This easy cheesy garlic bread is the best homemade garlic bread recipe you’ll ever make. There’s no better side dish than buttery, toasted bread that’s soft on the inside and crispy on the outside with just the right amount of garlic bread spread and plenty of melty cheese!
Some of my family’s favorite cheesy recipes include pepperoni pizza grilled cheese, grilled mini sweet peppers with goat cheese (at least once a week), and cheesy scalloped potatoes.
When it comes to comfort food, I’d bet our kids’ monthly allowance on their vote for ANYTHING with cheese. This cheesy garlic bread is one of their most requested side dishes! Our family loves cheese, so of course, we added it to homemade garlic bread. This cheesy bread goes so well with a steaming bowl of lasagna soup or pizza soup, or a slow cooker full of chili on a chilly evening. A thick slice is just perfect for dipping! Just about any meal is that much more delicious when there’s a side of soft-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside homemade garlic bread on the side.
Nothing Beats This Cheesy Garlic Bread Recipe
- The ingredients are simple. All you need is a thick loaf of your favorite crusty bread, shredded cheese, and a handful of ingredients for making the best homemade garlic butter ever.
- It’s easy to make. I’ll show you how to mix the garlic butter spread from scratch, and slather it over the bread before everything gets baked underneath a blanket of ooey melted cheese. It’s ready in 30 minutes.
- Adapt it how you like it. Everything about this recipe, from the bread you use to the types of cheese, can be customized any way you’d like. Fresh garlic is always best, but dried garlic will work here, too!
What You’ll Need
Making cheesy garlic bread from scratch is super easy. You’ll need just six ingredients, plus salt and pepper. These are some helpful notes, and you’ll find the full, printable recipe with amounts in the recipe card below the post.
- Bread – The best bread for garlic bread is a sturdy, crusty loaf, like French bread (see below). You could even make this recipe on thick-sliced white bread or pull-apart bread, Texas toast-style.
- Butter – I prefer unsalted butter, but you can use salted if you’d like. Soften the butter to room temperature before you begin.
- Fresh herbs – This garlic bread spread deserves nothing but fresh garlic. It’s my personal non-negotiable! I also add fresh chopped parsley here.
- Shredded cheese – I use shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. You could use Swiss cheese or Gruyère, Gouda, or classic cheddar if you’d like. Whichever cheese you choose, make sure to grate it fresh. Pre-packaged shredded cheese will be waxy.
What Kind of Bread to Use
The best bread for homemade garlic bread is a soft, but still sturdy loaf. Grab a soft “puffy” French bread loaf from the bakery department at your grocery store. One long loaf should weigh about 1 pound. Two shorter loaves would work just as well. This bread will give you baked results that are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. And the soft crumb will soak up the wonderful garlic butter spread in a super delightful way.
Other good choices are wide, crusty loaves like Italian ciabatta or sourdough. For this recipe, stay away from the skinny, chewy baguettes, as they will give you a tougher texture. Save those for crostini!
How to Make Cheesy Garlic Bread
You can choose how to bake your cheesy garlic bread. The first option is to line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the bread pieces on top. The second way is to tear off a piece of foil that is slightly longer than the bread loaf, and place the bread pieces on top, without using a baking sheet. You can also just slide a baking sheet underneath if you need more stability. Then, follow the steps below to prepare the bread:
- First, prepare the garlic butter spread. Start by combining a stick of softened butter with fresh minced garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mash that together until the herbs are evenly distributed.
- Prepare the bread loaf. Slice the bread loaf in half horizontally (lengthwise) with a long serrated knife. If desired, also slice the loaf in half at mid-length to create two shorter loaves. This is especially recommended if your loaf is longer than the width of your oven.
- Spread with garlic butter. Slather the garlic bread spread generously over the bread slices, all the way to the edges, so the bread toasts up evenly golden and crispy.
- Add the cheese. I use both mozzarella and Parmesan. Sprinkle a nice, thick layer of shredded cheese on top of the garlic butter spread.
- Bake. Now, into the oven it goes! Bake your cheesy garlic bread at 400ºF. After about 20 minutes, the cheese should be melty. The garlic will be softened and fragrant. And the butter will have soaked down into the bread. Yum!
- Lastly, do a quick broil. To finish up, take the bread to the next level with a little broiler action. The broiler will blister the cheese a bit, further toast up the edges, and add an extra boost of overall heat to the bread.
Tips for the Best Homemade Garlic Bread
- Use fresh garlic. Our girls would probably argue with me on this and say that the cheese is the most important aspect of this bread. But I believe that the fresh garlic butter mixture is what makes this the best garlic bread recipe. This garlic bread spread deserves nothing but fresh garlic. No bottled minced garlic. No garlic powder. Fresh garlic is EVERYTHING! Do your very best to use it.
- Use real butter. I do NOT recommend using margarine for this spread. Margarine simply does not have the same rich, decadent flavor as butter.
- Grate the cheese fresh. Freshly grated cheese has the best flavor and meltiness. Pre-shredded cheese contains anti-caking ingredients that make the texture grainy, and the cheese won’t melt as smoothly. If you can find whole-milk mozzarella, definitely use that. It’s more creamy and meltable than the more usual part-skim variety.
- Watch the bread while it bakes. Overbaking can dry out the bread, burn the cheese, or both. Set a timer for the earliest suggested cooking time. If you choose to broil the bread afterward, pay close attention while your bread is in the oven and take care not to over-broil, as you don’t want burnt cheesy bread. Too much broiling can also take away the gooey factor of the cheese.
Frequently Asked Questions
This depends on the texture you’re after. Wrapping the bread in foil will steam it, creating a soft texture inside and out. For a crispy exterior, leave the bread unwrapped. I personally don’t wrap my bread in foil. I love that awesome contrast of soft and crispy, all in the same bite!
Yes! Just like compound butter, this garlic butter stores well in the fridge. Sometimes I make a double batch. Then I can use it on baked potatoes, or to cook fish in foil packets, or sauté fresh vegetables on the stovetop. Think of it for anything where you already use butter, where some fresh garlic and parsley would add some extra deliciousness.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this cheesy garlic bread with a cozy bowl of Italian meatball soup (or any soup, stew, or chili) and a side of grilled romaine salad with chopped bacon and homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, or an easy Italian chopped salad with a zippy Italian vinaigrette. This garlic bread also pairs well with delicious mains, like whole-grilled beer can chicken and lasagna stuffed peppers. It’s also the best cheesy appetizer on Football Sunday!
Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing
- Refrigerate leftovers. Store any leftover cheesy garlic bread in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Reheat. Warm the garlic bread in the oven for best results. The microwave works in a pinch, though it tends to make the bread chewy.
- Freeze before baking. Cut the loaf into 2 or 3 equal lengths. Bake one length for your current meal, and freeze the rest for later. To freeze, follow the recipe until you’ve spread the garlic butter onto the bread. Pre-freeze the slices you’d like to freeze on a baking sheet, and wrap each half separately in plastic wrap, then foil. (I like to stash the loaves in the original bread bag!). Freeze for up to 3 months, and add the shredded cheese when it’s time to bake. You can bake the cheese-topped garlic bread directly from frozen.
More Side Dish Recipes
Cheesy Garlic Bread
Ingredients
- 1 16- ounce loaf soft French or Italian bread sliced in half horizontally
- ½ c. unsalted butter softened
- 6 large cloves garlic minced
- 3 T. finely chopped fresh parsley divided
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 6 oz. about 1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese – use shredded whole milk mozzarella if you can find it!
- 2 oz. about 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a large baking sheet with foil – or simply use a long piece of foil set on a baking sheet for stability. Place bread halves on foil, cut sides up.
- In a small bowl, combine butter, garlic, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, salt, and pepper. Evenly spread this mixture over cut sides of both bread halves. Be sure to spread right up to the edges, for ultimate buttery crispiness. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan.
- *For bread that is soft-on-the-inside and crispy-on-the-outside, bake UNCOVERED for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted to your liking. Broil for a minute or two for a more golden and crispy topping. *For bread that is soft on the inside and outside, bake COVERED for about 20 minutes. Simply tent the foil over the bread halves to create a loose packet, taking care to keep the foil away from the cheese.
- Slice into desired sized pieces and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of parsley. Serve hot.
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