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This homemade vegan garlic bread is going to upend your pasta nights in the juiciest, more aromatic way. In less than 30 minutes, you can transform a simple baguette or ciabatta into a golden, garlicky delight that's both crisp on the outside and soft as a cloud inside.
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It’s not a sin to serve this bread with vegan chicken noodle soup, or even carrot lentil soup but where it really belongs is tucked into a little wicker basket in the center of an all-Italian meal. Pair it with spaghetti in vegan bolognese sauce, scoop up vegan meatballs with it, and dunk it into escarole and white bean soup. You are gonna be one happy vegan!
Now, grab your ingredients and let's get the aroma of roasted garlic drifting through your whole darned neighborhood!
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🥰 Why you'll adore this vegan garlic bread recipe
✊ Vegan AF: Like all of my vegan Italian recipes, this easy vegan garlic bread recipe is made without a single animal-based ingredient.
⏱️ It takes no time: I mean, obviously it takes SOME time, but we are talking 15 minutes here folks. Your water might not even be up to a boil for your pasta by then!
🌿 Herbal Harmony: The combination of fresh parsley and oregano isn't just for show. These herbs not only add a fresh, aromatic depth to the bread, but also contain antioxidants, enhancing both taste and health benefits.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: This isn't some unicorn that only works in my own kitchen. Like all of the plant-based recipes I publish, I first shared it with a massive team of recipe testers from around the world.
🥖 Ingredients for vegan garlic bread
Bread
Garlic bread without bread is, er, just garlic… I recommend using a big wide fresh baguette, ciabatta or semolina Italian bread with a thin crisp crust, and soft, fluffy dough for garlic bread. The thicker the loaf is, the more of a contrast you will have between the crispy golden crust, and the juicy, steamy fluffy bread inside!
Garlic
I use an ample amount of both fresh garlic and just the right amount of garlic powder in this vegan garlic bread recipe The dried garlic has a really different flavor from the fresh garlic, but the way this garlic bread gets made, you also end up with a couple different dimensions of the fresh garlic flavor too! The garlic oil mixture that ends up ruined not eh outside of your lofe gets more of the cooked, caramelized garlic flavor, while the garlic in between the slices gets steamed and retains just a little bit of the raw garlic bite.
The only thing worse than garlic bread that isn’t garlicy enough, is garlic bread that’s so garlicy your breath smells like it for the rest of your life! I am really confident that my recipe has the exact right ammount of garlicky goodness, and you will agree!
Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast adds a crave-able cheesy flavor to this dairy free garlic bread recipe. If you aren’t best friends with Nooch yet, you are gonna fall in love with the flavor it adds to everything from vegan elotes, to homemade vegan chicken!
Fresh Parsley
Parsley adds a pop of color and lovely herbal aroma to your bread. If fresh parsley isn't available, don’t even waste your time with dried parsley, which has about as much aroma as adding green confetti to your garlic bread. But other fresh herbs like fresh rosemary, basil, or sage leaves can be super nice here.
Vegan Cheese
I know I am telling you this is optional, but if you’ve got some, don’t think twice about adding vegan mozz to or vegan ricotta your garlic bread. It’s a friggin’ game changer. If you want to learn how to make your own vegan cheese from scratch, make sure you jump on my Plant-Based Cheese School cooking class! Vegan parmesan cheese also works well in this recipe.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
⭐️ Variations
Oil free garlic bread
Replace the oil/butter in this recipe with full-fat canned coconut milk. I know it sounds crazy but it works really well if you are avoiding refined oils.
Vegan garlic toast
This is a snazzy hack for making garlic bread with sliced sour dough bread right in a pan on your stovetop. Simply rub the bread with the prepared garlic oil, and cook it for 3-4 minutes on each side in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
📖How to make the best homemade vegan garlic bread
Nail this perfectly on your first shot by following these step-by-step instructions with helpful tips. Or you can follow along with the easy-to-print recipe card towards the bottom of this page.
Step One
Slice It Right:
Preheat your oven to 400°F (205°C).
Make cuts in your loaf of bread every inch (2.5 cm.) with a serrated knife. Be sure not to cut all the way through - keep the base connected to hold the loaf together.
Step Two
Smoother Garlic (Optional):
For those who choose, create a garlic salt paste. Mash minced garlic cloves and salt on a cutting board and then smear it back and forth with the side of your knee for about a minute. The salt will act as an abrasive the pulverize the garlic into a paste, which really helps its flavor to penetrate the bread. It’s fine to skip this step if you are pressed for time.
Step Three
Make the Garlic Oil:
In a small bowl, mix together the garlic salt paste with garlic powder, nutritional yeast, olive oil, vegan butter (I use Earth Balance), oregano, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and optionally (but strongly encouraged!), minced parsley and vegan cheese. Optionally you can add some crushed red pepper flakes or fresh basil to this mixture.
Step Four
Spread the Love:
Pry open two bread slices. With a generous amount of the garlic blend, use the back of a spoon to coat the insides of these slices. Work your way through all the bread slices, ensuring each one gets a good dose of the garlic oil. Spread the remaining oil on the outside of the loaf.
Step Five
Gangster Wrapper:
Wrap the baguette in aluminum foil, fashioning a tent-like shape with some air space at the top of the parcel. This technique allows the garlic bread to steam a little as it bakes which makes the inside of the bread more tender and juicy, while getting the outside script and golden brown. Bake the wrapped bread for 12 minutes at 400°F (205°C).
Step Six
Cool & Serve:
After roasting, let the bread rest in its foil cocoon for five minutes. This makes it cool enough to handle while giving the garlic oil a little more time to work its magic. Then, while it’s still warm, serve it with your favorite pasta dish, vegan lasagna, or soup.
👉Top tips
- Quality of Bread Matters: The freshness of the bread greatly impacts the texture and overall taste of the garlic bread. Additionally, try to use a breadth a thin crisp crust, and a very fluffy white interior. Chewier breads become a bit of a chore to eat when turned into garlic bread. A thicker ciabatta, Italian bread, or baguette makes the best garlic bread. Thinner baguettes have a greater tendency to dry out.
- Catch the drips: When you bake the garlic bread, place the foil-wrapped parcel onto a baking sheet. This way, if any vegan garlic butter drips out while it’s baking, it doesn’t make a mess of your oven.
- Butter Spread Evenly: Ensure even distribution of the garlic herb butter mixture. It’s essential to cover each slice adequately so every bite has the right balance of flavor and moisture. Missing spots could result in unevenly flavored or dry sections of the bread.
- Serve Warm: Homemade garlic bread is best enjoyed warm. If it cools down too much, the bread can lose its delightful crispiness and the buttery mixture can solidify.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Store leftover vegan garlic bread wrapped in foil or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. Reheat in the oven to put some life back into the crispy crust.
Yes, you can freeze vegan garlic bread. Wrap it tightly in foil and freeze for up to 1 month. Reheat in the oven directly from frozen.
A soft, wide baguette or Italian bread is ideal for vegan garlic bread. Look for bread with a not-too-chewy, soft interior and a crust that's not too thick for the best texture.
Yes, you can substitute vegan butter with more olive oil. The flavor will be slightly different but still delicious.
Traditional vegan garlic bread is not gluten-free as it uses regular baguette or Italian bread. However, you can use a gluten-free baguette or loaf to make a gluten-free version.
To prevent over-crisping or burning, watch the garlic bread closely while it's in the oven, especially during the last few minutes. Adjust baking time according to your oven's characteristics.
If you know what part of your oven runs hotter, try to keep the wrapped bread in a more evenly balanced temperature zone in the oven, or turn on your convection fan if you have one.
The obvious choice is a classic slice of vegan tiramisu! I make mine with espresso-soaked homemade vegan ladyfingers and vegan mascarpone, and it's downright legendairy-free!
Another couple of Italian desserts that are not just good, but are super-knock-your-nickers-off-great are vegan bomboloni, and rosewater blackberry sauce-covered coconut panna cotta!
✌️My faves to serve with vegan garlic bread:
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Learn to make plant-based red sauce masterpieces in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Homemade Vegan Garlic Bread
Ingredients
- 24- inch baguette or Italian bread
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons nutritional yeast
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup vegan butter room temperature
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup minced fresh parsley optional
- ¼ cup vegan mozzarella optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F (205°C).
- Using a serrated knife, cut the baguette or Italian bread every inch. Don't cut the bread all the way through – leave the bottom intact, so that the whole load is still connected.
- Optional: Place the minced garlic and salt on a clean dry cutting board, and using the side of the knife smear the garlic and salt together for 30 seconds, forming a mostly smooth paste.
- In a bowl, mix the salted garlic paste, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, olive oil, softened vegan butter, oregano, salt, black pepper, and if you are using them, the minced parsley and vegan cheese.
- Spread apart two slices of the bread. Scoop a generous spoonful of the garlic mixture and rub it around the inside of the slices with the back of the spoon.
- Once all the slices have been rubbed with the garlic oil, spoon any leftover garlic mixture on top of the bread for extra flavor.
- Now, wrap the baguette in aluminum foil. Make a tent shape with the foil so it's touching the bottom and sides of the bread but not the top. This helps to make the bread crispy without burning it. Roast for 12 minutes.
- After 12 minutes, take the wrapped bread out and let it cool in the foil for 5 minutes, so that it is just enough so you can handle it. Unwrap and serve in a bread basket alongside your favey pasta dinner!
Notes
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Fraze says
Great garlic bread recipe. This will go great with my vegan meatball and marinara sauce. Two thumbs up.👍👍
TeyZoo says
Can’t wait to try it!