Cheesy Pull Apart Bread is a delicious party appetizer or game-day snack. Sourdough bread is loaded with cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, and buttery ranch sauce and baked until warm and the cheese is melted. It’s great by itself or dipped in marinara sauce or ranch dressing.
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What Makes Cheesy Pull Apart Bread the Perfect Warm Bread to Serve?
A man may not be able to live on bread alone, but if the bread is this crusty sourdough loaf stuffed with bacon, cheese, and ranch-flavored butter, it may be worth trying. Whether you serve this pull apart cheesy bread as an appetizer at home or take it to your next tailgate party during football season, everyone will love it.
Why Should You Try This Recipe?
You don’t need to know how to bake bread to make this Cheesy Pull Apart Bread recipe. The most challenging part of this dish is cooking the bacon! If you can do that, then you can make this crowd-pleaser.
There are many recipes for pull apart bread online, but the ranch-flavored butter used in this version gives the bread an incredibly intense flavor.
Ingredients to Make Pull Apart Bread
To make this recipe, you’ll need:
- Bacon
- Butter
- Dry ranch dressing mix
- Cheddar cheese, sliced thinly
- Sourdough bread loaf
This recipe works best with a round loaf of crusty sourdough bread. If you don’t like sourdough bread, replace it with any bread that has a thick, crunchy crust.
You can use mild, medium, or sharp cheddar cheese. Or you can substitute the cheddar with Monterey Jack cheese.
How to Prepare Pull Apart Cheese Bread
To bake the bacon for this recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Put the bacon on a baking tray lined with foil.
- Bake for about 8 minutes. You don’t want to cook the bacon entirely because it will go back into the oven. The goal is to get it about halfway done.
- Once the bacon cools slightly, chop it into quarter-inch pieces.
To stuff the bread:
- Reduce the temperature of the oven to 350°F.
- Use a serrated knife to make partial one-inch wide slices in the loaf. Leave about an inch of uncut bread on the bottom of the loaf.
- Rotate the loaf 90 degrees and make additional one-inch wide slices leaving an inch of uncut bread at the bottom.
- Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave on HIGH for 25 seconds or in a pan and stir in the dry ranch dressing mix.
- Carefully spread open the slits in the bread and fill every nook and cranny with cheese and bacon bits.
- Drizzle the ranch-flavored butter mixture over the top of the bread.
To bake the bread:
- Wrap the bread in aluminum foil and place the wrapped bread on a baking sheet.
- Bake the bread for ten to 15 minutes.
- Unwrap the loaf and bake for ten more minutes or until the cheese melts and the bread is hot all the way through.
- Remove the bread from the oven and serve hot.
Pull Apart Bread Variations
You can use just about anything to stuff the bread in this recipe. Here are a few suggestions to try:
- Spicy Pull Apart Bread. Add sliced jalapeno peppers, bacon bits, and a mixture of cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese.
- Italian Pull Apart Bread. Fill the bread with chopped-up Italian meat like salami, pepperoni, or soppressata. Add mozzarella cheese and drizzle olive oil on top.
- Vegetarian Pull Apart Bread. Saute spinach with chopped onions. Squeeze dry, mix with cream cheese and parmesan cheese, and season with salt and black pepper. Stuff the bread with the vegetable and cheese mixture and drizzle olive oil over the top.
What to Serve With This Recipe
Bacon ranch Cheesy Pull Apart Bread is great as an appetizer, but it is also an excellent side dish when paired with soup, salad, or pasta.
When serving it as an appetizer, have some ranch dressing, marinara sauce, or pizza sauce on the side for dipping.
How to Store Leftovers?
Wrap any extra bread in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. It should keep for about two or three days. You can try stuffing the bread in advance and then wrapping it in plastic and aluminum foil.
Freeze the wrapped bread for up to three months. When you want to make the bread, take it out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge overnight and follow the same baking instructions as in the main recipe.
What’s the Best Way to Reheat Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Bread
The oven is the best way to warm up leftovers:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Remove the bread from the fridge and put it on the counter for about 10 minutes.
- Wrap the bread in aluminum foil and put it on a baking tray.
- Heat the bread in the oven for about 10 minutes or until hot.
Favorite Bread Recipes
- Beer Bread
- Domino’s Garlic Knots
- Homemade Pizza Rolls
- Little Caesar’s Crazy Bread
- Olive Garden Bread Sticks
- Pizza Monkey Bread
- Rosati’s Dough Nuggets
- Texas Roadhouse Rolls
Popular Game Day Recipes
Check out more of my easy bread recipes and the best recipes for game day on CopyKat!
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Cheesy Pull Apart Bread
Ingredients
- 4 ounces bacon
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon dry ranch dressing mix
- 1 round loaf sourdough bread
- 6 ounces cheddar cheese sliced thin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Place the bacon on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the oven (it should be undercooked). Once the bacon cools slightly, cut it into small pieces.
- Reset the oven temperature to 350°F.
- In a small pot, melt the butter and add the dry ranch dressing mix. Stir to combine.
- Make 1-inch diagonal slices across the top of the bread, but do not cut all the way through; stop each slice about an inch from the bottom of the loaf. Rotate the bread 90 degrees and slice again, making 1-inch slices that stop about an inch from the bottom of the loaf.
- Push the cheese and bacon into the sliced bread and drizzle with the butter mixture. Wrap the bread in foil and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then open the foil so that the top of the bread is exposed and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Oh my, delicious.
This became a favorite of my family.
Could you use shredded cheddar instead of slices? Was wondering if it would work the same or be easier.
I am sure you could use it, I think it was pretty easy to stuff the sliced cheese into the sliced bread. I am sure using shredded cheese would work well too. Let me know how you make it.
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That pull apart bread is looking so good!