There are very few meals that are not immeasurably improved by a crusty garlic bread spread lavishly with melted butter, studded with roasted garlic, and carpeted with abundant fresh herbs. Time is often short, though, so keep a batch of this heavenly, fragrant garlic spread for bread on hand to make short work of big flavour.
This best garlic bread spread recipe is your secret weapon to getting a memorably delicious meal on the table in short order. Simply put, there’s no homemade garlic bread recipe that is better.
It sounds like I’m indulging in hyperbole, but once you taste it you’ll realize that good garlic bread is so darned easy there’s no reason to ever buy a frozen loaf again! I’ve got you covered.
This garlic bread spread recipe makes enough for several loaves of garlic bread, but don’t think that’s all this silky, garlicky spread can do. Toss a few tablespoons with potatoes or carrots before roasting, finish a steak with a pat of it, coddle some eggs in it for the most memorable breakfast or brunch, slather it all over a chicken before roasting it; you’re going to put this on everything.
And try this world-class shortcut for busy pasta nights. Split a loaf of Italian bread, French bread, or a baguette in half lengthwise, spread it with this easy garlic butter spread recipe. Heck, this is so good it even turns hamburger buns into crave-worthy garlic bread.
Lay a piece of parchment between the halves and re-assemble it. Wrap the whole works in foil, then freeze.
When it’s just a few minutes from meal time, open the foil on a pan, separate the bread halves and remove the parchment paper. Slide the whole works into the oven and heat until the butter is melted and the edges of the bread are golden brown.
This is the vampire-repelling garlic bread of your dreams, friends. And it’s just waiting for you!
Garlic Bread Spread Recipe
This recipe is basically a garlic herb compound butter, but it’s a perfectly balanced one. Thankfully, you can whip up a batch of this roasted garlic compound butter and store it in smaller portions in your freezer. You can either freeze the garlic butter spread in ice cube trays and transfer it to a freezer bag or freeze it in a roll wrapped in plastic that you can slice from.
Either way, this bold but balanced garlic butter is going to find its way into many meals. You’ll be so glad you have it on hand.
Without further ado, let’s go over our ingredients and equipment lists so you know how to make garlic bread spread! There are a few things you absolutely need and a couple things that make life easier, so let’s get into it.
Homemade Garlic Bread Spread Ingredients
- Salted Butter
- Roasted Garlic
- Fresh Parsley
- Fresh Thyme, Rosemary, and Sage (optional but tasty)
- Black Pepper
- Kosher Salt
Optional but tasty:
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
There are a great many times I recommend unsalted butter (homemade croissants, hot fudge sauce, etc…). Here’s where you want to break out the salted butter, folks.
I cannot emphasize enough, though, that you want to use real butter here. Please. Please use ACTUAL butter for this recipe.
Yes, you’re still adding salt, so you could technically start with unsalted butter. But I just plain like salted butter better in this recipe. It is an easier starting point for the garlic bread spread.
And folks… please make sure your butter is super soft before attempting to work all the goodies into it. It’ll be an exercise in frustration if you try to smash garlic and herbs into hard, cold butter. Patience is a tasty, tasty virtue.
Garlic Butter Spread Recipe
Step aside garlic powder, this is a job for roasted garlic! It’s so velvety and subtle compared to the powerful bite of raw garlic or bitterness of garlic powder.
You can absolutely purchase roasted garlic for this recipe. However, since you’re going to be using a whopping 4 heads of garlic, you may as well make your own. You can either make it in the air fryer or roast garlic in the oven.
If you opt to adjust the quantity of this recipe, just remember the ratio of 1 head of roasted garlic and 1/8 cup of fresh parsley per stick of butter. You can definitely adjust everything else to taste.
Fresh parsley is non-negotiable in our roasted garlic spread for bread. It adds freshness, acts as a perfect flavour playmate to the silky but pungent garlic, and adds a pop of colour to the party.
A hint of fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage are nice as well, but not obligatory. They add a little intrigue to your compound butter if you like some subtlety in your garlic bread life.
Roasted Garlic Compound Butter
You can, in this case, toss in a teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning in lieu of the additional fresh herbs, but do keep the fresh parsley.
I love my black pepper to be coarsely ground for the garlic bread spread. If you’re more of a fine grind aficionado, please feel free to adjust that.
This recipe is engineered to be made using coarse Diamond kosher salt. If you substitute in another salt, please start with a lesser quantity until you taste it.
Parmesan cheese is always going to be divine on garlic bread, but it isn’t absolutely, positively necessary. You can most certainly throw it in here and be happy, but you’ll likely be equally pleased without its presence. Cheesy garlic bread or not, you’ll be mighty thrilled with the results.
Roasted Garlic Bread Equipment
It doesn’t get a whole lot more basic than this homemade garlic spread recipe so the necessary equipment list is pretty slim. There are a couple things that make life easier when making the spread, and I’ve listed them below as well.
Optional but helpful:
- Potato Masher or Chop and Stir
- Silicone Spoonula
- Ice Cube Trays
- Plastic Wrap or Zipper Top Freezer Bag
A medium mixing bowl, sturdy spoon, chef knife, and a cutting board are all you truly need to make this recipe. That said, there are a couple ways to make it even more easily.
A potato masher or “chop and stir” helps work the meltingly tender garlic into the softened butter much more easily. And a silicone spoonula is an indispensable kitchen convenience.
A spoonula is designed to get every last smudge of that lovely, unctuous garlicky butter out of the bowl and into either ice cube trays or into a log to be rolled into plastic wrap. No butter left behind!
If you do opt to freeze the garlic butter in ice cube trays, you’ll just stash them in the chill chest until frozen solid. Pop out the butter pucks and transfer them to a labeled zipper top freezer bag and use as needed for up to 6 months!
Garlic Bread Spread
There are very few meals that are not immeasurably improved by a crusty garlic bread spread lavishly with melted butter, studded with roasted garlic, and carpeted with abundant fresh herbs.
Time is often short, though, so keep a batch of this heavenly, fragrant garlic spread for bread on hand to make short work of big flavour.
Mash all of the ingredients together until everything is evenly distributed and the garlic is mostly broken up but some small pieces of it are still visible. Use the garlic butter mixture immediately or freeze for up to 6 months for future use.
Use this spread on a fresh loaf of French bread for garlic bread, on thick slices of bread for Texas toast, to roast potatoes or on other roasted vegetables, to finish steaks, on a baked potato, to cook eggs, on pasta, and so much more.
Garlic Bread Spread
Rate RecipeEquipment
- 1 Medium Mixing Bowl
- 1 sturdy spoon
- 1 Chef Knife
- 1 cutting board
- Optional but helpful:
- 1 Potato Masher or Chop and Stir
- 1 Silicone Spoonula
- 1 ice cube trays
- 1 Plastic Wrap or Zipper Top Freezer Bag
Ingredients
- 1 pound salted butter softened completely to spreadable room temperature
- 4 heads roasted garlic
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
Optional but tasty
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- ½ teaspoon chopped fresh sage
Instructions
- Mash all of the ingredients together until everything is evenly distributed and the garlic is mostly broken up but some small pieces of it are still visible. Use immediately or freeze for up to 6 months for future use.
- Use this spread on garlic bread, Texas toast, to roast potatoes or on other roasted vegetables, to finish steaks, on baked potatoes, to cook eggs, on pasta, and so much more.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
did you make this recipe?
Make sure to tag @foodiewithfam on Instagram and #hashtag it #foodiewithfamily so I can check it out!
Reader's Thoughts...
mpotter says
Ooooohhh, I’d love to try this. I think your addition of roasting the garlic may just be what I would prefer! I normally skip any minced garlic because of what you said- biting into the garlic. (So I compensate with garlic powder).
My question is for after it’s frozen….. well, 2 questions. How long does it take (usually) to thaw the pieces to then spread and make the garlic bread. Also, does it separate at all or get oily once thawed? I’d hate to just wipe “liquid” on my bread before baking.
Thanks for the recipe!! I’m fresh out of garlic bread- so perfect timing!
Rebecca says
Hi MPotter! I thaw it overnight (covered) in the refrigerator. It does not get oily or separated at all in my experience! Happy Garlic Bread Baking!