Air fryer garlic bread

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If you're got some spare bread, that is about to go to waste, why not do your bit to reduce food waste and turn it into a delicious garlic bread? Air fryer garlic bread has to be my favourite way to make garlic bread, as it just goes so golden, crispy and delicious, without losing all of that delicious garlic butter!

When cooking for a crowd I always find that a couple of garlic breads is a great way to stretch a meal a little further, with minimal effort. It's just like making toast really, but garlic toast.

While you're here be sure to check out my air fryer tips and tricks. Whether you're a total beginner to air frying, or just looking to get more from your air fryer, this is sure to help!

Ingredients for air fryer garlic bread:

Homemade garlic butter - made with 2 tablespoons of softened butter, 3 garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley (1 tablespoon if using dried). You could add garlic to salted butter.

Bread of your choice. I find a crusty baguette, day old roll or even just a leftover bread loaf are all great for making garlic bread.

I find that ½ inch thick bread works great, particularly if using something like a baguette.

How to air fry garlic bread:

This is SO simple I know...!

All you need to do is slice your bread.

Then crush your garlic cloves with a crusher, or in a pestle and mortar.

Place the garlic into a microwaveable bowl, add the butter and parsley.

Microwave in 10 second bursts until the butter has melted. I found 20 seconds suitable in my microwave, which is 800W.

Place into the air fryer basket in a single layer.

Air fry at 200C for 6 minutes. If you've got very small slices of bread I recommend checking at 4 minutes in!

Making your own garlic bread is a fantastic way to use up leftover bread. Also, leftover garlic bread turns into a pizza great too.

I also love making homemade croutons (air fryer croutons are my fave!) or using the end pieces in an air fryer sage and onion stuffing. Delicious!

Want to cook frozen garlic bread?

Sometimes you just don't want the effort of making things from scratch, I get it! So what you need to do when cooking a frozen garlic bread, or garlic baguette, is just add 2 minutes onto the cooking time.

8 minutes at 200C is more than enough to cook an entire garlic bread from frozen.

Here is a little look at one I made recently:

As you can see the garlic bread goes wonderfully crisp and there is still lots of garlic butter on each of the pieces too! This is a fantastic way to cook garlic bread to accompany a 15 minute spaghetti bolognese or slow cooker spaghetti bolognese.

Garlic bread is a great crowd pleaser, and SO simple and fast to make. I feel like it is a fantastic air fryer side dish to share when you've got a large crowd to feed, particularly as it was cheap too. I love to serve it alongside air fryer hunters chicken.

What herbs work well for garlic bread?

I love to use Italian herbs. You can buy a blend from the supermarket, for convenience, or you could mix together herbs such as basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, parsley, and oregano.

Red pepper flakes or red chilli flakes work great too, but go easy so it's not too spicy.

Want to make cheesy garlic bread?

Sprinkle a little grated cheddar and/or mozzarella on to the cooked garlic bread and air fry for another 1-2 minutes. A delicious way to add some protein to your garlic bread too! I find that cheddar with a little grated parmesan cheese is a great blend for garlic bread!

I also love to mix together a variety of cheeses, such as edam, cheddar, red leicester and mozzarella, as this brings lots of flavour, and is fantastic for using up lots of little odds and ends after Christmas or hosting. This is a great way to cut down on food waste.

Can you reheat garlic bread in the air fryer?

Yes, absolutely! Personally I find about 2 minutes is plenty to heat it through properly. I'd recommend you throw a little splash of water on the bread before you start re-heating it, just to help avoid the outside going too hard or crunchy.

Always use your own judgement when you're reheating foods, and use a meat thermometer, or similar, to check that things are cooked throughout before serving up.

Don't have any fresh garlic at home?

Don't worry! You can use garlic granules or even garlic salt if that is all you have available. Melt the butter and parsley together and then mix in 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon depending on how much garlic flavour you like your garlic bread to have.

Frozen garlic works great too. I like to buy the blocks, where there are 2-3 cloves of already minced garlic and frozen in a cube, as these are so convenient.

What type of bread can you use for garlic bread?

You can really use absolutely anything that you want to make garlic bread.

Crumpets, buns, rolls, baps, english muffins, wraps, sandwich bread, baguettes/french bread, breadsticks, dough balls and more will all work fantastically.

Anything bread based works well with garlic butter turned into garlic bread, but I find that white bread products tend to taste the best for garlic bread.

The best reason to make your own garlic bread:

You can control how much garlic you add to it and you can be sure that it is lower in saturated fat and salt than store bought versions. I've got a nice easy garlic bread recipe - delicious.

Garlic bread tortilla pizza:

If you're going to be making garlic bread with tortillas then I would recommend treating it a little like a pizza.

Spread your garlic butter mixture all over the tortillas, then add another tortilla to the top and repeat the process 3 or 4 times. Then you can dress the final layer with garlic butter and sprinkle lots of cheddar cheese and mozzarella over the top. Italian herbs work great on the top too.

Looking for some other garlic inspiration? Here are some of my favourite garlic containing dishes:

Looking for some other air fryer recipe inspiration? Why not check out my latest air fryer recipes:

• Air fryer crumble topping
• Air fryer cheese scones
• Air fryer frozen chicken burger
• Air fryer frozen salmon
• Air fryer chips recipe
• Air fryer french toast sticks
• 14 of the best bratwurst toppings
• Chicken mini fillets in the air fryer
• Air fryer garlic bread
• Air fryer parsnips recipe (honey glazed)

Something to note about air fryer recipes is that all air fryers have different sizes, depths and as such the cooking times can vary. All air fryer recipes on this website are intended as a guide, and not a guarantee that the timings will be perfect. Enjoy!

Garlic bread air fryer recipe:

Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.

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