Homemade Garlic Bread

4.78 from 48 votes

Buttery homemade garlic bread is easy to make with just a few simple ingredients! It's freezer-friendly and is a great side dish for any dinner.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Bread, Dinner, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Total Cost: $4.63 recipe / $0.39 serving

Servings: (2 slices each)

Author: Beth Moncel

Ingredients

1 loaf French or Italian bread (approx. 24" long) $2.99
6 Tbsp butter, room temperature $0.75
2 Tbsp olive oil $0.32
4 cloves garlic, minced $0.32
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley $0.22
1/8 tsp salt $0.01
1/4 tsp garlic powder $0.02

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. In a bowl, stir together the room-temperature butter, olive oil, minced garlic, garlic powder, chopped parsley, and salt until relatively smooth (a few small lumps of butter are okay).
Cut the loaf in half, into two 12" long pieces, then cut each piece open lengthwise. Lay the bread on a baking sheet cut sides facing up. Spread the garlic butter mixture evenly over the open surfaces of the bread.*
Bake the bread for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and crispy. Bake for less time if you prefer a softer garlic bread, and more time if you prefer a crispier garlic bread. Cut the bread into 2-inch sections and serve hot.

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*The best bread is a large soft loaf of French bread or Italian bread. It soaks up the garlic butter well without getting too tough or crispy as it bakes. Baguettes tend to get really hard and don’t soak up the butter as readily as a slightly softer loaf.

**Salted butter is the vehicle for all that garlicky flavor and makes the bread extra rich and delicious. You can use unsalted butter if you have it, but you’ll need to add extra salt to the garlic butter mixture to make sure all the flavors pop.

***A little bit of olive oil helps make the butter more spreadable AND helps keep the butter from browning quite as fast while it bakes.

****Fresh garlic helps keep the garlic flavor front and center with a nice punchy finish. A little bit of garlic powder in addition to the fresh garlic adds a really deep garlicky base note, so you’re getting a full one-two garlic punch.

*****Once the garlic butter is spread over the surface of the bread it can be frozen in gallon-sized freezer bags and baked at a later date. The bread can be baked straight from the freezer, although it may take a minute or two longer to brown.

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