Plush, gooey, and cheesy vegan garlic bread made in the form of a cheesy pull apart bread! Easy and fun to make, this garlic pull apart bread is full of fresh flavor with herbs, garlic, and gooey vegan cheese for the ultimate vegan comfort food! Perfect for a tear and share appetizer or side!
Why this is the best dang vegan garlic bread you’ll ever make
This is going to be your new favorite vegan garlic bread recipe. In fact, your new favorite garlic bread recipe,period.
Soft, chewy, gooey, and “cheesy,” this garlic bread recipe is truly one to save and make over and over again.
While garlic bread technically isn’t Italian (I believe it’s just Italian American- I remember growing up, my great grandpa used to make us a garlic bread, but I’m sure it was something that my Sicilian family picked up when they came over, as many Italian immigrants did!), it certainly reminds me of home.
This isn’t your typical garlic bread recipe. Instead of spreading garlic on a baguette or a ciabatta, and calling it a day, we’re going all out. Essentially, we’re making a cheesy garlic pull apart bread, stuffed to the brim with a garlic and herb butter and gooey vegan cheese.
And yes, this garlic bread is entirelydairy free and vegan. Also, I don’t know about you, but I personally choose soft and light bread over crunchy garlic bread any day!
Plus, seeing as this is a garlic pull apart bread, it makes it super easy to tear and share side dish at your vegan Thanksgiving dinner or holiday table (but I will admit, the gooey cheese is a bit messy- in the best way possible!). Or just serve at your weeknight dinner with any of your favorite pasta dishes (it’s great with vegan penne Alla vodka, sweet potato gnocchi, vegan spaghetti and meatballs, or vegan Bolognese!).
Trust me, your family won’t even believe this garlic bread is vegan!
Love Italian bread recipes?Try my easy vegan focaccia bread and even easier gluten free vegan focaccia bread! Or maybe my vegan pizza dough or gluten free vegan pizza dough! And check out my vegan cookbook for even more bread recipes!
Garlic pull apart bread ingredients
For this vegan garlic pull apart bread, you’ll need:
Vegan Garlic Bread Dough:
- Bread flour:See my notes section for a gluten free garlic bread dough.
- Activated yeast:You can use quick rise yeast for an even quicker vegan garlic bread!
- Dairy-free milk:You can use soy milk, oat milk, almond milk, or the like.
- Sugar:I used Florida Crystals sugar, as they’re vegan. You can also use maple syrup or coconut sugar for refined sugar free.
- Unsweetened applesauce or dairy free yogurt:Either option works. I like Forager Project or Kite Hill for dairy free yogurts.
- Vegan butter:I used salted Miyoko’s vegan butter. You can use their oat milk butter for nut free.
- Garlic cloves
- Herbs:I like to use rosemary, thyme, and sage. You can also swap in basil, parsley, oregano, or other herbs if you’re not making this in the winter season.
- Sea Salt
Vegan Garlic & Herb Filling:
- Vegan butter
- Garlic cloves
- Herbs
- Vegan shredded cheese:I did a mix of different cheeses. Forager Project, Miyoko’s, and Violife are my favorites! I like vegan parmesan cheese, vegan Jack cheese, and vegan mozzarella.
Overview: How to make vegan cheesy garlic bread from scratch
As with all of my recipes, the full written instructions are found down below in the recipe card. However, I wanted to go over a brief overview here to help you, along with give you some visuals (I’m more of a visual person anyways!).
Now, you might be thinking, “Is it really worth the time of making my own homemade vegan rosemary bread?” The simple answer is YES IT IS.
Trust me, the homemade rosemary bread aspect of this cheesy garlic pull apart bread is what takes this vegan garlic bread from an average night dinner to a memorable one.
Plus, homemade bread just tastes amazing. Trust me, it’s well worth the time.
The dough
I allot about 2-2.5 hours total for this vegan garlic bread recipe, but there’s a lot of in between time that you can accomplish other tasks (if I’m making this for dinner, I’ll spend the first breaks doing work and the latter for making the rest of the dinner!).
You’ll make the vegan garlic bread dough just like you would any other dough. If this is your first time making homemade bread, then you’re in for a treat! I don’t use a stand mixer to make the dough, making this bread recipe achievable for all.
It’s important to fully activate the yeast, and knead it just enough. Too much kneading, and you’ll end up with a dense and chewy garlic bread, which is what we don’t want. We want light and fluffy! Knead until you achieve a smooth dough ball (it should take no more than 3-4 minutes- we’re really not kneading that much!).
Then we’ll rise the rosemary bread until it doubles in size. Depending on how hot or cool your kitchen is (ideally above 80F for the area that you’re rising the dough-see below for some tips), it will be around 60 minutes. Once doubled in size, you’ll lightly punch it down.
Assembling the cheesy pull apart bread
Roll the dough out to a rectangle. Then spread the garlic and herb filling onto the dough.
Some garlic pull apart breads make the dough into round pieces, and others use square. Here, we’ll use square as it’s easiest! Your squares don’t have to be precise, as you can stretch the dough more to match the other pieces.
I used a pizza slicer to slice the rectangle into about 12 square slices.
Take one slice and top with your vegan shredded cheese. Then place a second slice on top. Repeat with all of the slices, creating a tower of garlic and herb filled dough slices.
Then, I actually slice the tower in half, top to bottom. Place one half into the prepared loaf pan, then the other. Cover and allow the bread to rest while the oven preheats. Once preheated, you can place the bread into the oven and bake!
Homemade vegan garlic & herb butter filling
This is the key to an amazing vegan garlic bread, and it’s so incredibly simple.
All you’ll need, as mentioned above, is vegan butter, rosemary, and minced garlic.
Once the vegan butter is softened to room temperature (I prep this while the dough is rising, right before I need to punch it down), you’ll combine chopped fresh herbs with minced garlic. You can use fresh garlic or store-bought in a jar.
Honestly, this garlic and herb spread would be amazing on its own! You can use this for vegan sandwiches, as a dairy free dip, or even as a part of a cream sauce for pasta!
Homemade bread tips
Use a food thermometer to measure the heat of the milk. It’s really crucial that when making homemade bread, you make sure the temperature of the milk is just 110F. Any cooler, and you risk the yeast not activating properly (which means your dough won’t rise), and any hotter, you risk accidentally ruining the yeast.
Make sure you have a warm space at least 80F. If it’s a hot summer day that you’re making this bread, you can easily place it outside to rise, as long as it’s in a safe spot. If it’s a cool winter day, I usually turn my oven light on and place the bowl into the oven. This should create the ideal temperature.
Take your time. There is a good reason why making bread is considered a labor of love. You can’t rush through any steps. Make sure that your yeast is properly activated, take a few moments to knead the bread (but be careful to not over knead!), allow the bread to properly rise, and then bake!
Don’t refrigerate this vegan garlic bread. Refrigerating any leftovers will dry the bread out! You can, however, freeze this garlic bread, and reheat it in the oven.
Tips for making amazing cheesy pull apart bread
Use a high quality vegan shredded cheese. I personally love Violife for this, and it’s naturally nut free, which is great! I recommend cheddar, mozzarella, or Colby Jack. If you find a good vegan provolone, that would be great too!
Be generous with the cheese. The more cheese, the more gooey the bread becomes!
Use fresh rosemary. Of course, if what you have access to is dried, you can still use that! Fresh rosemary will give the vegan garlic bread a more robust flavor.
Allow your vegan butter to come to room temperature. This means that it should be easily indented with a finger. Check out Sally’s Baking Addiction’s room temperature butter (just as applicable to dairy free butter) post for more tips! This will help you easily mix the garlic and rosemary into the butter, and more easily spread it onto the rolled dough.
Can I make this garlic pull apart bread gluten free?
Actually, I finally have a way too, so yes! You’ll adapt my vegan gluten free dinner rolls dough and use it to bake into a loaf form. All instructions are found in the notes section of the recipe card below.
You are just going to LOVE this pull apart vegan garlic bread as much as my family does! Trust me, you won’t believe this is vegan when you give it a bite 🙂
If you make this recipe, leave a comment down below so that others can hear how it went for you, as well as leaving a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This helps this recipe reach more people!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy homemade vegan garlic bread making!
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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Easy Cheesy Vegan Garlic Pull Apart Bread Recipe
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star5 from 2 reviews
- Author: Britt Berlin
- Prep Time: 60 minutes, plus resting time
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 180
- Yield: 20 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Soft, gooey, and cheesy vegan garlic bread made in the form of a cheesy pull apart bread! Easy and fun to make, this vegan pull apart bread is full of fresh rosemary, garlic, and gooey vegan cheese for the ultimate vegan comfort food! Perfect for a tear and share appetizer or side!
Ingredients
Scale
Vegan Garlic Bread Dough:
- 1 1/2 cups (330 mL) unsweetened dairy free milk, such as soy milk, oat milk, or almond milk
- 2 tbsp maple syrup, room temperature
- 2 1/4 tsp (7 g) active dry yeast
- 4 1/2 cups flour (560 g) + 1 tsp bread flour or all-purpose flour*
- 2 tbsp applesauce or dairy-free yogurt
- 1/4 cup fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup (113 g) salted vegan butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp finely ground sea salt
Garlic butter filling:
- 1/2 cup (113 g) salted vegan butter, room temperature
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh or store bought minced garlic
- 1 cup shredded vegan cheese, such as Forager Project mozzarella, cheddar, or Colby Jack
Instructions
- Prep:Measure and weigh out all ingredients before beginning. Grease a large bowl with cooking or coconut oil and set aside (this bowl is for the rising and is different than the bowl you’ll use to mix the dough).
- Bloom the yeast:Heat the dairy-free milk to 110F. Use a food thermometer to ensure that it’s exactly 110F.Once heated, stir in the 2 tbsp of maple syrup with 1 tsp of flour. Add the yeast and stir with a wooden spoon and cover. Place the bowl in a warm area (75-80F) to activate for 10-12 minutes. Your yeast may bloom faster or slower depending on the warmth of the area. You’ll know it’s ready when it smells yeast-like and there is foam on the top of the dairy-free milk. If this hasn’t happened, you’ll need to start over.
- Make the dough: Add the remaining flour, plus the applesauce, rosemary, parsley, and garlic to the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the dough hook and gently mix the ingredients together for a minute on medium speed.Turn the stand mixer on to medium-low speed and mix (or use a large spoon to mix if doing by hand). Mix until just combined. The dough will look shaggy. Next, add in the room temperature vegan butter and sea salt, and mix on medium at first until the butter is incorporated into the dough. Then turn the speed up to medium-high, and allow the dough to be kneaded for 10-15 minutes, or until you’re able to do the window pane test without breaking the dough.
- First proof:Place the dough ball into the greased bowl, and cover with a thin clean dish towel. Place the bowl in a warm area that’s at least 85F. If your oven has a proof setting, you can use that. You can also heat the oven to 100F, then turn it off and keep the oven light on. Proof the bread until it’s doubled in size, about an hour. If your area is cooler, it will take longer, if it’s warmer, it will be quicker.
- Make the Garlic Butter Filling:While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Use a spoon or fork to mix together the softened vegan butter, minced garlic, and herbs until it resembles a garlic and herb spread. Set aside.
- Shape:Once doubled in size, lightly punch down the dough ball in the bowl to release the air. Lightly flour a clean surface again and start to form the dough ball into a rectangle. Roll the dough using a floured rolling pin to be about 18″ in length and 12x” in width.
- Spread:Spread the filling onto the top of the dough until it reaches the edges. Make sure it covers the dough evenly. Use a pizza cutter or large kitchen knife to carefully cut about 12 squares (4 rows length wise and 3 columns width wise). They don’t need to be exact.
- Assemble:Pick one of the large squares and sprinkle with about 1-2 tbsp shredded vegan cheese. Top with a second square and repeat. If there are any smaller squares, you can lightly stretch the piece to match the others. Repeat until there are no more squares left.
- Use the pizza cutter and cut the stack in half from the top of the stack (cutting it down, like a highly stacked sandwich). Place one half in the loaf pan, followed by the second half.
- Proof:Cover the loaf pan with a clean kitchen towel and place by or on top of the oven while it preheats to 375F. This allows the loaf to rest for 30 minutes.
- Bake:Once rested, place the loaf pan into the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
- Serve:Remove from the oven and allow the garlic loaf to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before carefully removing the loaf to serve. Tear, share and enjoy!
Notes
To make this gluten free:Use the gluten free dough from my gluten free dinner rolls, make the dough, then move straight on to step 7.
More vegan bread recipes
Vegan Nutella Bread Wreath
Easy Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Vegan Bagel Recipe
Soft Vegan Pretzels
Vegan Focaccia
