Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread
This easy knockoff recipe for Macaroni Grill rosemary bread is soft, fluffy, and infused with the best fresh rosemary flavor.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Better than Macaroni Grill!!! My husband said it was the best bread he has ever tasted! Took the second loaf to my Aunt’s and it was gone within seconds! Thank You!! -Nadia
How to Make Rosemary Bread at Home
Rosemary is added to the dough and also sprinkled on top before baking. The key to this bread is making sure to use fresh rosemary – the bright fragrant flavor makes all the difference.
- Mix together the dough ingredients until the dough forms a ball that clears the sides of the bowl.
- Let the dough rise until doubled.
- Separate the dough into two pieces and form each piece into a taut loaf shape.
- Use a sharp baking lame or razor to slash the dough several times across the top.
- Brush the tops of the loaves with butter and then sprinkle with fresh rosemary and coarse salt.
- Let the loaves rise until very puffy.
- Bake the bread until golden.
I wish you all the self-control in the world to wait to cut into the bread until it is fully cooled. I do not have the same self-control. A warm slice of this bread slathered with butter (or herb butter!) is just about the most delicious thing on planet earth.
Easy Sourdough Variation
Here is an easy way to make a delicious sourdough discard variation of this Macaroni Grill rosemary bread:
- Reduce the water to 1 cup.
- Reduce the yeast to 1 1/2 teaspoons.
- Reduce the flour by 1/2 cup.
- Add 1 cup of sourdough discard in the first step, and proceed with the recipe.
The bread will be ultra-fluffy with a wonderful depth of flavor. It’s my favorite way to make this bread!
This recipe has hundreds of 5-star reviews for good reason. I’ve been making this bread for over ten years, and it still remains one of my favorite recipes of all time and is highly requested by family and friends.
I grow a rosemary plant just for this bread and make dozens of loaves every year! So much better than the restaurant version and so easy to make at home!
Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water, 105 to 110 degrees F.
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 3 ½ to 4 cups all-purpose or bread flour (see note)
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- Coarse salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the water, sugar, and yeast. If using active dry yeast, let the mixture stand until foaming and bubbly, about 5 minutes. If using instant yeast, proceed with the recipe.
- Add 2 cups of the flour, 2 tablespoons of the chopped rosemary, and the salt, and mix to combine.
- With the mixer on medium speed, gradually add flour until a soft dough is formed that clears the sides and center/bottom of the bowl and knead for 4 to 5 minutes. The exact amount of flour will depend on several factors, so judge the amount of flour needed by the look and feel of the dough. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch and form a ball without leaving a lot of doughy residue on your fingers.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased or oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 2 hours.
- Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper, lightly grease with cooking spray, and set aside.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly greased countertop and divide in half.
- With lightly floured or greased hands, take each piece of dough and fold it in half, pressing the bottom seam to seal. Move your hands to the rough ends and do the same. Continue this process until a taut loaf is formed, making sure to pinch any seams to seal.
- Place the loaves equal distant apart on the prepared baking sheet with plenty of room in between them for rising and baking.
- Use a sharp razor blade or baking lame to gently slash 2 to 3 lines across the top of the loaves.
- Brush the melted butter evenly across the top of the loaves. Continue brushing on the butter until it is gone (the loaves will be well-saturated).
- Sprinkle the remaining chopped rosemary and a pinch or two of coarse salt over the top of the loaves.
- Cover and let rise until puffy and nearly doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.
- Toward the end of rising time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until golden.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from a collection cookbook given to me by my sister-in-law Erin W., as well as a recipe sent to me by my other sister-in-law, Mary G.
Recipe originally published March 2012; updated June 2026 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
I have made this recipe a few times already. We love it! No need for any butter at the table, the flavor is all in the bread!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! We eat out rarely, but this bread is one of my favorites! Can’t wait to give it a try.
I made this bread last night with fresh rosemary and it was so tasty! I topped it with fresh rosemary and applewood smoked salt instead of what your recipe calls for, and I must say, it’s very, very good. I think I’ll have to make some sandwich roll sized loaves for the next batch! 🙂
It’s been too long since I’ve been to Macaroni grill to remember what the bread tastes like, but I made this yesterday and paired it with a Macaroni Grill Chicken Cannelloni copy-cat recipe and it was AWESOME!! I made the bread by hand. I was pretty impressed by how well it raised and everything given that I’m not very experienced in bread making! So yummy. Now I’m going to make that garlic butter spread….I have a feeling the second loaf will disappear extra fast!
Hello ladies,
My husband’s company makes the Mac Grill bread for the restaurant chain and sorry I can’t divulge the recipe. The chef at any Mac Grill wouldn’t know the actual recipe as it’s made from another company. He has managed the production of this bread for years and my kids have grown up enjoying it. Whenever you visit the bakery it smells like Mac Grill Bread but so did his clothes. 🙂 Be sure to warm it and dunk it in some good olive oil.
This was soooo great. Even the yeast looked beautiful as it foamed. And salt on bread= heaven.
Marci – I think Andy may be right if your bread hadn’t cooled long enough. Do you think that could have been the problem?
Andy – not enough kneading can inhibit rising in the bread (thanks to lack of gluten development) but also overflouring could have been a culprit, too, which is quite easy to have happen when making bread by hand. I’m glad you liked the finished product, though – I’m impressed you made it by hand, way to go!
I used the recipe yesterday and the bread was delicious! Although, it didn’t rise as much as I expected, so it was a little dense. I dont own a mixer, so i did the kneading by hand. Would under-kneading prevent it from rising as much? It was still quite tasty.
Marci- Sounds to me like you didn’t let the bread cool long enough. I let mine sit for about two hours. If your bread was still warm on the inside, the slight condensation that would naturally occur in cooling was trapped in the bag. The salt looked like it melted because it was soaking up the excess water.
Is it wierd that when I put my leftovers in a ziplock, the course salt kind of melted and it got really moist on top?
Marci – rapid rise yeast is the same as instant so the yeast shouldn’t be a problem. Flour (either underflouring or overflouring) can definitely make a difference with rising. Usually if it is underfloured, the dough will spread out instead of keeping it’s shape and rising so you end up with more of a flatter loaf. With overflouring, the dough generally keeps its original loaf shape but doesn’t build volume. If you think you underfloured, try adding another 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup flour (gradually) next time and see how it comes out. Good luck!
Andy – I use table salt in the bread dough recipe and use coarse kosher salt to sprinkle on the top of the loaves.
What type of salt are you using?
My bread was delicious as well, especially with that spread! My biggest problem with bread is always that they don’t raise as much as they should. I use a rapid yeast, and I may not have put quite enough flour, I did three cups. Any suggestions?
I made this bread Tuesday and it was the perfect pick-me-up after my wheat bread failure earlier that day. (My past experience has all been with white dough, I am ashamed to admit. I didn’t realize that wheat dough takes longer to rise than white and got impatient, so it came out rather dense, but yummy for toast.)
I loved how easy the dough was to work with and the bread even survived my (a) making it rise in/near a warmish oven so I could reduce rising time (impatient and on a tight schedule) and (b) accidentally baking the first fifteen minutes on 350–I was wondering why it wasn’t browning (I have three little girls ranging 4 months through 3 years, so I was rather distracted). It was STILL WONDERFUL! I LOVE crusty artisan breads, especially dipped in olive oil and balsalmic with fresh ground pepper. I froze the other loaf immediately after dinner as I plan to use it for dinner next week or I know we would have gobbled it up.
It has been years since I have been to the Macaroni Grill. I made this yesterday and felt like I was sitting in the restaurant. It brought back lots of fond memories. This is awesome and easy! Thanks so much for sharing this!
I used my baking stone this time. I let the loaves rise on individual pieces of parchment on my pizza peel, then baked them one at a time on the preheated stone, like the instructions for Rustic Crusty Bread . It worked very well.
I look forward to using fresh rosemary the next time I make it.
Lyndsay – I buy my unbleached all-purpose flour in 25 pound bags at Sam’s club and I grind all of my whole wheat flour using white wheat berries bought various places (Walmart when I can find it, online and at my nearest LDS Home Storage Center which you can use whether or not you are LDS).
That is my favorite restaurant bread on the planet! Can’t wait to try this one!
MMMM can’t wait to try this. I am currently loving your Grandma’s French Bread recipe. Just curious…where do you buy your flour since you make all your bread and pancakes from scratch.
Marci – I’d recommend baking them both and freezing one loaf after cooling.
Boy this brings back memories! I worked for Macaroni Grill for several years in college. I could take their bread some meat sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese and make an entire meal out of it! I haven’t set foot in a Macaroni Grill in for-ev-er (mainly after eating, smelling, seeing the food for so long I couldn’t stand it after a while) but would love to try this homemade version of the beloved rosemary bread to compare it to what I remember. My bet is that this version is much better since it is homemade!
I will have to try your recipe for this – the one I’ve used in the past specifically says not to knead the dough, and the dough is extremely sticky and hard to work with, although the bread always tastes really yummy. For those having difficulty chopping the dried rosemary, I use a small mortar and pestle that my sister gave to me, and it works great. I think she got it from Orson Gygi or somewhere like that.
If I only need one loaf, would you suggest freezing the other in dough form or cook them both up and and freeze it after it’s been baked?
I made this tonight to go with dinner it was very yummy! Thank you!
Mel,
Fun to see that you tried the recipe! 🙂 And I’m glad you liked it enough to post it too! I have to say that in my opinion it tastes much better with fresh rosemary… I don’t know if you tried it that way, but it’s amazing the difference between the dried and the fresh. We like the bread so much that I planted rosemary plants in our garden and transplanted them to indoor pots for the winter so that we would always have fresh rosemary available… 🙂 Anyhow, it was fun to see this posted! Keep up the good work! We love ya!
I enjoyed seeing your recipe. I’ve made a knockoff myself, completely without meaning to! Far as I can remember, mine was really nothing more than sourdough with rosemary and olive oil mixed in. Fun to compare different recipes!
thank you – I’ll add a bit more flour next time. and there will be a next time.
I’ve never actually had the rosemary bread either, but the flavors sounds delicious. Anything that involves homemade bread sounds good to me!
You’ve read my mind! I was JUST wondering how I could possibly make this bread at home after eating the whole loaf last time I was at Macaroni Grill. Can’t wait to try it:)
I love Macaroni Grill bread. I fill up on bread and take my entree home, it’s that good. I can’t wait to give this a go, but I am waiting for the butter recipe–you are such a tease!
Mel, this looks fabulous, and so easy. It’s perfectly golden brown and fluffy, too. My kind of bread!
Catherine – glad you liked the bread! In answer to your questions:
1) Yes, dried rosemary is quite a nightmare to chop. You could definitely sub fresh rosemary in this recipe which is easier to battle with a knife, but I do like you do and put a paper towel or something over the rosemary while I chop it. I’ve almost thought that I should try putting it in a ziploc and crushing it with a rolling pin or mallet – I may try that next time.
2) I think this bread would work great baked directly on a baking stone. Have you seen the post for the rustic bread:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2012/02/rustic-crusty-bread-a-simple-how-to.html
If it were me, I’d do something similar – letting the loaves rise on individual sheets of parchment paper then sliding them (with the parchment paper) onto the baking stone to bake. If you have a pizza peel, you could dust it with cornmeal and slide the loaves directly onto the stone without parchment paper. Let me know if you try it that way!
sweetpea – did your dough seem overly sticky? They might have flattened during baking if they were underfloured or if they rose too long or too quickly after being shaped into loaves. I’d try adding a bit more flour and see how it goes next time. Good luck!
I LOVE the bread at Macaroni Grill! Can’t wait to try this…I think I’ll wait for the butter spread recipe first though. You are the best!
just delicious!! (flat-tish or not) and so easy! Thank you.
Today I needed something to make me feel good and this was just the ticket. It tastes just like I remember it at Macaroni Grill–and I remember devouring basket after basket of it! I had prepared a little dish of olive oil and freshly ground black pepper to dip it in (as if it needs it!). When it came out of my oven, I ate a whole slice before I could bring myself to stop eating long enough to dip it into the oil. It’s Great With AND WithOUT!
QUESTION 1: in order to chop the dried rosemary that comes in the bottles in the spice aisle, I had to lay a kitchen towel over the cutting board and chop away blindly. Otherwise it was flipping all over the counter. It worked fine, but is this the right rosemary to use?
QUESTION 2: it seemed to me that a pizza stone would lend itself well to baking this bread. I raised the loaves on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and preheated the oven with the stone in it. I baked it on the sheet on a rack just above the stone. One of the bottoms didn’t finish baking in the time allotted, so I left it by itself directly on the stone and it browned nicely in just a couple minutes. Would you suggest any other ways to try it with the baking stone?
I put it in a plastic bag and used the rolling pin,
There are never enough different kinds of bread to make!
I love the bread at Olive Garden! This recipe is definitely going into the “must make” stack! The kitchen is going to smell so good!
mine look quite pretty EXCEPT for the fact that they are two flat-tish discs. Would that mean I did not add enough
flour? (they rose beautifully). Can’t cut into til they are totally cool!!
I had the same issue, my loafs came out flat-ish, and still delicious. Is it the flour?
Sounds like you might need a bit more flour or I’ve found with this recipe that the shaping of the loaf makes a huge difference whether it rounds or flattens. Make sure it’s shaped into a very round, taut ball. If it flattens while rising, don’t be afraid to reshape it and let it rise again.
Mel, I have a garlic/herb mix you put in the oil and vinegar much like what you get at Carrabba’s that is amazing with this bread. Let me know if you want me to email it to you!!
This is amazing—I saw this post this morning and thought—“i’m going to have to try that”– Well, here it is 3 and I’ve just devoured my first slice of it….so, so good!!!!
Am I the only idiot on your site that doesn’t know how easy it is to make bread? I swear! All you people are so confident and make crazy, beautiful things! I’m still just a tiny, wee baby with baking. Thanks to Mel I’m taking more chances and her fool proof recipes make me feel like a million bucks when I pull a loaf of bread out of the oven that looks just like hers! Mel is my hero! Everything there is to know about cooking (and baking) I learned from Mel!
Okay, so since I made the Rustic Crusty bread and it was gone before I hardly had a chance to taste it (and made YUM paninis with it too – turkey club!), I am going to now take this one on in confidence that I can do this. I don’t remember the Mac-grill bread, but I love me some rosemary and the picture is just to die for. Breathing deeply…I can do this, I can do this.
Love, love LOVE this bread. My girlfriends request that I make it almost every time we do lunch together. There is rarely a slice leftover.
Somehow my mom got the actual recipe from a chef at our local Macaroni grill. I’ve been meaning to try it but never have the time for yeast breads!
Thanks again for a recipe I know will be wonderful. I have tried Macaroni Grill’s bread and we always ask for extra bread so we’ll have some to take home! I will be making this today!
I could just go eat their bread with some iced tea and call it a meal. You are now my hero for posting this (and admitting to eating excessive amounts of this like I surely will) !!
oh wow, I can’t wait to try this!! I love rosemary bread, especially with butter. I can’t wait to try this. I have to see if it lives up to my current favorite rosemary potato bread! 🙂
I love Macaroni Grill’s bread!! I can’t wait to try this recipe!!!
Merged and adapted and variated…she let’s us in on the scientific process by which she concocts her foolproof recipes. And she presents a bread worth choosing over chocolate. Happy Monday!
YUM! I’ve never had Macaroni Grill’s rosemary bread, but your recipe is one I am definitely going to make. I would take a slice of this bread, slathered with garlic herb butter (I can’t wait for you to post that recipe!) over chocolate, too! 😉