A classic Italian pizzeria snack, garlic knots are strips of pizza dough tied in a knot, baked and then topped with melted butter, garlic and parsley.

Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

“Got knots?” Simply Recipes contributor Hank Shaw does, and boy are they good. Enjoy! ~Elise

When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey, one of my absolute favorite after-school treats would be to walk over to Ferraro’s, dig through my pockets for loose change and buy some garlic knots — garlicky, buttery rolls made from stray bits of pizza dough. At 25 cents apiece, I could buy a lotta knots with a little change.

Our Favorite Videos Get Recipe »

Garlic knots are a pizzeria favorite, and in New Jersey, their presence was a sign that the pizza joint you just walked into was legit.

Making knots is a thrifty way to use scraps of dough and the leftover garlic-butter-parsley sauce most pizzerias would use for their white pizzas or garlic bread.

Over the years I’ve seen people make gigantic garlic knots the size of croissants, but that seems weird to me. The knots of my youth could fit into the palm of your hand with ease. Eating eight of them at a sitting was no trouble at all.

What are they like? Crusty on the outside, light as air within. Chewy, and almost sour—most garlic knots I remember were made with old pizza dough that was already thinking about fermenting.

The garlic-soaked butter (some places used olive oil) got all over your hands; I’d smell like Ferraro’s for hours after eating them, and if I didn’t finish my supper that night my mom would know why.

A big basket of garlic knots is a great party treat, and is pretty easy to make if you use premade pizza dough. Be warned: Make twice as many as you think you’ll need.

You’ll find yourself reaching for another without thinking, and so will your guests. And if you have a New Jersey native in the house, make a triple batch. I ate half of this recipe at one sitting.