Forget disappointing shop bought garlic baguettes in favour of your own homemade vegan garlic bread packed full of garlic and parsley butter. Easy to make and such a great value too!
If I was to choose one versatile side dish or accompaniment that goes with so many dishes, it would have to be my vegan garlic bread.
I have tried quite a few shop bought alternatives of "accidentally vegan" garlic baguettes only to be left disappointed EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Although initially they might seem a good value the moment you taste them you realise you've wasted your money.
So if you'd like to actually enjoy vegan garlic bread that is packed full of garlicky flavour and have some on standby in your freezer, this recipe is for you!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Easy to make recipe with simple ingredients.
- Great value for money and full of flavour.
- Perfect freezer standby ready whenever you are.
- You know exactly what's in it and can adjust intensity of garlic to your taste.
- You will actually taste garlic in the first place.
- Bake it in the oven or in your air fryer.
📝 Ingredients
Here is what you need to make my Vegan Garlic Bread recipe:
French Baguette - Use any type of baguette you manage to get your hands on. I went for a standard French stick you can easily get in any supermarket but stone baked baguette or ciabatta would be lovely too.
***Quick Tip*** My baguette was approximately 22cm/56inch long so it made 2 garlic breads, enough as a side for 2 dinners for our family of 4. One of them was frozen for later.
Vegan Butter - Use your favourite vegan butter. I used unsalted Flora Plant (UK) hence the addition of salt but you can skip salt if already using salted butter.
You want your butter only slightly softened, not too much but enough to easily mix it with other ingredients.
***Quick Tip*** Don't worry if you forget to take your butter out of the fridge in advance. You can easily soften it in the microwave. Few seconds will do.
Fresh Garlic - Start of the show if you ask me. I used full tablespoon of minced garlic (approx. 20g) which is quite garlicky but that's how we like it. Feel free to use the amount of garlic you feel you can handle.
Fresh Parsley - Using fresh herbs in garlic butter makes such a huge difference both flavour and appearance wise. You can use dried parsley if you don't have any fresh and it will work fine too.
Dried Oregano - Just a little bit, to add to the flavour. You could use some mixed herbs or herbes de provence here instead.
Onion Granules - Again more flavour.
Salt - I used fine Pink Himalayan salt here. If using salted butter you might want to skip it or use it to taste.
🔪 Instructions
Ingredient quantities & detailed instructions to be found in recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Pre-slice your baguette either straight or slightly diagonally, taking care not to go all the way through but about ¾ way down. Ideally, you want your bread pre-sliced but in one piece.
Make garlic butter by mashing all of the remaining ingredients together with a fork until nicely combined.
Take prepared bread and spread garlic butter on both sides of each pre-cut slice.
Start with thin layer of butter on each slice first to ensure you don't run out before you finish buttering all the slices. Once they've all been buttered, you can go back and add more as and where you see fit.
***Quick Tip*** When making two garlic breads out of one long baguette I like to divide garlic butter in half so that I have equal amount for each bread.
Wrap buttered vegan garlic bread fairly loosely in aluminium foil and bake in the oven, the air fryer or freeze for later.
See below for baking times.
⏲️ Baking times
Oven:
Fresh: Bake in preheated oven at 200C/400F for 15-20 minutes, depending how crispy you like it.
I bake it in foil for about 12 minutes, open the foil and continue baking for another 3-5 minutes until nice and brown on top.
Frozen: Bake it straight from frozen, no defrosting necessary. Bake in preheated oven at 200C/400F for 20-25 minutes or until crispy and butter inside is nicely melted and slices are easy to separate.
Feel free to open the foil towards the end of baking to allow browning on top.
Air Fryer:
For air frying vegan garlic bread you might have to divide it into pieces that will fit your machine. I have to divide it in half to fit in the drawer of my Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer.
I like to keep it in the foil to start with and then open to allow browning on top.
Fresh: Air fry fresh vegan garlic bread at 190C/370F for about 10-12 minutes but start checking around 8-10 minutes mark and if wrapped in foil you might want to open it to allow for a bit of browning.
Frozen: Air fry from frozen, no need to defrost. Air fry at 190C/370F for about 12-15 minutes depending on the level of crispness you like.
***Quick Tip*** Make sure to adjust the length of baking to your oven/air fryer and your crispness preferences. If in doubt start checking on your garlic bread from mid point until you are satisfied with its doneness to your liking as all the above temperatures and timings are based on my equipment and preferences.
💭 Pro Tips
Vegan garlic bread is perfect for freezing. One large baguette will easily give you 2 x garlic bread. I always freeze one for later.
Use good quality vegan block butter. You could use margarine from the tub but block butter really does taste nicer due to higher fat to water ratio. I like Flora Plant (UK) and Naturli Organic Vegan Block.
Butter each slice of bread on both sides. Be thorough, be generous. That's what differentiates homemade garlic bread from the shop bought one. Thank me later!
Fresh parsley is the way to go when making garlic butter.
Feel free to sprinkle a little bit of grated vegan cheese in between the slices once you've buttered them. I'm more of a purist when it comes to garlic bread but I cheesy twist sounds good too.
Consider swapping regular garlic for wild garlic when in season. Here is the recipe for my wild garlic butter which you can use here instead.
Don't worry if you cut all the way through when slicing bread. Aluminium foil will hold it in one piece.
🥡 Storing
Store: Vegan garlic bread is best consumed once baked but if you have any leftover slices simply wrap them back up in the foil and they'll keep for couple of days.
Reheat: You can bring them back to their former glory (almost) bu warming them up for couple of minutes in the air fryer until warmed through, popping in the toaster or warming up in a pan.
It's probably not worth heating up the oven for couple of slices of leftover garlic bread so if the above options are not possible the only other alternative is to eat it cold.
Freeze: As already mentioned vegan garlic bread is perfect for freezing. Freeze it unbaked and wrapped tightly in the foil for up to 3 months.
There is no need to defrost it, you can bake it straight from frozen - see ⏲️Baking Times above.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Where do I start?
Vegan garlic bread makes great accompaniment to any pasta, soup, stew etc.
It goes so well with my Lentil and Spinach Lasagne or spaghetti with my Lentil Ragu Bolognese.
Try it on the side of my One Pot Bean and Sausage Pasta or with Beetroot Risotto.
Ultimate Vegan Chilli is another dish my garlic bread marries really well with, just give it a try.
Carrot and Swede Soup, Roasted Celeriac and Sweet Potato, Curried Parsnip Soup, Carrot and Coriander Soup or any other soup you like. Check my soup collection for ideas.
❓ FAQ
It's up to you. I use aluminium foil to cook my garlic bread as it traps moisture in and protects the bread from getting to crispy.
It's also great for wrapping garlic bread in to freeze.
Yes, you can do that but baking time will change quite considerably so you will need to watch your bread like a hawk. Also as we buttered both sides of each slice, personally I like to bake it as a loaf.
Yes you can. Make sure to wrap it well in some baking paper and aluminium foil or pop it in a freezer safe container. Silicone ice cube trays would work well. Once frozen solid you can then move butter to the freezer bag but you have perfect little portion.
Have you tried my Vegan Garlic Bread?
Please consider giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in recipe card below and share your views or tips in the comments.
📋 Recipe
Vegan Garlic Bread (Oven + Air Fryer)
Ingredients
- 1 large baguette (French stick) see notes
- 100 g vegan block butter softened; see notes
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (approx 20g) see notes
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt leave it out if using salted butter
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano see notes
- 15 g fresh parsley finely chopped; see notes
Instructions
- Pre-slice your baguette either straight or slightly diagonally, taking care not to go all the way through but about ¾ way down. Ideally, you want your bread pre-sliced but in one piece.1 large baguette (French stick)
- Make garlic butter by mashing all of the remaining ingredients together with a fork until nicely combined.100 g vegan block butter, 1 tablespoon minced garlic (approx 20g), ¼ teaspoon fine salt, ¼ teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 15 g fresh parsley
- Take prepared bread and spread garlic butter on both sides of each pre-cut slice.Start with thin layer of butter on each slice first to ensure you don't run out before you finish buttering all the slices. Once they've all been buttered, you can go back and add more as and where you see fit.***Quick Tip*** When making two garlic breads out of one long baguette I like to divide garlic butter in half so that I have equal amount for each bread.
- Wrap buttered vegan garlic bread fairly loosely in aluminium foil and bake in the oven, the air fryer or freeze for later.
Oven Baking Times
- Fresh: Bake in preheated oven at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 for 15-20 minutes, depending how crispy you like it. I bake it in foil for about 12 minutes, open the foil and continue baking for another 3-5 minutes until nice and brown on top.
- Frozen: Bake it straight from frozen, no defrosting necessary. Bake in preheated oven at 200C/400F for 20-25 minutes or until crispy and butter inside is nicely melted and slices are easy to separate. Feel free to open the foil towards the end of baking to allow browning on top.
Air Fryer Baking Times
- For air frying vegan garlic bread you might have to divide it into pieces that will fit your machine. I like to keep it in the foil to start with and then open to allow browning on top.
- Fresh: Air fry fresh vegan garlic bread at 190C/370F for about 10-12 minutes but start checking around 8-10 minutes mark and if wrapped in foil you might want to open it to allow for a bit of browning.
- Frozen: Air fry from frozen, no need to defrost. Air fry at 190C/370F for about 12-15 minutes depending on the level of crispness you like.
- ***Quick Tip*** Make sure to adjust the length of baking to your oven/air fryer and your crispness preferences. If in doubt start checking on your garlic bread from mid point until you are satisfied with its doneness to your liking as all the above temperatures and timings are based on my equipment and preferences.
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per slice (based on one large baguette cut into 20 slices) and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
- Feel free to use use different style baguette, French bread here. Stonebaked baguettes and ciabattas work really well.
- Use vegan block butter if you can but vegan butter in a tub will work too.
- Feel free to adjust the amount of garlic to your taste. 1 tablespoon of minced garlic is pretty garlicky but not su per overpowering.
- Dried oregano can be substituted with any other of your favourite dried herbs. I would recommend mixed herbs or herbs de Provence.
- Do use fresh parsley if you can but dried version can be used instead. Use 1-2 teaspoons.
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