Introducing the world’s easiest party starter – Baked Brie! This is how how you transform a good value brie into a spectacular brie. It’s like the best cheese dip you will ever have!! An excellent option for a shared entree or party food that’s super quick and easy to prepare that has wow factor.
Serve with crostini or crackers (try these homemade fruit & nut crackers!).
Baked Brie
Baked Brie is, quite simply, the best melted cheese in the world. When you cut through the rind and the inside comes pouring out like lava, you’ll forget all your troubles. It’s like cheese-aholic heaven!
But cheese addiction aside, here’s the practical reason why Baked Brie needs to be on your radar:
It’s the world’s easiest appetiser / party starter!
Just pop a brie in the oven for 15 minutes, or microwave it for 2 minutes. Plonk on a platter, add a mound of crispy crackers and watch the hands dive in to do THIS:
And keep pulling up and up….. LOOK AT THIS CHEESE PULL!!!
How to make Baked Brie
I wasn’t exaggerating when I said you just plonk a brie in the oven. But here’s a practical visual for how to make it.
What to bake it in – use a round, shallow oven proof dish that’s a bit larger than the brie for baking and serving if you have one. It needs to be shallow, otherwise it’s hard to dip/scoop without touching the hot dish; OR
Place the brie on crumpled paper – this is what I do.This serves 2 purposes:
safest way to transfer – Baked Brie is wobbly and delicate, and it would be a tragedy if that Baked Brie burst open mid transfer……
the crumpled paper helps stop the brie from oozing out all over the table. Melted brie just needs a little bit of coaxing to stop it from running everywhere!
Baked Brie Practical Tips!
Best Brie for Baked Brie – Use an economical brie or camembert! Expensive brie would be wasted on this recipe, in my opinion, though it does work just as well with top end as it does budget brie.
How long it stays gooey – in a ceramic dish, it will stay scoopable for a good 15 minutes or so. On paper, around 10 minutes, then for another 10 minutes or so you can smear it on with a knife.
How to reheat – seconds in the microwave! A whole brie takes 2 minutes in the microwave, so use that as a baseline for leftover brie.
Leftovers – AMAZING! The honey / maple syrup will be mixed through when the cheese hardens and it just makes it all the more delicious. Who cares if you have to scrape up the dregs and pop into a small ramekin? OR pile it onto toast and grill! *She swoons at the thought*
Baked Brie is how you get gourmet flavour using a good value brie!
What goes with Baked Brie
Baked Brie is best served with sturdy crackers for scooping up the molten cheese – avoid chips and those wafer thin crackers for serving with cheese as they aren’t strong enough.
And while brie is rich enough and the cheese itself is flavoured enough so that even a plain Baked Brie is amazing, a simple (generous!) drizzle of honey or maple syrup certainly wouldn’t go astray. Sweet honey and the rich, savoury brie goes brilliantly and adds another dimension that takes it from OMG this is sooooo goooood!
Add a a simple bunch of grapes to the serving platter (fruit + cheese is classic, plus just looks good!), and your impressive easy appetiser is complete and ready to wow your family and friends!
“When you cut through the rind, the inside comes pouring out like lava. It’s like the best cheese fondue you will ever have.”
What did that take? All of 2 minutes effort on your part. Unwrap the brie, bake or microwave it. Open packet of crispy toasted bread (or make your own), plonk a bunch of grapes on the side. And voila! Your party starter is ready to impress your family and friends.
Make this once, then come join me at Cheese-aholics Anonymous! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Baked Brie
Ingredients
- 250 – 500g / 8 – 16 oz round brie or camembert (good value is fine! Note 1)
- 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)
- 1 thyme sprig (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
- Unwrap brie and place in a small, shallow ovenproof dish slightly larger than the brie (to be used for serving) OR a piece of crumbled baking / parchment paper (for transference). (Note 2)
- Oven: Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (for 250g/80z), or until melted through. For 500g/1lb brie, increase to 25 minutes. To check, gently touch the centre of the brie – it should feel very soft, like it is about to collapse if you press any harder.
- Microwave option: 2 minutes on high (no one will know!) in 30 second increments.
- Carefully transfer to serving plate / board – it's delicate (transfer on paper if you used paper).
- Drizzle with honey, top with sprig of thyme (if using).
- Serve immediately with crostini on the side for scooping. Provide a knife to cut through the rind and a cheese or pate knife (or similar) to scoop cheese up onto crostini or crackers (plain or fruit/nut flavoured).
Recipe Notes:
- very shallow bowl or curved plate – the shape of which will hold the cheese in (ovenproof if baking, microwave proof if microwaving ie most normal dinner plates fine); OR
- bake on crumbled paper per recipe directions – the paper makes it easy to transfer the Brie to a serving platter (Baked Brie is delicate and wobbly like jelly, and if it bursts you will cry). Plus by crumpling it, it actually (mostly) stops the cheese from oozing out onto the table (but really, you won’t be short of willing participants to dash forward and scoop up brie that’s oozing dangerously close to the edge of the serving platter!)
Nutrition Information:
Originally published November 2014, updated with new photos and recipe video in October 2019, refreshed again in 2021. No change to recipe!
Life of Dozer
When the treat jar is so close…yet so far… (and so empty…?)
Hi Great information you share its very helpful and informative so thanks for sharing this nice recipes thank you so much
Nice twist , try it deep fried
OMG are you serious???!!!! N x
Brie is amazing. I recommend food processing brown sugar and walnuts. Place a mound on top, add a splash of red wine on top of the mixture and back in the over. Absolutely amazing…
Brie is amazing. I recommend food processing brown sugar and walnuts. Place a mound on top, add a splash of red wine on top of the mixture and bake in the over. Absolutely amazing…
Bake in the over. Typos…
Thanks for posting these last few days. Such a busy time even without a book in the works…yet you took the time out to post for us. What a joy to see you and Dozer😊
Have made this several times, everyone always loves it. I’m gluten free so I just make a simple gluten free pie crust and use in place of the puff pastry.
Maybe this deserves a correction Nagi: MICROWAVE OPTION: 2 minutes on high in 30 minute increments until the centre is soft.
Now I have a charred piece of milk based charcoal in my microwave and my school won’t repay my schooling fees. Damn free education.
Oops! Thanks for that! Will fix it! N x
Absolutely love this recipe. Instead of brie i used a small round camambert. I also served it with carrot and peper sticks along with rosemary crackers. It was absolutely delicious. Michelle.
YUM! I wish I had some now Michelle!! N x
I made a 208g Brie and topped it with smashed fresh cranberries, two medium size sprigs of Rosemary and a stick of cinnamon snapped in half and marinated 24 hours. It made the house smell heavenly while it was baking and was absolutely delicious. It helped make a special friend’s birthday more special.
I forgot to mention I added 1 tsp maple syrup over the cranberry/cinnamon/rosemary. Watching my sugars here, you could add more syrup if you like it sweet.
Method might work for what I (being Scottish) assume is American ‘Brie’. (No real — French — Brie I’ve ever seen whether here in the U.K. or in France itself is round; it’s triangular.) So I’m not sure if the timings given here would work for the real thing.
However the recipe is intriguing and I’m sure would be delicious, making a great centrepiece for a party platter as well as a fantastic way to get people who don’t know one another at a dinner party to become firm friends very fast as they politely squabble over the last delicious morsel: no-one surely can stay stand-offish while dealing with gooey molten cheese dripping from their fingers!
So it would be helpful to have instructions and timings for real French Brie as well, because who wants to miss out on all that molten loveliness just because they live near — or actually in — France and only get the triangular kind in their shops? Not me!
So thank you for the recipe idea, but can you add the necessary timings for that, too, please?
Hi Eilidh, French brie here is round – if you’re getting a triangular piece, then you’re actually getting a wedge of the wheel of brie. N x
I once bought a wheel of Brie in Paris from a supermarket, might be 20 years ago but pretty sure you still could. I just bought a smaller wheel from Woolworths here in Oz too so will be making this for Christmas. Every recipe of yours I’ve tried has been a great success Nagi. Happy Christmas.
Thanks, will use this method as we just acquired 2 x 500g brie.
There’s an error in the microwavecinstructions, reads 30 minute increments instead of 30 seconds. (Just Helping, )
Microwaved Brie? You jest.
Baking or heating any type cheese in a microwave alters its texture and mouthfeel. Microwaves work well in preparing a rubberized cheese flavored concoction.
The microwave option is usually given for individuals who may not have access to an actual oven, no need to be rude!