Many ago Tony and I started making homemade garlic bread to go with my favorite turkey meatballs.
Of course, a classic, easy spaghetti and meatballs dinner needs garlic bread for dipping so I went on a quest that involved several loaves of bread, chopped garlic, real butter and herbs. It also involved a few stomach aches (hey I’m I’m human and sometimes you can’t stop at one slice)!
But alas, we landed on a delightful, mouth-watering garlic bread recipe that’s 1000x better than the store-bought kind and that I can’t stop making.
Everything you need to make the best garlic bread
This homemade garlic bread recipe requires super simple ingredients, so trust me when I say you’ll back to it time and time again. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Bread: I like to use Italian bread or a loaf of French bread (instead of a baguette) to get those nice thick slices.
- Butter: gotta have plenty of softened butter, which will melt into all of the bread nooks & crannies. Feel free to use salted or unsalted butter. I use 1/2 cup of butter, but you can also get away with using 1/3 cup!
- Garlic: fresh garlic cloves (rather than garlic powder) are KEY for that true garlic flavor. The minced garlic gets roasted to perfection in the oven.
- Herbs & spices: instead of Italian seasoning we’re adding a little fresh parsley and sea salt to bring it all together. Feel free to garnish with extra parsley or chives, too!
Get a little cheesy
If you like cheesy garlic bread, feel free to add 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese or 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella! You’ll sprinkle it on in the last 2 minutes of baking (so that it doesn’t get too crispy on top).
Can I make it vegan?
Of course! Simply substitute the regular butter with vegan butter and use your favorite vegan cheese (if you’re cheese-ing it).
Easy homemade garlic bread in 3 steps
- Prep your pan & bread. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or tinfoil, slice your bread in half lengthwise, and place the bread cut side up on the baking sheet.
- Make the garlic butter. In a small bowl mix the herbs and salt together with the softened butter. Spread it evenly over the top of the bread halves.
- Bake & serve. Bake the bread for 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees F until it’s slightly golden brown on the edges. If you’re adding cheese, add it in the last 2 minutes of baking. Then cool, slice into 1-inch pieces, and devour!
Don’t forget to dip it in this AMAZING Garlic Olive Oil Dip, or your favorite marinara sauce!
Choose your bread crispiness
If you like crispier garlic bread, bake it for 3-5 minutes more (but watch it carefully so that it doesn’t get too toasted). If you like it softer, take it out closer to 10 minutes. You can also wrap the bread in aluminum foil before baking it if you like softer garlic bread.
Storing tips
Store any leftovers covered at room temp for 1-2 days. Simply reheat it in your oven by wrapping it in foil and warming it for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Freeze it for later
That’s right, this homemade garlic bread is freezer-friendly! It’s such a great way to have a delicious side on hand at any time. Here’s how to freeze it:
- After slathering the bread in the garlic butter mixture, place the bread halves in a single layer in a freezer-friendly bag and store them in the freezer.
- Freeze the garlic bread for up to 3 months.
- When ready to eat, add the frozen garlic bread halves to your baking sheet and bake as directed — you may just need to add 3-5 more minutes.
What to serve with this homemade garlic bread
- 30 Minute Pasta Carbonara
- Juicy Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Basil Sauce with Burrata
- Garlic Olive Oil Dip
- Roasted Garlic Cheddar Cauliflower Soup
- Bacon Parmesan Brussels Sprouts Spaghetti
- The Best Healthy Turkey Lasagna You’ll Ever Eat
Get all of my dinner recipes here and my pasta dishes here!
I hope you love this garlic bread recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
The Best Garlic Bread You'll Ever Eat
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian loaf or French loaf
- 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter (can also use salted)*
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- Optional:
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- OR
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- For garnishing:
- Extra parsley and chives
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Slice bread in half lengthwise and place on a large baking sheet, cut sides up.
- In a medium bowl, mix butter, garlic, parsley and salt together until well combined. Spread evenly over bread.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden brown on the edges. If you want to add cheese, add it the last 2 minutes of baking. If you like a crispier garlic bread, bake for 3-5 minutes more, watching carefully until it is as golden as you like.
Recipe Notes
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on January 30th, 2018, and republished on February 13th, 2023.
105 comments
Delicious! I just want to say how much I (and likely all your readers) appreciate not only the variety of your posts and recipes, but also the frequency! I can imagine that coming up with so many new things every week would be challenging, but it is part of what makes reading your blog fun. Thank you for your hard work!
Thanks so much, Kelly! I’m so glad you’re enjoying all of the different posts and recipes. It’s definitely challenging, but I love to share these with you guys!
yes pllllease! I usually wing it when I make garlic bread, but I’m totally using this recipe next time!
This is a great go-to! So easy and delicious 🙂
Nice 😊
Garlic bread without cheese always feels a little sad to me. Glad you included it! I’ll definitely be making this next pasta night (caaaaaaaarbs!)
http://www.slackergirlfitness.com
Cheese is always a great option! And yes pasta night + THIS = amazing 🙂 Enjoy!
I agree. Cheese on garlic bread is the equivalent of icing on cake!
Omg! Sooooo yummy!!!! I cant stop eating it🤣
THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING! I’ve placed it in my cook book and will use it from now on!
It’s just as delicious the next day!!!!!!
So glad you loved it! <3
I want to make some amazing garlic bread for dinner this week, so thanks for the recipe! I like your point about adding cheese at the end and giving it about 2 minutes to bake. I’ll definitely do this to make the bread even tastier.
Perfect! Love this with a little cheese 🙂
A definite Best Ever garlic bread and crowd pleaser… thank you so much for sharing:-)
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Hi. I want to have them right now. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to Italian or French or any other kind of loaf. Can I make the loaf at home. Any good recipe for the loaf? Thanks a lot.
P.S. Your recipes are amazing
Hi! I don’t have a loaf recipe that’s great for making into garlic bread, but let me know if you find out! Glad you’re loving the recipes here 🙂
I made this bread this evening and have to say it’s delicious. will make again
So happy you liked it!
I made this to serve with spaghetti dinner, my family loved it. I substituted the salt with garlic salt and added fresh chopped parsley, the fresh parsley added beautiful color to the bread. My youngest son showed up just before dinner, he said the house smelled heavenly, he decided to stay for dinner. This bread was a huge success with my family and my youngest son took what was left home to eat with his morning scrambled egg breakfast.
Amazing! I’m so glad everyone loved it 🙂
Yes, this was the absolute best garlic bread! Whole family loved it. We had it with soup, but I don’t think anyone could tell you what kind of soup it was, they all went crazy for the garlic bread! Thank you.
Perfect! So happy to hear that!
I made this garlic bread to go with the minestrone soup and I have to say it was a good call. While it goes great with the soup, I feel like this would be a crowd pleaser on its own. Will definitely make this again for myself and for a dinner party once that’s a thing 🙂
The perfect combo! And yes, such a crowd pleaser 🙂
Easiest and most delicious garlic bread! Ingredients are inexpensive which is a plus. I’m going to try adding cheese next time!
This really IS the best garlic bread ever! I just double on garlic because we are a garlic-loving household 😀 I also love the crunchy leftovers the next day. Many thanks for this terrific recipe, Monique!
So good! Glad you love it!
Wow! This garlic bread lives up to its name. I can’t believe how good it is for how easy it is too.
Absolutely! Glad you loved it!
This bread is fantastic! I used French bread and sprinkled freshly grated Parmesan cheese at the end. Flavor is so good and it melts in your mouth. This recipe is a keeper, adding it to my collection of recipes as I write this!
Woohoo! So happy you enjoyed it, Jill! 🙂
I used 1/8 tsp of seasalt all else as instructed. very Good!!
Delicious. I included the optional freshly grated parmesan cheese. Made 2 loaves for 10 people. It disappeared almost instantly (30 pieces). I’m not sure three loaves would have been sufficient.
Do you think this would work with regular toast, or Pita bread/Lebanese bread? For those of us who prefer a much smaller amount of bread for consumption. Thank you.
Delicious! I can’t believe that I’ve been eating store-bought garlic bread when I could have been making this (palm to face emoji). The directions for freezing for later were perfect, so my new goal is to have this in the freezer at all times because you just never know when you’re going to need some garlic bread. Thanks for another great recipe!
Ahh yay! This is the best! SO glad you are loving tis recipe and it is a hit!
I sometimes mix the parmesan & mozzarella together (for me less Parme &more Mozz.,Ratio to taste)
This is the best garlic bread! EVER!! I purchased quality Italian Loaf Bread to use. I just can’t believe how delicious it it! This will be the only recipe I will use to make garlic bread! My guest loved it!
This really is the best! Thank you for the recipe!
I love that you’re doing non sweets videos! I’m a college student trying to eat healthy so I’d love to see dinner recipes!
Yay! I am so glad you are enjoying my recipes!
I made this recipe for the second time yesterday. It’s so easy to make and absolutely delicious. My husband and I go feral for this garlic bread. Both times I went with the option of adding the 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. I don’t like to spend a lot of time cooking, and this recipe is fast with minimal effort. Highly recommend!
YUM! the addition of mozzarella cheese sounds perfect. Glad you are both loving this recipe 😍
The steps are very simple and the result looks very good. Thanks for sharing.
We added it to our list:
20 Best Side Dishes for Meatballs
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!
Oh my gosh!! Amazing. So fresh and so easy with fresh parsley from the garden. Never need to buy garlic bread again. Thank you 🙂
Yay!!! So easy, right?! Glad you loved it!
Your recipe is very detailed and easy to follow.
Best garlic bread ever
Exquisite
Better than any restaurant or cafe or anywhere in this world and I am saying this because I have traveled so much that I have tried more than 3/4th of garlic breads in this world.
Ahh this is seriously the best, glad you’re loving this recipe and it turned out great for you!
My picky kids absolutely loved this recipe!
This is very close to the garlic bread I make all the time. My husband loves it. I like the suggestion to add cheese.
Hope this one turns out great for you, Lynn!
So easy and SO DELICIOUS!!!! fresh parsley is the key – I topped it off under the broiler – family loved it!!!!
AMAZING! Glad to hear this recipe is a hit for the whole family!
I’ll be trying this today.
Enjoy!
A definite Best Ever garlic bread and crowd pleaser… thank you so much for sharing
Glad you love it, Alexa!!
Good
Yes just perfect
You talk about the great flavor of roasted garlic, but I don’t see where you are roasting the garlic. Do you mean roasted after you spread it on the bread? That’s truly not roasted garlic.
very good recipe
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE HATERS Monique! LYnN truly doesn’t know what the heck she’s talkin’ about. Love love LOVE this recipe and love YOU for suggesting it. My husband divorced me but on girls night, we made this garlic bread. NO JOKE: he shows up, knocks on my door, and asks if he can come to dinner. Of COURSE I said no, he’s my EX for a REASON. But my friend Angela to-tal-LY has a thang for him. so he DEE-VOUR-ed your recipe in 3, 2, 1 seconds! anyways, we’re kind of having a fling now thanks to your garlic bread. Shhh, don’t tell the kids! teehee
This is seriously delicious but simple. My husband and I could not stop eating it. I sprinkled 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan reggiano cheese as directed the last few minutes. I couldn’t wait even 2 days to make it again. Definitely my new garlic bread go-to. Be sure to use fresh garlic, not bottled. It makes ALL the difference!
The best!! Glad you both loved it!
This garlic bread was excellent!! Had the family for dinner and they all loved it. I used a dried Italian seasoning blend instead of parsley and jarred minced garlic instead of fresh and it was still awesome. I also sprinkled shredded Parmesan cheese the last few minutes. Thank you for this recipe inspiration!!
So easy and delicious! Love the addition of parmesan 🙂
I love this recipe so much and so does my family! It’s our favorite! I tried it as is the first couple of times, then I tweaked it a bit. 1 stick of butter is not nearly enough for the loaf of bread, no matter what shape or type, but it’s always 1 pound of bread. that I purchase. Now I use 1 1/2 sticks or even 2 full sticks of butter sometimes and it’s even more delicious! Instead of 4 cloves of minced garlic, I roast 1 full head of garlic in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I squeeze out all of the cloves and mash in a bowl with the butter and parsley. It’s out of this world! I’ve also added cheese on top of the bread here and there, but we prefer classic garlic bread without it. I loosely cover the bread with foil in the oven so it doesn’t get overly burned. I’ve used Italian bread from Trader Joe’s, French baguette from Safeway, and semolina from our local bakery in town. All delicious!
That all sounds amazing! Great idea to roast the garlic 🙂
It was the best that I have ever made! My guests loved it and I shared the recipe with them. So easy!!! Don’t forget the sea salt.
So happy to hear that!
Do you add the sea salt if you use salted butter?
I do, but that’s up to you how salty you like it 🙂
Easy recipe! Love that! With today’s prices & sizes the 1/2 cup of butter was a bit much…I’m pretty sure the loaf was small..so there’s that. Tasted great! Thank you!
The store had italian bread bogo so I grabbed a couple of loaves. This recipe was perfect for one. The taste was amazing.
I made this delicious garlic and used a good quality extra virgin olive oil to keep it healthier- it was amazing and a big hit at a family dinner!
Love it!!
This came out really amazing! The quality of the bread also makes a huge difference. I opted for artisanal Italian bread from whole foods and it was well worth the “splurge.” Super elevated garlic bread. I also used some French butter bc I didn’t have enough regular butter left over. Wow, it was much harder to spread bc it doesn’t soften the same way. I notice it too when I bake, the consistency is different and it doesn’t just spread everywhere like run of the mill butter.
Absolutely! Love a good quality breat (and butter!)
If using cheese, would it be easier to pre-cut it?
Yes I recommend adding shredded or grated cheese!
Can’t wait to try the recipes.
Perfect! 10 minutes on bottom rack for me.
Love it!
I used 6 hamburger buns (12 halves) as that was all I had. So delicious! Thank you for the perfect butter to garlic to salt ratio! (I used salted butter) Best garlic bread ever!
Perfect! Glad those worked out well!
never tried it. looks good tho 😀
This was such a delicious accompaniment to a lasagna dinner. I may have gone a bit overboard with the parsley and chives (probably double what the recipe called for) but it was great. I also added some grated parm into the butter mixture as well as topped it with more as it came out of the oven. Will definitely make this again as it was divine!
Love that! Such a great side with lasagna 🙂
Is this really the best garlic bread out there. Thanks for sharing recipe.
So glad you love it!
I made this twice so far and everyone loved it. I did use salted butter so I did not add any additional salt. I also substituted Italian seasoning instead of parsley.
So good! 😋😋😋
Perfect!!
Wow! I have been making it so wrong all this time using garlic powder! What a delicious difference using fresh garlic and also putting mozzarella cheese at the last two minutes!! This is spot on the best garlic bread I have had. I used salted butter and I also sprinkled grated parmesan once it came out of the oven. THANKS SO MUCH!
So good!! Glad you found this recipe!
I was searching for a yummy garlic bread that wasn’t too fussy or with too many extra steps and seasoning. I’ve found it! Book club devoured this! Now I finally have a delicious go-to garlic bread,
I did increase the amount of butter and garlic because my loaf of Italian bread was giant. First time here. Thank you, Monique!
Amazing! Glad you found this one 🙂
I’m normally a frozen garlic bread maker for convenience but this was worth it. I used a whole French bread loaf and 1 cup of salted butter, about 3 tbsp of parsley, added the parm to the butter spread, no salt. Baked for 10 minutes and then broiled for 3. I couldn’t get over how good it was.
So glad you gave this one a try!
Quick question. There are different kinds of parsley. What is the best kind to use for this recipe? This may sound stupid but I live in Atlanta GA and love to shop at the (grocery store type) farmers markets where there is fruits, veggies, herbs, pretty much everything from all around the world. And you can’t beat the prices and quality. Thank you!
This was by far the best garlic bread recipe ever and was super quick and easy to make. Followed recipe exactly as written. My husband and teenage boys loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe.