This savory quick bread is a flavorful and cheesy herbed quick bread, which means it’s made without yeast. You’ll cut cold butter into dry ingredients, which is the same technique used to make scones, pie crust, and biscuits—this helps promise a deliciously flaky exterior. I usually make it with asiago or parmesan cheese and fresh basil and parsley. Use your favorite cheeses, herbs, and even swap out the sun-dried tomatoes for corn, olives, bacon, and more. See flavor options below.
I originally published this recipe in 2021 and have since added new photos and more success tips.
A savory bake, but without a big time commitment! You’ll appreciate that this versatile recipe delivers big as a bread and that there’s no dough rising or overly complicated steps required.
One reader, Megan, commented: “This might be my favorite bread recipe of yours! All of your recipes are so good so it’s a tough call, but this bread is delicious!! It was so quick and easy to make. And heavenly to eat! I am making this again! ★★★★★”
Savory Quick Bread Details
- Flavor: The flavor in today’s bread can really be whatever you make it. The batter is very forgiving and we’ve tried it with plenty of add-ins including bacon, olives, feta cheese, and more. The base flavor is buttery and savory, with a hint of fresh pepper and garlic (feel free to add more!). Nutty parmesan or asiago cheese fits right in if you want to try either of those first.
- Texture: It may be difficult to wrap your head around a savory quick bread, especially when you’re used to banana bread and orange cranberry bread. But despite its loaf shape, this quick bread isn’t really like either. The bread’s crumb is more similar to cornbread—though there’s no cornmeal in the batter—and its exterior reminds me of biscuits or scones. It’s soft, moist, and slightly dense.
- Ease: This is a quick and easy recipe, but the butter step could be new to some beginner bakers. A pastry cutter or food processor makes this step quicker and more manageable.
Plus, it’s wonderful as a side dish for most dinners including soup, chili, chicken meatballs, lemon salmon, and more.
Recipe Testing This Savory Quick Bread
When I began working on this recipe back in 2021, I started by using olive oil as the fat in the batter. The resulting texture was too cake-like—honestly, it was just a confusing piece of bread because the texture screamed “sweet!” but the flavor was salty. It didn’t go over well with many taste testers, either. I tried melted butter, but the results were mediocre at best—still a lot of that contradicting flavor and texture.
Like a salty piece of cake. It was odd!
*Cut in Cold Butter: Using the same amount of butter but adding it in a different way was the fix the bread (and all of us!) craved. The texture had an instant improvement. Oh, the magic of butter. Make sure it’s extra cold and work the butter into the dry ingredients until coarse crumbs form, just like we do with pie crust and biscuits.
Here are all of the ingredients you need for the pictured loaf:
After you cut the butter into the dry ingredients, mix in the cheese and add-ins (I use sun-dried tomatoes), then mix in your wet ingredients. The batter is thick, chunky, and sticky. You cannot bake this batter on a baking sheet because it’s quite loose. For a savory drop biscuit with similar flavors, try my zucchini biscuits.
(And for other pan options, see the recipe Notes below.)
Since first publishing the recipe in 2021, one tweak I’ve added is pouring a bit of melted butter over the batter before baking. This is something I picked up after working on a beer bread recipe for my cookbook Sally’s Baking 101.
It adds the most delightful crisp-crunchy exterior:
You can bake this bread in a 9×5-inch loaf pan or an 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pan (what I used here).
Flavor Options
Think of this bread as having 3 add-ins including (1) cheese, (2) herbs, and (3) extras like sun-dried tomatoes. You can swap and substitute your favorites as long as you stick with the base recipe including buttermilk, eggs, flour, baking powder & soda, sugar, salt & pepper, and cold butter. Here are some variations:
- Herbs: I recommend 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil and parsley here, but feel free to substitute your favorite herb. If you’re using a fresh herb that isn’t leafy (such as rosemary or thyme), reduce the amount to 1 Tablespoon. If using dried herbs, reduce to 1 teaspoon.
- Shredded Cheese: Asiago cheese is a favorite here (and in asiago-crusted skillet bread), but I also love this batter with parmesan cheese, crumbled feta cheese, sharp cheddar, white cheddar, gouda, and pepper jack. Avoid super-soft cheeses. You can leave out the cheese if you’d like, but you’ll lose some flavor. If skipping the cheese, add extras like another few Tablespoons of chopped sun-dried tomatoes or any of the other options described in Extras next.
- Extras: I stick with 1/3 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes because this amount adds enough flavor without overpowering the bread. If you want to use other extras, you could definitely increase that amount to about 3/4–1 cup and use chopped or sliced olives, corn (cooked or canned, and if using frozen, thaw first), finely chopped pepperoni, or chopped cooked bacon. 1 finely diced jalapeño is another great option and would pair wonderfully with cheddar cheese and 1 Tablespoon of fresh oregano as the herb. I haven’t tested this with wetter additions like roasted red peppers, but if you do, use about 1/2 cup chopped and pat it dry with a towel before adding to the batter.
Any of these extras would be great in these savory ham and cheese scones, too!
For a yeasted bread using similar flavors, try this rosemary garlic pull apart bread or this homemade cheese bread. Both have been extremely popular.
Print
Savory Cheese Quick Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is a cheesy savory quick bread made without yeast. We usually make it as written, but you can use your favorite cheeses, herbs, and even swap out the sun-dried tomatoes for corn, olives, chopped cooked bacon, and more. See flavor options described above.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) cold buttermilk*
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup (6g) chopped fresh basil or parsley (or 2 Tbsp each)
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 and 1/2 cups (190g) shredded asiago or parmesan cheese*
- 1/3 cup (50g) chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes*
- optional for topping: 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch or 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pan with butter or nonstick spray.
- Whisk the buttermilk and eggs together until combined.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and basil/parsley together in a large bowl or pulse together in a large food processor. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or by pulsing several times in the processor. Cut/pulse until coarse crumbs form. If you used a food processor, pour the mixture into a large bowl.
- Stir in the cheese and sun-dried tomatoes until combined, then pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir to combine. Batter is thick, chunky, and sticky.
- Pour/spread batter into prepared pan. Pour melted butter evenly over the top, if using. (Adds wonderful flavor and texture on the final bread.)
- Bake for about 50–60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start checking at about 45 minutes. If using an 8.5×4.5-inch pan, the bake time is closer to 60 minutes. Halfway through bake time, if you notice the top is quickly browning, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the loaf pan to help the bread bake more evenly.
- Cool bread in the pan set on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving, or cool completely in the pan.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store bread at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Baked and cooled bread freezes well up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan or 8.5×4.5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Food Processor | Pastry Cutter | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is required for this recipe. You can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute by measuring 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in a measuring glass. Add enough milk (whole milk is best—lower-fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch, but the baked good won’t taste as moist or rich) in the same measuring glass to reach 1 cup. Stir it and let sit for 5 minutes. The soured milk will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in your recipe.
- Garlic: Feel free to skip the garlic powder and replace with 3 cloves of minced garlic.
- Do not leave out the sugar. You really need it to balance out the robust salty and savory flavors; the flavor is quite flat without it.
- Cheese & Herbs: For other flavor options such as a replacement for the asiago cheese or if you want to use dried herbs or other fresh herbs, see details above.
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Use sun-dried tomatoes that are packed in oil. Drain before using. No need to pat dry, but try to avoid getting a lot of excess oil in the batter. We found dry sun-dried tomatoes dried out the texture of the bread.
- Muffins or Other Size Pans: Feel free to bake this batter in a greased or lined muffin pan to yield about 12 muffins. Prepare batter as directed, then use the same baking instructions as banana muffins. (Steps 1 and 3.) You can also bake this batter in a greased 9-inch square baking pan or a seasoned 9-inch or 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Bake time at 350°F (177°C) is at least 25 minutes, but use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made this recipe as written and it was amazing!! The house smelled so good as it was baking, I couldn’t wait to cut into this!
This is a great quick bread recipe that can be adapted for lots of different flavor combinations.
Wow! So much flavor, and super easy to make. Even my picky kids ate this bread and asked for seconds! Definitely will make this bread again.
This bread was SO easy to make, and tastes absolutely delicious! The shape doesn’t hold very well when sliced warm out of the oven, but the next day it did and was very moist. Great recipe!
I made the bread to enter into the monthly contest but wanted to post a comment here too. I did make a couple of changes. I didn’t want to buy fresh basil so I used 2 tsp of dried. It worked well. I bought asiago cheese but discovered it wasn’t quite enough. I had some left over shredded cheddar cheese that I had used in another recipe so I just dumped it in. The bread was easy to make and tasted great. I will make it again but might make a few changes in the cheese and use something else besides the sun dried tomatoes.
Yummy and perfect. I always make the challenge recipe as is the first time I make it but I can see so many ways to change it up just a little. Love this recipe and the way you desribe it.
Thank you!
Cheryl
Another amazing recipe!!!! Very easy to follow. I had all of the ingredients already, so I followed the recipe exactly. Mine was done in exactly 47 minutes. The flavor and texture is unbelievable.
Absolutely love this recipe. A couple minutes into baking, the whole house was filled with the smell of basil and bacon! Yes, I added bacon and used cheddar instead of Asiago (not easily available where I live).
Otherwise, followed the recipe to the T and super happy with the outcome! 🙂
I’ve just tried this recipe and love it!! I made 1.5x of the recipe to produce 1 loaf and 6 muffins (so that I can share the muffins with friends I’ll be meeting tomorrow easily; the loaf is for my family to devour).
I made it with the same amount of shredded Gruyere in weight in place of asiago cheese, and it turned out wonderfully, cheesy but not overly salty. I also used sundried tomatoes, minced garlic, dried oregano, parsley and a pinch of rosemary and thyme (fresh herbs are hard to come by where I am). Followed the rest of the measurements exactly, including the sugar. Don’t skip the sugar as otherwise the cake will just taste salty without balance as the recipe states! I think this recipe would probably go well with most mild cheeses, so I’m looking forward to trying it with a different cheese (maybe even a mixture) in the future!
Followed the recipe exactly, was delicious! Bread was so soft! Crust, perfectly crunchy!
This was sooo delicious!!!! I made it using your original recipe and it was amazing!!!!
The sundried tomatoes were the perfect “pièce de résistance” to finish it!!! would definitley make again!!!!!!! 🙂
Baked this last night and couldn’t wait to try it! It did not disappoint and I will be making it again. The sun dried tomatoes I had were not oil packed so I let them soak for a couple days in some olive oil and it did the trick…
We loved this bread! We made ours “pizza bread” and instead of sun-dried tomatoes and asiago, we did pepperoni and mozzarella. Very yummy! Also easy to make. Thanks for another great recipe!
Top notch as expected. Sally’s recipes are always so easy to follow and this one is no different. I made it as written but I’m already plans other flavor combinations. Pizza (oregano, sun dried tomato, pepperoni), jalapeno popper ( jalapeno, cream cheese and cilantro), bacon, cheddar and chives.
I love this recipe! I followed the banana muffin baking directions and baked the batter in a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan for the sake of easy, tidy servings and it worked out perfectly. This savory quick bread is awesome as a side for dinner or brunch! Easy to customize to your preferences, too.
This was delicious! I love how quickly it comes together with ingredients you probably already have in your house! Also seems like things could be substituted easily if you prefer a different cheese or spice. This is the perfect bread to bring along to those summer picnics and impress all your friends! I would recommend keeping an eye on it browning in the oven and put foil over it if necessary, mine was almost too brown.
This bread is so good! I made the recipe as written, very easy to follow. I’d be curious to try different combinations of herbs and cheese.
I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious! Next time I’m going to make a variation using sea salt and fresh rosemary.
Hi, I baked the Cheese and sundried tomato Quick Bread today. It was the right amount of savory and salty. However immediately upon pulling it out of the oven it started to sink in the middle as it was cooling. Al, so the bread had some dense spots at the bottom. I’m not sure if it’s because I used quite oily sun-dried tomatoes and have that added to much liquid, but overall it was delicious and it would go perfectly with appetizers of meats and cheese. I did use shredded Mexican cheese combination instead of only Asiago.
I would make again.
Big hit with my group of friends! Great appetizer option and easy to make! Can’t wait to bake again.
I made a gluten free variation with quinoa flour (1 cup), chickpea flour (1 cup), and coconut flour (1 tbsp). Add ins were rosemary, bacon, korean peppers (similar to jalapeños), and cheddar cheese. The texture was more of a corn bread style since I made it gluten free but Sally’s recipe is absolutely delicious! It was so quick, easy, and definitely something I’ll be making again and again with different flavors!
This quick bread is so tasty and delicious !! I actually sliced the remaining bread loaf and froze it and I take a slice out whenever I want a slice. Honestly, it’s so good that I have been eating for breakfast with some melted butter. So good!!
This bread is fantastic! I used half whole wheat flour and a bit more buttermilk because of this, and it came out perfect! You honestly don’t even need butter on it! I paired with Mediterranean chicken and just dipped this bread in the juices – WOW!
This recipe is delicious!! The smell and flavor of this bread are absolutely wonderful! The texture is different from any savory bread I’ve had before (a little wet and more spongy) but the flavor is spot on! I used all Parm for the cheese and it was perfectly finished at 47 minutes! I really love how easy this is!
This tastes so good and it’s super easy to make…not even lunch time yet and I’ve got a freshly made loaf out of the oven. I baked for over 50 minutes and it seems to have sunk in the middle…I suspect that it probably needed a little bit longer in the oven given that the bit I’ve sliced into is quite dense and *moist* rather than looking like your pictures. Will have to give it another go sometime!
I made a spinach and artichoke variety using the recipe and detail guidelines and it turned out fabulous!
This was a delicious savory bread. It would be great with a soup, stew or pasta dish. Our family is gluten free due to a family member with Celiac disease, so I made this as written with Cup for Cup GF flour, and it turned out absolutely perfect. The bread rose well and had a moist, but not dense crumb. I will definitely make it again.
I opted to make sundried tomato-oregano bread with old cheddar. While the bread texture and flavour is good, I’m still not sure about the tomato. This was my first time baking with sundried-tomato.
This bread is easy and tasty! I think the sun-dried tomatoes are such a lovely flavor.
Super easy to throw together and super delicious! My whole house smelled amazing!