Ina Garten's "Outrageous" Garlic Bread Is the Only One I'll Ever Make Again

Garlic bread is an incredibly nostalgic food for me. I grew up on the well-known supermarket variety that comes in the aluminum foil bag. Whenever I spied that unmistakable packaging peeking out of my mother’s shopping bags, I knew we were in for one of my favorite dinners.

In high school, I mostly played sports for the pasta parties, which were incomplete without at least four loaves of garlicky goodness. Now, whenever my husband and I make Sunday gravy, we complete the meal with homemade garlic bread. Unlike the gravy, I had yet to master a go-to garlic bread recipe. Sometimes, I'd use fresh garlic, sometimes powder (I know, the horror!), but I was never able to nail the balance between the homemade flavor I craved and the comfort of the highly-processed version of my youth.

Recently, my garlic bread game changed forever when I made Ina Garten’s Outrageous Garlic Bread. It’s safe to say that it's the only version I’ll ever make again. There is really only one word to describe it, which was aptly used in the title of the recipe, so I’ll do my best to do it justice.

Making Ina Garten's Garlic Bread

The first thing to note is the preparation of the bread. Rather than slathering the cooked garlic on top of a halved loaf, the bread is crosshatched so the buttery goodness can seep into the bread, making each bite a perfect one.

As for the garlic, Ina uses an entire head. Peeling the cloves is a bit time-consuming, so I use a shortcut. After pulling apart the cloves, I place them in a heat-safe jar or bowl. Then, I cover them with boiling water and let them sit for about five minutes. This softens the papery skin and allows you to pop the cloves out of the peel with ease.

Once the garlic is prepared, simmer it in butter (and lots of it!) for about twenty minutes or until it’s soft and spreadable. I have to admit that I did brown my butter just a touch during this process due to having a few too many pots on the fire, literally and figuratively, but I actually loved the nuttiness the flecks of brown butter added to the final product.

Mash the softened garlic into a smooth paste, then add chopped fresh parsley, fresh lemon zest, lots of umami-rich Parmesan, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Generously pile this incredibly flavorful paste on top of the crosshatched bread and bake it at 450˚F for five to seven minutes, or until impossibly crisp.

For me, the lemon zest is the best part. It brought a bit of brightness to the mix of super-rich flavors. That said, if your kids have discerning palates, you may want to keep the zest out of the butter mixture and just freshly grate it over half of the prepared bread to please picky eaters.

With a loaf of bread like this, you barely need to think about the entree, but I served it with some baked ricotta meatballs and a green salad for a complete meal. The leftovers were excellent reheated, and even better when popped into the air fryer for a few minutes. As a surprise to no one, Ina always knows best!