The Best French Bread Pizza

French bread pizzas are pretty well known, but are unfortunately mostly known for how disappointing they can be.

Sometimes the “crust”, aka the bread, will get pretty soggy, and the frozen French bread pizzas are just not all that fantastic.

So when my kids asked for some of these pizzas a few months ago, I knew I had to find a way to fix the soggy crust issue, and make sure the sauce, cheese, and toppings all had great flavor of their own.

After making these just one time, the kids now request these pizzas at least once a month! As a Mom, that’s a huge win.

Even though my recipe involves a couple of extra steps, compared to some others, I think those steps are well worth it, since they keep the bread nice and crispy!

How to make french bread pizzas?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Make garlic butter. You can melt the butter in the microwave or on the stovetop, whichever works best for you.
2. Brush on bread. Be liberal here, you want alllllll that flavor.
3. Bake. Baking the garlic butter bread helps get the bread nice and crispy, which is hard to do once it’s topped with all the pizza toppings.
4. Add cheese and bake again. Sprinkle some cheese right on top of the bread. Baking it with cheese creates a barrier so the pizza sauce doesn’t just soak right into the bread and make a soggy pizza.
5. Top pizzas. Sauce, cheese, toppings.
6. Bake.

Variations of this recipe

• Un-toasted – if you prefer a softer texture to the pizza, you can skip the step involving toasting the bread with the garlic butter.
• Different bread – any longer type of bread with a crusty outside will work for this recipe if you can’t find French bread. Italian bread, or ciabatta bread are great substitutes.
• Other toppings – I kept this recipe simple, with just pepperoni and cheese, but the sky is the limit on the toppings you can use. Whatever you’d put on a traditional pizza, you can put on these.
• Other sauce – we definitely prefer these pizzas with my homemade pizza sauce recipe, but if you’d rather use store-bought, it’ll still taste amazing. Alternatively, you could use anything as the base sauce – bbq sauce (for a bbq chicken pizza), etc.

Making french bread pizzas ahead of time

The great thing about this recipe is that you can assemble the pizzas ahead and freeze them!

Complete the recipe through the “garlic butter and first bake” section, then cool completely. Top with sauce, cheese, pepperoni or any other toppings, then transfer to a wax paper lined baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 1 hour, or until pizzas are hardened.

Once they’re hardened, transfer to freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

To cook, bake as directed, from frozen, adding a couple extra minutes.

Storage

Leftover pizza should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eaten within 3-4 days.

To reheat, bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until heated through.

This recipe also provides a great opportunity to get your kids in the kitchen to help! This is my son (who desperately needed a haircut lol), helping make the pizzas. I did the baking part, but he added all the toppings.