How To Make Frozen Garlic Bread

Garlic bread is one of dinner’s simple pleasures. It comes together quickly and easily, and the results are always super satisfying, yet a huge market still remains for frozen garlic bread from the supermarket. If you’ve never bought a box to stash in the freezer, you may be wondering, why bother?

Here’s the thing about frozen garlic bread — not only is it a comforting little shortcut for your busy life, but good frozen garlic bread is also totally crave-worthy in its own right. Frozen garlic bread takes full advantage of every inch of surface area on a slice of bread by slathering it with rich garlic butter that basically fries the bread in the oven. Plus, with garlic bread in the freezer, you can make a single slice (or two) whenever the craving strikes.

Wondering why you might need a stash of garlic bread in the freezer when you can make a loaf of garlic bread in about 15 minutes? The answer is super simple: Frozen garlic bread is a little gift for your future self: Whether you need a single piece of garlic bread to soak up the last little bit of soup from your lunch mug, or you have to feed 10 pint-sized soccer players before a game one night, frozen garlic bread is the answer.

• This garlic bread recipe calls for an eight-inch (14-ounce) loaf of soft French bread.
• Make sure you have freezer-friendly gallon-sized zip-top bags on hand for storing the frozen garlic bread.
• These garlic bread slices reheat at 425°F for about 5 minutes.

Cent for cent, this recipe won’t save you any dough, but you will have total control over the ingredients, making it, in our opinion, better than store-bought.

When it comes to frozen garlic bread, the universal truth is that all of them use either Texas-style toast (square, thick slices of white bread), or soft French bread. You want to avoid crisp or crunchy loaves, like baguettes or boules, when making garlic bread for your freezer.

Make a flavorful garlic and herb butter, but make sure that the butter includes oil. Olive oil adds flavor, but you can swap it with a neutral oil if needed.

Preparing garlic bread for the freezer is just as fast as making a fresh batch.

• Make a garlic herb butter. Again, make sure the butter has a few tablespoons of oil in it, as this helps it spread and helps the bread crisp in the oven.
• Slice the bread and smear with butter. Go for thicker slices, as they hold more butter and hold up better to freezing and baking.
• Freeze the buttered slices in a single layer. Then move to a zip-top bag for long-term storage (up to 3 months).

No need to thaw — the frozen garlic bread pieces can go straight from the freezer to the oven. When ready to serve, heat an oven (or a toaster oven) to 425°F. Place frozen bread slices, butter-side up, on a baking sheet. Bake for five minutes or until butter melts and edges are golden. Serve immediately.

Use the same garlic butter recipe and spread it onto one-inch-thick slices of Texas toast. Freeze and reheat as you would garlic bread.