Easy Garlic Bread made extra special with savory, umami-rich, utterly addictive Miso Butter. Slather the Asian-inspired compound butter all over a store-bought baguette or country loaf. A simple addition that adds tons of mellow richness, flavor, and depth to homemade garlic bread. A staple for spaghetti and meatballs and essential with soup and pasta. YUM!

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Easy Garlic Bread with Miso Butter

Is there anything better than homemade garlic bread? All that garlicky goodness, all that buttery richness! Bite into a golden, crusty loaf to experience one of life’s simple pleasures.

I’ve been making easy garlic bread for years and this is such a simple way to make it better. A staple Asian ingredient — Miso paste — adds rich, salty, umami-packed flavor. You only need a spoonful to supercharge the depth, complexity, and savory earthiness.

A fermented food product, Miso is full of umami. You won’t be able to taste the miso — it simply adds extra flavor. The addition of Miso paste truly takes it over the top!

I love serving Easy Garlic Bread with Miso Butter on pasta nights or whenever I make soup or meatballs. An incredibly easy side dish that’s simple, fast, and delicious! Enjoy!

What is Miso Butter?

Miso Butter is a compound butter made from unsalted butter and miso paste mixed together.

Compound butter contains all the richness of butter with additional salty or sweet flavor elements. Typical additions are herbs, honey, garlic, etc. In this case, salty miso paste adds all kinds of fermented flavor. Compound butter is a finishing butter that adds more flavor to bread, fish, meat, pasta, or vegetables.

For this recipe, I also added minced garlic, chili flakes, parsley, and black pepper to complement all that earthy, savory flavor.

Ingredients:

• Baguette. A store-bought baguette makes Easy Garlic Bread with Miso Butter especially accessible. Any kind of firm, sturdy bread works well. For example, ciabatta, sourdough, Italian loaf, or French boule or country loaf. Even English muffins or sliced sandwich bread will be tasty.
• Miso paste. Salty, savory, umami-packed Japanese fermented miso paste adds so much flavor! I recommend mild Shiro or White Miso for a mellow, subtly sweet flavor. Store in the fridge, tightly sealed. FYI miso is also vegan and gluten-free.
• Unsalted Butter. Do not use salted butter as it will be overly salty. And make sure the butter is room temperature so it will spread easily.
• Garlic. Fresh, raw garlic is essential! When cooked, the flavor will become mellow and earthy. Don’t skimp on the amount. And don’t use pre-jarred minced garlic — the flavor won’t be the same. Instead, use a microplane to release the allicin, which is an enzyme found in crushed garlic. Not only does crushed garlic provide additional health benefits, but it will also taste better and make the garlic easier to digest.
• Black Pepper. A few cranks of freshly cracked black pepper add earthy freshness.
• Italian Parsley. A generous sprinkling of fresh parsley adds color, flavor, and freshness.
• Chili Flakes. A pinch adds a subtle spicy kick.

How to make Miso Butter Garlic Bread:

1. Make miso butter. Add room temperature butter, miso paste, minced garlic, parsley, chili flakes, and black pepper to a small shallow plate. Use a fork to mash the butter and mix together well.
2. Spread miso butter. Slice the baguette in half, length-wise. Roughly divide the miso butter into two equal portions. Adds miso butter to each half, spreading well with a butter knife.
3. Bake at 375F. Lay onto a baking sheet and bake until golden with crunchy edges.
4. Broil. Broil at high heat for 2-3 minutes until bubbly with browned, crisp edges.
5. Slice and serve. Slice into 3-inch chunks. Serve and enjoy!

Watch how to make it:

PRO Tips:

• Make a smaller portion. If one entire baguette is too much, halve the recipe. Or, make the full amount and freeze the rest in a ziplock baggie. Bread keeps very well in the freezer, up to 1-2 months. The next time you want garlic bread, simply reheat in the oven or Air Fryer at 320F for 5-6 minutes. An easy and fast way to keep individual portions of garlic bread on hand.
• Store extra bread in the freezer. To make garlic bread anytime, I keep full-sized baguettes in the freezer. Bread stores very well in the freezer and keeps its texture best this way. When you need a fast and easy side, simply defrost the whole baguette in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes before adding the miso butter.
• Mix Miso Butter well. Make sure the garlic and parsley are completely coated with the butter so it doesn’t burn when cooked. Also, there should be no large chunks of miso paste.

Variations:

• Swap with roasted garlic. Instead of raw, minced garlic — use 2 heads of slow-roasted garlic. Simply cut the tops off two heads of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and salt. Completely wrap with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour at 350F. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze out the soft, slow-roasted garlic from their skins.
• Swap with garlic powder. Instead of fresh garlic, use 1/2 tsp garlic powder instead. It won’t have the same spicy pungency and mellow sweetness as fresh garlic but it’s still very good and better than no garlic.
• Make it spicy. For more heat, add more chili flakes, about 2-3 tsp.
• Make it sweeter. Add a little honey (1-2 Tbsp) for a sweeter flavor. Balances the salty flavor of miso paste.

Helpful Kitchen Tools:

• Microplane. A microplane (affiliate) makes mincing or crushing garlic fast and easy.
• Bread knife.

FAQ:

Other bread recipes:

• No Knead Focaccia with Everything Bagel Seasoning
• Classic Soft Dinner Rolls
• Scallion Star Bread with Duck Fat
• Chili Oil Sourdough Bread

Other recipes with Miso paste:

• Chocolate Mug Cake with Miso
• Broiled Miso Glazed Salmon
• Homemade Miso Soup
• Roasted Miso Cauliflower