Give Your Oven A Rest And Make Garlic Bread On Your Stovetop

Most classic recipes for garlic bread open with an instruction to preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but there's another way to make that crispy bread that can often be even better. Oven garlic bread doesn't require a huge amount of work (especially if you're buying pre-prepped store-bought garlic bread). While covering sliced bread with garlic butter and tossing it in the oven might seem quick and easy, switching the oven out for your stovetop is more efficient in some ways and can lead to better results.

When baking garlic bread in the oven, you can partially cut through the bread and add the garlic butter or cut the whole loaf lengthways and coat the inside of both halves. For skillet garlic bread, on the other hand, slices are going to be your best friend. This is beneficial as it makes it easier to only make the garlic bread you actually need, without wasting any extras. You can make more later rather than trying to warm up yesterday's garlic bread.

Once you've got your slices, you can butter one side with your garlic spread. With that on the stovetop garlic side down, it will get super crispy and fragrant up against the pan in just a couple of minutes. And if you want super rich garlic bread, you can butter the other side while it's in the pan before flipping the bread over.

So, why is pan-cooked garlic bread better than when you make it in the oven? Crucially, it's faster and more energy efficient. If you're using a full-size oven, then you have to heat the whole space up just to cook your garlic bread. That takes time and will add a relatively large amount to your energy bill. Cooking garlic bread on the stovetop cuts the total time from around 30 minutes to nearer 15 minutes.

Cooking the garlic bread on the stovetop also frees up the oven. If you're serving your garlic bread with a classic lasagna or oven-cooked meatballs, those often cook at lower temperatures than the 400 degrees Fahrenheit you want for garlic bread. If you make your garlic bread on the stovetop, there's no juggling oven space.

Finally, stovetop garlic bread can offer better results overall. With slices in a pan, it's easier to ensure that you have good coverage of garlic butter throughout as you can easily add more. And with the slices right there where you can see them, it's easier to monitor your stovetop garlic bread to get the perfect crispiness without burning and not having the hassle of opening the oven door and dropping the temperature every time you want to check on it.