Cheesy Garlic Bread

Name: Cheesy Garlic Bread
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 large (1 pound loaf) of Italian bread, sliced in half lengthwise; 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese; 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; Fresh cracked black pepper to taste; 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning; 2 tablespoons fresh garlic, chopped fine or minced through a garlic press; 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped; Marinara sauce for dipping (optional); Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

•Posted: Feb 28, 2019•Updated: Jul 3, 2023

•Dan

•one comment

★★★★★5 from 1 review

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Treat yourself to the creamy, savory goodness of Cheesy Garlic Bread. Our recipe uses a blend of melted mozzarella and parmesan cheese, garlic, butter and herbs, to create a cheesy, golden-brown finish. Enjoy it as an appetizer, snack or side for dinner. It’s sure to satisfy everyone’s cravings.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread is a garlic bread recipe with mozzarella cheese

Why We Love This Cheesy Garlic Bread Recipe

Crispy, buttery, and garlicky, cheesy garlic bread is a classic favorite for any meal. Enjoy this easy and delicious side dish that’s sure to please your family and friends! Oozing with melted cheese, this garlic bread will add a delightful boost of flavor to any meal.

We serve this cheesy garlic bread recipe with our Grandma’s Sunday Meatballs and Sauce, or any pasta dish like our favorite Beef Lasagna will work! But don’t forget others dinners like Beefy Tomato Soup or a classic Chicken Marsala! Also check out our Classic Garlic Bread Recipe too.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread is a garlic bread recipe that can be served as a side dish

Crispy Garlic Bread Versus Soft Garlic Bread

What if you don’t like your garlic bread super crispy? Well then move along, friends because you are wrong. The way we make this Cheesy Garlic Bread you get the best of both worlds. Crispy on the edges but still soft in the center…

I’m telling you it’s is a PERFECT garlic bread recipe.

BUT say, for instance, super crispy isn’t your thing. Just wrap the garlic bread in foil for the first part of this recipe, then open it up, add the cheese and bake or broil until the cheese is melted.

So you really don’t have to move along…I have options for everyone.

Ingredients To Make Garlic Bread With Cheese

Just a few simple ingredients are all you need to get started!

Garlic: When you’re making a recipe like garlic bread where garlic is the main ingredient, you want it to be the best quality it can be. So skip the jarred, pre-chopped garlic and use fresh garlic instead. If chopping garlic makes you crazy use a garlic press instead!
Italian Bread: We like a big, soft Italian loaf of bread for making our garlic bread recipe. You can use whatever loaf you have on hand or you find at the store, but Italian bread makes the perfect, crispy on the outside soft on the inside garlic bread!
Mozzarella Cheese: You can use part skim or whole milk cheese here, both will work. If you like a sharper cheese flavor you can mix in a little provolone cheese too!
Parmesan Cheese: Again, we like to use a good quality, nutty parmesan cheese in our recipes. Not the pre-grated stuff in the can. You’re just not going to get the best flavor punch from using that kind of cheese.
Butter: Make sure you plan ahead and let the butter come to room temperature so it’s soft and spreadable.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread is a cheese topped garlic bread made with fresh garlic and butter

What Kind Of Bread Do You Use To Make Garlic Bread?

There are a few different choices and they mostly come down to your preference and taste. We used a soft (large) Italian bread for this cheesy garlic bread.

You can see in the picture above that it’s a pretty normal size thickness, if not leaning towards the thicker side of a baguette.

If you like a thinner garlic bread then you can try using a ciabatta loaf or a smaller french baguette. Basically you need to find a loaf that looks good to you, because most any bread that you use is still going to be delicious.

Can You Freeze Garlic Bread?

Yes, you can. Homemade garlic bread is so easy to make, you probably won’t have a ton of need to make it ahead of time but if you’re having a big party of a huge family dinner, it’s one less thing you have to worry about.

Or if you maybe went a tad garlic bread crazy and have a lot leftover? Yeah. we run into this problem a lot. Our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs.

All you need to do is take the leftover, cooled garlic bread and freeze it. Yep, wrap it in foil first by putting the two halves back together (cheese side to cheese side) then place it into a freezer bag. When it’s time to reheat, take the garlic bread out of the freezer to thaw completely.

Remove from the freezer bag and place the foil wrapped bread into the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Now, we ate it just like that, but after the 20 minutes you can open the bread up and place it under the broiler for a minute or two also.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread is a cheese topped garlic bread that can be dipped in marinara sauce

Perfect for saving leftovers and an awesome way to make this garlic bread ahead of time so it’s one less thing you need to do at dinner time!

Just in case you need more options, this Cheesy Garlic Bread isn’t just a side dish! We like to serve this recipe as an appetizer with marinara sauce for dipping. I’m telling you, it’s a crowd favorite with both kids and adults!

Dinners That Go With Garlic Bread:

Some we’ve already listed at the top of the page, but there’s SO many dinner recipes that work with garlic bread. Almost too many to list here but we’ll give you a few ideas to start!