{Olive Garden Breadsticks}

Oh man, I loved these! These breadsticks would just complete any meal really. Pasta, soup, salad…you name it. Make these as soon as you get the chance. Make sure you serve them hot out of the oven.

*These are a little more dense than Olive Garden’s. But the flavor is incredible and pretty right-on with the garlic butter. I also updated the picture, because the other one was too dark. Enjoy 🙂

Dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs yeast
1 Tbs salt (yes, the recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon, which I use every time and they turn out great.)
2 Tbs butter, softened
4-5 Cups flour

Topping:
3 Tbs butter melted
sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder

For the dough, pour the water into a stand mixer with the sugar and yeast, let that sit and froth for about 10 minutes. Add salt, butter, and 2 cups of flour. Mix the dough on low. Add the rest of the flour a half cup at a time, until dough scrapes the sides of the bowl clean. Mix the dough about 5 minutes on medium speed, until its soft and easy to work with.
Let the dough rest in the bowl until doubled in size, about 1 hour and then roll it out. Roll the dough out into a long log, spray a knife with cooking spray and cut the dough into 12-14 pieces. Roll those pieces into about 6 inch long snakes. Spray 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray, ( I usually only use one) and lay the breadsticks out leaving about 2 inches between each one.
Place them in the oven with the temperature turned to 170 degrees. Let them rise for about 15 minutes, or until doubled in size.( I have also let them sit at room temp until they are doubled in size and then bake them in the oven)
Once risen, brush them with the 1 1/2 T of melted butter and sprinkle them with salt. Now preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake them for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. While they are baking combine the rest of the melted butter with 1 tsp garlic powder. When the breadsticks are golden brown, remove them from the oven and brush them with the butter/garlic mixture.

183 thoughts on “{Olive Garden Breadsticks}”

  13. ooh these look delish. I'm a sucker for any kind of bread but these are always a favorite of mine at the restaurant and being in Japan and soooo far away from an olive garden this is a must try! ty for sharing 🙂

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  14. LOVE THIS! I think I will make some potato soup tonight just so I can fix these! To the poster above, I am a Pampered Chef consultant and they will cook up awesome on the stones!
    Thanks for the recipe!!

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  18. I made mine and mine just cracked open and didn't double in size. Right now they are cooking at 400 degrees and I'm hoping they will be delicious! I'll let you know.

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  20. Did you make sure and let the warm water, sugar and yeast sit and froth for about 10 minutes? That is the key to making them rise and not turn out dense. I'm sorry they didn't work out, if you try making them again try letting the yeast sit and see if that makes a difference. 🙂

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  22. Just to let you know, the recipe doesn't say to let the water, sugar and yeast sit. 🙂 I will be trying these though! They look amazing!

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  28. Hi, I just made these and they came out great. I think you mean tsp for salt, not Tbs, right? Because I used 1 tsp, and most burgers and garlic powders also have salt, so after adding those, with only 1 tsp., they are still quite salty. Not overly salty, just right – any more would have been too much. Thanks for the recipe! I'm going to make these often.

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  29. Wah, I tried substituting Instant yeast instead and it did not go well. Did not rise. My sister in law made these and they were awesome, so I will try again!

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  32. I was wondering how many bread sticks you usually get out of this? My best friend and I are having are annual family Christmas this weekend and we are having a Jersey Shore Sunday Dinner themed dinner. We will have 6 adults and 2 kids. Also I really do not want to flop this so do you mix the yeast, sugar, and warm water until frothed and then let sit for 10 min. or mix them all together for 10 min? Thanks!

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  34. This didn't work for me either. I think I figured out why….you may need to be more specific on the adjective “hot” water. I thought you meant boil water and let it cool a little. But after I found it didn't rise and my hubby asked how hot the water was I checked the yeast packet. It says no warmer than 114 degrees. So if your water is too hot it kills the yeast.
    Moral of the story, take the temp of the water before adding yeast. Between 100-114.

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  38. Thanks for the tip GingerPeachT, I did change it to warm water. And I would guess you could freeze them, I would just freeze them and then let them thaw and rise and then stick them in the oven when you're ready to cook them.
    The brand of yeast I use is Fleichmann's Active Dry Yeast.

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  39. I have a question my two year old loves breadsticks but you can't find them in stores anymore the ones that are good anyways so I found this and wanted to make them but I just want to make a few at a time can this recipe be frozen and just unthawed then bake?

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  40. I want to make these for a dinner next week. I was confused and not sure if you answered this question…you said “Once risen, brush them with the 1 1/2 T of melted butter and sprinkle them with salt. Return them to the oven and heat to 400 degrees. Once it's preheated to 400 degrees bake them for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.” Does this mean you keep your risen bread sticks in the oven while you are heating it up to 400 and then (when the light goes off showing it's 400 you start timing for 12-15 minutes?

    Also, some people might not be familiar with this restaurant and get confused when you say to roll them out to long sticks and put on the cookie sheet. They might really make them too long and obviously they won't rise quite the same. Maybe if you insert to roll them out about 6 inches it would be more helpful to some.

    They do look delicious though.

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  41. To the anonymous person who posted last…. you pre heat the oven On the Warm setting which is generally about 170 deg for 15 min then pull them out of the oven and brush on only a portion of the butter.. While you are doing that turn the oven onto 400 deg when its heated to that temp then place the bread sticks back into the oven for 12-15 min…. I know with mine I made them into about 4-6 inches long and they had no problem rising and cooked amazing 🙂

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  42. Just made them! Super delicious! Followed the recipe exactly and they were amazing! They were a bit dense but I think I made them too big, next time I will probably divide the dough so I get 16-18. Very good though!

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  46. I just have to try this pne ! They are also my favorite when we get to go to the Olive Garden. Its over 100 miles ome way to get to it. This reads and looks very easy . Reading the comments answered my wondering why my dough didnt rise well and was so dense and uncooked last time. The yeast wasn't fresh and I failed to allow it to sit nad rest while frothing before I added the flour in. DUH on me !! Thank you for such a marvelous place to learn.

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  47. I just tried these and they didn't turn out so great…my error, I'm sure! They're edible but look nothing like the picture. LOL I've tried to make breadsticks like this before and they turned out the same. I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong. 🙂

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  48. I made these last night and they were pretty bad…I used the same yeast you said you used, and I let the yeast, water and sugar sit for 10 minutes…I followed the recipe exactly. Someone told me too much salt sometimes kills the yeast? I wonder what I'm doing wrong. A whole tablespoon of salt seems like quite a bit. They also tasted pretty salty and they were extremely dense. I might try to make them again, but what suggestions do you have?

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  50. Sorry these didn't work out for you. I have made these quite a bit and also follow the recipe to a T and they are always great. Weird. The recipe is pretty mapped out, I don't understand what is confusing…

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  52. Just made these. I used all 5 cups of flour so I needed to add a little more water. I don't think it is confusing at all. They were yummy. I served them with Lasagna Soup your Olive Garden salad. Every one was happy.

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  53. Recipe was great! Worked like a charm using the bread machine too – add water & butter first, then dry ingredients. I just used the quick dough cycle then followed the rest of your recipe exactly the same. (I did use bread machine yeast).

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  54. These turned out great. however, I did only use TEASPOON of salt. Neither the recipe nor I need that much salt. lol. I did freeze half after they were rolled to 6 inches. Just took a long sheet of waxed paper and kept adding another as I rolled the paper up. They were only frozen about an hour because my daughter and grandkids came over, so I decided to bake the frozen ones. Just warmed in the
    170 degree oven til double then baked as per recipe. If they were hard frozen, I probably would have let thaw and warm first. Very good. Thanks for this recipe.

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  55. Trying these tonite with chicken and dumplings! I will definitely be cutting back on the salt, as I am not a big salt person and a full tablespoon of salt sounds like wayyyy too much, especially with brushing more salt on the tops. Will post after making what I thought, but they look super delicious!!

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  56. You could for the first part, then when the dough it too thick for a hand mixer, add the rest of the flour and stir in and knead for 5 – 10 minutes

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  59. Jens- I used a mixing paddle for the mixing part, then swapped it out for the dough hood to knead it.

    I used all purpose flour. But I think others have said they used self rising and it worked too

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  62. Altitude and low humidity play games with baking.
    Salt acts as a yeast retardant so don't bake bread at high altitude without it.

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  65. I think bread is hard to get until you learn how the weather affects the yeast activity. Also sometimes sea level effects baking. Don't give up, just try and figure out the nature effects and pay attention to the wetness/heaviness of the dough. I know you can do it. Just have to practice. Have patience. Get someone who bakes bread to work with you. It is so worth it. I am not really anonymous, my name is Tracy. Good luck.

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  66. I made them today! D E L I C I O U S!!!!!!!
    I splited the recipe in 2 for making just 6 and they turned great.

    Next time I'll play changing the recipe and adding less salt (huge amount of sodium).

    Thank you so much for sharing the recipe, can't wait to surprise my friends and family with homemade bread 🙂

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  68. We had super high humidity today but I didn't need the full 5 cups of flour. That surprised me. I borked something up with my either my oven temp, choice of pans, or rack location within the oven because the bottoms of my sticks were almost burned…whoops. Still good though! I have high hopes for the next go 'round 🙂

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  71. Oh my…just made these and they turned out amazing…followed the directions exactly! This is so awesome, they are exactly like Olive Garden!

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  72. I've made these a couple times now (used active dry yeast, not instant) and they turned out fantastic tasting although the first time they were over done on the bottom. I lowered the oven temp by 10 degrees and that did the trick, the second time they were PERFECT!

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  73. Followed the recipe exactly. Turned out really well. They were still a little more dense than olive garden's. I made 12 with this recipe but next time I think I would make them smaller. Also, I did use a full tablespoon of salt and they definitely were not too salty. The taste was really good!

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  74. This might be some people's problem: One packet of yeast does not quite equal 1 Tbsp. I had to use a little yeast from another packet. I'm not sure if that will affect the outcome or not b/c I'm in the middle of making them, but just thought I'd share. Looking forward to these! We're going to have them with my homemade Zuppa Toscana soup! 🙂

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  77. I read your “Readable Eatables” section and you misspelled “turned.” What you wrote was “tuned.” Anyway, these breadsticks are amazing!!!

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  78. I am thinking mine are not going to turn out. They seem thick. I did follow directions and it did froth for 10. I am wondering if you can have too much flour or over knead it? This is my first time doing any type of homemade bread.

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  79. Thank you so much for this recipe! They turned out great! They didn't quite proof to the size I would have liked, but that was probably error on my end 🙂 I used out of date yeast and it frothed up like it was supposed to. I did put a bowl of water in the oven to help with the humidity. Your recipe is spot on!

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  80. This is 2nd time i made these ..in my bread machine on roll setting… as i dont have a mixer… proofed as directed… used 1/2 T salt today as the first batch was a bit too salty for my taste.. used 4 C “all purpose” flour… then looked at my bread before finished mixing and added additional flour as needed…(today about 1/3 C more)took out and shaped as directed and followed rest of recipe…will let u know the outcome

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  82. Made these last night and they were great! I ended up only using 3 1/2 cups of flour because it came off clean on the sides. I still got 13 bread sticks. The seemed a little dense, but not bad. I think my water cooled a little quicker than normal and I didn't stir the yeast when it was added. I will try that next time and I am sure they will be amazing. Your butter glazes with the salt and then garlic powder are spot on. It did remind me of Olive Garden.
    To the commenter above mine. I used unsalted butter.

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  87. I work there and these sound like they would taste even better then Olive Gardens… They just put a liquid margarine over the bread sticks then shake some garlic salt over that… and the bread comes in bags already made just uncooked so we just have to pop them in the oven for a few mins. I wanna try yours!

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  88. I made these last night and they are just perfect, and the method is soooooo easy!!

    I googled the yeast because I had 2 pouches of Fleischmanns active dry yeast and didn't know if I had the required TBSP for this recipe. Each .25 oz pkt contains 2 1/4 tsp. SO…2 pkts of active dry yeast = 1 TBSP plus 1 1/2 tsp.

    I USED 2 WHOLE PKTS OF YEAST, because most people commented that their bread sticks came out heavy/dense.

    I USED 1 TBSP KOSHER salt and this ended up being just right.

    After mixing in my kitchenaid and allowing to rest(covered) for an hour, it didn't rise much, but the dough was easy to work with forming the stick shapes.

    I ALLOWED 40 minutes on the baking sheet in a WARM oven for the sticks to rest/rise and then baked as directed.

    They didn't brown on top at all, but the bottoms were golden, and the texture was perfect, not heavy at all!

    I also gave the sticks a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to finish them, and my family raved over these!!

    Frankly I find them WAY better than Olive Garden's. OG's are dry on the outside, kind of cottony inside, and not much flavor.

    Thanks for this recipe….Now that I've tested it, I am repinning it on Pinterest!!

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  90. I just made these tonight, with some modifications, and they were FABULOUS! The changes I made were pretty simple:

    *I used 2 whole packets of yeast as Susan recommended. The extra yeast makes a huge difference. They weren't dense at ALL, they were soft and fluffy.
    *Also, I have been told that yeast doesn't activate as well in a metal container (like my kitchenaid mixer bowl), so I mixed the warm water (110 degrees), sugar, and yeast in the glass measuring cup, and let it get foamy in there for 10 minutes.
    *After the dough was formed, I put it into a sprayed bowl, flipped it to coat, and covered it, rather than leaving it in the metal bowl to rise.
    *Humidity (or lack of) plays a huge roll in the amount of flour used. I only needed 3 1/2 cups to get it to the right texture.
    *I made 16 breadsticks and thought they were large, so would maybe even make 18 next time, or roll them out longer than 6 inches.
    *I took Susan's other recommendation and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top, which was delicious.
    *I baked mine at 375 for 13 minutes, since some others commented that the bottoms got too dark baking at 400.

    I used the full Tablespoon of salt, as you suggested, and didn't find it too salty at all. They were perfect! I will definitely make them again. Thank you for the recipe!

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