5-Minute Easy Garlic Bread Recipe

Learn how to make mouthwatering garlic bread in 5 minutes without turning on the oven. It’s so easy to get dinner ready after a long work day and satisfy your garlic craving.

Overhead view of 5-minute garlic bread with cilantro garnish. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
Amazing garlic bread that takes 5 minutes to make

When I’m in the mood for my garlic fix, I want garlic bread immediately.

When dinner is almost ready, the last thing you want is to fiddle with baking garlic bread. That’s why this recipe cooks the garlic butter in the microwave and then toasts the bread.

Why this recipe works

This technique allows you to skip baking or broiling the garlic bread in the oven, which is how most other recipes recommend making homemade garlic bread.

With the power of your toaster, you can have garlic bread almost from scratch ready in 5 minutes. While it’s not restaurant-style garlic bread, it’s delicious and will satisfy your garlic cravings.

Overhead view of the 5-minute garlic bread ingredients, including bread, cilantro, garlic and butter on a dark wood background. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
All the ingredients needed for 5-minute garlic bread

This is one of my favorite recipes in my series for quick meals. Check out the other 5-minute recipes.


How to make this with fresh garlic

I designed this recipe around minimalist or small apartments that might not have an oven. So, you can make this recipe on vacation in a limited AirBnB rental or if you live in a studio without a kitchen!

NOTE: A lot of Garlic Delight readers requested this version of 5-minute garlic bread with garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Alex & I came up with the 5-Minute Garlic Bread made using Garlic Powder. If you’re curious about the different garlic substitutes available, check out this article on different forms of garlic sold in most grocery stores.

Overhead view of 5-minute garlic bread with cilantro garnish. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin

Equipment you need for this recipe

You need:

  • A microwave: Any good microwave works. If you don’t already have a microwave, check out this best-selling countertop microwave oven.
  • A toaster: A regular slotted toaster works. If you have a toaster oven, that works too as long as it can toast bread.
  • A garlic press: This Kuhn Rikon is my favorite and what we use at home. But if you don’t have one, you can chop the garlic with a chef’s knife.
  • Use a microwave-safe bowl to heat the butter: Be careful when you take the hot butter out of the microwave because you can burn yourself touching the hot bowl. Use oven mitts or a dish towel to protect your hands.

5-Minute Garlic Bread with Fresh Garlic

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This is a super quick and easy garlic bread recipe that’s perfect for satisfying my garlic cravings. Scale the recipe up to serve three, four, or even six with the same amount of effort.
Prep Time: 4 minutes
Cook Time: 1 minute
Total Time: 5 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Brunch, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: American, Anna&Alex, Italian
Keyword: 10 ingredients or less, 5-minute recipe, batch-cooking, carbs, comfort, family-friendly, vegan, vegetarian
Servings: 2 person
Calories: 178kcal
Author: Anna Rider
Cost: $1

Equipment

  • Knife
  • Chopping Board
  • Spatula
  • Garlic Press
  • Microwave
  • Paper towel

Ingredients

  • 2 slices (2 slices) Bread, Fresh crusty bread is the best.
  • 2 tablespoon (29.57 g) butter, Salted butter tastes better and is less work.
  • 1-2 cloves (1 cloves) garlic, Fresh garlic only
  • 2 sprigs (2 sprigs) cilantro, Optional

Instructions

  • Collect all the ingredients for the recipe.
    Overhead view of the 5-minute garlic bread ingredients, including bread, cilantro, garlic and butter on a dark wood background. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Peel the cloves of garlic. Squeeze the cloves through a garlic press.
    Look at putting a garlic clove into a garlic press. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Scrap off all the pressed garlic and put into a microwave-safe bowl.
    Look at squeezing a garlic clove through a garlic press. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Add the butter to the bowl with the garlic.
    Close up look of adding the butter into the bowl with pressed garlic. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Heat the butter in the microwave on high for 30 seconds.
    Medium close up look of white bowl with butter sitting in the microwave. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Stir the garlic into the melting butter. Place a paper towel over the bowl to avoid splattering butter in your microwave. Heat the butter again on high for 30 seconds.
    Medium close up look of white bowl with paper towel on top to prevent splatter. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • While waiting for the butter to cool down, toast your bread in the toaster. I like my toast lightly browned but you can toast it on whatever settings you prefer.
    Overhead view of bread in toaster. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • In the meantime, finely chop the cilantro. If you’re skipping the cilantro, then jump straight to step 10.
    Extreme close up look of Anna chopping cilantro. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Add the cilantro to the garlic butter.
    Overhead view of cilantro in the garlic butter. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Using a spatula, spread the garlic butter on your toast.
    Close up look of adding the garlic butter onto the toast. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin
  • Enjoy your 5-minute garlic bread!
    Overhead view of 5-minute garlic bread with cilantro garnish. Recipe from garlicdelight.com.Pin

Notes

You can use this garlic butter technique on different foods, not only garlic bread. For example, this garlic butter works well spread over popcorn, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.

Nutrition

Calories: 178kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 246mg | Potassium: 50mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 500IU | Vitamin C: 1.1mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 1mg
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FAQs for 5-Minute Garlic Bread

How Can You Make Vegan or Dairy-Free 5-Minute Garlic Bread?

Instead of butter, substitute olive oil and follow the same recipe below. Use the best quality olive oil you can.

How Do I Avoid Burning My Mouth With Raw Garlic?

Peyton left a comment that the garlic bread burned her mouth. Upon investigation, she mentioned that the garlic was too raw. Yes, raw garlic has sulfuric compounds that can cause a spicy or burning sensation in your mouth.

To avoid raw garlic in your garlic bread: look to see if the garlic is opaque white. If it is still a bit translucent and a yellowish/off-white color, then it may be too raw. To be safe, you can zap it in the microwave for an extra 30 seconds to 1 minute longer until it’s definitely not raw anymore.

The safer bet is to try the garlic powder garlic bread recipe. No risk of burning there.

Can You Use Garlic Powder in This 5-Minute Garlic Bread Recipe?

Use fresh garlic for this recipe. After much experimentation, Alex & I developed a version of the 5-minute garlic bread recipe using garlic powder. Alex discovered a technique that creates a well-mixed garlic butter, which was a challenge because garlic powder led to dry, powdery garlic bread! We’re pretty proud of our technique so check out our stress-free garlic bread recipe using garlic powder and leave a comment to let me know what you think.

How Can I Make This 5-Minute Garlic Bread More Interesting?

How Do You Make Garlic Bread From the Store?

This recipe is not quite the same as garlic bread from the store or restaurant, which tends to be softer and chewier.

If you want soft garlic bread, choose a soft bread like a dinner roll, naan or focaccia. Also, toast the bread for 30 seconds just to heat it up without making it crispy.

How do I make a big batch of this garlic bread for a party?

Ah, this garlic bread recipe is designed for 1 or 2 people. If you follow the instructions to make it for a party of 20, I assure you it will take much longer than 5 minutes. If you’re preparing garlic bread for a large group of people, you’re better off making traditional garlic bread in the oven. The garlic butter works the same only you’ll want to double or triple the quantities. Instead of toasting the bread in a toaster, you can split a baguette in half lengthwise (or other similarly large loaf of bread) and spread the garlic butter inside. Then bake for 15-20 minutes at 350ÂşF/175ÂşC. If you want a recipe for traditional garlic, let me know by leaving a comment below.


What to Eat With Garlic Bread

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This delicious lentil soup is flexible and scalable. That means you can substitute the aromatics and add fresh vegetables. The recipe is designed for batch cooking so you can serve a crowd or freeze the leftovers. You can scale up the recipe further if your soup pot is large enough. Enjoy with toppings like crème fraîche or serve with crusty bread.
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Anna looking down chopping vegetables
About Anna Rider

Hi! I'm Anna, a food writer who documents kitchen experiments on GarlicDelight.com with the help of my physicist and taste-testing husband, Alex. I have an insatiable appetite for noodles 🍜 and believe in "improv cooking".

17 thoughts on “5-Minute Easy Garlic Bread Recipe”

  1. 5 stars
    I really love this, most recipes call for using an oven to bake which takes so long and not everyone has them, this is similar to how I do mine. Great work with the article. Ps. can be improved by added herbs and spices on top 🙂

    Reply
  2. To be honest with you, your article is very interesting. It carries vital information that anyone will love to hear. i must say you have a skill of writing i really appreciate your effort keep sharing because i am looking up for the next post.

    Reply
  3. 5 stars
    this was wonderful! Thank you for sharing all these tips and recipes..really helps those of us without the create gene;)

    Reply
  4. This recipe is incredibly easy and incredibly delicious! Thank you for sharing it! Please keep on making these 5 minute recipes!

    Reply
  5. 5 stars
    I get the point was trying to make it quick and simple. Simple may be easy for some, others have a hard time if you tell them to scratch their ear with their Military Right.

    Wonderful plan, and since I love garlic I flatten with a knife’s broadside and chop minimally. I love using sourdough bread with this recipe. Thank you much for putting this out there.

    Btw, don’t wanna get jalepeno business since its nacho problem, but I’d love to taco bout it.
    hahahahahah

    Sorry.

    Reply
    • Hi PK,
      Can you tell me more about how it burned your mouth? Do you mean burning from raw garlic? Or do you mean the bread was too hot and burned you?
      Did your garlic cook sufficiently in the butter?

      Reply
  6. I will have to make this, so simple and love the instructions. Thank you for sharing and will let you know how it goes!

    Reply
    • Hi deja,

      Thanks for your message. Did you try the recipe with fresh garlic?
      I will test the recipe with garlic powder and let you know how you need to modify it to make it work.
      Thanks for your message and happy to hear from you.
      Anna

      Reply
  7. 4 stars
    Pretty decent given it takes literally 5 minutes.

    My wife made some lovely tomato soup, and requested some garlic bread after the soup had finished.

    Followed your recipe to the T and voila, it wasn’t perfect but it definitely managed to quench the need for our garlic fix.

    Will try experimenting with some oregano or some other seasonings for some zest.

    Reply
    • Hi Shehreyar,

      Glad to hear you tried the recipe & it quenched the garlic thirst.
      What parts of the recipe did you find to be imperfect and how could I improve the recipe?
      Looking forward to hearing from you.
      Anna

      Reply
  8. 3 stars
    I made it but only had garlic powder so I used that instead of fresh garlic. In the words of my mum “it’s not bad but it’s not great, it kinda looks like apple sauce”

    Reply
    • Hi Katie,

      Thank you very much for your comment! I really appreciate that you tried to make this recipe. Just curious, did you think it was very good because it was from garlic powder? Or do you think there was something wrong with the recipe? Would love to know how you think it would be improved.

      Also, just curious, how did you find this website?

      Nice meeting you,
      Anna

      Reply

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