This air fryer garlic bread is made from scratch with pizza dough. It's so easy to make, and you won't get enough of it. Eat it with your favorite pasta, stew, soup, serve as a starter, or serve for snack night or game day.

It's a crowd-pleaser, and you'll likely need to bake a second batch because it goes away quickly. The combination of parsley, garlic, parmesan, and lemon is ridiculously good. You only need 6 ingredients for this garlic pizza bread.
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Video Tutorial
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Flavor - It is buttery, garlicky (in a good way), and has a slight lemon flavor. The good thing about this recipe is that it can be customized to suit your taste. Add additional ingredients like pepperoni, oregano, basil, chives, or cheese. You can also swap ingredients or leave some out. Make it the way you love it.
- Texture - Since I use homemade pizza dough, these heavenly little balls are light, chewy, bubbly, and have a crispy exterior.
- Skill level - It's a simple recipe and perfect for beginners.
Ingredients Notes and Options
- Herbs - you can leave out the parsley if you like or replace it with your favorite herbs. For example, basil or coriander are among my favorites.
- Cheese - I tested this recipe with parmesan, various cheeses, and no cheese, and parmesan was the clear winner. I like it simple but test what you like best.
- Lemon - Since there is a lot of butter in this recipe, I like to add lemon zest to add lightness and freshness to the dish. It just makes it easier to eat and takes the overall taste to the next level. But it's completely optional and you can leave it out if you prefer.
- Butter - I prefer unsalted butter. The use of salted butter in this recipe is a little too salty for my taste. However, if you only have salted butter on hand, you can skip the parmesan because the parmesan adds saltiness to the garlic bread.
- Pizza dough - Either homemade, store-bought, or sourdough pizza crust works perfectly fine.

Photo Tutorial
Melt the butter in a heat-proof bowl until halfway melted.

Then stir until creamy and completely melted. Add the parsley, parmesan, garlic, and lemon zest and stir to combine.

Cut the pizza dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls.

Then brush the bottom and sides of a pan with about ½ of the butter mixture.

Place one ball at a time in the pan and brush all sides with the butter. Don't brush the tops. Save about ¼ of the butter mixture. Then bake.

In the last 5 minutes of baking time, spread the remaining butter mixture on top.

This goes well with air fryer chicken, salmon pasta, chicken stew, and butternut squash soup.
Freezing and Reheating
- Freezing raw dough - Once you arranged the balls of dough in the pan, wrap the pan tightly in plastic foil twice and freeze in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. To thaw, place in the fridge overnight, or let sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Then bake as indicated.
- Freezing leftovers - freeze in freezer bags for up to 1 month. Let thaw and reheat in the air fryer at 360°F (182) for 2-3 minutes.
- Reheating leftovers - If you have any leftovers, store them in the fridge and then reheat them in the air fryer as described above.
More Pizza Recipes to Try
If you love pizza, you've come to the right place. Try my some of the following recipes:
Recipe

Air Fryer Garlic Pizza Bread Made from Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough*
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoon grated parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer at 400°F (204°C) for 5-10 minutes.
- Melt the butter in a heat-proof bowl until halfway melted. Then stir until creamy and completely melted. Add the parsley, parmesan, garlic, and lemon zest and stir to combine.
- Cut the pizza dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls.
- Then brush the bottom and sides of a 7 or 8-inch (18-20cm) pan with about ½ of the butter mixture. Place one ball at a time in the pan and brush all sides with the butter. Save about ¼ of the butter mixture for later. Don't brush the tops with butter, or the herbs will burn in the air fryer.
- Bake in the preheated air fryer at 400°F (204°C) for 5 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 325°F (163°C) without opening the air fryer and bake for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, spread the remaining butter mixture on top of the dough balls and bake for another 5 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and serve immediately. Top with additional herbs or coarse sea salt if preferred.
Notes
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