Skip to content

How to Make Olive Garden Breadsticks

With basic pantry ingredients, you can enjoy these fluffy soft Olive Garden Breadsticks fresh out of your own oven. Warm, buttery, homemade bread is yours.

breadsticks, homemade bread, bread, dough, olive garden breadsticks, homemade breadsticks

Homemade Breadsticks Taste Better Than Olive Garden’s.

There’s a reason for the long standing popularity of Olive Garden’s famous breadsticks. They’re soft, fluffy, buttery, and oh-so-garlicky.

Some of us have fond cravings for dunking those pillowy breadsticks into comforting bowls of Pasta e Fagioli. Or perhaps a meal of breadsticks and Creamy, Crispy Caesar Salad is what your taste buds call for.

Once you try these homemade breadsticks, you’ll never go back to anything else. All it takes is basic pantry ingredients, most of which you may already have in your kitchen.

bread, dough, olive garden, breadsticks, homemade bread, olive garden breadsticks, homemade breadsticks

Key Ingredients for Soft Homemade Breadsticks

You may already have most of these basic ingredients in your pantry right now. They’re great items to always have on hand for baking or cooking in general.

  • Active dry yeast: stores typically carry this in their baking aisle, near the flours and sugars. It commonly comes in a small jar or in small envelope-like packages. Do check the expiration date to ensure the freshness of yeast.
  • All purpose flour: plain all-purpose flour works perfectly for these homemade breadsticks. No need for specialty flours.
  • Butter: either salted or unsalted butter will work here. Note that salted butter stays fresh longer in your fridge than unsalted, as the salt is a natural preservative. Be sure you’re using sticks of real butter that haven’t gone rancid. Avoid margarine or tubs of butter spreads.
  • Sugar: regular white (aka granulated) sugar, sweet and simple
  • Table salt: for the dough mixture, you’ll want to use common table salt. (Save the coarse kosher salt for the topping.)
breadsticks, homemade bread, bread, dough, olive garden breadsticks, homemade breadsticks

Topping Your Homemade Bread

  • Kosher salt: the coarse texture of these larger salt crystals makes a difference, so if you need to substitute here, sub with a coarse sea salt (not fine table salt.)
  • Garlic powder: it’s important to use garlic powder, rather than dried minced garlic, as the fine texture of garlic powder adheres well to the butter coating.
  • Grated Parmesan cheese: feel free to use either the 100% pre-grated parmesan cheese from the jar or finely grate your own block of parmesan cheese.
  • Dried oregano: feel free to sub with any other dried herb you have on hand, such as basil or Italian blend.

PRO TipS

Do ahead: prep your topping ingredients while the dough is rising. It helps to have melted butter and seasonings ready to go.

Eat now: Bake your better-than Olive Garden breadsticks while everyone’s around (and drooling) so you can serve them fresh out of the oven.  These are truly best when eaten warm and fresh.

breadsticks, homemade bread, bread, dough, olive garden breadsticks, homemade breadsticks

Try Our 3-Ingredient Shortbread, too:

 

Did you make this?

Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!

breadsticks, homemade bread, bread, dough, olive garden breadsticks

How to Make Olive Garden Style Breadsticks

Be the first to rate!
With basic pantry ingredients, you can enjoy these fluffy soft Olive-Garden Style Breadsticks fresh out of your own oven.. Warm, buttery, garicky goodness is here.
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Servings: 16
Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

For the Dough

  • .25 oz active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons
  • ¼ cup warm water, 115 F
  • 4 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed
  • 2 TB butter, softened (not melted at all)
  • 2 TB white sugar
  • 1 TB table salt, fine, not coarse
  • 1 ¼ cups + 2 TB warm water
  • any oil spray of your choice

For the Coating/Topping:

  • 4 TB melted butter
  • ½ tsp coarse kosher salt
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • Pinches of finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • Pinches of dried oregano, basil or Italian blend work, too

Instructions

  • Sprinkle yeast into 1/4 cup warm (115 F) water.  Let sit about 10 minutes, until foamy. 
  • Slowly add flour, butter, sugar, table salt, and warm water (1 1/4 cups + 2 TB). 
  • Mix until dough forms.  Dough should be just a little bit sticky, but still able to easily form a ball (similar to Play-Doh, just slightly stickier). If dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until your dough reaches right consistency.
  • Knead dough by hand on lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes, or until dough becomes smooth and soft.  Roll dough into a 2-foot log.  With sharp knife, cut into 16 even pieces.  Keep pieces covered with clean cloth.
  • Knead each piece slightly and shape into 7-inch long breadstick.  Place breadsticks 2 inches apart on a large, parchment-lined baking sheet.  Spray breadsticks with oil and cover with cloth.  Let rise in draft-free, warm spot until size of dough has doubled -- about 45 min to 1 hour.
  • While dough is rising, prepare the topping and preheat oven to 400F, with rack on lower middle position. After rising, gently brush breadsticks with half of the melted butter and sprinkle evenly with kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 13-14 minutes.  Watch closely to prevent over browning.
  • Brush hot breadsticks with remaining melted butter. Sprinkle evenly with garlic, parmesan, and oregano. Serve immediately. 

Notes

  • To sub with instant dry yeast: use 2 teaspoons of instant yeast.
  • Prep time includes dough-rising time.
  • If you enjoyed this recipe, come back and give it a rating ♡

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 27.5g | Protein: 3.8g | Fat: 4.7g | Saturated Fat: 2.7g | Cholesterol: 11.4mg | Sodium: 219.5mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.6g
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegetarian
Method: Bake

Bake The Bread YoU Love



Add a comment

Recipe Rating




20 comments

    • Esther

    Interesting/odd recipe. It uses active dry yeast but skips the initial rise one would normally expect, and goes right to shaping and rising just once before baking? Is this correct?

    • Maartje van Sandwijk

    YUM. I love me some breadsticks 🙂 Will definitely try this out.

    • tweenselmom

    I love to try this recipe at home, my kids will surely love this, they love breadsticks!

    • aisasami

    I miss Olive Garden’s breadsticks! I am American but now I live in japan and really miss them. I have to try this recipe now!

    • papajack

    I super like this. I think I make some for my little kiddos at home during this lockdown period.

    • Alyx

    AMAZING!!! I cannot wait to try these!!! Thank you for sharing!!

    • Olya AMANOVA

    These days we start to realize how some food choices from the past affect our life. This is a great reminder of free time at a table in a restaurant. Thank you for bringing it back.

    • Chad

    I can’t wait to make these awesome breadsticks, look delicious. BTW I did the dinner rolls last weekend, turned out to be DELICIOUS.

    • debbie lapoint

    I have to make breadsticjs for a wedding, do these bake easily after freezing and still taste good? Should I season after prartial bake and freeze?

    • jess

    can they be fronzen? if so before or after baking?

      • jess

      lol ok nevermind, just saw the other comments about freezing

    • Catherine Mae (@TheDashingChic)

    anyway to freeze these? because i want to make batches for future dinners but i dont know if i can freeze them? any idea?

      • chewoutloud

      My guess would be to underbake them (par-bake) and freeze right away. Then, take them out and finish baking when needed. That’s probably what I’d try 🙂

    • kat

    They look fantastic! I would choose yours over Olive Garden for sure! 🙂

      • chewoutloud

      Thanks, Girls! I made myself hungry writing this post; this is why I shouldn’t read or write about food late at night 😛

    • myhealthyohana

    Just bookmarked these, they look exactly like the breadsticks from Olive Garden!! Can’t wait to give them a try!

    • Tamara Leigh: The Kitchen Novelist

    Yum! Can’t wait to give the recipe a try.

      • World in Eyes

      Wow, it looks tasty and delicious, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe of making olive garden breadsticks….

    • mommysorganics

    They look delicious. I just wish I could reach in and have one:)

    • arzea

    Thanks for making me drool! Yum!

Get our free email series: 5 Easy Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less

Plus our newest recipes each week