Roasted Garlic Bread

Roasted garlic bread starts with a whole bulb of garlic and two small loaves of crusty French bread, and the oven does most of the work. Roasting creates soft and sweet cloves, so what you spread on the bread has depth instead of the sharp bite you get from raw garlic.

It’s different from the garlic bread you buy in the freezer aisle. I make this next to pasta most nights, and it’s a great accompaniment for a bowl of soup.

If you want to really show off, bake a homemade French baguette and use that instead of a store-bought loaf. But this works just as well with a day-old cheap loaf from the store.

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How to Make Roasted Garlic Bread

Slice the top off the bulb of garlic so that every clove is open at the cut, drizzle it with olive oil, and crimp the foil into a loose tent with air inside rather than pressing it flat. Bake it for forty-five minutes at 350 degrees so that you can squeeze out the cloves like a paste.

If you only bake them for 25 minutes, you have warm garlic that you still need to chop. You want roasted garlic, which has an entirely different flavor and texture.

If the oven is busy or you’d rather not heat up your kitchen, I often use my air fryer to roast it. See the air fryer FAQ below.

Pull the butter from your fridge when you put the garlic into your oven and let it soften on the counter, away from the warm oven door. It should dent easily when you poke it.

Once they’ve cooled enough to handle safely, squeeze the cloves from the papery skin straight into a bowl with the butter, then add the parsley and the salt. Mash the garlic with a fork while you stir the mixture until you see no streaks of plain yellow butter.

Cut each loaf in half the long way so you end up with four boats. Spread the butter all the way to the crust on each one to help ensure the edges don’t dry out.

Grate the Parmesan straight over the butter. This is another place where you don’t want to use the green can unless you absolutely have to.

Wrap the two halves face to face in foil and bake at 350 degrees, which steams the butter down into the crumb rather than off the top. After 10 minutes, open the foil all the way, separate the halves so both sit topping side up on the foil.

Broil the loaves for two minutes. Do NOT walk away during this part, because the bread goes from toasty to burnt in seconds.

Use a serrated knife and a sawing motion so you don’t compress the loaf. Serve it immediately while it’s hot and perfect.

How Long Do You Bake Garlic Bread in Foil?

Bake the bread wrapped in foil at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then two more minutes open under the broiler.

The foil stage warms the loaf through and melts the butter down into the crumb where you want it. The broiler stage creates the toasty crust, and skipping it leaves you with soft, buttery bread instead of garlic bread.

What Temperature Do You Bake Roasted Garlic Bread At?

Bake it at 350 degrees. Roast the garlic at 350 for 45 minutes, then bake the assembled loaf at 350 for 10 minutes.

Only at the very end do you switch to broil for two minutes. A hotter oven browns the crust before the butter has time to soak in, which gives you a crisp shell over dry bread.

Should You Bake or Broil Garlic Bread?

Both, in that order. Baking alone gives you a warm, buttery loaf with a pale top and no texture contrast. Broiling alone browns the surface long before the middle warms up, so you get a scorched top over cold bread.

Can You Make Roasted Garlic Bread Ahead of Time?

Roasted garlic keeps for two to three days in the fridge, and I usually roast it a day or two early to make dinner prep faster. You can also mix the garlic butter ahead of time, then let it come back to room temperature before you spread it. Cold butter tears the crumb instead of spreading across it, and it never soaks in.

Can You Freeze Garlic Bread Before Baking It?

You can keep garlic bread in your freezer for up to a month. Assemble the whole loaf, butter and Parmesan and all, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so no air gets to it. Air will grey the butter’s surface and dry out the crust in the freezer.

Thaw it in the plastic in the fridge, then remove the plastic, wrap it in foil, and bake. Add about five minutes to the bake time, because the butter starts out rock solid and needs longer to melt down into the crumb.

Can You Roast the Garlic in an Air Fryer?

The air fryer does a great job roasting garlic, and I do it in the summer. Wrap the bulb in foil exactly the way you would for the oven, then run it at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

No matter how you roast it, keep it covered in a foil tent. Exposed cloves scorch at the cut edge long before the inside goes soft, and burnt garlic tastes bitter.

What Bread Works Best for Roasted Garlic Bread?

Buy crusty bread. I buy the 12-ounce package with two 6-ounce loaves most of the time, but you can also use the single long loaf. I generally make this with French bread, but you can try it with Italian, though it won’t have the same outside texture at the end.

What Do You Do With Leftover Roasted Garlic?

One bulb covers the full recipe, so you only end up with extra when you make a half batch. We spread it on sandwiches instead of mayo, and it’s delicious in my roasted garlic aioli salad dressing.

Roasted Garlic Bread Troubleshooting

Your roasted garlic tastes bitter. You left the bulb uncovered, or the foil came open partway through, which exposed cloves that scorch at the cut edge long before the inside softens. Burnt garlic tastes bitter, so start over, and next time seal the foil at the seam and check that it’s still closed when you pull the bulb out.

Your garlic came out firm and pale instead of soft. You pressed the foil flat against the bulb, so the cloves steamed against metal instead of roasting in circulating air.

Crimp it into a loose tent with room inside, put it back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, and squeeze a clove before you try to use it for this recipe. If it doesn’t give like soft butter, it isn’t finished.

The middle of the loaf turned out soggy. You sealed the foil too tightly around the bread, so the steam had nowhere to go and settled back down into the crumb. Leave the seam loose, and don’t skip the open broiler stage, which dries the surface back out.

The top went black under the broiler. You either set the rack too close to the heating element or you stepped away. Move the rack to the middle of the oven rather than the top slot and stand in front of it with the oven light on for the whole two minutes, because broiling isn’t a step you can multitask through.

What do you serve with roasted garlic bread?

I serve it with pasta at my house more often than anything else, but it’s great with so many dishes. Tell me in the comments what you put it with, and leave a rating if it worked for you.

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