Olive Garden Breadsticks Recipe
With basic pantry ingredients, you can easily make fluffy soft Olive-Garden Style Breadsticks fresh out of your own oven.
Servings: 16
Ingredients
For the Dough
- ¼ ounce active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons
- ¼ cup water, warm, 115F
- 4 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened (not melted at all)
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon table salt, fine, not coarse
- 1 ¼ cups warm water, plus 2 tablespoons
- cooking oil spray of your choice
For the Coating/Topping:
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 1 teaspoon 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 salt, garlic powder, parmesan, and oregano. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Check your yeast freshness. Expired yeast won’t foam properly and can prevent the dough from rising. Always proof it in warm water before mixing.
- To substitute with instant dry yeast, use 2 teaspoons of instant yeast.
- Note that the prep time mentioned above includes dough-rising time.
- Use warm, not hot, water. Water around 115°F activates yeast without killing it. If it’s too hot, the dough won’t rise well.
- Don’t over-flour the dough. It should feel slightly tacky but still easy to handle. Too much flour can make the breadsticks dense.
- Serve warm. These breadsticks taste best fresh from the oven when they’re soft and fragrant.
- Reheat gently. If you have leftovers, warm them in a 300°F oven for a few minutes and brush with a little melted butter before serving.
- This recipe is part of our Bread Recipes Collection.
- We love serving them with other Olive Garden copycat recipes like my Pasta e Fagioli and Zuppa Toscana.
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