Super Quick Homemade Breadsticks — There’s only one hour that separates you from warm, fresh, homemade breadsticks. 10 minutes to make dough and roll out, 30 minutes to rise, 20 minutes to bake!
Easiest Breadsticks Recipe
You have no excuses not to make these soft, buttery, warm, foolproof breadsticks.
Ready in an hour. Everyone has an hour. It’ll be the best use of one hour all week, I promise.
At a restaurant, if you’re the type of person who can devour a basket of soft breadsticks before they bring your food, and by the time you do get your food, you’ve eaten so many breadsticks that you don’t even want it, this is the recipe for you.
Then again, maybe not. Make it at your own risk.
Warm and fresh from the oven, these accidentally vegan breadsticks are ridiculously good and cost probably less than a buck to make. Two cups of flour, a little butter or buttery spread, and yeast are the only real costs.
If you’ve never worked with yeast or have a yeast phobia, you can get over all that now. You simply combine the ingredients into a mixing bowl and let your stand mixer do the work, kneading for about 7 minutes.
Don’t have a stand mixer? Knead by hand on your counter.
Think of it as exercise in advance of all the white, buttery carbs you’re about to ingest.
They’re every bit as good as restaurant breadsticks (or mall pretzels) and you’ll want more than a couple. You’ve been warned.
Ingredients for Homemade Breadsticks
For this quick breadstick recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Water
- Instant yeast
- Olive oil
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Unsalted butter (or vegan butter)
- Cinnamon-sugar (only if you want to make cinnamon-sugar breadsticks)
Can Whole Wheat Flour Be Used?
If you want to use whole wheat flour, read this post, don’t exceed more than 50% by volume of whole wheat flour, and if you try it, let me know how it goes, because I haven’t tried.
How to Make Homemade Breadsticks
I hate doing step-by-step photos but I want you to see how easy it is. I really hope you make breadsticks now!
Here’s an overview of how the quick, buttery breadsticks are made:
- Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and knead for about 7 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a baking sheet and roll out to about 8 inches by 12 inches. No need to measure, just eyeball it and roll into a rectangle that covers about two-thirds of a baking sheet.
- Score the dough with a pizza cutter. One long slice down the middle, and then I made 11 vertical slices, creating 22 breadsticks. Depending on the size and shape of your dough, and your size preference for breadsticks, you may get more or less breadsticks.
- Cover the pan with a piece of plastic wrap and place it in a warm, draft-free, place to rise.
- Before baking, brush dough with melted butter (or vegan buttery spread), and I sprinkled with Kosher salt and a cinnamon-sugar mixture. You could also sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, chives, garlic or onion powder, poppy or sesame seeds, for an everything-bagel type flavor.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until slightly golden and cooked through. After baking, drizzle with melted butter and dive in.
How to Help Dough Rise in a Cold House
A trick to creating a warm environment in the dead of winter or in a cold house is to power you oven on to 400F for 1 minute. Then power your oven off. Â
In that 1 minute, your oven probably got to about 90F degrees inside, the temp on a nice, warm summer day, which is how yeast thrive.
Quickly slide the baking sheet into the oven (again, your oven should be off) and let the dough rise for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you’ll need to preheat your oven so you can bake.
Don’t preheat with the tray inside. Take the tray out, put it on the stovetop, and preheat the oven (for real this time) to 350F.
In total, the dough will have had about 30 minutes to rise. In just 30 minutes, you can see how much it rose!
Dipping Sauces for Breadsticks
When it comes times to chow down on these quick and easy breadsticks, you have a few dipping sauce options:
Tips for Making Light and Fluffy Breadsticks
Yeast:
I used Red Star Platinum Yeast and it’s the only yeast I bake with because it’s the best and it never lets me down. If a novice bread-maker, consider this yeast your insurance against goofs because it’s very forgiving.
Since it’s an instant yeast, you don’t have to proof it (let it stand with warm liquids for 10 minutes or until foamy). You simply add it with the other ingredients.
If you are an experienced bread maker, you’re going to love the extra puff and oven-spring you get with the Platinum. Your baked goods will rise higher and faster than you’re used to. It blows the pants off other yeasts I’ve tried!
Flour:
I used King Arthur All-Purpose because I wanted the breadsticks to stay very soft. Bread Flour will lend a chewier, thicker, denser result, more bagel-like, but may be used if you wish.
Pin This Recipe
One-Hour Soft Buttery Breadsticks - Salted and Cinnamon-Sugar
Warm and fresh from the oven, these vegan buttery breadsticks are ridiculously good. They’re soft, fluffy, tender, and make your house smell amazing while baking. There’s only one hour that separates you from warm, fresh, homemade bread. 10 minutes to make dough and roll out, 30 minutes to rise, 20 minutes to bake. The dough is easy and not at all sticky, making this a great recipe for newbie bread makers. I made half the batch as salted and half with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Try Parmesan cheese, chives, garlic or onion powder, poppy or sesame seeds for an everything-bagel flavor. They’re every bit as good as restaurant breadsticks (or mall pretzels) and cost less than a buck to make.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (bread flour may be substituted; breadsticks will be firmer and chewier rather than softer and fluffier; you may only need 2 cups bread flour)
- 1 cup water, warmed to manufacturer’s directions
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste (I prefer to sprinkle salt over the baked breadsticks than add it to the dough)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (or vegan buttery spread) melted for brushing/drizzling, divided
- Kosher or sea salt for sprinkling, optional
- cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling, optional (I use 2 tablespoons granulated sugar to 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon)
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or large mixing bowl and hand-knead), combine flour, water, yeast, oil, sugar, optional salt, and knead for about 7 minutes, or until dough is soft, smooth, and has come together in a firm mass. If hand-kneading, you may need to knead a few minutes longer. Note – Based brand of yeast used, water temperature will vary. Red Star Platinum yeast calls for a warmer temperature than most, 120 to 130F; other brands are much lower, about 95 to 105F. Warm water according to the yeast manufacturer’s recommendations on the packaging. Taking the temperature with a digital thermometer is recommended, but if you’re not, make sure the water is warm, not hot. Err on the cooler rather than hotter side so you don’t kill the yeast.
- Turn dough out onto a Silpat-lined or greased standard-sized baking sheet.
- Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a rectangle that’s approximately 8 inches by 12 inches, and about 1-inch thick. No need to measure, just eyeball it and roll into a rectangle that covers about two-thirds of a standard baking sheet. The dough may be a little stubborn to roll, very springy and may want to recoil, but just keep rolling and finessing until you’ve gotten it to the proper size. I find rotating the pan, flipping the dough over, rolling more, and repeating is helpful.
- Score the dough with a pizza cutter. One long slice down the middle, and then I made 11 vertical slices, creating 22 breadsticks. Depending on the size and shape of your dough, and your size preference for breadsticks, you may get more or less breadsticks.
- Cover the pan with a piece of plasticwrap and place it in a warm, draft-free, place to rise. Read carefully: A trick to creating a warm environment in the dead of winter or in a cold house is to power you oven on to 400F for 1 minute. Then power your oven off. In that 1 minute, your oven probably got to about 90F degrees inside, the temp on a nice, warm summer day, which is how yeast thrive. Quickly slide the baking sheet into the oven (again, your oven should be off) and let the dough rise for about 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the tray from the oven, put it on the stovetop, and preheat the oven (for real this time) to 350F. In total, the dough will have had about 30 minutes to rise before baking.
- Before baking, generously brush dough with about half of the melted butter (or a vegan buttery spread); reserve remainder.
- Optionally, sprinkle with Kosher salt and/or cinnamon-sugar. Or try Parmesan cheese, chives, garlic or onion powder, poppy or sesame seeds.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until slightly golden, firm to the touch, and cooked through. After baking, drizzle with remaining melted butter. Breadsticks are best warm and fresh, but will keep airtight for up to 2 days. Before eating leftovers, heat for 5 seconds in micro to soften them up, adding a pat of butter if desired.
Adapted from Soft Buttery One-Hour Pretzels (vegan) and One Hour Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (vegan)
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
22Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 84Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 76mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 1gSugar: 7gProtein: 2g
More Quick & Easy Bread Recipes:
1-Hour Homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting — It’s possible to make soft, light, fluffy cinnamon rolls from scratch in 1 hour! These are yeast cinnamon rolls topped with a homemade cream cheese frosting.Â
1-Hour Soft Pretzels — Just like the mall but homemade and ready in 1 hour!
1-Hour Whole Wheat Pizza Dough — Stop buying pizza dough. Make your own in under 1 hour!
No-Knead Make Ahead Dinner Rolls – An amazingly easy dinner roll recipe!
Whole Wheat No-Knead Dinner Rolls — Working with wheat flour and yeast is usually the kiss of death but these rolls are light, fluffy, soft and you’d never guess made exclusively with whole wheat flour
30 Minute Honey Whole Wheat Skillet Bread (no-knead, no yeast) – You’ll never believe that bread this light is made without yeast or kneading, and in 30 minutes
In the recipe there is a note about adding salt to the “pretzels” after their baked instead of putting it in the dough. But this recipe isn’t for pretzels, its for bread sticks. Does the same still go for the breadsticks? Also, am I missing something, to me breadsticks are long, slender rods of dough. Every picture I see is a big square of dough. Is this a “breadstick”?
It was a typo.
I know you posted this forever ago, but I wanted to give you a tip on dough rising. Instead of your trick with turning the oven on then off to get an optimal rising temp – you can simply put the dough in the oven with the oven light on. I have never had this method fail, and it’s so easy!
And I’m making these breadsticks tonight, they look delicious!
I’ve tried that before and I must have a weak oven light…never seems to get hot enough! But glad yours works out that way, lucky lady! Enjoy the breadsticks!
These are a taste of heaven. They need to be doubled for my family; added garlic, cilantro, smoked paprika and salt to the melted butter and reserved some for dipping. Thanks for your amazing recipes!
Love your version and they sound sooo good! Wish I was having those right now :)
These bread sticks were better than Olive Garden by a long shot. I did have to add a touch more flour to get the right texture (I live in rainy WA) but other than that they were perfect. So nice to have a recipe like this that can be made in an hour:) LOVE your blog!
I love that you thought they were better than Olive Garden by a long shot, music to my ears, and I agree but I’m partial :) And yes dry San Diego compared to rainy/damp WA would explain the flour. Glad they turned out great for you!
These were sooo good and easy! For some reason they didn’t really rise… maybe the water wasn’t warm enough. They were still really delicious! I put salt, garlic powder, and parmesan on half of them, and cinnamon sugar on the other half. Yum!
They’re not a ‘high rising’ super puffy dough, and also given the 1 hour total time, there’s not tons of time to rise, but they still rise. I would suspect the water wasn’t quite warm enough, the air temp of your kitchen was on the chill side, and/or your yeast was possibly just past it’s prime or an off-batch (some batches are, even when perfectly fresh). But regardless, glad the flavor still came out great and I like that you did salty and sweet versions!
Hi, I tried making these again last night and had more success! I used warmer water and they rose this time (except maybe for a tiny bit in the middle). I also had to use more flour as the dough was very sticky. I’ll definitely be making these more in the future. Thanks!
Glad they came out great for you and you’ll be making more in the future! Glad the warmer water did the trick!
I made these today, and they were a HUGE hit with my family! So quick and easy…soft, buttery, and delicious! I added garlic powder, salt, and parmesan cheese for a savory breadstick. Needless to say, this recipe is a keeper and will see lots of use in our house. Thanks for a great recipe!
We made these a few times already and we LOVED them! My girls (2.5 and 1 yr. old) finished nearly half a batch between themselves in one sitting :)
I made them with all whole wheat flour and just added about 2 tbsp. of vital wheat gluten. They were soft and fluffy like you wouldn’t believe! For the second batch I used some leftover homemade garlicky herb butter to brush the dough with and then sprinkled grated cheese over it – perfect party finger food! They have become a real staple in our home.
Thank you for this great, easy, quick, and yummy recipe!
That’s awesome that you’ve made them a few times already and that using all w.w. flour with a little vital wheat gluten does the trick. Great to know! Your leftover homemade garlicky herb butter and cheese idea does sound like perfect party food! Wish everyone was as creative with recipes and took the ball and would run with them like you – love this! :)
I know this isn’t your fault, but man these would have been so much better if I had remembered to spray the plastic wrap with nonstick spray before letting the bread sticks rise! Half the dough stuck to it and ended up in the trash. :(
Sorry yes there are some things I don’t write because I assume people know it but always spray plastic wrap! I bet you’ll never forget that one :)
great….i just saw this and of course mine wouldn’t rise
Made these last night. Used 1/2 whole wheat flour, and non-instant yeast because that is what I keep on hand. Recipe still worked well. Had to add in a little more flour, perhaps because the whole wheat was fresh ground and fluffy. We had guests for dinner and everyone liked them. I sprinkled with a bit of garlic too, and parmesan on some of them, for those who can eat dairy in the house :) flavor was great! Wish I would have cut mine thinner though because they grew quite a bit.
Sounds like with the tweaks with the wheat, non instant yeast, extra flour, garlic & parm, they still turned out great! Thanks for trying the recipe!
These are super tasty! I’ve made them a few times. The dough is always super sticky for me. I end up slowly adding in nearly another cup of flour to get the dough to an easy-to-handle-and-roll out consistency.
Oh wow, you must live in a damp or humid climate. The damper it is, the more flour you generally will need. Also, switching to a high quality flour like King Arthur is my #1 tip b/c you will need less of it, in the long run. It’s got a higher protein content and will give everything better rise and structure. But sounds like you love these and I am so happy to hear that!
I am seriously in love with your blog!
thanks!
Hello Averie! I made these the other day and they were delicious! Of course, after trying your soft pretzels and your pizza dough I knew that they would have been amazing! :)
So glad that you tried these! Another easy one to add to your lineup of breads to make, right! Thanks for the sweet praise, Monica :) Have a wonderful week!
These look dangerous, I am pretty sure I’ll eat them all ;)
Made these for a dinne with friends, had to fight the kids off so adults could taste them, too. What a hit! My dough was pretty sticky, though, but end result was fine. Thanks, Averie! Also, I have made your vegan pumpkin muffins about five times, and yesterday the blender muffins!
So glad that they were a hit with adults and kids. Sticky dough is actually a blessing…the stickier the dough is, the softer the finished bread will be (it stays lighter and less dense – but many people are annoyed with sticky dough. You can always add more flour but the less you add, the lighter your bread will be) and sounds like they were great!
Thanks for trying them and the vegan pumpkin muffins AND the blender muffins. Wow that is so awesome. Thanks for your support!
haha! I am “that” person who eats all the bread and breadsticks at restaurants (I steal everyone else’s too!). I should make this recipe as an edible apology to those I snatched carbs from. :D
I made these for lunch today, and I think they are the easiest yeast bread I’ve ever made. Definitely going in the repertoire!
Thrilled that you tried them & think they’re the easiest yeast bread you’ve ever made – I am right there with you! Thanks for LMK you’re so pleased with the recipe! :)
These were fabulous with my stew tonight and my family definitely loved them! They also went very fast–no leftovers. I found the recipe extremely easy–only a few ingredients. I went ahead and kneaded by hand for about 8-9 min. while I talked to my mom. They are so soft and squishy and my sister liked the melted butter and sprinkle of salt on them. I was running a little behind today so just letting the dough rise once saved me!
Paula I’m thrilled to hear they were a big hit for you and none leftover. I can totally see feeding a small group, that they’d go fast :) And that you were able to just knead and chitchat on the phone, easy-breezy, love that! Thanks as always for the field report & glad the 1 rise was just what you needed today!
These are SO fabulous!! WOW. I am that person who eats the entire basket of bread. So these are perfect!
Saw these and started them literally five minutes later. Oven is preheating now! Can’t wait! I think I’ll sprinkle them with sugar and use some cinnamon chips I’ve been wanting to use to make a yummy drizzle once they’re our of the oven. Or do I want salty? Better do both!
Glad you started them right away and I hope you love them as much as I do :)
I seriously want to make these RIGHT NOW.
Averie you’re the beeeeeest! I’m totally that person who keeps eating bread until she’s too full to eat her entree. And why choose between salty/buttery and sugar/cinnamony at the mall? I’m not ashamed to admit that I buy and eat both at the same time. I can’t believe these gorgeous, perfect breadsticks only take an hour. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
I love that you double fist pretzels, all flavors, don’t care. I do that with mixed drinks when I can’t decide what I want :)
Devine :) YUM! This looks fairly easy too :)
A yeast phobia <– Haha, I guess that'd be me. I'm also terrible at making decisions, so these breadsticks are perfect! They remind me of Olive Garden's breadsticks, which are pretty much the main reason I go to Olive Garden. :) Love these!
They’re totally like Oliver Garden’s breadsticks. Now you can skip all that and just make these at home!
Anything that delicious looking that only takes 1 hour to make is dangerous! Yum!
omg they’re so beeeeautiful! I LOVE breadsticks, and these look SO incredibly soft and fluffy and perfect!!!
I love how easy these are to make. Fabulous how-to directions and photos! Thanks for baking with us!
Thanks for creating amazing yeast! Truly, the best. It’s always a pleasure to bake with you and so glad you like the recipe, post, directions, and photos!
Pinned it, making them (both sweet and savory!!) tomorrow!! Yum…I can already taste them!!!
Btw, what kind of rolling pin do you use?
The rolling pin in the photos was cheap, like $10 bucks or so from BB & Beyond
But when I am trying to roll out something more precise, I use this one
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-535609/Sur+La+Table+Marble+Rolling+Pin
I love breadsticks, but when you sprinkle cinnamon sugar on them…it makes me do a happy dance. These look amazing.
These rolls are perfect, Averie! So darn fluffy. I love it. And gorgeous step-by-step photos. Your kitchen has such great lighting. My kitchen is the furthest from the windows lol. Anyway, I can’t believe how easy these are. Only a 30 minute rise! So fast, easy, and simple. I have to make breadsticks at home!
I wanted to kill myself with the step shots though. You know how it is :) Great lighting? Well…not so much. I mean wayyyyy better than my old place but the winter lighting is killing me. I had to JACK up the Iso to 1000. Yeah, shot with my 50mm 1.2 at an ISO of 1000 or 1250 on some of them at a f/4.0 I was surprised the grainy factor wasn’t worse. I just tried to hold me camera rock steady and not have shaky hands :)
Anyway onto the recipe, Sally, SUCH an easy yeast bread. Way too easy, actually :)
Wow! These look amazing :)
These look so unbelievably fluffy and incredible!! That texture is amazing!
Thanks Jaclyn, I appreciate it!
I can completely relate. My addiction to bread is the reason why I don’t go to places like Olive Garden where they put a tempting bowl of bread right in front of you. I think I will try the whole wheat version, though. I am a little nervous about using over 50%, what other tips would you recommend?
Read the post I linked to and read about baking with whole wheat and like I said, I would not use over 50% w.w.
Honestly, I love the recipe as written and some things are just not meant to be wheaty (for me personally) and soft buttery breadsticks for me is one of those things so I don’t intend to do a w.w. version but if you do, LMK!
YUM! I only go to Olive Garden for the all you can eat breadsticks. Is that bad? Now I don’t have to! These look so soft and buttery and so dangerously bad addicition to bread. Thank goodness bikini season is behind us!
The only reason I ever even used to go to places like Outback, Red Lobster or Olive Garden was for the fruity drinks and the cheap, white, awesome bread. Bread and drinks – a good time for all :)
Oh my gosh! I must make these! They look and sound amazing. Pinning the recipe for sure!
Thanks for the pin, Molly!
These breadsticks look dangerously delicious – I can’t pick a favorite so that just means I need to try both variations!
Oh boy these looks absolutely phenomenal! Yes – I have to seriously hold off when I’m at a restaurant because I could devour that warm bread basket before my meal arrives and not even be hungry for the man dish. Make at your own risk, indeed! ;)
These breadstick look gorgeous and so yummy! Definitively going to make these next time I have company over! I don’t think I could trust myself around a big basket full of warm bread sticks! :D
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating – I NEVER miss bread until I read your bread posts!
This – if you’re the type of person who can devour a basket of soft breadsticks before they bring your food, and by the time you do get your food, you’ve eaten so many breadsticks that you don’t even want it <– THAT IS ME. Or was, anyway.
I can smell these in my house right now even though I'm not baking them. The smell is jumping out of my computer!
They were so good, Katie! I usually prefer my mindless calories in cookie form, but these were so good. Glad that my pics/writing is good enough to make you miss bread, even though you normally don’t. I mean, sorry for you of course!! (but at least I’ve done my job)
You’re right Averie–ZERO excuse not to bake these fluffy breadsticks. Of course, why would I ever want to make excuses when I could be eating them instead? ;-) Love the step by step photos you have in here. I know that can be kind of a pain to pause for pics when you are in the midst of baking, but I know so many people are going to truly appreciate them.
Pain isn’t even the word. But yes with yeast dough, I know it’s really helpful so I dealt with it :) so thanks for noticing!
So soft and doughy!! These look like some of the best breadsticks! And thanks for all the step-by-step photos! Those are such a pain. Especially with bread!
I have to give these one a try soon, my family love buttery soft bread sticks!
Pain isn’t even the word. But yes with yeast dough, I know it’s really helpful so I dealt with it :) so thanks for noticing and I know you know what it’s like with all the stuff you make!
These remind me of the breadsticks from Pizza Hut I used to love as a kid. That’s one of the few fast foods I still crave on occasion and now I can have it!
I was trying to think where/what these breadsticks were like and you just reminded me: PIZZA HUT!! omg yes!! Thanks for that and for the tweet too!
Whoa!! These looks incredible Averie..
thanks Erika!
what a great idea!
I’ll take one of each! Yum!!
Yum, yum, yum!!! These look A-mazing.
:)
Another perfectly timed post–my parents are coming to visit this weekend and I was planning to make a big pot of root veggie stew Friday. I think stew needs bread and I have 1 packet of yeast left. Meant to be!! Just 1 rise and ready in an hour–I love that! My husband will swoon over these (we all will)!
Well the timing is great! LMK how they go for you and what you and your family thinks!
Bread sticks are not that popular in Australia, but if it has yeast, flour and sugar in it. Count me in!
Wow dessert and a meal in one? I can sure use this recipe on a daily basis. I am always look for more ways to make meals easier. I might just try this one of your dip recipes, or that soup you did a while ago.^_^
If you try these, Lmk what you think!
With cinnamon and sugar, with salt, with whatever, I want these! Scrolling through this post I was also reminded how many of your bread recipes I want to make. Lastly, would it be a sin to make the sticks and eat them with butter?;)
would it be a sin to make the sticks and eat them with butter?;) <--- not at all! Go for it! :)
What a great recipe! The breadsticks I usually make take about 2 hours, so it will be great to have extra time. Trying these this weekend!
Awesome that they’ll take half as long! LMK what you think!
Dude, you know how crazy I am about carbs! Amazing. So light. So buttery. So perfect! And thanks for the tutorial – I’m always a bit of a wimp when it comes to yeast so these pictures are super helpful!
Well I’m glad you like the step shots and that they’re helpful! YAY! :) And thanks for the pin on my brownies earlier tonight! You’re seriously the best!