Made from 6 ingredient homemade pizza dough, these easy cheesy breadsticks are a totally irresistible side dish or snack. Brush the dough with a little butter, garlic, herb seasoning, then top with lots of mozzarella cheese. Less than 15 minutes bake time.
To say these homemade breadsticks are delicious is a gigantic understatement, especially when dipped in your favorite marinara or pizza sauce. These cheesy breadsticks are covered with butter, garlic & herbs, and mozzarella cheese. Bake until golden and you have a side that majorly competes with the main dish.
Does any other food even exist when you have cheese + garlic + bread? (Homemade cheese bread and asiago-crusted skillet bread agree—no other food matters.)
Cheesy Breadsticks Dough
You can make these breadsticks with 1 pound of store-bought or homemade pizza dough. My homemade pizza dough yields about 2 lbs of dough, which is enough for 2 pizzas or 1 pizza (BBQ chicken pizza, anyone?) and 1 batch of cheesy breadsticks. If you only need 1 batch of breadsticks, freeze the other half of dough for another time. You will want to make these cheesy breadsticks again. (You can also make stromboli with the other half of dough.)
And if you enjoy baking with whole wheat flour, you could absolutely prepare these cheesy breadsticks with whole wheat pizza dough instead. That recipe also yields about 2 lbs of dough. Even though store-bought dough is super convenient, I urge you to try homemade pizza dough sometime. The dough requires 6 basic ingredients and about 60-90 minutes to rise.
Most of the “work” is hands-off and the flavor is *outstanding.*
Let’s Make Homemade Cheesy Breadsticks
Once you have your pizza dough ready, here’s what comes next:
- Shape: Shape the dough into a rectangle. The dough wants to be round, so do your best to shape into a rectangle that’s around 9×13 inches. Doesn’t need to be perfect. Cheesy breadsticks taste awesome no matter what shape!
- Top: Top the dough with melted butter, garlic, and Italian seasoning blend. Dried basil or your favorite herb works too. Sprinkle with a generous amount of cheese. I love mozzarella cheese, but you can use your favorite.
- Bake: Bake the breadsticks at a very high temperature so the cheese melts and the edges crisp up. These breadsticks bake in less than 15 minutes!
Flavor Tip: Sprinkle cornmeal on the lined baking sheet. Cornmeal adds a lovely crisp.
Quick Video Tutorial
These cheesy breadsticks are easier than you expect and the best addition to pizza night. And if you make and freeze a few batches of homemade pizza dough ahead of time, you can have this cheesy side dish/snack at your disposal ALL THE TIME.
Wait, is that a good or bad thing?!?
PS: If you need an awesome homemade pizza sauce recipe, I’ve made and love this one. These are also great for a sauce dipper with my slow cooker turkey meatballs.
So You Like Bread & Cheese?
Join the club. Here are even more recipes:
- Ham & Cheese Pockets
- Cheese Bread
- Rosemary Garlic Pull Apart Bread
- Soft Pretzel Bites with Spicy Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Homemade Pizza Rolls and Pizza Pull-Apart Rolls
- Jalapeño Cheddar No-Knead Bread
- Homemade Stromboli
Need to skip the cheese? Try these homemade breadsticks instead.
Print
Cheesy Breadsticks Made from Pizza Dough
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 small breadsticks
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made from 6 ingredient homemade pizza dough, these easy cheesy breadsticks are a completely irresistible side dish or snack. You can freeze half of the dough for another night. Only 15 minute bake time!
Ingredients
- 1 lb store-bought or homemade pizza dough*
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend or dried basil
- 1 and 3/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese*
- optional: sprinkle of cornmeal for dusting the pan
- optional: marinara or pizza sauce for dipping
Instructions
- Prepare pizza dough through step 4. Punch the risen dough down to release the air bubbles. Divide in half. (Make a pizza with the other half or freeze half of the dough for another time. See dough recipe for freezing instructions.)
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- On a lightly floured work surface or on a piece of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat sprinkled with cornmeal (I skipped the optional cornmeal in the video above), roll the dough out into a 9×13-inch rectangle. The dough will want to be round, so do your best to shape it into a thin rectangle around this size—it doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Combine the butter, garlic, and Italian seasoning together in a small bowl. Brush over shaped dough. Cover evenly with shredded cheese.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. If desired, turn the oven to broil for the last minute to really brown the top.
- Slice into breadsticks and serve plain or with marinara sauce. Cover leftover breadsticks tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Reheat as you prefer. Baked breadsticks can be frozen up to 3 months.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: If using my homemade pizza crust, you can make it ahead of time and freeze it. After the pizza dough rises and you punch it down, lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 30 minutes on the counter before using.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Rolling Pin | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush | Pizza Cutter
- Pizza Dough: You can make these breadsticks with 1 pound of store-bought or homemade pizza dough. My homemade pizza dough yields about 2 lbs of dough, which is enough for 2 pizzas, 2 batches of breadsticks, or 1 pizza and 1 batch of breadsticks. Toppings listed are enough for 1 batch of breadsticks. If you only need 1 batch of breadsticks, freeze the other half of dough for another time. All freezing and thawing instructions are in my pizza dough recipe.
- Cheese: Any shredded cheese you love works. Mozzarella is fantastic with the butter, garlic, and herb topping.
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Best homemade pizza crust I’ve ever had. I’m curious to try it with part 00 flour.
I used half a cup of pesto instead of the garlic oil.
Why is the pizza dough recipe used in this recipe baked at 475° and the cheesy bread baked at 425°?
Hi Sarah, Great question! Pizza benefits from a high temperature because it helps achieve a crispy, well-browned crust while keeping the interior of the crust soft and chewy. High heat also helps melt and slightly brown the cheese and cook the toppings quickly. Breadsticks are often baked at lower temperatures to retain more moisture and keep them a little softer.
Your stromboli recipe says onces it’s assembled, it can be refridgerated for up to 8 hours before baking. Can this cheesy bread also be prepped ahead of time and left in the fridge for up to 8 hours, or does it need baked right away?
Hi Steph, that should work, just make sure the bread is covered in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
The instructions say to make the pizza dough recipe through step 3.
Then the instructions say to punch down the risen dough.
However, step 3 of the pizza dough recipe does not include any “rise” time.
Do you mean to say “through step 4?”
Hi Cee Dee, thank you for letting us know! We recently updated the pizza dough directions to add more detail about kneading, which is why the numbering is off. We will change that now—thanks again!
I love this recipe! They litterally taste like papa johns cheesesticks
These were the BEST breadsticks I have ever made. So good they’re dangerous!
Another yummy! I had leftover garlic butter from when I made the Stromboli so I used it on this!!! Worked great
I glomed on to your Whole Wheat Pizza Dough recipe and have been using it to bake pizza once a week for some time. Awesome whole wheat recipe. Among the best whole wheat recipes I have ever found for anything baked and, believe me, I do a lot of searching as there is never any so called ‘all purpose flour’ in my place. I am going to make some of these cheesy bread sticks and was wondering how to reheat them. The first time I made pizza, half the dough was twice as much as I needed and I froze half. It did not reheat well so I know quarter the dough and freeze 3/4. Can I reheat these in the oven and have them come out alright?
Hi Jim, yes, you can reheat the baked and thawed cheesy breadsticks in the oven to your liking. Enjoy!
Love this! I made it on a pizza stone and got a super crunchy crust!