Dutch Oven Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread
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Melted cheese, bread, garlic, and butter… what more do we really need? This cheesy garlic bread is easily made while camping using the dutch oven! It makes the perfect appetizer or side dish for a group of hungry campers.

Cheesy Garlic Bread Ingredients
- Round bread loaf: I recommend using artisan Italian bread for this recipe, just make sure that the loaf fits inside your dutch oven!
- Mozzarella cheese: For camping, I prefer to buy the pre-shredded cheese so it’s quick to assemble.
- Garlic: Calling all garlic lovers! This recipe uses fresh garlic cloves. I use a small grater to grate the garlic so that I don’t have to mince it with a knife.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter in this recipe and then add my own salt, but if you only have salted butter, then you can use that and just omit the salt in the recipe.
- Salt: because, you know, salt…
- Fresh parsley or basil: Fresh herbs add so much flavor and freshness to this garlic bread
Gear Spotlight:

You’ll need a cast iron dutch oven to make this garlic bread at camp.
We heat the dutch oven and melt the cheese in this recipe using briquettes.

How to Make Dutch Oven Garlic Bread
At Home Prep:
Allow the butter to warm at room temp until it’s soft enough to mash with a fork. Mince the garlic. I just use a fine grater for this. Add the garlic and salt into the softened butter and mix really well.
Use wax paper to wrap the butter and store it in the cooler. I like to spread the butter in a thin layer before I wrap it so it comes to room temp faster at camp.

At Camp Prep:
Take the butter out of the cooler and let it warm up so it’s spreadable.
Start heating your briquettes in a chimney starter. You’ll need enough briquettes to create 400°F in your dutch oven.


Make horizontal slices in your bread, but don’t slice all the way through to the bottom. The loaf should still hold itself together.
Spread one side of each bread slice liberally with the garlic butter you made at home.


Fill each slice up with lots of shredded cheese.
Lastly, slice the bread vertically (but not all the way through to the bottom), to create bite-sized bread squares.


Line your dutch oven with parchment paper for easy cleanup and carefully place your cheese bread inside. Cover with the lid.
Use briquettes on the top and bottom to heat the dutch oven to 400°F. (For a 4 Qt. dutch oven, you’ll need 17 on top and 8 on bottom.)


Cook for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted.
Remove the heat from the dutch oven and sprinkle the bread with chopped fresh parsley or basil. Enjoy!


Dutch Oven Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread
Equipment
- 10-inch Dutch Oven (a larger dutch oven also works)
Ingredients
- 1 round Italian or sourdough bread loaf*
- 6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 large cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley or basil (chopped)
Instructions
At Home:
- Allow the butter to warm at room temp until it’s soft enough to mash with a fork.
- Mince the garlic. I just use a fine grater for this.
- Add the garlic and salt into the softened butter and mix really well.
- Use wax paper to wrap the butter and store it in the cooler. I like to spread the butter in a thin layer before I wrap it so it comes to room temp faster at camp.
At Camp:
- Take the butter out of the cooler and let it warm up so it’s spreadable.
- Start heating your briquettes in a chimney starter. You’ll need roughly 22-25 briquettes.
- Make horizontal slices in your bread, but don’t slice all the way through to the bottom. The loaf should still hold itself together.
- Spread one side of each bread slice liberally with the garlic butter you made at home.
- Fill each slice up with lots of shredded cheese.
- Lastly, slice the bread vertically (but not all the way through to the bottom), to create bite-sized bread squares.
- Line your dutch oven with parchment paper for easy cleanup and carefully place your cheese bread inside. Cover with the lid.
- Use briquettes on the top and bottom to heat the dutch oven to 425°F. Cook for 15 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted.
- Remove the heat from the dutch oven and sprinkle the bread with chopped parsley or basil. Enjoy!
Notes
Want more easy dutch oven recipes?
Check out some of these recipes from the blog:
I hope you love this cheesy garlic bread on your next camping trip!
Chat with me in the comments below if you have any questions.
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