This Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is EPIC! “Crack bread” is an appropriate name for this because it’s garlic bread – on crack! It’s basically a cheesy garlic bread, but so much more delicious!!
Cheese, garlic and bread – you can’t go wrong. This is a great cost effective FUN centrepiece for your next gathering! Watch the video to learn how easy this is to make!
“You will never be able to look at garlic bread the same again….”
If you haven’t tried this Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread before, let me warn you now: garlic bread will never be the same again. It’s like a pull apart bread, but tastes like garlic bread plus you have the mozzarella cheese which stretches wonderfully as you pull bits off.
Pull Apart Garlic Pizza Bread – pizza version of Crack Bread!
This is INSANELY delicious. I especially love the way the bread is cut into diamond shapes so you can tear bite size pieces off. Every piece is garlicky and buttery and oh-so-cheesy…….
“Kids go NUTS over this….and grown ups turn INTO kids when they get stuck into this.”
This is one the kids go NUTS over, don’t say I didn’t warn you! And grown ups turn into little kids when they get stuck into this. I made this for a dinner and let me tell you, it took 5 hands about 30 seconds to demolish this!
UPDATE: Due to popular demand, I’ve now created a video so you can see how easy Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is to make!
The best bread to use for Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is crusty sourdough or another dense type of bread, but it works well with plain crusty loaves as well. The reason it works better with sourdough is because the bread is denser so the bread tends to hold together better when you pull bits off. But believe me, there is no compromise on flavour if you use other types of bread! In fact, in the photo I chose to use a crusty Vienna loaf because it was on special.
And I really recommend using mozzarella cheese for this, you want it to stretch and pull when you tear the pieces off. I kept the flavours quite simple, going for a garlic bread with cheese, but you can go really wild with the flavours for this! Ranch dressing, kick of chilli, other herbs – the possibilities are endless!
More easy, cheesy goodness – No Washing Up Ham Egg Cheese Bread Bowls (only 330 cal!)
This is a great centrepiece for a dinner that could just be accompanied by a fresh salad to make a complete meal. Or as a fabulous appetiser or party food – think game day!
PS The best bit is the base of the bread….the butter and cheese drips to the bottom and it bakes so nice and crispy…..
PPS If you like cheesy things you can eat with your hands, you will probably also love these No Washing Up Ham Egg and Cheese Bowls (named as such because you won’t have to wash a single pot, pan, baking tray of any other kitchen utensil!)
Save this Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread to your Party Food Pinterest Board!
- 1 crusty loaf, preferably sourdough or Vienna
- ¾ cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (or other melting cheese)
- 100g /3.5oz / 7 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Combine butter, garlic and salt in a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave. Stir through parsley.
- Cut the bread on a diagonal into 2cm/1" diamonds but do not cut all the way through the bread (just like you would cut a french stick for garlic bread).
- Use your fingers or a knife to pry open each crack and drizzle in a teaspoon of butter and stuff in a pinch of cheese. This might sound like a bit of an effort, but I promise you it is worth it! You don't need to be super neat, it's nice to have some of the butter drizzled over the crust.
- Wrap with foil and bake for 15minutes until the cheese has mostly melted, then unwrap and bake for 5 minutes more to make the bread nice and crusty.
- Serve immediately.
2. The denser the bread, the better the pieces will hold together when pulled off.
3. Use already baked bread, not uncooked bread dough.
4. **Update** A reader reminded me of a fabulous "SPEEDY" tip that I should share with you! Instead of melting the butter, cream it. Then cut diagonal slices (in one direction only) and use all the butter and generously spread it in each crack, on both walls. Then cut the bread to make diamonds and as you drag the knife through the bread, it will spread the butter into the new crevices you are cutting. This doesn't provide quite the same even coverage of butter but for a speedy version, it is a small compromise. Thank you to CJ for the tip!
Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread nutrition per serving, assuming this serves 10.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. This was my first time ever making garlic bread. Everyone loved it and it was gone very fast, even though next time I will put more cheese and kind of push it to the bottom. Again thanks.
OMG!!!!!!! Made this for our Thanksgiving dinner last night. My niece was drooling looking at the photo and couldn’t wait to eat it. When it came out of the oven and was put on the table, still cradled in its foil wrapper, everyone absolutely devoured it. it disappeared so incredibly quickly.
making the garlic butter is an absolute must.
I do a garlic cheese cob loaf, and that is amazing, but takes quite a while to bake. this is so incredibly quick and easy. I can see it will become a party favourite.
thanks again for your amazing recipes Nagi
Made 2 loaves. In the oven now – I hope the family likes it!
Great delicious looking and I’m sure very great tasting too! Love looking at all the pictures as well.
So so SO tasty!!
I want to make this for Thanksgiving. O would need to make ahead and transport. How long will it stay warm? Have you ever used anything to keep it warm so the cheese won’t get hard? Suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Hannah, no I haven’t. It doesn’t stay warm for more than around 15 – 20 minutes – i.e. the cheese. But if you make this with a really crusty sourdough, bake it, keep it wrapped in foil then when you get there, just microwave it for 2 minutes or so until the cheese remelts. It will still be nice and crusty!
This would be awesome on cold winter days with a big pot of homemade Irish Potato soup, a complete meal with a baked apple for dessert.
Now THAT is a feast!!
This may be a silly question, but your reader said to cream the butter….what does that mean instead of melting it?
You take a fork and go through butter and fluff it up. You can also use a whisk.
Just means to mix it up well. Use a beater on low speed. It changes the consistency and incorporated the garlic and parsley as well.
I love these ideas let see if it works out the same way, my friends and family will love it.
Hope you do try it!
I make this recipe & my family loves it!! I add dried basil and minced capers to the butter. Try it!
It’s so wonderful to hear you enjoyed it Naomi, thank you for letting me know!! N x
How much is 3.5 oz. of butter? How many tablespoons?
Hi Cindy! It’s 7 tbsp, I will add a note to the recipe