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 found the bread to be, “just okay.” I couldn’t find asiago cheese and substituted with a bag of pre-shredded Italian blend cheese. I don’t know if the cheese substitution made that much of a difference but I found the cheese flavor to be lacking.
This is very tasty, but I think it needs to have suggestions for a lighter, less oily and fatty bread.
This recipe was easy and so so delicious! It was crunchy, flavorful and cheesy! I highly recommend this recipe!
I used a combination of Parmesan and Romano cheese as my local store didn’t have Asiago. I found it a bit salty but otherwise quite nice and something different for me. My husband was especially keen on the flavor. He is a fan of cheese scones which he also makes. Recently he made a loaf with spelt flour, walnuts and Stilton which was delicious. I prefer the flavor of whole wheat but was still glad I gave this a go as it’s not normally something I would have made.
Such a great recipe loved it..the best thing about this bread is that there is No waiting time for the flour to rise..
I did half of the original measurements and the bread was ready in 20 mins at 180 degrees.. I replaced Asiago with cheddar cheese..added fresh herbs like parsley and basil.. the flavours were outstanding..
This was an easy quick bread to make and the aromas of the cheese fresh herbs while mixing made me feel like I couldn’t wait for this to be baked so I could taste it. I took it to a friends place for dinner and it complimented the smoked brisket very well. It was a hit and not a crumb was left!
This bread is seriously delicious, and seriously easy to make. It did take a little longer than I expected because I forgot to factor in the time to chop the tomatoes and grate the cheese, but the result was totally worth it.
My husband and I loved this bread. Made exactly as described in the recipe. I will definitely make it again with different add ins too!
Wow! This bread is moist, flavorful, and super simple to make. I would love to make it again with different flavor combinations. This particular bread tastes amazing with a homemade bolognese sauce over top.
I absolutely love this quick bread recipe! The flavors are so wonderful and complex together, but the bread couldn’t be easier to make. I would definitely recommend this recipe for whenever you want to impress people and have a time crunch.
Such an easy recipe, yet tasty and a bit fancy!
This bread was so flavorful! It was quick and easy. I truly loved it and will definitely make again!
Delicious and easy bread to make! I followed the directions exactly and it came out great. The flavor is excellent.
It doesn’t get any easier (or more delicious) than this! I’ve never made a savory quick bread before so this was a totally new flavor and texture experience for me and I loved it! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfect. The flavor balance was just right… not too sweet, not too salty and it paired great as a side to several meals. I also love how versatile this bread is! I am really excited to try new flavor combinations with this one. I am thinking maybe something like rhubarb, chèvre, and caramelized onions next! (Gotta do something with all that rhubarb in my garden!) Thanks for another amazing recipe!! This one is definitely a keeper!
Wow. I love baking, but I don’t usually enjoy baking something savory. These challenges make me step out of my comfort zone and it’s absolutely eorth it, each time 🙂 This is going to my go to savory quick bread recipe.. really quick but so delicious!!
So glad to have made this recipe! We enjoyed it entirely too much. It got finished in 48 hours.. I didn’t add the sun dried tomatoes, but replaced it with some cranberries. So good! Thanks Sally.
The 10″ cast iron skillet suggestion was genius! Delicious! Thank you for this recipe, will try many different combinations!
Love baking savory things! This bread was SO EASY and SO DELICIOUS. My husband couldn’t get enough! We loved it
The smell alone is worth the 5 star rating! If you could bottle the aroma and sell it in a candle, you would be a millionaire. I had to make muffins since I discovered my loaf pan was too small (something for my Christmas wish list), but thankfully Sally anticipates this sort of thing and crisis was averted. The recipe was easy to follow and I made it exactly as written with no substitutions. The bread was moist and flavorful and went well with the lasagna I made. I will definitely make this again.
Oh man, is this bread addictive! I made the recipe a second time but as mini muffins, using Gruyère cheese, and a blend of tarragon, thyme, and parsley,adding some lemon zest, and sprinkling a little flaked salt and grated Parmesan on top. Amazing!Thank you, Sally and your sweet addiction, for the best things I’ve ever baked! (And I’m old….)
Just yum! very similar to my scone recipe
used seven grain bread flour and texture is super moist, crumbly, like cornbread
feta instead of asiago
thanks, Sally, for another winner!
So good! The asiago and sun-dried tomatoes and basil…. Yum! Want to try different flavor combos. Easy to make too.
I ended up using shredded Parmesan for the cheese with a combination of fresh parsley and dried basil for the herbs. I used the sun-dried tomatoes as directed. The bake time of 47 minutes was perfect for my oven. The recipe was very easy to follow, and as always, I really appreciate all the extra tips/suggestions/hints included with the recipe. My family really enjoyed this bread, and I look forward to trying some of the other flavor combinations (especially adding bacon!) suggested above. Thank you for another amazing Baking Challenge recipe!
Bread was delicious! But very crumbly. However, that seems to happen every time I make a quick bread, so I must be doing something wrong. Still delicious though! I can’t wait to try it with some of the other combos.
I just learned of the baking challenge section to your home page on Sunday, while watching a video on your flaky pie crust recipe. I was intrigued and looked at the section Monday.
I made the Asiago Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Quick Bread yesterday. We loved it! I would not change a thing and will be sure to make it again. My husband toasted a slice today and topped it with avocado. Thank you! I look forward to future challenges.
Make this straight away!! I love baking and making breads and this was by far the easiest bread I’ve done. I made this with white cheddar and 1.5 jalapeños. Delicious!
I’ve never even heard of a savory quick bread, but this was really good! I stuck with the Asiago, Basil, and sun dried tomatoes which was wonderful flavor. I checked at 47 minutes, but mine was already over done so it was a bit crumbly. We just ate it with a fork, but I’m going to try it again and check it earlier.
This bread is delicious, moist and so very flavorable. It’s easy to prepare and will make your house smell so good. Whether eaten alone or with a meal, the bread hits the spot. I was surprised, because of the crusty cheese on top, that the loaf is very moist and delicate. Can’t wait to make pasta soon so we can have this bread again.
Absolutely delicious! This recipe is simple to make and absolutely easy to enjoy! The Asiago cheese and sundried tomatoes created a flavorful bread that was the perfect side for Sally’s creamy chicken noodle soup recipe. I 100% recommend!
Great recipe! It’s similar to biscuits but much more flavorful. I look forward to making this again soon.