Tasty French bread topped with seasoned butter, pesto and parmesan cheese is a delicious appetizer or side dish along with your favorite pasta dish.
Why make this recipe
This pesto garlic bread is full of flavor. I love to eat it as a side along with baked pasta or with a Caesar salad. But I also love to eat it as an appetizer along with a nice glass of wine.
This bread has all the necessary characteristics that makes this bread really amazing to me. It 's crunchy, has butter, is packed with a punch of flavor from the pesto and then it's topped with cheese that is just slightly browned.
Eat this pesto bread fresh out of the oven or while still warm. On the rare chance that you have any leftovers, they are actually pretty good the next day too. Just store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Key ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and measurements can be found below. Just scroll to the bottom!
- French Bread
- Pesto - homemade or store bought
- Butter
- Parmesan Cheese
Steps to make
- Melt butter and add Italian seasoning
- Slice bread in half and place on a foil on top of a baking sheet
- Spread butter over both sides of cut bread
- Spread pesto over butter
- Place both halves back together forming a loaf. Wrap in foil
- Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes
- Remove from oven and carefully unwrap the foil. Separate both halves so cut side is facing up.
- Sprinkle on parmesan cheese and return to oven, unwrapped, for 10 minutes
- Finish under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until cheese is golden brown
- Remove from oven and slice and serve
Variations
- Add a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese along with the parmesan
- If you love garlic, add finely diced garlic to the melted butter along with the herbs
- Add thinly slice sun dried tomatoes on top of the pesto
- Omit the pesto and just use the herbed butter
- Serve with a marinara dipping sauce
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Be sure to check out all my delicious bread recipes.
Pesto Garlic Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread (cut in half lengthwise )
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ teaspoon Italian seasonings
- 1 cup pesto
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese (shredded)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Place bread on tin foil on top of baking sheet1 loaf French bread
- Melt butter with Italian seasonings½ cup butter, ¼ teaspoon Italian seasonings
- Spread butter on both sides of cut bread
- Spread pesto oven the butter1 cup pesto
- Place bread back together and wrap in foil
- Bake in oven for 10 minutes
- Carefully remove foil and separate both halves of bread so the cut side is facing up
- Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on both sides1 cup Parmesan cheese
- Return to oven, without foil, for 10 minutes
- Place under broiler for 1-2 minutes until cheese is golden brown
- Slice and serve
Notes
- Add a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese along with the parmesan
- If you love garlic, add finely diced garlic to the melted butter along with the herbs
- Add thinly slice sun dried tomatoes on top of the pesto
- Omit the pesto and just use the herbed butter
- Serve with a marinara dipping sauce
David @ Spiced says
What an awesome recipe idea, Kathy! We love pesto around here, but combining pesto with garlic bread? That's just pure genius! I'm fairly certain that a loaf of this bread while it's still warm from the oven wouldn't last long in our kitchen! Putting this on the list of things to bake ASAP!
Kathy says
The smell of the bread baking is amazing and once you pull it from the oven, you just can't resist! Enjoy 🙂