Why I’ll Never Buy Store-Bought Garlic Bread Again
When I was a kid, the home-cooked meal I looked forward to the most was spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. Because my parents are both immigrants from the Philippines, I was utterly fascinated with “classic American dishes.” I coveted those nights we sat down to a tender pot roast or a flavorful meatloaf.
My mom would sometimes pick up a loaf of garlic bread from the nearby grocery store. I was always super excited anytime I saw that shiny silver packaging on our kitchen counter because I knew good things were to come. As the years passed, I kept going back for store-bought garlic bread partly out of nostalgia, but also mostly because it didn’t occur to me that I could make it myself — and that I could make it even better. Recently, I made Patty’s garlic bread for the first time. The simple addition of one staple ingredient — a single scallion — was truly life-changing. So much so, that I’ve ditched store-bought forever. It’s that good.
Get the recipe: Homemade Garlic Bread
What Makes This Garlic Bread So Good
Between the garlic, butter, crusty bread, and chopped parsley (the traditional herbed sprinkle of choice), garlic bread is packed with umami flavor. However, the addition of just one scallion (in place of the parsley) adds an herby freshness and a mild onion-y bite that parsley just can’t replicate. It also helps cut through all that savoriness, while instantly perking everything up, making the flavor of the garlic bread much more dynamic.
Rather than chopping fresh parsley or using its dried equivalent, just thinly slice one scallion and mash it into your softened butter with the rest of the ingredients before smearing liberally on the bread. Proceed with the recipe as directed, then bake. That’s it! It couldn’t be any easier.
One word of advice: Don’t double the scallions. I tried this thinking that more would obviously be better and, while it was good, the flavor of the scallion overpowered the garlic bread while the sheer amount of them made it difficult to spread properly.
