As a kid, I had a love of garlic cheese bread that rivaled most of the other foods I loved, and I loved me some food when I was younger. So, I decided to learn to make garlic cheese bread for my family and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was! And I got rave reviews from both the kids and wife, so I thought I would share what worked.
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Why I Love This Recipe?
Easy and tasty, simple as that. Making garlic butter is a great way to have a delicious ingredient on hand for other uses, and melted, toasted cheese is very satisfying all by itself. Then smash it together on tasty bread, it’s a garlicky side dish worth making again and again.
Ingredients & Equipment
3 Ingredients for Excellent Garlic Bread
- 3 Ingredient Garlic Butter: Featured on this site as it’s own recipe, garlic butter has a whole bunch of uses for adding complexity to a dish. Toss it on pasta, vegetables, or spread it on pizza dough to add garlic to pizza. It’s endless!
- Bread: While I suggest french bread, flatbread, or something similar; making this simple side with plain white bread is totally acceptable. It’s a great way to eat a bunch of bread if you have too much!
- Cheese: Shredded or sliced, use a nice cheese that melts without separating. Mozzarella, Provel (St. Louis style!), and Provelone are my top go to cheeses for melty goodness. Check out this article for more cheese melting inspiration.
Equipment Needed for Garlic Bread
- Baking Sheet: A simple flat surface to put into your oven. Every kitchen should have 2-3.
- Parchment Paper: I love parchment paper and almost any time I bake on a sheet, I line it with paper. It reduces the cleanup of the pan to almost nothing and seems to reduce the crispiness of the bread a bit.
- Bread Knife: Something to cut your baked garlic cheese bread, having a nice bread knife key to doing it well. It also works well on tomatoes!
Preparation
Preparing the Garlic Bread
My favorite part of garlic cheese bread is that it is so simple to put together. First, you make the garlic butter, if you don’t have it on hand. Combine butter, garlic powder, and salt and you’re ready to go! Take a look at our Garlic Butter recipe for more exact directions. I figured an ingredient that tasty needed its own recipe.
Next, depending on the bread you’re using, you’ll want to slice it longways into two halves. Slather the inside of those two halves with the garlic butter you made. It’ll soak in when it melts, so go nuts. Bread soaked with melted garlicky butter is downright delightful in the end.
After the garlic butter is spread, add the cheese on top. Either shredded or sliced, use whatever you have on hand. A local pasta chain, Psghetti’s, uses thick sliced cheese on sweet Italian bread and it is amazing (and very St. Louis style). Sliced or shredded, you can’t really use too much cheese on bread. I mean within reason, but still.
Slice the bread lengthwise if needed Slather in garlic butter, cover with cheese! Bake and Enjoy!
Baking the Garlic Bread
To bake the garlic bread, high heat is needed to brown the cheese, so we use 400*F to get it done. I have tried broiling it but the heat is too intense and it is too easy to burn it. I think 6 minutes on high broil resulted in very, very dark cheese on top. Still edible and delicious, but another minute would have been a disaster. So we bake it for 15 minutes at 400*F on parchment paper. I think the parchment paper helps keep the crispiness of the bread bottom to a minimum, so that’s why I recommend it for this recipe. But, to be honest, I recommend parchment paper almost any time anything is cooked on a baking sheet to reduce the cleanup.
After 15 minutes, remove the bread from the oven and cut it into individual servings. You could either cut it before and put it in a bread bowl and cover it with a towel to keep it warm, or serve it whole and cut it at the table. The choice is yours! The bowl with the towel will keep it warm longer and may keep some of the moisture in the bread, resulting in a softer garlic bread in the end. Enjoy!
Easy Garlic Bread
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Bread Knife
Ingredients
- 1 loaf Italian bread, flat bread, or focaccia
- 4-8 Tbsp Garlic Butter see link for recipe
- 4-8 oz Mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice the bread in half if using french bread, otherwise skip.1 loaf Italian bread, flat bread, or focaccia
- Spread Garlic Butter over the top of the bread, ensuring an even layer.4-8 Tbsp Garlic Butter
- Layer with mozzarella until thoroughly coated. If using sliced cheese, do not overlap the slices.4-8 oz Mozzarella
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is golden brown. Remove it from the oven and allow to cool until it can be handled.
- Slice the bread into individual portions and enjoy!
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
To keep it simple, garlic bread does not need to be wrapped in foil to cook. If you prefer a soft garlic bread with no browning on the cheese, then wrap the garlic bread in foil and tent it over the cheese.
Any cheese can be used for garlic bread, however some cheeses don’y melt as well as others. Mozzarella, Provelone, and Provel (St. Louis Style) are my go to cheeses for melting. I try to stay away from cheddar as it gets oily when it melts.
Yes, you can freeze garlic bread! You can load it into a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer for up to 3 months! When you’re ready to take it out, let it thaw naturally or toss it in the oven at 350*F while covered in foil. Check over 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melty again!
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