Texas Toast is a flexible addition to any barbecue or southern meal. From Oven Roasted Turkey to Italian Pasta Salad, there’s a lot to be gained by offering a few slices of Texas Toast on the side.
Easy to make and harder to perfect, Texas Toast comes in a few varieties. We’re going to be covering a traditional recipe that you can use to make Texas Toast as quickly and deliciously as possible.
Don’t let a lack of ingredients fool you—the devil’s in the details, and the difference between good and great Texas Toast can depend upon your ability to act quickly and make sure all the pieces fit together in the end.
Ingredients
Instructions
There’s a lot about Texas Toast that you can control, but a great result will only come from great bread.
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Purchase bread designed specifically for Texas Toast if possible. Many big box stories carry bread specifically to make Texas Toast—which is easily identifiable by the thickness of the bread amounting to twice that of a normal loaf.
For best results, purchase the freshest bread possible. Texas Toast is traditionally made with squared bread, but you may find better results by purchasing a fresh round loaf and slicing the bread yourself.
Next, we’re going to need to do some prep work.
Whether you’re planning on cooking your Texas Toast on a pan or outside on the grill, you’ll need to mix the rest of the ingredients and apply them before beginning the toasting process. We’ll be getting into the difference between the grill and pan later on.
Go ahead and microwave enough butter to cover the number of slices you’re planning to make. We find that a stick of unsalted butter works best for eight slices, so adjust your portions accordingly. Some people prefer more or less butter, so try out different amounts to see what works best for you.
Once we’ve got our butter melted, we’re going to start adding the rest of the ingredients into our bowl. If you want to stick with traditional preparation, garlic power may be the only thing you’ll need. However, using Italian seasoning, lots of salt and pepper, or even crushed garlic cloves will yield different results. Be sure to experiment around with different herbs and spices.
Next, grab a pastry brush and evenly coat both sides of each slice. Try to keep uniformity across the slices to keep your guests from complaining about unevenly coated bread.
Tradition dictates that you next cook Texas Toast on the backyard grill, but if that isn’t an option, you could use either a pan or oven. Each has benefits to consider if you have the luxury of choice:
The backyard grill option will be fastest and could arguably provide the best taste but would require a lot of setup and tear down. If you’re cooking for a few people or a meal that doesn’t require the grill for other dishes, you may want to try a different option.
Cooking in a pan is second-fastest but is the easiest to result in an uneven slice. Using the oven will take longest, but you’ll find toasting to be the easiest out of our other options. Ultimately, it’s going to be down to personal preference and desire.
Regardless of what you choose, you’re going to want to keep an eye on the Texas Toast as it cooks. Cooking on a backyard grill will quickly toast the bread—but just as quickly burn it. You’re going to be aiming for a golden brown with just a hint of black along the edges, so flip quickly and confidently to avoid uneven cooking.
Cooking on a pan is essentially as simple—but be careful not to leave the stove on too long and cook different slices at different temperatures. It may seem silly, but it does make a difference.
If you’re going for the oven option, you’ll need to flip the bread halfway through the cooking process. For those looking to put cheese or extra seasoning on one side, now is a great time to do so to let everything cook together. Also you may try our Crispy Cheese Quesadilla Recipe.
That’s about it! Remember that Texas Toast is best served hot, so cook it last if you’re making it in conjunction with other meals. If you’re worried about plating, spicing things up with a little bit of oregano goes a lot way for the visual. Although with Texas Toast, the optics don’t matter nearly as much as you’d think.
Review
Variations and Meal Ideas
Texas Toast is simple—deceptively so—which makes it a prime side to many dishes and variations to make the simple taste of garlic bread even better. We recommend trying out Texas Toast as a replacement for any meal where bread is involved to spice things up! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Sandwich Variations
The most obvious variation to make with Texas Toast is to make it whenever you need to serve a sandwich or flatbread.
Want to spice up an avocado and kale sandwich? Substitute the butter with a healthier oil and go easy on the spices to add an interesting twist a popular and healthy sub. Using Texas Toast as the bread on your BLT can also keep things interesting and add another dimension to the sandwich.
Since Texas Toast is a little heavy on butter, pairing the item with meat is usually the safest (and tastiest) bet. Try assembling classic meat treats like bacon or shrimp, adding avocado or a similar green, and topping off with Texas Toast. Cheese is a must—so adding a few slices of Colby Jack or Pepper Jack will only serve to help your meal.
Building On A Classic
Instead of pulling out that second slice to make a Texas Toast sandwich, why not try to build up something to serve as finger food for your next party?
Adding cheese and bacon bits can turn Texas Toast from a side dish into a main course item. Trying out various cheeses and toppings like pepperoni could let you go from Texas Toast to mini-pizzas like Homemade Pizza Pockets that are sure to please a crowd.
Toast and Italian cuisine go well together, so for the more daring, don’t limit yourself to cheeses and meats. Topping Texas Toast with smaller pastas like macaroni or fusilli will turn heads and give you more room to experiment.
Coating these pastas (and the toast itself) with a creamy, homemade sauce opens up a whole new world—built on an instant classic. We recommend trying out shell pasta with Alfredo and bacon bits on top of Texas Toast for a delicious (if not fattening) meal.
Soups and Other Oddball Ideas
If a whole meal on a slice of bread isn’t your thing, you can mix your Texas Toast into soups, stews, and other wet meals to add thickness and a garlicky flair.
Italian soups (not surprisingly) are the safest bet, but more eclectic soups like duck or beer soup could benefit from the addition of Texas Toast as well.
From here, the sky is pretty much the limit. Try wrapping meals within the bread before toasting it—resulting in a sort of stuffed bread roll. Throw an egg or two on top of the toast while it’s cooking to make a delicious breakfast meal.
There are so many options available to those who want to experiment, it’s difficult to think of any wrong answers.
Wrapping Things Up
There are so many variations and opportunities in the simplistic nature of Texas Toast—so don’t bore your guests with half-baked garlic bread with your next meal.
Try out new flavors and seasonings to add spice to your backyard barbecue and search for the best bread possible when cooking up a few slices. We prefer the classic outdoor grill for preparation, but great results can come from the pan and the oven as well. What matters more is the care and time you spend trying to make the best toast possible.
Whether you’re cooking Texas Toast for your team’s cookout, or trying to round out a thick and hardy Italian pasta dish, don’t be scared to put a spin on a traditional side and try out something new.
We hope that this guide’s given you a fun and easy way to make your toast the highlight of your dinner party—and provided you with a few ideas to take Texas Toast and make something truly memorable.
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