Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread

Drenched with garlic butter and stuffed with cheddar, Swiss, and bacon, this decadent and loaded Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread will be the star of your Super Bowl party or any gathering!

Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread with Bacon, Garlic, Cheddar and Swiss, with text overlay.

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So...have you ever come across a recipe that you just couldn't stop thinking about? And that thinking eventually led to obsessing, until one day you found yourself on an impromptu trip to the grocery store to procure the necessary ingredients for finally bringing said recipe to fruition in your very own kitchen? That, my friends, is how this gooey, melty, Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread was born!

Close-up of Pull-Apart Bread.

I never encountered a recipe for this particular variation, per se, but the concept of pull-apart bread is one that I first discovered around Super Bowl time last year. I kept seeing these cross-hatched, cheese-oozing loaves on Pinterest, and I knew that we (as in, the bread and I) were meant to be. So it's taken a whole year, but I finally decided that I could go on no longer without baking up my own hunk of pull-apart goodness.

Ingredients on baking sheet.

Ingredients

In creating this ultimate football-watching appetizer, I decided to incorporate some of my personal favorite flavors. And let me tell you...this bread indeed includes quite a few of my most favorite things to eat in general.

Let's examine the list:

  • bread
  • butter
  • bacon
  • garlic
  • cheese

Yup. This bread is heaven-sent...if heaven is a place where carbs, calories, and cholesterol don't exist. 😉

Pull-Apart Bread stuffed with cheese and ready to go into oven.

But let's not think about that too much. This butter-soaked, cheese-drenched bread is clearly not something one would eat every day. Of course, if one is a food blogger who bakes it for a post, one may find herself none-too-reluctantly eating it for lunch for several consecutive days. After all, it would be a travesty to let all of those fine ingredients to go to waste.

Yes, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread fresh out of the oven.

Adaptations

Feel free to customize the flavors by substituting your favorite cheeses.

I think Swiss cheese goes really well with bacon, but Swiss alone can be kind of overpowering, so I used an equal amount of cheddar to mellow it out a bit.

But I can think of lots of different cheese combos that would be delicious...I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to throw in some pepper jack next time.

Piece being lifted out of Pull-Apart Bread.

Also, you may want to tweak the amount of fresh garlic to your personal preference. We are big fans of garlic at my house, and 4 teaspoons of fresh minced garlic made for some pretty garlicky bread. If you prefer a more subtle garlic flavor, don't hesitate to cut that in half.

As for the bread itself, I bought a big loaf of rustic Italian bread, but French bread would work beautifully as well. My husband even thought this recipe would be really good with sourdough, and I think he may be onto something.

Piece of Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread with Bacon, Garlic, Cheddar and Swiss, laying on wooden board.

And there you have it! Make this Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread, and I promise that it will be the most popular appetizer at your Super Bowl party.

Just don't be like me and wait until next year's Super Bowl before you get around to trying it. Add it to your grocery list before Sunday and end football season with a bang! I promise...the salads and the quinoa and the whole wheat this or that will still be waiting for you tomorrow. 😉

More Super Bowl Grub

Piece being lifted out of Pull-Apart Bread.

Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread

Drenched with garlic butter and stuffed with cheddar, Swiss, and bacon, this decadent Pull-Apart Bread will be the warm, cheesy star of your Super Bowl party or any gathering!
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 610kcal
Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

  • 1 large loaf of French, Italian or sourdough bread (I used a round loaf that weighed just under 2 pounds)
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2 to 4 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
  • 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 8 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
  • 8 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and diced into small pieces
  • Fresh parsley or chopped green onions for garnish, optional

Instructions

  • Place oven rack just below the center position. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Lay bread on a cutting board. Use a bread knife to make diagonal cuts down through the top of the bread, leaving the crust intact. Repeat across the entire surface of the bread, making the cuts approximately one inch apart. Turn the bread 90 degrees and make a set of perpendicular cuts. When you are finished, the surface of the bread should be cross-hatched into 1-inch squares.
  • Stir garlic salt into melted butter. With a basting brush, basting syringe, or spoon, drizzle the melted butter down into the bread between all of the cracks until all butter has been used.
  • In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Use the side of a knife or the back of a spoon to mash minced garlic into somewhat of a paste. Mix garlic into cream cheese. Stir in cheddar, Swiss, and diced bacon and mix until well blended. Stuff clumps of cheese mixture down into all of the cracks of the bread.
  • Lay a long piece of foil on the counter horizontally, and then lay a second long piece of foil on top of it vertically. Center the stuffed loaf of bread on the foil and wrap. Bake for 20 minutes, then open up the top of the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is entirely melted. Watch carefully once foil is open to ensure that the top of the bread is not browning too much. Serve hot.

Notes

  • If you use a smaller loaf of bread, you will obviously need to cut back on the amount of cheese/other ingredients that you use.
  • How much fresh garlic you use should be dictated by how much you like it! I used 4 teaspoons and the bread was pretty garlicky, but it was perfect for my family because we are all big fans of garlic.
  • I found that the cream cheese acts as a binder for the cheese and bacon and makes it easier to stuff everything into the grooves of the bread and have it actually stay in the right place.

Nutrition

Calories: 610kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 116mg | Sodium: 1070mg | Potassium: 177mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1070IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 469mg | Iron: 2.2mg
Made this recipe? I'd love to see on IG!Mention @FiveHeartHome or tag #FiveHeartHome!

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50 Comments

    1. Thanks so much, Katie! It definitely didn't last long around here. 🙂 I appreciate you stopping by!

    1. Thanks so much, Renee! I appreciate you hopping over and taking the time to comment. I hope you enjoy this bread if you get to try it! Have a great day! 🙂

  1. Oh heavens! Thank you for linking up at Tasty Tuesdays! Your post has been pinned to my Recipes from Tasty Tuesday board. I can't wait to see what you link up next week!
    Have a terrific weekend!
    Cathy
    APeekIntoMyParadise.com
    #TastyTuesdays

  2. Samantha, WOW! your pictures are amazing, this cheesy pull apart bread is almost like having a pizza. Love this , PINNED it! Thanks for sharing. Stopping by from Will Cook for Smiles party! Visiting from gurvygreen.com

    1. Thanks so much for the gracious comment and the pin! I'm so glad you hopped over to visit. 🙂

  3. OH my goodness this looks AMAZING, Samantha! I MUST pin this 🙂 Thanks so much for bringing it to Saturday Night Fever!!

    1. Thanks so much for the pin, Cathy! I have to admit, this bread is dangerously good... 😉 Hope you're having a great weekend!

    1. Thanks, Wendy! I may have eaten this one for dinner before...and lunch. 😉 I appreciate the pin!

  4. I saw this on pinterest last week and I went and bought the supplies and made it and took it to a party..it was devoured. I loved it and it was so easy!

    1. It makes me really happy to hear that, Stephanie! It's always nice when whatever you bring to a party is a big hit, so I'm glad that this recipe went over well for you! Thanks for stopping back by to let me know...happy (almost) Friday! 🙂

  5. Oh my goodness, this looks incredible! Drooling over all the cheesy and buttery goodness in this bread - looks amazing Samantha! Pinning 🙂

  6. Wow. Bread, butter, bacon, garlic and cheese. Obviously the most important foods! It looks delicious and would be a hit at any party. I would love to try it with sourdough. Thanks for the recipe!

    1. I know, Heather...all of those are in my top ten favorite foods. It's a dangerously delicious combo! 😉 I'm going to try it with sourdough next time as well. Hope you enjoy!

  7. Ok I think I gained 5 pounds! I make my own artisan bread and this sounds like the perfect combo!!!! Thanks for sharing at The Weekend Retreat, hope to see you back on Thursday!

    1. Oh, I bet this would be amazing with your homemade artisan bread! Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for hosting The Weekend Retreat...I enjoy linking up with y'all each week. 🙂

  8. Looks incredible! My family loves monkey bread and I just love this variation using an already cooked loaf. Perfect appetizer, pinning to try at my next party 🙂

    1. Thanks, Sherri...I hope this bread is a hit at your next party! I think it's a good idea to have a lot of people around to help you eat it, because it's quite tempting to eat the entire thing yourself...not that I speak from experience or anything. 😉

  9. Wow... ok that looks soooo delicious, Samantha! Thanks for sharing as always at our Best Of The Weekend party! Pinning to our party board now! xo

    1. Thanks so much, Claire, and thanks for hosting BotW each week! Hope you're having a great weekend!

    1. If this bread makes an appearance at your Super Bowl party, Ruth, I promise that it will be well received. 😉 I do hope you get to try it...enjoy the game!

  10. Just saw your link at The Weekend re-Treat this weekend and had to stop by and Pin & share on our G+ page 🙂

    Shauna @ The Best Blog Recipes

    1. I really appreciate you stopping by, Shauna, and thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I really enjoy linking up with y'all. 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!

  11. Samantha, you seriously had me at the word drenched! All of this butter... and garlic... and cheese! I'm so in love. Bread has to be my biggest weakness. Pinning this baby!

    1. You and I are clearly on the same page, Gloria. 😉 Thanks so much for the comment and the pin...enjoy your garlicky, cheesy, butter-drenched bread!