A Slather Of Mayonnaise Will Make Your Garlic Bread Extra Savory

Your favorite recipe for garlic bread probably includes ingredients like butter, garlic, cheese, freshly chopped parsley, and maybe seasonings like garlic powder or red chili flakes for a bit of heat. If you want to kick the flavors up a notch, you might use roasted garlic for more umami or shredded mozzarella for next-level cheesiness. Really, it's hard to go wrong with adding extra ingredients to garlic bread. But like most foods, there's always room for improvement, and we think a slather of mayonnaise is an unexpected way to do so with garlic bread.

Using mayonnaise on garlic bread has a few advantages. For starters, it gives your garlic butter mixture even more creaminess and makes it easier to spread right out of the fridge. Mayonnaise is also great for toasting because it's high in fat content, giving it a higher smoke point to stand up to the toasting in the oven. That's why many people use mayonnaise on their grilled cheese instead of butter. And a final perk of adding mayonnaise to your garlic bread is that extra savory, tangy flavor it will provide in every bite.

For this technique to work, you need to use full-fat mayonnaise, because that fatty oil is what helps with the creaminess. Most importantly, the fat is what will allow your garlic bread to toast to a golden brown. If you use reduced-fat mayonnaise, it might make your bread soggy due to its higher water content. If you don't have any mayonnaise in your fridge, it's relatively easy to make a homemade batch with egg yolks, lemon juice, vinegar, and seasonings like dry mustard and salt.

After you've got your mayonnaise ready, it's time to make garlic bread. There are countless recipes for garlic bread with mayonnaise on the Internet, so we'll let you pick your favorite. But, we want to break down when you should add the mayonnaise. In case you're wondering, mayonnaise doesn't replace the butter but joins the other ingredients. Depending on your recipe and serving size, you'll mix a few tablespoons of mayonnaise with butter, garlic, cheese, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Some recipes add sugar to balance the strong garlic flavors and others use a blend of gruyere or mozzarella cheeses for extra gooeyness.