For a truly religious Garlic Bread experience, skip the fancy bread and use a basic French baguette. The right salt-and-garlic ratio is key. And don’t even think about skimping on butter!
Garlic Bread
You can’t order pizza without a side of garlic bread. It would be like ordering a burger at Maccers with no fries. (Oh the sacrilege, talking about so much fast food in one post! 🙈)
And while some people dive straight for the biggest slice of pizza, I always – ALWAYS – go for the garlic bread first.
Who’s with me here??? 🙋🏻♀️
How to make garlic bread
There are many ways to make garlic bread, using all types of bread. But for me, the Pizza Hut / Dominos way will always be the best way: a baguette sliced almost all the way through, then each piece slathered with garlic butter, wrapped in foil and baked until toasty.
My garlic butter is made with 2 tsp freshly minced garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 125g / 1 stick butter. The perfect garlic-salty balance!
Best bread for garlic bread
For a truly epic, classic Garlic Bread experience, my one firm rule I’ll never budge on is this:
NO FANCY BREAD ALLOWED
In my world, classic Garlic Bread should always be made with stock standard supermarket or basic bakery French stick / baguette. The crust isn’t that thick, and it’s usually pretty soft rather than crispy. Once slathered with butter and baked in foil, I find it yields the perfect ratio of crust crunch to soft, warm, garlic butter soaked bread.
On the other hand, a thick crust like you get with fancy artisan baguettes is no good – too much crispy crust compared to soft bread inside. Too hard to swallow!
Basic French stick is perfect. See? 😍
Fresh garlic is essential!
Bread aside, I only have one other rule: please use real garlic. As much as I will rip into Dominos and Pizza Hut garlic bread with enthusiasm, there’s no denying that it has an element of sourness to it which is probably due to using jarred garlic because that’s the main difference I notice between fresh and jarred garlic. From the preservatives, I expect.
Hence why homemade will always be so much better than Dominos. 🙂 Because the garlic is real and fresh!!
Homemade Garlic Bread.
Completely, utterly, ridiculously, insanely, can’t-stop-eating-it delicious.
Put a juicy, perfectly cooked steak and Garlic Bread in front of me, and I’d choose the Garlic Bread every time, any day and twice on Sunday.
These photos are killing me. Gotta stop looking at them! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Garlic Bread
Ingredients
- 1 French stick / baguette , ~ 60cm / 2ft long (Note 1)
- 125 g / 1 US stick unsalted butter , softened
- 2 tsp fresh garlic , very finely minced (~3 – 4 cloves, pack the teaspoon)
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt, +50% for flakes)
- 2 tsp finely chopped parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F.
- Cut the French stick in half. Then cut the bread almost all the way through into 2cm / 4/5″ thick slices.
- Mix together the butter, garlic, salt and parsley. Taste to see if it’s salty / garlicky enough for your taste (Note 2).
- Smear garlic butter over cut side of bread (Note 2).
- Smear remaining butter on the top and sides of the bread.
- Wrap each bread in foil.
- Bake for 15 minutes until the crust is crispy (check through foil).
- Unwrap and serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published March 2018. Updated with housekeeping matters April 2019 – no change to recipe.
Just a few things you could serve with garlic bread….
Spaghetti Bolognese, a slow cooked Shredded Beef Ragu or any other pasta
Dunk in soup – try Pumpkin Soup, Minestrone, Lentil Soup, Cauliflower Soup or Broccoli Cheese Soup
On the side of a big salad – make a meal of it!
A quick chicken main like juicy Baked Chicken Breast, Honey Garlic Chicken, Sticky Baked Thighs or Honey Mustard Baked Drumsticks
The “other” garlic bread
Here’s my “other” garlic bread that sends people into a tizzy – Cheese & Garlic Crack Bread! Aptly named as such because of how it’s cut and also because it’s said to be garlic bread…. on crack! A bit of fun, great for sharing and ridiculously addictive. Great party food. 🙂
Life of Dozer
Little souvenir from Tokyo. He’s not a fan. I think he prefers cotton to polyester. Yeah, that’s the problem. For sure. 🤣
PS I had a vision of making him wear this for every “Life of Dozer” photo for Asian recipes. That’s how I justified this “business cost”….. Poor, poor Dozer…..
The garlic bread was amaizing. Had a bbq night with dish♥️ Not only this, many of your dishes have being tried up to now. Thumbs up for all of them! Love from Sri Lanka💐💕
Wahoo! Thanks Nawoda! N x
Wow, SO good! We were craving some garlic bread to go with a Bolognese recipe with spaghetti that we love. All I had were a few frozen french sandwich rolls, as well as frozen butter sticks, but it still turned out amazing! My 19-y.o. son probably ate more of this garlic bread than spaghetti, and he likes this Bolognese! He finally said “Get this garlic bread away from me, or else I’ll eat it all!”
😂 Love this Jay! N x
In these crazy, crazy times, my husband and I needed some comfort food. Your garlic bread sounded just right. We made it, we devoured it, we were comforted. Many thanks, Nagi!
I LOVE this! Nothing beats garlic bread – NOTHING! N x
Made this yesterday and it was heavenly delicious! Gone in less than an hour between the four of us. Luckily, had reduced salt by half the recommended amount, which was better suited our taste. Making again this week when we have company over!!
I’m so glad it was a hit Kari!! N x
Delicious! I could have eaten the whole loaf myself : D
I know the feeling Amy (and I totally wouldn’t judge if you did 😉)
Thanks for some true aussie recipes
I noticed the video says to bake at 350 and the recipe says 390, which one is correct?
Hi Krystal – 350f Fan forced or 390f for a regular oven – N x
Tried this today. Had to bake it unwrapped for an extra 5mins in order for it to be crispy on the outside. Tastes so good!
I’m so glad you loved it Jummy!
I tried and it didn’t work for me, but I’m wondering what I did wrong so I’m not leaving any stars to not affect your rating. I used a thin 2-foot long one from Target, and even though I cooked it for the time plus five extra minutes it stayed soft, it didn’t get crunchy. What do you think I did wrong? Do you wrap the foil tightly or do you leave it kinda like a tent?
Hi Kara, try unwrapping next time and baking it a further 5 minutes – you’ll be guaranteed crispy bread!
I need to try this! I once made garlic bread and it came out dry (the bread absorbed all the butter/moisture). It was so disappointing! But this one looks so buttery/creamy, like the ones from the grocery store!
BTW Can I use pre-baked baguettes instead or will it come out differently? Thanks!!
Hi Romi, I hope this one stacks up for you! Yes use an already cooked baguette – N x
Then if I use those pre-baked, I’ll bake them first and let it cool before following your recipe. Thank you Nagi!
Yum! I halved the butter (I know!) & used day old bakers delight baguettes. Was sooo good we just ate that for dinner. Didn’t miss the extra butter but I’m sure it would be extra decadent.
Oh also used 1 tsp dried parsley. Worked very well!
I haven’t made the garlic bread, but, can’t wait!
Oh you’ll be pleasantly surprised Sally!
Hi Nagi,
What are your thoughts on the tubes of garlic paste you can buy from the fresh herbs/veggie section of the supermarket? Could you use that for this or does it fall into the same category as the jarred stuff with a not-so-great taste? (I’d probably get the “chunky” one for the illusion of homemade lol)
I think I’ve seen you use the lemongrass paste before, was wondering if you use any of the other types you can get from them?
Thanks!
Hi Alice, I find that stuff the same as the jarred, it’s quite bitter!
Thanks Nagi, I shall take that on board – good garlic bread is worth a teensy little bit more prep time! 😉
Yes I definitely think it’s worth it!
Hi Nagi,
Just want to say an enormous THANK YOU! For a good part of this year I have been trying your recipe’s, my wife and I have a different meal every night! Please believe me when I say we cannot pick a favorites!,, they are all fabulous! May I also add that your garlic bread is the Same as my mother used to make!, the only difference is she and I use good old Kiwi Butter, Nagi, please have a very happy Christmas, and between us all, let’s all work together an try and make this new year the best?
Colin D.
Made this today here in San Francisco for my Australian boyfriend and he LOVED it…was sad there wasn’t more! Will be making this one again….and again…and again. Thank you!
Hello Nagi from the loving state of Mississippi!! I am sooooo excited to make your Garlic Bread with my next dish of homemade Meatballs & Spaghetti! Your photos are fabulous and I can almost smell the aroma of your bread now!! Have a Blessed day and I will let you know what my hungry little family thinks!
Have you by chance ever made this in advance and just refrigerated it until you were ready to cook it? Was thinking that it would be nice to prep it before company arrived and just throw it in the oven when we’re ready to eat.
ALL THE TIME! I freeze it too 🙂
Do you thaw it before baking?
I’m with you! Soft garlic bread beats crusty for me any time. And I love that no fancy artisanal bread is needed! Simple and tasty, yet cheap to make—perfect.
Right?? Forget fancy for real garlic bread experience! 😂
Love the garlic bread. No more bland no flavor frozen garlic bread!
That’s wonderful to hear Theresa! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x
This was so delicious Nagi, we were always content with Coles $2 garlic bread but never again! I made this with your spag bo which was super delicious too of course ^.^ Thank you for such a tasty evening!
That’s terrific! So pleased you enjoyed this Amy – N x