rope shape on a white surface. A small, twisted piece of dough sits above the hand. — Flatten a 2-to 3-inch section in the middle of the dough rope.

A hand folds a piece of dough around cubes of butter on a white surface. The dough is stretched out, and the butter is placed in the center before being wrapped. — Flatten a 2-to 3-inch section in the middle of the dough rope.

Don’t worry if your knots seem a little uneven, they will fill out as they rise. They're going to be covered in a blanket of cheese when you bake them, which will hide any wonky shaping, so do your best, and if they're not perfect, they'll still taste great, and that's all that really matters.

A close-up of a baked garlic knot topped with melted cheese, resting on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Other garlic knots are blurred in the background.

A close-up of a baked cheesy garlic knot torn in half, showing its soft interior and melted cheese on top. The bread sits on a light surface with scattered crumbs and bits of cheese.

💭 Have More Baking Questions?

I've rounded up answers to common baking questions and how-to guides, including:

Ingredient swaps and FAQs
Why my recipes are written in grams and not cups
How to quickly bring eggs and butter to room temperature
Ingredients I use (salt, flour, yeast, etc.)
Step-by-step guides for bread and baking techniques

See my baking techniques & troubleshooting guide and ingredient swaps and FAQs for more!

📖 Recipe

A close-up of a baked garlic knot topped with melted, golden-brown cheese on a sheet of parchment paper. Other cheese-covered knots are visible in the blurred background.

Small Batch Cheesy Garlic Knots (1 Cup of Flour!)

Servings garlic knots

Author Rebecca Eisenberg

Garlic knots are great, but you know what’s even better? Garlic knots stuffed with cheese and topped with even more cheese and oh, what the heck, served alongside a big slice of cheesy pizza probably. These garlic knots have an intense garlicky flavor thanks to the combination of minced fresh garlic and garlic powder in the dough and in the garlic butter topping, but it’s the blend of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses that gives them that classic pizza parlor flavor.

For the best results, use fresh, finely grated Parmesan cheese, not the stuff from the big plastic canister. And don’t worry about making perfect scout-approved knots; they’re going to be covered in melty, gloriously browned cheese anyway!

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Recipe Notes

If you are measuring with cups, it is super important that you measure the ingredients properly. See my guide to measuring as accurately as possible by volume for how to do this. If you measure with cups/teaspoons and the recipe did not turn out right, that is likely why. Try again!
Yes, you can use jarred garlic in this recipe. I tested it with both fresh raw garlic cloves that I finely minced into a paste by hand and with jarred garlic and both worked well.
Don't flour your counter or hands when you're pinching the dough closed around the garlic knots; the flour will keep the dough from sticking to itself. You shouldn't need to flour the counter at all during shaping, but if the dough is really sticking to you when you try to do the knotting, dusting a little flour on your hands will help.
Feeling fancy? Add some fresh or dried minced parsley and basil on top before baking!

Ingredients

Garlic Knots Dough

120 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup, loosely scooped and aerated, plus more for dusting)
4 grams diamond crystal kosher salt (1 heaping teaspoon)
3 grams instant yeast (1 teaspoon)
2 grams garlic powder (½ teaspoon)
70 grams warm water (¼ cup + 2 teaspoons, 90°F)
7 grams garlic (1 heaping teaspoon, finely minced)
4 grams olive oil (1 teaspoon, plus a little more in the bowl)
12 half-inch cubes low-moisture mozzarella cheese

Garlic Butter

28 grams unsalted butter (2 tablespoons, melted)
7 grams garlic (1 heaping teaspoon, finely minced)
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder

Cheese Topping

30 grams mozzarella cheese (heaping ¼ cup, shredded)
20 grams parmesan cheese (⅓ cup, fresh and finely grated)

Instructions

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Mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the warm water, minced garlic, and oil. Use a dough whisk or a fork to mix until the liquid is absorbed and just a few dry bits remain, then use a bowl scraper or your hand to fold the dough over itself until it comes together.
Knead. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and slightly tacky to the touch, about 2 minutes. The dough will feel rough and a little sticky at first but will smooth out as you knead. Add more flour only as needed to prevent sticking.

If the dough seems too dry, add water ¼ teaspoon at a time during mixing until the dough looks right. If the dough is too wet and sticky to knead, very lightly dust in more flour as you knead until the dough matches the recipe cues.

First rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let it rise until it doubles in size and passes the fingerprint test, 1 to 1½ hours.
Shape. Gently deflate the dough with your fingertips and use a bench scraper to divide it into 6 equal portions (each piece should weigh about 35 grams). Roll each piece into a 7-inch rope. Use a rolling pin or your fingers to flatten a 2-to 3-inch section in the middle of the dough rope. Place 2 cubes of mozzarella cheese on the flattened portion of dough, then stretch and pinch the dough closed around them. Don’t worry about making it perfect! Cross the two ends of the rope over each other to make a loop. Tuck one end of the rope through the loop to make a knot. Don’t worry if your knots seem a little uneven, they will fill out as they rise.
Second rise. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Arrange the 6 garlic knots on the prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until quite puffy, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat. Toward the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Make the garlic butter. In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter, minced fresh garlic, and garlic powder.
Top. Immediately before baking, spoon the garlic butter evenly over the knots. Top each one with a pinch of grated mozzarella and a generous dusting of Parmesan cheese.
Bake. Bake the knots until the cheese is browned on top and the visible dough around the sides is pale golden brown, 17 to 20 minutes. Let the knots cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes before serving. These are best enjoyed while still warm!

Video

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