Air Fryer Garlic Bread

This super simple recipe for air fryer garlic bread produces perfect crispy, buttery garlic bread each and every time. Ready in less than 10 minutes, it’s great as a side for pasta dinners (like this Baked Feta Pasta) or to dip into pizza sauce for a quick snack or appetizer.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

• This garlic bread is hot and table-ready in less than 10 minutes, so it’s perfect for easy weeknight spaghetti dinners.
• It’s automatically better than store-bought garlic bread because it’s fresh and because you control the ingredients! Love extra garlicky garlic bread? Want it to be cheesier? Prefer a lighter bake for softer bread? You can make that happen!
• If you’ve got older bread that needs to be eaten ASAP, this is a perfect recipe for it. Older bread will end up crispier, and really fresh bread will be a little softer.
• Frozen garlic bread can go straight from the freezer to the air fryer with no thawing, so make a batch to keep on hand! Spread the butter mixture on slices of French bread and freeze them in a single layer. Once they’re fully frozen, you can transfer them to a zippered freezer bag and store them up to 6 months. When you’re ready to eat, cook them in the air fryer at 340°F for 5-7 minutes.

Key Ingredients

Bread – I love bread. I said it. I love bread. I used French bread for this recipe because it’s soft inside with a perfect crispy outer layer. You can also use Italian loaf or ciabatta.

Cheese – There’s just nothing like a great cheese. You can use any kind of grated parmesan for this recipe, but the mass-produced U.S. brands are usually imitation parmesan made with fillers. For the best flavor, buy a wedge of genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano and grate it yourself. If you’re a big cheese person, consider adding a little mozzarella or an Italian blend to your bread.

How to Make It

Once you know how to make air fryer garlic bread, you’ll never make garlic bread any other way!

Mix softened butter, parmesan cheese, parsley, and crushed garlic together in a bowl and spread the mixture on slices of French bread. Place the slices of bread in the air fryer and cook for 3-5 minutes until they’re golden and crispy. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Chef’s Tips

• To cook properly, the air in your air fryer has to be able to circulate around the bread completely. Place your slices of bread in one flat layer without any overlap or touching, otherwise you’ll end up with unevenly fried garlic bread.
• Preheating the air fryer is not necessary, but for the quickest cook, make sure your fryer is preheated to 360°F before you put in your bread.
• If you’re using an air fryer with racks instead of a basket, be sure to rotate the racks halfway through the cook time. The food closest to the heating element will cook faster, and rotating the racks ensures everything cooks evenly!
• The butter can sometimes cause a little smoke in the air fryer as it melts. If you run into this issue, adding a little water to the bottom of the air fryer basket may help.

More Great Air Fryer Recipes

• How to Reheat Pizza in an Air Fryer
• Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
• Frozen Sweet Potato Fries in the Air Fryer
• Air Fryer Popcorn
• Air Fryer Steak with Easy Herb Butter