Keto garlic knots are a delicious way to serve up fathead dough! Twisted little keto dinner rolls that pair perfectly with your favorite soup or keto stew.
This is the original keto garlic knots recipe! Accept no substitutes.
These tender little twists of keto garlic taste just like the ones you used to get from your favorite pizza place. But they have less than 3g net carbs per serving.
Too good to be true?
One bit of these buttery, garlicky koto bread twists and you might just think you’re dreaming. But they’re real, I promise.
Serve them alongside keto tuscan chicken soup or keto seafood chowder for a satisfying lunch or dinner.
Fun with fathead dough
Fathead dough really is remarkable stuff. It’s amazing that melted cheese and a little almond flour can become a stretchy keto pizza dough.
I use it many quite a number of recipes, both savory and sweet. And I have developed my own versions of the original that make it sturdier and more versatile. I call this version, which contains both almond and coconut flour, Magic Mozzarella Dough.
It really is magic! I’ve used it in sweet recipes too, like keto cinnamon twists.
My keto bagel recipe, on the other hand, takes only coconut flour so it’s a completely nut-free option.
Ingredients
For the dough, you will need:
- Shredded mozzarella
- Almond flour
- Coconut flour
- Butter
- Baking powder
- Garlic powder
- Egg
- Salt
For the garlic butter, you will need:
- Butter
- Parmesan cheese
- Garlic
- Salt
- Parsley
How to make keto garlic knots
Once you’ve mastered keto fathead dough, these keto garlic bread rolls are fun to make. Here are my best tips for getting it right.
- Whisk the dry ingredients. You want to have them ready to add to the melted cheese immediately so make sure they are all set before proceeding.
- Melt the cheese and butter. Keep them over low heat, stirring frequently, until the cheese is fully melted and you can stir them together. Then remove from heat.
- Add the dry ingredients and the egg. Start mixing these ingredients in immediately with a good flexible spatula. As long as you move quickly enough, the egg won’t curdle.
- Knead the dough. Just like bread, fathead dough becomes more cohesive with a little kneading. I recommend dusting the work surface lightly with almond flour to prevent sticking.
- Divide and roll into logs. You want to do this relatively quickly, as fathead dough gets loses elasticity the longer it sits.
- Shape into knots. Gently fold one end of the log over the other and push through.
- Brush with garlic butter. Use about half of the garlic butter mixture before baking, and keep the rest for brushing on after.
- Bake until golden and enjoy warm!
Frequently Asked Questions
The conventional wisdom for fathead dough states that pre-shredded mozzarella works best. It contains a bit of starch or cellulose that helps the consistency. However, I’ve actually had some luck with grating blocks of cheese myself. Just make sure that it is part-skim, as full-fat mozzarella will make the dough very greasy.
I don’t recommend it. Fathead dough made with just almond flour is very fatty and moist, and tends to spread a lot when baking.
You are better off using another drier flour like lupin or oat fiber, but you will need more of it. I recommend starting with ⅓ cup and adding a bit more if the dough is very sticky.
Fathead dough is tricky at the best of times and I can’t quite determine why this happens for some people. It’s dependent on so many different factors.
If it happens to you, don’t panic. Simply roll the dough into 8 balls, brush with some of the garlic butter, and bake them as dinner rolls. They will still be delicious!
Keto Garlic Knots Recipe
Ingredients
Garlic Knot Dough
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese 6 ounces
- 5 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 large egg
Garlic Parmesan Butter
- 3 tablespoon butter melted
- 2 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350F and sprinkle a clean counter or a large silicone baking mat with almond flour.
- In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, garlic powder, and salt. In a large saucepan, melt the cheese and butter together over low heat until they are melted and can be stirred together.
- Remove from heat and add the almond flour mixture, then add the egg and stir everything together until a cohesive forms. Use a rubber spatula to really knead the dough together in the pan. It may still contain some streaks of cheese.
- Turn the dough out onto the prepared work surface and knead until uniform. This will only take a little kneading. If your dough is still very sticky, add a tablespoon or two more almond flour and work it in.
- Divide the dough into 16 equal portions. Roll each portion into a 7-inch log and tie gently into a knot. Place on prepared baking sheet a few inches apart (they will spread a bit).
Garlic Parmesan Butter
- In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, parmesan, garlic, salt, and parsley. Brush about half of the butter over knots before baking. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until firm to the touch and golden brown.
- Remove and brush with remaining garlic butter. Serve warm.
deborah says
hello from Sydney,Carolyn
thanks for having the best recipes!
every thing that I made so far worked really well, but not the knots :((((
as I live in Sydney I could not find any skim shredded mozzarella, so got the ” normal” one do you think it could be the reason? all was the same…
thanks again for all you do in the eating dpt! :)))))))
deborah
Carolyn says
Yes, it’s definitely the cheese. The shredded cheese around here has starch to keep it from clumping. Not a lot, so it doesn’t really add to the carb count, but it helps the consistency of this. You could try adding a teaspoon or two of corn or arrowroot starch but I honestly have no idea if that would truly help. Sorry!
deborah says
thanks Carolyn,
I got a low carb baking powder from bob’s red mill, will try to add it in my next batch and let you know how it turned up! :)) my husband had them in any case. gobbled them up, and thought they were delicious:) called them salty biscuits! 🙂
cheers,
deborah
Lisa says
Carolyn, I saw this recipe and put it away for a special day. Today, Easter Sunday was it! I can’t believe how great these turned out. Golden brown, and slathered in butter and garlic, how can you go wrong?!!! Delicious! Thank you so much for bringing these back into our lives, we missed garlic knots! This will be a staple, and I know even my Italian bread eating family will love these! Thank you,thank you, thank you! PS, I had a little trouble rolling the Joe as well as your pictures showed, but it doesn’t matter, they came out shaped good enough, and tasted great, LOL.
Kailey says
Hello! I just tried making a batch of these, but I seem to have made a wrong turn somewhere. My dough came out fairly oily and somehow crumbly! I was able to kneed it together but it wasn’t smooth like a dough, and it slowly started to break apart when I tried to bend it. Any idea what might have been the problem?
Thanks!
Carolyn says
When this happens, it could be the kind of cheese (did you use store-bought part skim shredded mozz, as the recipe indicates?), or it’s the almond flour or the coconut flour. What brands did you use for those?
Kailey says
Hi Carolyn, thanks for your help. I had a suspicion it was the cheese. I just used the block of mozzarella I had in the fridge I think.it was Kraft. I’ll have to see if I can hunt down partly skimmed mozzarella in the stores after the holiday. I used Bob’s red mill flour for both.
Anthony Cohn says
Hi Kailey,
This is exactly what happened to me, perfidious Carolyn’s suggestions to me may help you too?
Regards and good luck
Anthony
Kailey says
Thanks Anthony! I’d appreciate any help I could get, if you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them.
Anthony Cohn says
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you so much for this recipe, I have been graph garlic bread for some time now and I thought this would be a perfect fit for my craving. When I tried to make them I had to use full fat mozzarella then when I added the viewer and egg I could immediately tell that it was too much fat, would you have any suggestion as to how I can fix this as we don’t get part skim mozzarella here in the UK.
Thank you
Anthony
Carolyn says
Hmmm, not sure what do about this. Perhaps adding a little less butter (maybe cutting out 2 tbsp) would help? And then adding something to help emulsify all that fat into the mix…can you get some xanthan gum easily? Just 1/4 tsp might help.
sjst says
I had whole milk mozzarella too and I reduced the butter to 3 tbls and added 2 tbls of cream. Worked great. I made 4 standard size rolls and 4 small pizza crusts. Very good. Thanks much.
Carolyn says
Good to know!
Heather May says
I tried to make these for a dinner party on Saturday. The dough wouldn’t stick together to form rolls or any other shape. I used Honeyville Almond Super Fine Grind and Arrowhead Mills Coconut Flour. Any suggestions?
Carolyn says
Could easily have been the coconut flour, as I have never used that brand. What kind of mozzarella did you use?
Robin Phillips says
Fabulous!!! Just fabulous. Will definitely be making these again!
Raquel says
I really really want to make these, but I suspect the coconut flour I have has gone bad. Do you think it will be ok without? And I have a ball of fresh mozz – can I use that instead of the type listed?
Carolyn says
Everyone says fresh mozz is a disaster so I wouldn’t.
Meagan says
I apologize if this was posted already, I didn’t see it. Could I prepare the dough for these now and then bake them this evening before dinner or would that pose a problem?
Carolyn says
I think it would be fine. refrigerate the dough and let it warm up before baking.
Meagan says
Thank you! 🙂
Stel says
So yummy! Just ate 3! I had THM baking blend, so used it. The hard part was taking the wrappers off my string cheese. Heehee! Made do with what was in the pantry. Great recipe.
Carolyn says
Wow, I am impressed with the dedication! 😉
Katie G says
How would you store these, after baking? Do they need to be refrigerated, or would it be best to store them in the freezer?
Carolyn says
You can keep them on the counter for a few days but the fridge is fine after that.
Deb says
I made these this morning. We’re having spaghetti squash with pasta sauce this evening so I wanted to include some yummy garlic rolls. First off, I used my faithful hazelnut flour instead of almond. Everything else according to your easy directions.
They turned out PERFECT!Look just like your photo. I had one hot out of the oven-soft, buttery garlic delishousness! They remind me of the crazy-good rolls you find in some small Italian restaurants. Yes, these will fit nicely in my lc recipe repertoire.
I miss regular bread alot so these were a fantastic find!
I’ve got to make another batch of the Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies-we gobbled those up!
Your blog is THE PLACE FOR LOW CARB RECIPES THAT ACTUALLY TASTE GREAT!
Carolyn says
Thanks, Deb!
MarciaH says
Although I try hard to be low carb (as I’m diabetic), I also am in kidney failure and on dialysis. When the kidneys fail, they can no longer clear phosphorus from the blood and almond flour is quite high in phosphorus and hence dangerous to me. So here’s what I’m wondering. Could I substitute arrowroot flour (I know, it’s higher carb) for some of the almond flour? Would that make any sense? It’s quite low in phosphorus and potassium, two minerals I now need to avoid or restrict. Thanks
MarciaH says
Although I try hard to be low carb as I’m diabetic, I also am in kidney failure and on dialysis. When the kidneys fail, they can no longer clear phosphorus from the blood and almond flour is quite high in phosphorus and hence dangerous to me. So here’s what I’m wondering. Could I substitute arrowroot flour (I know, it’s higher carb) for some of the almond flour? Would that make any sense? It’s quite low in phosphorus and potassium, two minerals I now need to avoid or restrict. Thanks
Carolyn says
Pretty sure it won’t work the same way. What about ground pork rinds instead?
MarciaH says
Thanks for your reply. I’ve never thought that ground pork rinds were something anyone should eat. I know they’re all the rage in the low carb community. But not with me. Are you saying that they would substitute for all the almond flour?
Carolyn says
This recipe was developed out of a recipe using pork rinds. I don’t love adding them to all my food either, so I used almond flour instead. Do seed flours have the same issues for you? You could always try sunflower seed flour.
MarciaH says
Unfortunately, seeds and nuts both have the same issues–very high in phosphorus and some also in potassium. I love both, but they no longer love me. It’s not that I can’t have them at all, but I do have to be careful and to count every mg. of both minerals and delete them elsewhere. Not a fun diet, believe me. Especially for a foodie.
MarciaH says
Actually, sunflower seeds are twice as bad as almonds in this area. Of course, both phosphorus and potassium are “healthy” nutrients and desirable for normal bodies because normal kidneys are able to regulate how much of them are in the blood. Useless kidneys can’t do that so what is “healthy” for most people ends up destroying the bones of kidney patients.
Carolyn says
Ugh, sorry!
MarciaH says
Thank you for trying, Carolyn. I appreciate it. I might try substituting a small amount of arrowroot for the almond flour and see what happens. I will also be using “fake” cheese (Daiya mozarella) as cheese is also a restricted food. So I’m sure they won’t be as good as the originals on any score.
Carolyn says
Ugh, that is tough. Tell me what you CAN eat and I will see if I can mine my blog for good recipes for you.
MarciaH says
What a kind offer.
I can eat animal protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs–I skip most of the yolks altho they are my favorite part of the egg), some fruits (apples, grapes, clementines, lemons, berries–no bananas, oranges, avocados, restricted tomatoes), some veggies (cabbage, cucumber, zukes, peppers, lettuce, onions, garlic, cauliflower, eggplant–if it’s beige or pale green I can have it) restricted dairy (except for full cream, cream cheese, feta and brie which all still need to be in moderation). White bread, white rice and white flour are OK (I don’t eat these, but not doing so really limits my food palette). I don’t restrict any fats–but can’t really have more than a couple of nuts/day). Restricted salt. And then, of course, there are all the things that i try to restrict because of being diabetic. Aren’t I fun to cook for? I won’t hold you to come up with anything that fits all of these limits, but thank you for trying.
Carolyn says
Wow. I am heartbroken for you but lets see what we can do. I need to think about this.
Lisa says
I normally don’t post comments, but my 8 year old daughter LOVED!! them. After finishing off our last one, she said, whoever gave you the recipe tell her thank you!!!!!
Carolyn says
Lovely to hear!
Kathy says
Have recently purchased a bag of King Arthur almond flour which they started selling at Walmart. Have you tried that and how does it compare to Honeyville? I agree the BRM is rather coarse. The King Arthur looks finer but I haven’t tried it yet. Thanks.
Carolyn says
I haven’t tried that one yet, sorry I can’t be of more help on that front.
Chris says
These turned out dense and really greasy. They didn’t hold well to roll. I used nutiva coconut flour. Is that why?????
Carolyn says
What almond flour did you use? Could be that too.
Chris says
I used honeyville…?
Alaine says
This is absolutely the BEST low carb bread I ever made!!!! I am thinking of trying to make hulushky dumplings (without the garlic) to use with chicken paprikash. Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes.
Carolyn says
I’ve never tried those. Let me know how it goes!
Candace Spaid says
These were amazing. We will have often!
Carolyn says
Thanks.
Gerri says
Love, love your recipes, but I failed miserably with this if you could offer guidance. Help! I used Honeyville blanched almond flour & part-skim, low moisture shredded mozzarella. My garlic knots were crumbly (dough didn’t hold together to roll into longs) & dense when cooked. Nothing like your gorgeous creation. Dying to try your Chocolate Walnut Swirls, but don’t want to end up with another heavy, crumbly dough. Thanks!
Carolyn says
I can’t say for sure…did you use a cheese with an anti-clumping agent? Most store-bought brands that aren’t organic have it and that seems to work best, according to folks who’ve made this kind of dough a number of times. Also, what brand of coconut flour? I suspect that can make a difference too. I always use Bob’s.
Gerri says
Thanks, Carolyn. The cheese has anti-caking agents (potato starch & powdered cellulose). I use Tropical Traditions coconut flour. Is that not a good brand for this?
Wishing you the best for the new year!
Carolyn says
I’ve never used their coconut flour so I really can’t say for sure. Could be. I can’t think of any other variable here that would cause this issue.
Gerri says
Thanks. I’ll try Bob’s & let you know.
Gerri says
Problem solved & wanted to pass on. I wasn’t using enough mozzarella. I first used 1 1/2 cups listed. Read your comment that it’s about 6 ounces, so I weighed out 6 oz & the knots turned out great!
Carolyn says
I just made a new variation on this and yep…6 ounces is the key!
Carrie @ poet in the pantry says
These knots look fabulous! I need to check out your recipes more often…definitely feeling a little over the sweets now and ready to move on to less filling food. Happy holidays!