Olive Garden Breadsticks are the perfect accompaniment to any dinner. A little sweet, a little garlicky, buttery, and so melt-in-your-mouth tender, not to mention so easy to make and bake in just 25 minutes!
For more great copycat restaurant recipes like this one, try my Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup, Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup, or my Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Is there such a thing as bread lovers anonymous? If so, I am fairly certain I need to become a member. “Hi, my name is Tiffany, and I am a carboholic.” And not just any carbs…I’m talking breads, especially the homemade kind. Especially the easy-to-eat-10-of-and-not-really-notice-kind. Like rolls, biscuits, (for a great roll recipe, try my Best Easy Crescent Rolls Recipe and for a biscuit recipe check out my Easy Buttermilk Biscuits), and these amazing breadsticks!
I almost always double this recipe because, let’s face it, I can eat a single batch myself. And, that’s kinda rude I suppose to do to the kids and husband, so, I must make one batch for me, and one for them. I mean, a whole breadstick is basically like one pretzel right? Samsies.
If you’re like me and want all the bread, then this recipe is for you. Even if you have self-control this recipe is for you, too. (Also, tell me your secret.)
Heres how you Make it
- Turn that oven to preheat to 400 degrees while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast, and honey or sugar. Let it rest for 10 minutes to let the yeast have time to activate in the hot water and sweet stuff. It should rise and foam while it activates.
3. Then, stir in 2 cups of flour, the olive oil, and salt to the yeast mixture. Gradually whisk in more of the flour (about 1 ½ to 2 cups) until you have a soft, shaggy dough.
4. Dust your hands with some flour and get the dough out of the bowl and turn it out onto a floured surface, kneading for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Put the dough back in a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let it rise for another 10 minutes. Once it has risen, divide the dough into two halves. Then divide each half in half again and again until you have 16 equal-sized balls of dough.
6. Roll each ball into a log about 10 inches long and put them 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Put them in the oven for 5 minutes. While they’re baking, stir together the melted butter and garlic powder.
7. Pull this Olive Garden breadsticks recipe out of the oven and brush with half the garlic butter. Return to the oven for 6-8 minutes to bake until they are golden brown. Pull them at this point as they will continue to bake a little even after you’ve taken them out of the oven.
8. Brush with the rest of the garlic butter and eat up!
Can you just buy Breadsticks from Olive Garden
Yes, you can just buy Olive Garden breadsticks. You can eat them at the restaurant or order them for carryout.
But, let’s say you want them RIGHT NOW or you can’t get to the store for some reason or it’s closed, or you want to save money and make them yourself? All good reasons to make your own and use this easy breadsticks recipe!
Have them whenever you want and as many as you want by making them yourself. You will regret nothing! (And save money and time!)
Can you Freeze Olive Garden Breadsticks?
Yes, you can freeze these breadsticks one of two ways:
- Freeze the dough. That’s right, make the dough all the way through splitting them into 16 balls. Freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet before stacking into an airtight bag and storing in the freezer. Dough will keep frozen up to 3 months. When you’re ready to thaw, take the bag out of the oven and let the dough thaw in a warm, dry place. Then roll into breadsticks when the bread has warmed up and bake as instructed.
- Freeze the cooked breadsticks. To freeze this easy breadsticks recipe, allow the bread to cool all the way to room temperature. Then, wrap the breadsticks tightly in aluminum foil then put in a heavy-duty, airtight freezer bag. They will keep for about 3 months. Thaw at room temperature and then put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes to toast back up.
Did you make this Olive Garden Breadsticks recipe? Great! Please rate the recipe below!
If you love Olive Garden, check out my complete collection of Copycat Olive Garden Recipes!
Olive Garden Breadsticks
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups very warm water
- 1 packet instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons honey - or sugar
- 3-4 cups flour - more for kneading
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 6 tablespoons salted butter - melted, see note
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) stir together water, yeast, and honey (or sugar). Rest for 10 minutes to let the yeast activate. It should rise and foam.
- Stir in 2 cups flour, olive oil, and salt.
- Gradually mix in more flour (1 1/2-2 cups) until you have a soft, shaggy dough.
- With flour-dusted hands, transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and allow to rise for 10 minutes.
- Divide dough into two equal parts. Divide each half into two equal parts again. Continue to do this until you have 16 equal-sized pieces of dough.
- Roll each into a log about 10 inches long and place 2-inches apart on a greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together melted butter and garlic powder.
- After 5 minutes, brush with half of the garlic butter and return to oven for 6-8 minutes until golden. (They will continue to brown a little more after you pull them out of the oven so don't over-bake them).
- Brush with remaining garlic butter and serve.
Is 400 degrees farenheit or celcius?
Farenheit
Hi, I made these tonight and am wondering where I went wrong. I make yeasted doughs often and rarely run into problems. But, with that said I was baking w my newborn and might’ve messed something up.
They baked for 5 min, then 8 more and i taste tested and it felt heavy, dense and overall not fully cooked. I have an additional 6-8 min more and they didn’t brown much or seem to change texture wise.
I made these in my stand mixer and the dough was sticking to the sides of the bowl so I added a tbs or so more until it didn’t stick. Let it rise ten min and divided as the recipe stated and baked. Is there such a thing as overworking the dough? I did weigh each one and roll to approx 10 inches (I’ll admit some were 7-10 inches). I kneaded in my stand mixer for 3 full minutes once it was no longer sticking, I’m starting to wonder if that’s where I went wrong.
I made your Olive Garden zuppa toscano soup with it and it came out perfect with no tweaking, so I know this recipe should’ve worked well for me and I must’ve messed it up😂
You can overwork dough. It could’ve been that as well as adding too much flour. I would be careful next time with your measurements as well as only mixing the dough until the ingredients are mixed together. Hopefully it turns out better for you!
I have a question about the packet of instant yeast. In my grocery store, yeast comes in many different sizes. What size packet should I use?
Each brand varies a bit but one packet is about 0.75 oz 🙂
I enjoy this recipe but for the first time I attempted the freezing instructions and they did not work. I took half my bread sticks out of the oven after the first 5 min of cooking, cooled completely, and then froze. I baked the frozen bread sticks wrapped loosely in foil at the prescribed temperature for 8 min and they were basically raw. I then baked them uncovered for 5 min at the same temperature. The edges were starting to catch and they had puffed up so I pulled them out. Still entirely raw- like, stretchy dough raw. If freezing, I would bake the initial batch closer to the entire recommended cook time, not just 5 min.
Hello. I’m anxious to try this recipe! Could you tell me what type of flour you use? Thank you
I use all purpose flour. Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂