super easy cheesy garlic pull-apart roll recipe

I have a treat for you guys today! If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’ve been baking up a storm during this quarantine, and my most recent venture was these super cheesy garlic pull-apart roll recipe. Our boys (read: us, too) absolutely love carbs, and we go through so many rolls and loaves of homemade bread a week between snacks, lunches, easy dinners, and more. I made some sweet dinner rolls last week, and our kids loved them. This time, however, I wanted to try something a bit more savory, and what’s better than garlic bread?

French bread is hard to come by right now though, and I didn’t want to wrestle with making a homemade loaf of bread, so I decided to opt for rolls because they’re easy for the kids to snack on-the-go, and they’re super simple to toss in Ryan’s lunch for work, as well. The best part of these rolls though? They’re a grand total of 11 ingredients, and if you have yeast on hand, you should definitely make them.

Super Easy Cheesy Garlic Pull-Apart Roll Recipe

This was my first time making them, and they were awesome. I’ll fully admit I probably should’ve added a bit more cheese though because, I mean, can you ever go wrong with cheese? I know you can’t in this house. Regardless, here’s what you’ll need:

For the Rolls:
1 cup warm milk
2 ¼ tsp active yeast
¼ cup salted butter (melted)
2 tbsp sugar
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
½ tsp salt

For the Filling/Topping:
1 cup shredded cheese – you can use the cheese of your choice, and you can use more or less
3 tbsp butter softened
1 tbsp finely crushed/diced garlic
Garlic powder
Italian herbs (optional)

This ratio of ingredients yields about 12-14 rolls, depending on the size you choose. I usually go a little bigger with them, simply because I like to fill them as much as possible. This most recent batch yielded 13 palm-sized rolls, and they were so good! Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Warm your milk to 110F. I usually do this in the microwave for about 30ish seconds. You want it to be warm enough to touch, but not too hot because it will kill the yeast.
2. Add your active yeast and sugar to the milk and mix thoroughly before setting it aside for 10 minutes. You want it to get pretty foamy looking. If it doesn’t, discard it, and start again.
3. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl with a hand mixer, add 3 cups of flour, your egg, the melted butter, and salt. Give it a general mix with the dough hook, then wait for the yeast mixture to be ready.
4. After 10 minutes, add the yeast/milk/sugar mixture to the mixer and start mixing on the lowest setting with your dough hook. Let it run for about 3-5 minutes, then pause and add the last ½ cup of flour. Let it mix for another 3-5 minutes, or until all the dough has pulled off the sides of the bowl.
5. Shape your dough into a bowl and cover tightly, placing it in a warm, dark place, then let it rise for two hours or until it has doubled in size. I usually give it the full two hours.
6. While the dough rises, take your softened butter, garlic, and garlic powder, as well as your optional herbs, and melt then mix them together.
7. After two hours, remove your dough, and punch out the air. Then, divide it into individuals balls for your rolls.
8. Take one of your balls of dough and flatten it into a thin circle on a clean surface.
9. Take a small amount of your butter/garlic/herb mixture and spoon it into the middle, topping it with about a tbsp of shredded cheese. Again, you can do more or less, depending on your preferences!
10. Fold in the corners of your roll and pinch them together tightly so they don’t come apart during the second rise or baking. Repeat for the rest of your rolls, placing them on a baking sheet either side by side, or in a circle, like I did. They’ll rise together and pull apart once baked.
11. Once all rolls are on your baking sheet, cover them lightly with a towel and place in a dark, warm place for another hour.
12. Preheat your oven to 350F.
13. After the hour is up, top with whatever butter mixture is remaining and any extra cheese if you’d like before baking.
14. Bake your rolls for 20-22 minutes, depending on your desired level of brownness.

Voila! You have cheesy and delicious, ooey-gooey rolls that are a huge any time of day. I know it looks like a lot of work, but honestly, the yeast does the heavy lifting here (haha – see what I did there?!) Also, I should note that these were devoured so fast that I didn’t even have time to take a finished photo of the rolls altogether before half were gone. Oops. I guess that’s the sign of yummy rolls?

Tell me – what is your favorite type of savory roll?