Gordon Ramsay’s garlic bread uses a compound garlic and parsley butter blended smooth in a food processor, spread thickly onto a baguette halved lengthways, wrapped in foil and baked until the butter melts deep into the bread, then unwrapped and grilled with Parmesan until golden and crispy. Ready in 15 minutes.
Ramsay doesn’t publish a standalone garlic bread recipe, but he uses every element across his books. In Quick and Delicious he blends butter with garlic in a food processor, toasts baguette, spreads the butter on thick, grates Parmesan over the top, then grills until golden.
On Hell’s Kitchen he tells contestants “it’s butter, it’s garlic, just do it.”
The trick is the two stages. Wrapping in foil first traps steam so the butter melts right through the bread, not just sitting on the surface. Then unwrapping and grilling crisps the top with the Parmesan.
Soft and buttery inside, crunchy and golden on top. That contrast is the whole point.
Gordon Ramsay Garlic Bread
Course: Sides, AppetiserCuisine: Italian, BritishDifficulty: Easy4
5
minutes15
minutes280
kcal20
minutesBuilt from Gordon Ramsays compound butter technique in Quick and Delicious. Garlic and parsley butter blended smooth, spread onto a halved baguette, baked in foil so the butter soaks in, then grilled with Parmesan until crispy. Make double the butter and freeze the log for instant garlic bread any night.
Ingredients
- For the garlic butter
150g unsalted butter, softened
4 garlic cloves, peeled
Small handful of flat-leaf parsley
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the bread
1 large baguette, halved lengthways
40g Parmesan, finely grated
Directions
- Preheat: Set the oven to 200°C (400°F)/Gas 6.
- Make the butter: Put the butter, garlic, parsley, and a pinch of salt and pepper into a small food processor. Blend until smooth and well combined.
- Spread: Lay the baguette halves cut-side up. Spread the garlic butter thickly and evenly over the entire cut surface. Be generous, you want it to melt into the bread, not just coat the top.
- Wrap and bake: Press the two halves back together, wrap tightly in foil, and bake for 10 minutes. The foil traps steam so the butter melts deep into the bread.
- Unwrap and grill: Open the foil, separate the halves cut-side up, grate the Parmesan evenly over the top, and grill for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
- Slice and serve: Cut into thick diagonal pieces and serve immediately while the butter is still molten inside.
FAQs
Why blend the butter in a food processor?
Most garlic bread recipes mince the garlic and mash it into soft butter with a fork. Ramsay puts the whole lot into a food processor in Quick and Delicious. The garlic distributes completely through the butter instead of sitting in chunks.
That means every bite has the same hit of garlic. No bland spots, no raw garlic lumps that burn under the grill before the bread is ready.
Why wrap in foil before grilling?
If you just spread butter on bread and grill it, the butter melts off the surface and pools on the tray. The bread underneath stays dry and the top burns before the middle gets any flavour.
The foil traps steam so the butter has nowhere to go except into the bread. Ten minutes is enough for it to soak right through. Then you unwrap, add the Parmesan, and the grill crisps just the top layer.
Can you freeze the garlic butter?
Ramsay’s tip from Quick and Delicious: “Roll it into a log and freeze it for future use.” Wrap the butter in cling film, twist the ends tight, and freeze for up to three months.
When you want garlic bread, slice rounds straight from the freezer onto your halved baguette and go straight into the foil. No defrosting needed. Make double every time and you’ll always have it ready.
What bread works best?
A standard baguette halved lengthways gives you the most surface area for butter. That’s what Ramsay uses across his books for this kind of toast.
Homemade focaccia sliced horizontally works brilliantly, especially warm from the oven. Ciabatta works too, cut the same way. Sourdough is thicker and chewier so the butter needs longer to soak through, add an extra 3-4 minutes in the foil. Tear it up and dunk into Ramsay’s French onion soup or use it to mop up the sauce from his meatballs in tomato sauce.
