Garbage Bread

Garbage Bread is a meaty, cheesy bread filled with bacon, seasoned ground beef, and cheddar cheese. A tasty Super Bowl appetizer perfect for hungry crowds!

When it comes to Game Day appetizers, the best ones are tasty, tempting foods that even your most health-conscious guest can’t resist. Pepperoni Cheesy Bread and Cheesy Rotel Beef Dip are just some of our Party Foods that crowds rave about!

Garbage Bread on wooden cutting board

GARBAGE BREAD

The Super Bowl is fast approaching (I know with the holidays it can feel far away but it will be here in no time!) and it’s time to start getting excited for the big game. Sure, we might not know who will be playing that day yet, but we can at least get excited about our favorite part… the food!

Of course you’re going to have the essentials like Hot Wings and Cheese Dip but this once a year event deserves an appetizer that’s a breakout star like this Garbage Bread recipe.

It’s all the best parts of Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes without the sloppy part. That’s right, we took the meaty, cheesy, bacon-y filling of one our favorite sandwiches and wrapped it in a pizza dough. Now it’s perfect for dipping with one hand and fist-pumping touchdowns with the other.

At first glance you might be thinking Garbage Bread is a (not so) Italian calzone but it’s actually a Stromboli. The difference is that a Stromboli is rolled in the same way you do cinnamon rolls, and a calzone is folded over your ingredients and crimped at the edges. If don’t think you are up to rolling, feel free to go the calzone route.

Like our Easy Calzone, this Garbage Bread would taste delicious with a dipping sauce like Marinara. And also like calzones, you can switch up the ingredients so easily with whatever you have on hand. It’s a great way to clean out that fridge to make room for party beverages and also getting a delicious appetizer!

Want a delicious dipping sauce?

HOW TO MAKE GARBAGE BREAD

  • Cook the bacon then crumble it up.
  • Cook the beef and onions, add the bacon back in.
  • Add in the Worcestershire, salt and pepper.
  • Roll out your French Bread dough.
  • Spread cheddar cheese over the bread dough.
  • Spread the meat mixture over it.
  • Roll the dough tightly.
  • Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Garbage Bread cross-section

VARIATIONS ON GARBAGE BREAD

  • Buffalo Chicken: If you are making a batch of Buffalo Chicken Dip for your party, why not double the batch and swap it for the filling to make Buffalo Garbage Bread.
  • Breakfast: For game days that last all day, try Breakfast Garbage Bread. Simply swap out the ground beef for some breakfast sausage and add soft scrambled eggs.
  • Vegetarian: Dice up your favorite squashes and vegetables like zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and bell peppers. Sauté them and replace the meat in this recipe to make a vegetarian version of the bread.
  • Italian: Give your bread more of a Supreme Pizza flavor. Swap your beef for Italian sausage and add a thin layer of Pizza Sauce to your dough. Use mozzarella cheese or a pizza blend instead of the cheddar cheese.
  • Pizza Dough: Use our homemade Pizza Dough in this recipe to make it completely from scratch. It’s such an easy recipe you can make ahead, up to a week in advance.

Garbage Bread before and after baking in loaf pan

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT GARBAGE BREAD

  • Why is it called Garbage bread? Garbage Bread gets it’s name because it’s usually made out of any leftovers you have on hand. Instead of throwing them away you give them new life as a delicious snack!
  • Can I double this Garbage Bread recipe? If you are feeding a big crowd, this recipe is super easy to double. You increase the ingredients but no adjustments are needed for the baking time. To save time on math, use the handy slider tool (located at the number of servings) to do the calculating for you.
  • Can I make Garbage Bread Ahead of Time? To make Garbage Bread ahead of time, cook the meat filling and store in an air tight container for up to 3 days in fridge. You can also bake the whole thing ahead of time and reheat in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until warm.

MORE DELICIOUS PARTY APPETIZERS

HOW TO STORE GARBAGE BREAD

  • Serve: Don’t serve this at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Keep in the fridge until game time if you make ahead and warm in the oven.
  • Store: This bread will be good in the fridge for up to 3 days as long as you keep in a sealed container. Line container with a paper towel to absorb moisture. 
  • Freeze: You can freeze Garbage Bread for up to 2 months in an airtight container. Thaw in the fridge overnight and then heat in the oven.

Garbage Bread slices

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Garbage bread on cutting board
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Garbage Bread

Garbage Bread is a meaty, cheesy bread filled with bacon, seasoned ground beef, and cheddar cheese. A tasty Super Bowl appetizer perfect for hungry crowds!

Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Keyword Garbage Bread
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Calories 320 kcal
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

  • 5 slices bacon
  • 1/2 yellow onion , diced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup green onions , sliced
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
  • 1 can French bread dough , (~13.8 oz)
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
  • 2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

  2. In a skillet on medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy but still chewy, then remove from pan and chop finely.

  3. Drain most of the fat then add the ground beef and onion to the pan cooking until the beef is cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.

  4. Add in the cooked bacon, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and green onions.

  5. Roll out the French bread dough onto a cutting board.

  6. Spread the cheddar cheese onto the dough, then add the beef mixture over the dough, leaving a 1" border around the edge.

  7. Roll up the dough tightly, rolling along the longer side of the dough. Tuck the 1/2 inch on each side underneath the rolled dough log.

  8. Brush the melted butter over the top of the dough and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

  9. Bake in oven 20-25 minutes until bread is golden brown.

Nutrition Facts
Garbage Bread
Amount Per Serving
Calories 320 Calories from Fat 198
% Daily Value*
Fat 22g34%
Saturated Fat 10g63%
Cholesterol 57mg19%
Sodium 491mg21%
Potassium 168mg5%
Carbohydrates 15g5%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 16g32%
Vitamin A 267IU5%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 145mg15%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Garbage Bread Collage of photos

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. You may call it garbage bread but I call it amazing! It was a huge hit and I’ll be making it again for sure.

  2. Hi Sabrina;

    This sounds perfect for a dinner I am invited to. Could I make this the day before and bake it when I get to my friend’s house?

    1. Yes, but I would recommend baking the entire bread the day before and then reheating in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until warm. Enjoy!

    1. If you look in the refrigerated section of your grocery store where the crescent rolls and biscuits are, you’ll find them there. There are a few brands and possibly even store brands that make them.