Carrabba’s Olive Oil Bread Dip is served freshly made at your table. This herb and garlic oil is perfect for dipping fresh, hot bread. But you don’t have to go to the restaurant to enjoy it. You can make this spicy Sicilian butter recipe at home in no time.
It’s tough to beat simplicity, especially when it tastes really, really, good. Good bread and perfectly seasoned olive oil to dip it in is just about as simply delicious as you can get. It is a wonderful way to start a meal or a great snack that much healthier for you than a bag of potato chips. One restaurant, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, gets a lot of menu items right. Still, for many guests, it is the chain’s coyly named Italian Butter, otherwise known as olive oil bread dip, that keeps them coming back again and again. Now you can make Carrabba’s dipping oil at home with this easy recipe.
Choosing the Best Olive Oil
You can’t have amazing seasoned olive oil without a stand-out olive oil. Sure, you want to use extra-virgin olive oil, but there is a huge difference between the dozens of different brands that line your supermarket shelf. Picking the right one to pair with crusty bread is more complicated than you may think.
The first thing you want to look for is fresh extra virgin olive oil. Unlike fine Italian wine or balsamic vinegar, olive oil does not age well. Fresh olive oil has a grassy, peppery flavor with hints of fruitiness, while older olive oil can develop a musty off-putting odor. If you can’t remember when you bought the bottle sitting in your cupboard, perhaps it is time to buy another one.
High-end Italian olive oil from a specialty store is probably not the best choice. Remember, freshness is rule one when it comes to buying olive oil. So unless you are buying yours from a store with a high product turnover rate of the expensive stuff, you are probably spending more money on older olive oil.
Don’t immediately judge the quality of the olive oil from where it was produced. California growers make some pretty incredible olive oils.
Selecting the Best Bread
You need great bread to bring out the best in Carrabba’s dipping oil. There are only two requirements. The first one is that the bread needs to be crusty. Ideally, that means a fresh-baked artisan-style loaf such as a Tuscan or sourdough bread. Stay away from that that is already overly seasoned or contains add-ins. You want the flavor of the bread to complement and not compete with the bread.
Secondly, you want the bread warm, but not hot or toasted. The easiest way to warm your bread is to wrap it in aluminum foil and place it in a preheated oven at 350 for five to ten minutes. Never heat bread in the microwave.
Warming bread makes it go stale quicker, so you should only warm the bread you intend to eat immediately. Keep the rest of the loaf wrapped in a kitchen towel or a linen bread bag on the counter.
Tips for Making and Serving Carrabba’s Olive Oil Bread Dip Recipe
- Mix the seasonings in bulk. Measuring out each or herb or spice every time you make this dip takes a lot of time. When you want to serve, add a teaspoon of the bulk seasoning mixture and some freshly minced garlic to the olive oil.
- This olive oil bread dip is versatile. Try it over sliced fresh tomatoes or as a simple pasta sauce.
Watch how to make your favorite recipes on YouTube.
Table of Contents
Ingredients for Carrabba’s Olive Oil Bread Dip
Here’s a list of what you need to make Carrabba’s spicy Sicilian butter:
- Dried oregano
- Dried basil
- Dried rosemary
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- Minced garlic
- Extra-virgin olive oil
How to Make Carrabba’s Bread Dip
- Mix together the dry spices.
- Add crushed garlic to the dry spices and place the mixture on a small saucer.
- Pour olive oil over mixture.
- Dip with your favorite sourdough or French bread.
I like to make this Sicilian butter when making Italian food. This is a nice change from garlic bread. You may want to give this a try as well.
Carrabba’s Italian Butter would be great simply drizzled over pasta.
Love Carrabba’s food? Try these copycat recipes!
Favorite Italian Recipes
- Zuppa Toscana Olive Garden Soups
- Pasta e Fagioli Olive Garden
- Lasagna Mia Olive Garden
- Homemade Italian Sausage
- Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe
- Seafood Alfredo Recipe
- Chicken Romano Recipe
- Little Caesars Italian Cheese Bread
- Fried Mozzarella
- Italian Lemon Cream Cake
Be sure to check out more of my easy Italian recipes and the best copycat restaurant recipes here on CopyKat.com!
Carrabba’s Olive Oil Bread Dip
Ingredients
- 1/8 teaspoon oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon basil
- 1/8 teaspoon rosemary
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Mix together the dry spices. Add minced garlic to the dry spices. Place on a small saucer. Pour olive oil over mixture. Dip with your favorite hot French or sourdough bread.
Ken Mitchell
Love it! Sadly the PNW doesn’t have a Carraba’s so I copy Kat the heck out of it or suffer through going to Olive Garden.
Mary Quarles
Stephanie do you know a copy cat recipe for Delmonco Steak house lasagna
Stephanie Manley
I am sorry I don’t have this recipe.
Corrina
Seriously the best olive oil dip.
dg price
So do we crush the garlic (as in the directions) or mince it (as in the list of ingredients? Or do we first crush, then mince?
Stephanie
Please mince the garlic.
Mac
So is it possible to get the recipe for Karaba Sicilian better? They serve it on steak and pork chops. It’s orange. Delicious!
James
Please tell me how to make the spicy sicilian butter?
Roy Payne
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
1Mix the garlic, oregano, basil, thyme and black pepper in a bowl.
2Beat in the softened butter until well combined.
3Put the mixture on a piece of wax paper and roll it into a tube.
4Refrigerate for at least three hours to allow the flavours to blend.
5Allow the butter to come to room temperature before serving, so that it will spread easier.
Roy Payne
Yeah, well by definition, this AIN’T butter … “Use it as butter, by dipping bread in it”? If you dip into it, it’s a dip … or in this case, a flavored oil. But it’s NOT a butter.
kentuckylady717
Is there suppose to be butter in this recipe ? This sounds more like a bread dip…..am I missing something ?
Stephanie Manley
There is no butter in this recipe. I believe they want you to use this like butter, you know by dipping this in bread, it is kind of like putting butter on bread and then eating it.
angela governale
well there IS butter in the carabbas recipe ….so you might want to add it since your recipe is nearly identical to TWENTY copycat recipes and guess what the only difference is ??????? THEY ALL HAVE BUTTER .
the butter NOW comes in pre-made,but before we made it by hand….it HAS butter !!!!!!!!
Stephanie
Thank you for sharing this. I have never seen them add butter to the oil and herbs served at the table. It sounds like I should go back and try it a few more times.
Austin
You are confusing the oil you dip the bread in with the spicy sicilian butter which definitely has butter in it. They put it on top on their steaks. You need to go there and order it. This recipe is simply titled wrong. This is my wife’s favorite condiment.