Garlic bread is on repeat in our house—it goes with everything from lasagna to a juicy steak dinner.
This garlic bread recipe starts with a French loaf topped with a buttery spread of garlic and herbs. It’s baked until golden and crispy.
Prepare garlic bread just before serving or well ahead of time.
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An Easy Goes-With-Every-Dish Side!
Garlic bread is a favorite for everyone—skip the foil wrapped loaves at the grocery store and prep your own at home!
- Homemade tastes better than store-bought, and it’s easy to make!
- Add a little or a lot of garlic, the choice is yours!
- You can make sure you get that delicious garlic butter all the way to the edges—very important!
- Prep ahead in batches and freeze for easy meals or double up on the flavorful garlic butter mixture for quick sides when you need it.
What You’ll Need for Garlic Bread
Bread: My first choice is a loaf of French bread, but you can use any baguette or crusty bread, or even ciabatta rolls, leftover hot dog buns, or hamburger buns.
Butter: I use salted butter; if using unsalted butter, add salt to the butter. Adding oil to the butter adds another layer of flavor and helps make it easy to spread.
Garlic: Fresh is best if you have it. See the recipe notes to replace it with garlic powder.
Herbs: I add parsley because I always have it on hand, and it looks nice. You can skip it if you don’t have any.
Feeling Cheesy? Sprinkle with a bit of Parmesan cheese if you’d like. You can also use finely shredded mozzarella cheese to create cheesy garlic bread. Perfect for sopping up sauce in the bottom of your spaghetti bowl!
Feeling Fancy? If time allows, homemade French bread, sourdough, or baguettes make delicious garlic bread!
How to Make Garlic Bread
Buttery, garlicky, perfection—soft inside and a little toasty on the edges.
- Mix the garlic butter ingredients (recipe below).
- Cut the bread in half lengthwise using a serrated knife and spread each side with the butter mixture.
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese on both sides if you’d like. This is optional but adds a little crispy, cheesy goodness to it. Bake until toasty.
Prep Tip
Garlic can be finely minced with a knife, but I find it easiest to use a garlic press. There are many options available—this is my favorite style of garlic press because it’s easy to clean.
How to Make Garlic Bread Soft or Crispy
Kind of like baked potatoes, I most often cook this homemade garlic bread without wrapping it in foil as I prefer it to be toasted on the edges and lightly browned.
For a softer garlic bread, after spreading the butter, place the two halves back together and wrap the bread in foil. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through.
As with most garlic bread recipes, this bread can also be grilled to serve alongside any steak, chicken, or pork chops.
How to Prepare Ahead and Freeze
Great news—this easy homemade garlic bread recipe can be prepared ahead of time.
- To prepare ahead: Prepare the bread as directed and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.
- To Freeze: Prepare the bread as directed and wrap in aluminum foil. Store in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- To bake from frozen: Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as directed. To bake directly from frozen, leave the bread wrapped in foil and bake at 350°F for 28 to 32 minutes or until heated through and the butter is melted.
Love Garlic Bread? You'll Love These, Too!
Did your family love this homemade Garlic Bread? Leave us a rating and a comment below.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 loaf french bread
- ½ cup salted butter softened
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic minced, see notes for alternatives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- In a small bowl, combine butter, olive oil, garlic, and parsley until well mixed.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the bread in half lengthwise.
- Spread the cut sides of the bread with the garlic butter mixture. Sprinkle with cheese if using. Place the halves, cut side up, on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden and toasted. Cut into slices and enjoy.
Notes
- Use a knife to finely mince the garlic, or use a garlic press.
- Garlic powder: Fresh garlic can be replaced with 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder.
- To prepare ahead: Prepare the bread as directed and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.
- To Freeze: Prepare the bread as directed and wrap in aluminum foil. Store in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- To bake from frozen: Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as directed. To bake directly from frozen, leave the bread wrapped in foil and bake at 350°F for 28 to 32 minutes or until heated through and the butter is melted.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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We’re both cutting back on colesterol. Can we use extra virgin olive oil instead of butter?
This will change the flavor slightly but will still work.
Another amazing recipe from your collection. Thank you for putting out such delicious, budget friendly recipes, my family is happy!
Hello Susan. I am glad that this recipe and others have made your family happy!
Just curious, why mix Olive oil with the butter? Thank you.
I find it makes it easier to spread, I love the bit of flavor it adds and it also can increase the smoke point of the butter.
sooooo good!
EXCELLENT!! Got too lazy to search for the parsley so added 2 teaspoons italian seasoning and topped with fresh grated Romano cheese. Also put it under the broiler to lightly brown the cheese.
I made this for my family and it was so yummy! Thank you for sharing :)
I made this tonight with some baked spaghetti, and my husband said it was the best garlic bread he had ever had, so its a winner in our house!
I used the Pillsbury refrigerator French bread dough and I have to agree, it was the best I’d ever had as well. I used freshly shredded Pinconning extra sharp cheddar and freshly shredded parmesan, and added some grated parm on top of that, let it cook a bit crisp. I need look no further for a great homemade garlic bread recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit!
Hi Joan, I have never used the Pillsbury dough before. Do you let it cook first or par bake it before adding the ingredients? Thank you so much for any information!
Hi, Holly I have a quick question do you put the whole sticks of butter in the bowl or do you chop up the butter. Also how many sticks of butter do you use for this recipe
I use one stick of butter in this recipe. The butter is mixed until fluffy and so it does not matter if you start with a whole stick or chopped up butter. I hope this helps!
Excellent. Always struggled to do this one right and finally I can . Thank you
I make this by melting the butter and garlic in pan then place bread over it to soak and then put under the broiler. Sooo delicious!
I tried the recipe without the cheese, with different kind of cheese like grated cheddar, cream cheese, and cream cheese with sour cream. Husband and my kids ages 12,9,7 and 2 loved them all specially with cream cheese. Very easy and yummy recipe definitely will be included in their snack boxes as they request! Thank you for this delicious home made recipe. No more ordering at a restaurant.
That sounds delicious, thanks for sharing! We will have to try it with cream cheese.
Very good. I like my garlic bread crispy so I broiled it the last 2-3 minutes. It was so much cheaper and better than what you get from a box!
This is so easy and delicious! I make this all the time now.
This was a giant hit at my Mother’s Day lunch yesterday. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
This was very simple and a hit with everyone from toddler, to teen to the college kiddos! I used oregano, parsley, vegan butter and added garlic powder and onion powder. I didn’t wrap it in foil but as soon as it browned slightly around the edges I took it out. This gave a nice crunch while keeping the bread soft. Try it out!
I’m so glad your family loved it!
Taste Great and Perfect!
in order to freeze this garlic bread, do I first bake the bread, then freeze and reheat at 300 degrees? Or spread butter mixture on bread and freeze before baking?
You can freeze this before baking
Gives no temperature For foil covered bread
Hi Sylvia, you will still cook it at the same temperature just place the two halves back together and wrap in foil before popping in the oven.
I forgot to buy frozen garlic bread so I quickly needed a recipe for the 8 small pieces of Italian bread I had. This was so easy and so delicious! I quartered the recipe and baked it in the toaster oven. I see no reason to buy frozen garlic bread again!
So happy to hear that Jackie! It is so easy to make you’ll never need frozen garlic bread again!
This is the one to make.Garlicky and delicious.I did include the grated cheese on top.My husband almost ate the whole loaf.So good.
I agree Jean, this loaf is addictive! So glad you and your husband enjoyed it!
Garlic bread is absolutely delicious. Thank you!
We love it too Kathy! :)
I want to make this with roasted garlic. Do I add it to the chopped raw, and how much of the roasted should I use?
Depending on how garlicky you want your garlic bread I would still use approximately 4 cloves of garlic Liz. Enjoy!