Killer Garlic Bread with Roasted Garlic

This garlic bread is so good that it’s easy to eat it in place of eating dinner by mistake; for whatever reason, it is highly addictive. 

Also, it’s guaranteed to keep the vampires away but won’t leave you feeling like a giant bulb of garlic due to the fact that its primary garlicky-ness comes from roasted, not raw, garlic.

This post last updated 12/23/2024

Roasting garlic is not difficult; it takes about an hour and will fill your house the the maddeningly enticing aroma of sweet-savory garlic.  Roast multiple bulbs at a time and store leftovers in the freezer. 

A few cloves of roasted garlic add depth to any dish and will leave eaters wondering why whatever they’re eating is so good.  For example, adding a few cloves of roasted garlic to Classic Caesar Dressing along with a couple cloves of fresh minced garlic will change your Caesar dressing game forever.

Without further ado; here’s how to do it:

Ingredients

For the Roasted Garlic

1. 4 heads of garlic.  Look for garlic that is mostly uniform in size and shape.
2. Approximately 1/4 cup olive oil
3. Kosher Salt

For the Garlic Bread

1. 1 whole head (yeah, you read that right – head – of garlic), depending on size.  Don’t worry, roasted garlic behaves quite differently from raw
2. 1/4 cup butter, room temperature (you could sub olive oil here if you wanted to)
3. 1/4 cup mayonnaise (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it; trust me)
4. 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan, Asiago, Romano or Cotija cheese
5. 2-3 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced, pressed, or grated on a microplane
6. 2-3 tablespoons minced cilantro or parsley (depending on the vibe you’re going for here)
7. Kosher salt to taste, probably about a tablespoon
8. 1 loaf of bread, halved lengthwise; or cut crosswise into smaller rounds

Instructions

For the Roasted Garlic

1. Get yourself a big bag of whole garlic bulbs and cut the tops off, exposing the cloves. Keep the top pieces and put them in your stock bag in the freezer.
2. Place the cloves in a small oven-safe dish, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and place into a COLD oven (cold start here).
3. Set the oven temperature for 325°F. Once the oven is up to temp start a timer and roast garlic for 1 hour to 1hour and 15 minutes.
4. Take it out of the oven, and allow to cool to room temperature (still covered). Freeze garlic bulbs and store for up to 6 months.

For the Garlic Bread

1. Preheat oven to 500°F
2. Mix ingredients 1-7 together using a spatula or spoon until well incorporated into a nice paste.  Use immediately, or cover and reserve at room temperature for up to 1 hour – do not refrigerate because it will harden and become impossible to spread.
3. Spread mixture all over both halves of bread (don’t neglect the corners or edges!)
4. Place the bread on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 4-6 minutes
   • IMPORTANT NOTE: Watch them like a hawk… they go from perfect to incinerated in seconds; don’t be doing other stuff or you WILL destroy your garlic bread

Serve and enjoy. 

And make sure Count Dracula isn’t on your guest list.