Recipe Review

I Tried the Viral 4-Ingredient Baked Brie, and I’m Definitely Making It for New Year’s Eve

published Dec 30, 2023
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Someone scooping baked brie from dish.
Credit: Kiersten Hickman

When I have guests over to my apartment, my go-to appetizer is always a cheese board. Add some cheese, meats, crackers, dried fruit, and nuts to a board (maybe even some chocolate!) and you have an appetizer. Yet sometimes I feel like it’s the lazy way out, and I wish I had some kind of extra recipe to turn to that would take my cheese board game up a notch. Thankfully, this viral baked Brie popped up on my timeline. 

The recipe creator boasts over how simple it is, with very few ingredients. All you need is a wheel of Brie, butter, garlic, and hot honey, and after just 15 minutes in the oven, you’ll have a tasty appetizer that almost looks gourmet.

But is it as good as it looks? I decided to put this viral recipe to the test to decide if it deserves a spot on my usual cheese board.

Get the recipe: Viral Baked Brie

Credit: Kiersten Hickman

How to Make the Viral Baked Brie

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place a wheel of Brie cheese in a rimmed baking dish. Make sure there’s a little extra room in the dish for the Brie to ooze a little bit of cheese.

Score the top of the Brie, but do not slice the wheel completely through. Each slice should score about halfway into the cheese — just enough for the toppings to seep in and flavor the cheese while baking.

Melt butter in the microwave. Mix together with minced garlic, then spread on top of the Brie cheese. Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper. Then drizzle on a generous amount of hot honey.

Bake the Brie for 15 minutes, or until the Brie is oozing and bubbly. Drizzle on more hot honey if desired, then serve with bagel chips, crackers, vegetables, or any other dippers of your choice!

Credit: Kiersten Hickman

My Honest Review

This is such an easy and delicious appetizer for a crowd. Serving a cheese board is great, but adding a baked Brie like this could really step your hosting game up a notch. Plus, anything with hot honey drizzled on top I know is already going to be a winner in my book.

Once the Brie was finished baking, I was happy with how easy the cheese was to dip with crackers and pull apart without needing a knife. The cheese is melty but not too watery (read: the texture is exactly what I would want it to be for a baked Brie appetizer).

As for the taste, I loved it. Garlic? Hot honey? Butter? Cheese? Really, you can’t go wrong. I would say that the last step of drizzling on hot honey really is key for this recipe. Without that extra drizzle, you kind of lose that hot honey flavor to the potent garlic and butter. So give it another extra generous drizzle — trust me.

3 Tips for Making the Viral Baked Brie

  1. Add nuts or dried fruit: While this recipe is super simple with very few ingredients, if you want to get extra fancy with it, feel free to sprinkle some nuts or dried cranberries on top. I would recommend chopped-up pecans or walnuts to pair nicely with the Brie and hot honey. Even pomegranate arils could work here.
  2. Scoring the Brie is key for serving it: While the scoring may seem a little tedious, it makes it so much easier when serving the Brie later. Those scores help with making it easy for your guests to dip crackers and pull cheese apart without having to use an extra knife, making it the ideal finger food if you need an appetizer that doesn’t take too many ingredients and doesn’t take too long to make.
  3. Not a garlic fan? Use less of it: I’m a big fan of garlic, so the taste of it does not throw me off. However, if you’re not sure how your guests will feel with a mouthful of garlic and cheese, I would say use half the amount of garlic in this recipe. That way you still get the taste without the overpowering flavor, just in case you have some not-so-big fans of garlic that you’re serving. 

    Get the recipe: Viral Baked Brie