Your Garlic Bread Needs A Bright Tomato Upgrade

If there's one appetizer we'll always load up on, it's garlic bread. The warm, buttery slices infused with sweet garlic will forever be a classic. The masterpiece is the first thing we reach for on the table, and the dish becomes even more sought-after when it's upgraded with delicious tomatoes.

We'll eat garlic bread with practically anything, but we love piling it onto our plates along with a helping of spaghetti and sauce. When the rich tomato sauce spills onto the garlic bread, it intermingles with the pungentness found within the loaves. The combination creates a luscious, umami flavor that makes us want to dip the bread straight into the sauce. Cut the spaghetti out of the equation and focus on the garlic bread and tomatoes exclusively. Tomatoes greatly enhance the allium, the earthiness of it being brightened by the tangy red fruits.

Eating tomatoes with garlic bread certainly tastes gourmet, but the approach is simple. You can use store-bought garlic bread and add diced tomatoes on top or add mozzarella and sliced tomatoes to homemade garlic bread and bake it until they melt into the loaf. The combination is delicious in every form, you just need to make sure you use ripe, quality tomatoes. Even if you're simply adding sliced tomatoes to the bread with a dash of salt and pepper, it's sure to taste incredible.

Combine two incredible appetizers together and use garlic bread to make some cast iron skillet bruschetta. The garlic bread takes on a wonderful toasted taste and texture in the skillet before being topped off with meaty grape tomatoes that have been cooked down to perfection. To finish off the bruschetta, sprinkle a helping of chopped basil on top, allowing the sweet herb to add an extra helping of pungency.

Speaking of cooking down tomatoes, a simple flavor-packed tomato confit is exactly what your garlic bread needs. When heated in the oven, the cherry tomatoes caramelize, taking on a richer, sweeter taste that's an excellent addition to garlic bread. To double up on the nuttiness, add a few cloves of garlic to the baking dish to make tomato and garlic confit. Drizzle the oil onto the garlic bread before spooning the ingredients on top and gently smashing it into the bread.

Sun-dried tomatoes are another great choice for garlic bread, and they're definitely one of the sweetest ones. As the fruits become leathered in the sun, their flavor concentrates, bringing out that rich, tomato essence out from within. These slices of sun-dried tomatoes bring loads of flavor to garlic bread, especially if they're packed in olive oil that can be drizzled on top.